#BeCauseY: The Green Observer Magazine

FEATURED Y STUDENT PROGRAM:

By Olivia Harris

Editor-In-Chief of the Green Observer Magazine 

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus is teeming with environmental student groups and student- and faculty-lead sustainability projects. Anyone who wants to be connected to environmentalism on this campus should have their pick of the litter of ways to be involved. And yet, when I came in as a freshman, I struggled to find my options for engaging with environmental activism. 

I went to Quad Day, but in the cacophony of hundreds of booths all manned by students calling out to business majors, singers, tightrope enthusiasts, October-lovers, and ethnic musicians, it's not surprising I managed to miss the environmental folks. As I got wrapped up in my studies, I let my hopes of being an activist slide and didn't search any further.

The hopes resurfaced again the fall of my sophomore year during a conversation with one of my environmental professors. He knew I was a writer and that I was interested in environmental issues, so he recommended that I check out the Green Observer Magazine. I found the group on the Illinois student groups page and went to the next meeting at the University YMCA. 

The rest, you might say, is history. 

The Green Observer's mission is simple: deliver green-living tips and campus environmental news to students so that they do not get "lost" like I did trying to find ways to get involved. You cannot join a group until you know it exists, and not all of us have relationships with professors who can point us in right direction. Many groups are doing great work to make our campus and world more sustainable, and the Green Observer provides a front row seat on their progress.
 

Once a group newsletter of Y Student Program, Students for Environmental Concerns, today the Green Observer Magazine is the only environmental publication at the University of Illinois, and as such it serves a unique (yet popular!) niche of student interest. We are the one-stop-shop for information on green happenings on campus. We report a mix of "hard" news stories about campus events and issues and "soft" news stories advocating ways readers can lead more sustainable lives.

The Green Observer making recycled jewelry to raise funds for printing the magazine

The Green Observer is an entirely student-run publication: meaning every aspect of the magazine - from story ideas to photography to layout - is completed by students. The magazine publishes four, 12-page issues each academic year (twice each semester).

Since its establishment, the Green Observer has doubled in both staff and readership, and we are not slowing down! Our dedicated student leaders are constantly working to increase our readership, diversify our content and add new value for our readers.

 You can become part of the Green Observer's mission. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our E-Magazine to receive the Green Observer in your email inbox.

[Press Release] Redefining Realness: Author and Gender Rights Activist Janet Mock visits the University YMCA

REDEFINING REALNESS

Author and Gender Rights Activist Janet Mock visits the University YMCA

 

On Friday, October 31 at 12 Noon, the University YMCA will host a conversation with New York Times Best Selling Author and Gender Rights Activist Janet Mock. All are invited for a book signing and breakfast with Janet that morning at 9am at the Author’s Corner in the Illini Union Bookstore (second floor). 

Who: As a writer and activist, Janet Mock describes her lived experiences as a trans woman of color and contextualises those experiences to draw connections between her life, her work and her overall mission to broaden society’s portrait of womanhood. She speaks about the power of storytelling, the history of trans women-led movements, and the personal-political dynamics of visibility. 

A native of Honolulu, Janet attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, earned her MA in journalism from New York University, worked as a Staff Editor for People.com (People magazine’s website) for five years and currently is a contributing editor for Marie Claire magazine. 

Janet Mock is the New York Times bestselling author of Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood and Identity, Love & So Much More. Janet Mock was also named Woman of the Year in 2013 by the feminist site Vitamin W, the Center for American Progress’s 13 Women of Color to Watch, the Huffington Post’s 23 Inspiring Women Blazing Trails for the LGBT Community and The Grio’s 100 most influential African-Americans. Her work has been nominated for a Women’s Media Center Award and a GLAAD Media Award For more information about Janet Mock, visit:chartwellspeakers.com.

When: Friday, October 31 at 12Noon

Where: University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign

This visit by Janet Mock coincides with the Fall 2014 Friday Forum lecture series that examined polarized value systems and how to encourage conversation and dialogue. Friday Forum is a program of the University YMCA. All Friday Forums are free and open to the public. Website: universityymca.org/friday_forum/

Additional Information: The views expressed by the speakers do not necessarily reflect the views of the University YMCA, co-sponsors, or the Friday Forum committee. A sign language interpreter is available with a 72 hours notice (contact Carol Nunn at 217-337-1500). All forums are radio broadcasted at 6:00 p.m. on WEFT 90.1 the Monday following the lecture, unless otherwise noted. For this Friday Forum on October 31, no audio or video recordings will take place per the request of Janet Mock.

The Fall 2014 Friday Forum lecture series Polarization to Conversation: What to do when values collide is sponsored by: LGBT Resource Center, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, Campus Honors Program, Office of The Provost, Department of African American Studies, Chapel of St. John the Divine, La Casa Cultural Latina, Channing-Murray Foundation, Wesley Foundation, Wesley United Methodist Church, McKinley Presbyterian Church and Foundation, Asian American Cultural Center, Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting Peace Meeting Committee, Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign, First Mennonite Church, School of Art and Design, Office of Public Engagement, Counseling Center, Educational Psychology. Paid for by SORF and The Student Cultural Programming Fee.

For media inquiries, contact: Megan Flowers, University Y Communications Director [217-337-1500; megan@universityymca.org]

###