Elena Valdez Attending events (lectures, workshops, social gatherings): 3 points

 Attending events (lectures, workshops, social gatherings): 3 points

  On February 5, I went to sister's chapel to attend the Spelman Alumnae Speaker series highlighting Stacey Abrams. I was able to receive one service hour for this event. Stacey Abrams was inspiring, to say the very least. One of the very first ways she opened the conversation was her mention of her being one of Spelman’s first independent majors. She spoke about having varied interests, participating in classes such as physics, philosophy, history and theater. Her sophomore year, there was actually a message on her banner that she had taken courses in too many departments. She ended up developing an independent major titled Political Science, Philosophy and Economics (which today is actually a popular major offered at various institutions) in order to compound her wide range of interests into a singular, interdisciplinary major. This was quite inspiring to hear, particularly as someone who is interested in pursuing an independent major. Abrams also spoke a lot about redefining power, especially for black women. She emphasized the importance of intention, and oftentimes leadership means doing things that are unseen. I feel as though politicians often engage in behavior they know will look appealing to the public. Yet, Abrams counters this tradition by reminding us that leadership is really about the incremental space that you can create to eventually help people. I also like the fact that she talked about how not winning has never stopped her from progressing; she never let anyone diminish what she accomplished. This was an introduction to what she had to say about failure later in the talk. One of the stories she told was when she criticized Maynard Jackson, first black mayor of Atlanta, of not caring about black people. Her freshman year was the same year as the Rodney King decision, and she went downtown to speak to Jackson. Eventually, he ended up giving her a job in his office, which was one of her first introductions to the world of politics. She emphasized the importance of not waiting for formal invitations to prove oneself. One of my favorite answers she gave to a question pertaining persevering through failure, she talked about how embarrassment is temporary, and failure is only permanent if you let it. You can never let someone define you or tell you who you are based on a single mistake. I think oftentimes black women are not given the space to make errors, and are held to impossibly high standards. Abrams was reminding us to be kind to ourselves, and to practice self care by recognizing that mistakes are unavoidable aspects of life, and to live and learn. I was also really interested in her response to another question in regards to what young people can be doing. Abrams said it is important for young people to be in the room. Adults get old and tired and jaded and they can no longer imagine, and it is the imagination of young people that keeps things moving. This was inspiring to hear.

Elena Valdez, C'O '29