"Back to the Madness"

Even with my SIL in the other room yammering away as if she were talking to Morocco through a soup can, I am glad to be back in the NYC, the Big BK and home in my room with my Habibi and crazy cat.

This past week was long and tiring and a bit scary. All in all, a good productive week which I think finally reflected my maturity and strengths.

Just to re-cap:
Every year, around this time, we go to Washington, D.C. to celebrate our annual Girls Inc. Girls Rights Week. We plan an array of events in the nation's capital. This year, we had a meeting of our Girls Advisory Board which is made up of current and former Girls Inc. scholars, visis on Capital Hill with Senators, Congress people and their aids to discuss a aspecific topic that affects girls lives, and our Celebration Luncheon for fundraising purposes.

This years theme was once again Violence. The re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) expires on October 1st. Last year and this year we asked members of the House and Senate to remember this act and support it. We held a Congressional briefing in the Capital building on Wednesday morning where 2 of our girls spoke about violence in their and their friends lives. It was standing room, filled with congressional staffers and aides and other nonprofit institutions. It was a very successful briefing. An article about our 2 girls appeared in that morning's Chicago Sun (will provide link later).

Afterwards, we attended an official press conference with Senators Whyden and Allen who were supporting the academic side of Title IX andannounced their committment to support and encourage young women's interest in the math, science and technology fields. They let the audience know that Title IX was not just about gender equity in sports, but the acdemics too. During the Q&A portion of this press conference, the security alarms sounded. We partnered and buddied up with our girls, for many of the this was their first time away from home or even on a plane. Most of them came from the middle-of-n0-where America and the look of confusion and fear on their faces was enough to shock all of the adults into attention.

I shouted commands. You take so-and-so, you, take these two. Stay together, if we get separated you have the name of the hotel and phone number in your info packets. Run fast, go to the right and try to stay together! We couldn't have had a better contingency plan if we had planned it 6 months in advance. The other thankful thing was all of our girls had their red and white Girls Inc. tote bags and could be spotted from across the national mall. We had all managed to get out safely and meet up in a far off location without too much confusion.

We were scheduled to make Capital Hill visits in the afternoon but most of the girls expressed hesitation in going back and so we cancelled our afternoon and just relaxed. One brave girl did go back and let her voice be heard on violence to Congresswoman Sanchez of California. It was the same girl who I practically tucked under my arm like a football and ran out of the Capital with. Needless to say, we were both very proud of each other.

The rest of the week was focused on the Luncheon, the girls speeches and our board meeting. It was the 1st GRW that I wasn't stressing over things that were work related. A shot or two of plum wine took care of the other stress. It's amazing what Post Tramatic Stress Disorder makes you do. I hadn't had a real drink in about 5 years. I had a couple this week. (Allah forgive me)But when someone of authority looks you in the eye and tells you to "run for your life!" it puts a whole new perspective on your life and how you react to things-- big and small.

As much as I wanted to drop the hands of my two charges and run screaming and crying all the way back to NY, I looked at their pale faces and the frightened face of one of my co-workers and swallowed the large sob wedge in my throat and tightened my grip on them and went into adult safety mode. I hope to never be frightened like that ever again.