Bree’s Archive

Victim Voices

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

While I walked from the mail center back to my dorm, I couldn’t help but notice at 7 palms the double-lining of colorful shirts that were assembled with closed pins. 7 PalmsOn each of the shirts was written a story or saying from women or relatives of women that have suffered from violence. My heart was moved as I read each shirt today and saw how each were designed in their own beautiful way. Each voice that was shared through those shirts was heard as students read them and as they were displayed there in own uniqueness on the clothes line.

The ShirtsThe expression of women victims voices calling out to God through these shirts is a beautiful sight as they swayed on the lining. This act of writing and designing on shirts and hanging them up though wasn’t just some random act, but was set up by the Clothesline Project. It is a national movement to help address the violence against women. By honoring survivors and victims of intimate violence, the Clothesline Project had a table set up with stacked shirts and sharpie pens to be used in helping display the shirts. It gave a chance for students at Azusa Pacific University to participate in writing and designing a shirt to share their story or relatives’ story of either surviving violence or revealing their struggles. The Clothesline ProjectI love the symbolical view of women doing laundry by hanging up clothes on a clothesline with this movement, giving the sense of these women victims hanging up their burdens and sharing their voice with the world, or at least the campus of Azusa Pacific University.

New Beginnings

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Hello lovely people!

I am a current student at Azusa Pacific University (APU) that Transferred here from a Community College in my hometown, in California. It has been one great experience in being accepted and coming to this school. With the enormous amount of students that befriended me here in just the first week of school was overwhelming at first because I met so many people and I forgot almost every single one of their names! But hey, I had friends in all my classes and I have APU’s transfer student Orientation to thank.

Open Door Soccer League

Over the course of this first month being here, I have been able to get involved with the Open Door Soccer League (ODSL). It’s a program for APU student’s to engage in and volunteer to be coaches or referees for kids of the Azusa area that sign up for soccer through the Open Door Church. It’s a great way to not only coach kids but also share Christ with them openly. Though coaching the kids from the age of 6-8 years old can be challenging, it is definitely worth every moment of my Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.

During Practice for ODSL

Giving back to the community through coaching for ODSL is an amazing experience so far. I’ve been able to make new APU student friends that are volunteering as well as with the kids of the city of Azusa. The volunteering also credits for the requirements of every APU student of Ministry and Service credits (MAS) http://www.apu.edu/mas/ministries/mas/ , which to me is convenient to get credit for coaching awesome kids a sport that I have learned to love so much.

Overall, I’m ready to meet more friends here at Azusa Pacific University, enjoy the season with my new team on ODSL, and look forward to what else APU is offering me as a new student.