Long time no see. It’s Linda, who never blogs! Before we start off with anything, today we ate delicious Mexican food made by our cooking group! Yum!
Today, we were joined with Nathaniel Shara and Vijou Bryant from the Northwest Network to discuss the topic of healthy relationships. This topic was especially important because everyone goes through things that we never usually notice. The topic also raised awareness for anyone in the LGBTQ community.
To kick off the today’s session – Nathaniel drew a heart and asked all of us to imagine it as a baby’s heart. He then asked us to name what we thought described the baby and its heart. For example: cute, annoying, fragile, and pure were some of the traits described. After, we named messages that we were born with and that society set for us. We also named things that were “heart attacks,” which were negative messages society directed toward us. Multiple colors were used for different things that gave us heart attacks. Inside the heart were a multitude of labels: green to describe positive messages men took in, blue for what masculine girls took in, and black to portray the messages stereotypical girls received. Around the heart, we expressed what we did to “shield” ourselves from the things that hurt us.
We later discussed myths about healthy relationships. Some of them were “love at first sight”, the idea of “soul mates”, and a tale of a “happily ever after” with a “prince charming”. From there, to get away from the heavy atmosphere, we went around and named something that we liked about ourselves or something we were good at! Can’t forget, we named our favorite positive memory as well!
We transitioned into watching something that everyone likes, Glee! We watched an excerpt from the episode where Artie asks Brittney to the prom. Observing what Brittney used to reject Artie; we called that section of the session, “Boundary setting skills and techniques!”
Transitioning into the ultimate portion of the night, we all loaded into vans and headed to the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club. We quickly (but safely) warmed up with partner throws and plyometrics led by Tiffany. Nice and supple, we divided into four teams and spread ourselves evenly between the two gyms. With Eva and Kostic, we engaged in five straight minutes of conditioning before scrimmaging. Eva even took care to throw in a few rules for added fun. Halfway into the session, we switched over to handler drills with Mikaela and Alyssa. We ran some hilarious dishy drills and dump-swing drills. Speaking true to our “four walls” rule (what happens in age-up stays in age-up), a beloved (but anonymous) facilitator succeeded in fumbling two catches, tripping at full speed, and causing the whole gym to erupt in laughter. Successful and giddy, we ended the session with the usual cheer: AGE-UP!