PPWP loves Glee!

Glee is hands down my favorite show on TV right now. In fact, Rebecca and I have both been swept off our feet by this charming tale of show choir woes and triumphs. (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that we were both choir nerds in high school.) Thursday mornings we usually chat about the previous evening's episode. Not only are we delighted by the awesome song and dance numbers but unexpectedly, by the super positive messaging. Planned Parenthood got a shoutout in "Preggers" and who can forget the episode when Kurt comes out to his dad AND in a rare occurrence said dad doesn't freak out. Word to the wise network executives: Not every high school coming out experience is traumatic because you know what, it's not the worst thing in the world to be gay!

Anyway, so as Rebecca and I were gushing over Glee we thought, "We really should blog about this!" So...we are! Check back here every Thursday for a re-cap of each new episode. Make sure to post your thoughts if you too can't get enough of Glee! In the meantime, enjoy these videos of "Somebody to Love" and "Single Ladies"!

Advocacy in the Sun: Summer Internship Re-Cap

Summer is the perfect time for advocacy! The weather is great which makes canvassing and outreach a breeze. There seem to be a plethora of festivals and health fairs to table at. The mood is positive and optimistic. Most importantly, students are looking for meaningful ways to spend their summers. Knowing this, Planned Parenthood of PA Advocates conducts a 10 week Grassroots Organizing internship every summer.

Planned Parenthood of PA Advocates is a force to be reckoned with in PA. It is made up of the public policy staffs of Pennsylvania’s five Planned Parenthood affiliates including mine: Planned Parenthood of Western PA. Together we recruit, hire, train and supervise our interns. We started recruiting in January, interviewed potential interns in February and March, made offers in April, and kicked it all off with a three day Action Camp in late May!

Action Camp is a crucial part of a major summer internship initiative. This year we gathered our 12 interns and 8 staff members under one roof for three days of training. It wasn’t all work though! We had plenty of time to include a reception/barbeque, a pool party, and a canvassing trial run. The time and effort to put on the Action Camp was well worth it. Our interns in their exit interviews said that they felt well prepared for the 10 weeks ahead of them after the training. They learned about our issues inside and out. They even lobbied to state representatives on the last day of the Action Camp!

Volunteer Spotlight: Why I chose PPWP for my internship...

As a senior Women ’s Studies major at Chatham University, PPWP seemed like an obvious internship choice for me.I didn’t want an internship that felt meaningless. I wanted to feel like I was doing something important. And believe me, PPWP is important.

We are currently living in a social climate where access to reproductive care is growing slimmer and slimmer by the minute. Oklahoma just passed a law that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. Many women don’t have health insurance, and even if they do, most plans do not cover basic things like birth control. And it’s not just access to the actual reproductive care that is lacking. There is also a huge failure to educate young people about birth control options and STI care. Sometimes the questions I get asked when representing PPWP at events highlight the failure of our abstinence based sex ed programs.