Ah the New Year, a time for self-reflection and self-improvement. Before the promises of eating healthier, exercising more or taking more photos, we want to pause for a minute to thank everyone who made 2011 an incredible year for us. This was our inaugural performance year, and we were able to have a conversation about consent, boundaries and healthy relationships with over 4,000 students, including campus leaders, peer health members, sexual assault advocates and thousands of first-years. We got to meet and chat with campus and community sexual assault resources, passionate campus administrators, and eager students. This would not have been possible without the help of many many people, both near and far to the program. Just a quick but heart-felt thank you to the following people:
Cyndi Amato and everyone at SARSSM in Portland, Dave and Morgan Surkin from PortSports Social Club, Ben Richmond who graciously built our set, Destie Hohman-Sprague and the rest of MECASA, Bard Coffee, community and campus resources at each of the schools we visited, Kevin Cashman and Chad Olcott from Apogee Adventures, all of the writers who included Speak About It in their publications (including the Bowdoin College website, Maine Women’s Magazine, the Portland Daily Sun, and the Utica College Tangerine), Tom Vose from BroadSound Technologies, Houston Kraft, Marissa Simoes from WCSH Channel 6 in Portland for a wonderful TV interview, Local Sprouts Cafe in Portland, Hurricane Irene (keeping us on our toes during a roadtrip!), our wonderful cast of actors and directors who graciously lent us their time throughout the production process, and a huge thank you to Tim Foster, Meadow Davis & Emily Skinner, and Jeremy Bernfeld & Linzee Troubh, without whom this show would literally not be possible. Thank you all for your unwavering support. Thank you to everyone who supported, tweeted, facebooked, viewed and chatted about the program – we couldn’t name everyone, but please know that we are so appreciative of your support.
We also want to extend a thank you to everyone who had the courage to share with us their stories of success, hardship, healing and learning. These monologues provide the strength, inspiration and personality of the show, and we are forever appreciative to be able to share your voice. If you have your own story to tell and would like it included in a future version of the show, please email us at SpeakAboutItOnline [at] gmail [dot] com.
We are so thankful for all of the opportunities we had in 2011 to change the culture around consent and sexual assault on college campuses. Students at Haverford College are in the process of social change on their campus and could use your support (please see the post about Haverford College). As much as we’ve influenced other communities, the show has left an impact on us as well, and has inspired us to be better at what we do, to continue to improve and deliver a message that we whole-heartedly believe in.
Thank you all for a wonderful year. We have enjoyed being a part of your campus conversations, your shifting cultures and your optimism that we can each affect change.
Here’s wishing you all a healthy and safe New Year, full of consent!
– Shana and the Speak About It team