January 21, 2010
Get tested!
Being regularly checked for STIs and HIV/AIDS is not just something to do when showing symptoms, but to do at least once a year and preferably with each new sexual partner. Make sure to talk to your sexual partner about which method of contraception you want to use to prevent STIs, AIDS and pregnancy and make sure to encourage your partners to get checked – that way you can have a lot more fun knowing that you both took the proper precautions!
At the Pride Centre of Edmonton, their monthly free STI testing is happening tomorrow, Thursday the 21st of January from 3:30-6 pm (instead of the last Thursday of the month). The Pride Centre of Edmonton is an excellent resource for queers and allies – they have a library, a youth drop-in centre, PFLAG (parents and friends of lesbians and gays) meetings and much, much more! It’s located at 9540-111 Avenue.
The STD Clinic of Edmonton is a good place to go to get tested too: Suite 3B20-11111 Jasper Ave NW. Call them at (780) 413-5156 for more information.
Also, the Birth Control Centre is another great place to go to get tested and to access cheap contraception ranging from condoms to IUDs to oral contraceptives. It is located at 8 Flr-10030 107 Street NW and you can call them at (780) 735-0010.
Next month Voices for Choices will be hosting OPTIONS Sexual Health Association’s Sexual Health Educator for a comprehensive and sex-positive sex ed class! Get the one you never got in high school! *Everyone* has something to learn in this subject. More info will be posted later.
January 20, 2010
Fertility Awareness Charting Circle
Fertility awareness is a method of monitoring gynecological and overall health in your body, and is used by some as a natural way to avoid or acheive pregnancy. If you have tried other methods of birth control and want to look into something different, or if you simply want to learn more about your body and its natural cycles, feel free to drop in on the Fertility Awareness Charting Circle Edmonton. They meet on the first Wednesday of every month at Block 1912 and always welcome newcomers of all genders. Read more about it at their website or on facebook.
October 6, 2009
Call for VFC Logo Design
Have an idea for a Voices for Choices logo?
VFC has decided that, in order to get a logo we feel embodies the collective, we will hold open submissions for a group logo until the end of the day Friday October 16th.
Submit as many potential logos as you like, and make sure you include your name so we can give credit where credit is due. The logo submissions will be voted on by members after all designs have been received and screened for offensive/misrepresentative content.
Email your submissions to: voicesforchoices.uofa@gmail.com
Also, if you aren’t on the mailing list and would like to be, drop us a line at the above email as well.
In Solidarity,
Justin
September 18, 2009
September 23rd Educate Ourselves Night – 7:15pm.
This is our first meeting of the new school year and we invite all pro-choice individuals to come! The point of our Educate Ourselves Night is to, as the name points out, educate the pro-choice community on reproductive rights issues, sexuality, safer sex, as well as being more aware of oneself as a pro-choice individual and what exactly that means.
We will be having two speakers for our first official EO Night. First we will have Victoria Baldwin speak shortly on her newly-formed Eating Disorder Awareness Group and the fundraiser she is planning. Find out more here.
Our second speaker is Joy Schmold, the former Sexual Health Educator of OPTIONS Sexual Health (and the current Volunteer Coordinator of the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton), and she will be doing a presentation she calls a “Values Clarification”, which consists of three exercises that focus on pregnancy options. These exercises are meant for those who identify as pro-choice, giving them the chance to explore what pro-choice (in terms of pregnancy options) means to them and how to handle their own “triggers” around various scenarios.
There will be delicious snacks and drinks provided and they will be primarily vegan! Please tell us if you have any allergies. Afterward you can stay, mingle, and chat with us if you so desire! We’ll be open to answering questions and giving you opportunities for further involvement if you are interested.
We hope to see you all there!
Place: Colt Design Lab, ETLC E2-009*
When: 7:15-9:00pm
*There will be signs directing you to the Colt Design Lab. If you want to know where the Engineering Building is, here’s a map of the UofA.
August 26, 2009
September Events
This September we will be at Orientation/Clubs Fair from August 31st-September 4th. Come visit us, and if you would like, volunteer to table. You can sign up here: http://www.doodle.com/9x4wdu6z8tiekndh
We will also be having our first Educate Ourselves Night on September 23rd at 7pm with the excellent speaker Joy Schmold, a former Sexual Health Educator at Options Sexual Health. She will be doing a presentation called “Values Clarification” and it is sure to be interesting and a learning experience. It is open to all. Details will be posted within the next week or two.
The Educate Ourselves Night will also be a chance for people to find out more about us and perhaps become a member. We are actively seeking more people to become involved and hope to see Voices for Choices grow and flourish. That means that we need you!
August 20, 2009
Summer Meetings and Clubs Fair
Summer is coming to an end and Voices for Choices is getting ready to face the school year head on! We’ve had a few meetings over the summer, and have made a lot of progress in creating the aims and goals of VFC. We are currently working on redesigning the website to reflect the values that we have decided upon over the summer and this blog will become a long term project to keep our members and anyone interested in our group up to date with our club and local, as well as global, pro-choice news!
I’d like to focus on two things in this post, a summary of the minutes of our past three meetings and our presence at clubs fair.
The most important decision we have made over the summer was to become a collective, as well as a working group under the Women’s Center Collective at the University of Alberta (UAWCC). This has become the basis of our constitution, and we are currently working on forming a board. As a collective, we feel that we will be more open to newer members and allow a larger rate of participation in our decisions, meetings and events. Our board will be elected at the beginning of every semester, and every position will be open to all collective members. We are still in progress of making this work, but we should soon be a fully functional collective.
Originally, we were intent on holding a week of events, but at our last meeting that took place on tuesday August 18, we have decided to instead spend the semester building a better foundation for our group. Nonetheless, we plan on holding Educate Ourselves nights on a monthly basis. These nights will not be a meeting, but rather a chance to have a public information night on certain pro-choice topics. The next two sessions will have a guest speaker, and information regarding our first Educate Ourselves night will be posted on this blog.
Club’s Fair!
VFC will have a table set up during the Week of Welcome from Aug. 31-Sept. 4! We are currently looking for volunteers for both making a board for our table as well as tabling!
If you are interested in helping put together a board, or just spending some time with some awesome vfc members, we have planned to do so on Aug. 25 in the evening! Feel free to email Taryn, at tarynhancock@gmail.com for more information.
We need people to table every day of the week, and if you have time to do so you can contact me at steinkra@ualberta.ca.
We will also be looking for volunteers to table throughout the school year in SUB, and you can contact Taryn or I if you are interested in doing so!
Thank you to all our supporters and future members, and I hope the school year starts off with a bang for all of you!
-Jaime Steinkrauss
March 31, 2009
Welcome to our new website!
The University of Alberta student group ‘Voices for Choices’ now has a website! This is where we will communicate publicly and with each other in the future, in addition to our facebook group.
We have a party April the 6th at Remedy Cafe with the Vegetarians and Vegans of the University of Alberta to celebrate the end of the year and have elections. We currently have a person running for every position but Treasurer, so if you are interested please contact one of the executive members through facebook or our email (voicesforchoices.uofa@gmail.com). Please RSVP to this event here: on our event page.
Anyway, that is all for now.
In Solidarity,
Taryn
