As I’m writing this, I am finishing
up final adjustments to my speech for our Local-to-Global Fellowship Dinner
this coming Thursday, February 19th. In about two hours, our final
workshop will begin, with strict timing and serious reflection about the work
we’ve completed. It’s hard to fathom that in about three weeks we will be
flying to New York. The trip and Commission have been in the back of my mind
since October, but the closer I get, the less real it feels. Still, I am
certain it will be over all too quickly, and soon I’ll be writing reflection
blog posts about the event itself!
Something I wanted to discuss
briefly in this post was the balancing act I’ve been working on with the help
of this Fellowship. I came into this Fellowship overflowing with nervous energy
about reproductive healthcare, often tripping over my words and stumbling over
points due to my adrenaline. As the Fellowship eased into the research portion,
I struggled to figure out exactly how to become a better hard researcher,
poring over facts and figures and translating them into a serious research
paper. Last week, we presented for the first time our Fellowship speech and
accompanying PowerPoint, which highlighted our research and local partner
organizations. I carefully constructed my speech to give the most important
statistics to my audience, which resulted in a lot of numbers! After running
through my speech, our two lovely professional speaking coaches complimented
the work I had done, but were also brutally honest: “I didn’t feel any passion.
Why does this matter to you?” In my eagerness to be a “real” researcher, I had
left my passion for reproductive justice out of my speech! I have since
attempted to remedy this. Without the valuable workshops and honest feedback of
our coaches, I wouldn’t have been able to strive toward needed balance in my
writing and delivery.
On the whole, I am very excited to
finish this workshop today, rehearse my speech again, present Thursday, and travel
to New York in March!
Justine
Justine
Justine, Your passion did indeed come through in the second rehearsal yesterday. This Fellowship is a little different than a strictly academic effort, because we strive to be advocates for change as well, based on our research. I hope you are energized by realizing that passion and commitment to your (our) cause is a good thing!
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