30.10.08

CALL FOR BLANK NOISE VOLUNTEERS AND INTERN:



Blank Noise is a community of Action Heroes ( citizens as volunteers) committed to building safe cities.

You could volunteer your time. skills and efforts into building this collective. You could also propose a project idea by writing to us at blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IXqsRk9b4eIFGoPQ1-oVqJ7_pLVl6SQIFA98MJNcjmk/viewform

Being An Action Hero and working with Blank Noise is about
  • being self confrontational
  • tackling your own biases. questioning them.
  • asking questions
  • meeting deadlines
  • rolling your sleeves . getting your hands dirty
  • being a good listener
  • being enthusiastic
  • being patient
  • being persistent
  • being open
  • responsible
  • putting in that extra bit
  • about collective ownership
  • about doing small things
  • about making time
  • about putting yourself out there
  • about conviction

Got that?
Below is an application form for volunteers and interns.

# TO CREATE BLANK NOISE IN YOUR CITY . OR TO BE ACTIVELY INVOLVED WITH BLANK NOISE FROM YOUR CITY- SIGN UP HERE( time period is not defined. could be one or a variety of tasks/ interests/ ideas)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pXj9QqBrUiZ7KSAIdHH5eMw


# SIGN UP TO BE A BLANK NOISE INTERN ( time period 2 months)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pXj9QqBrUiZ5RkZL89UmVew


If you have volunteered with Blank Noise in any way possible- do send in your photo
at blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blanknoise/2514560156/

(flickr blog maintained by Dhruva Ghosh. Saptarshi Chakrabarty and Purba Sarkar)



We thank the following people for signing up as volunteers and interns:

( WE WILL BE WRITING TO EACH OF YOU SHORTLY)
JAIPUR
VIVEK KAKKAR
JODHPUR
PRIYANKA BHANDARI
AHMEDABAD
KHUSHALI PUROHIT
MEGHANA NAYAR
KOLKATA
PUSHPITA PRAMANIK
ADITI. NEHA
LUCKNOW
MOHIT SHARMA
HIMIKA
PUNE * SOLAPUR
VISHAL GAIKWAD
VADODRA
JYOTI
CHENNAI
JAYSHRI IYERPRIYANKA
DEEPTI
KATHEEJA TALHA
CAMBRIDGE (UK)
REKHA
ADELE
ROME (ITALY)
ADELE
STAMFORD
SUBHA SUNDARAM
SANDIEGO (USA)
AMAN TYAGI
CHANDIGARH
NEERAJ MONGA
NATASHA KAUSHAL
MUMBAICONRAD MENEZES
MOHNISH MOORJANIASAVARI GILL
MADHU AGARWAL
APARNA HAJNIS
CHIRAG SUVARNA
BANGALORE
SANDHYA
BALIKA GOPALKRISHNAN
KV BALAJI
SNEHA
THUPTEN KELSANG
APURVA MATHAD
DELHI
MANITA SETHI
SHARAD BHATIA
NEERU MALHOTRADEEPSHIKA ARORA
ANISHKA VARMA
ANUBHAV PRADHAN
SHWETA SINGH
SATYA
RAVISHA MALL
SHWETA SINGH
SHRUTI PANWAR
GURGAON
Prateek Shukla
ANAMIKA
NAGPUR
PRADEEPTI SHARMA

13.10.08

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO UNAPOLOGETIC WALKING





(easy to print version above)


STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO UNAPOLOGETIC WALKING is a compilation of things to remember while walking. It is in the form a down loadable print friendly version here * ( up in 1 day) - so do make sure it's up at your colleges, office , home, neighbourhood, local club and every where!

Share the results here.


1. walk very very slowly.
2. walk without your phone.
3. walk without your bag.
4. walk without your arms crossed or folded.
5. walk without your sunglasses.
6. walk without looking on the ground.
7. walk looking at passersby.
8. walk with your shoulders back
9. walk with your chin a little raised.
10. walk with a smile.
11. walk swinging your arms.
12. walk humming a song.
13. walk whistling.
14. walk day dreaming.
15. walk in the middle of a pavement.
16. walk alone.
17. walk without your duppata.
18. walk wearing the one garment you always wanted to but did not because you someone made you feel 'you are asking for it'.
19. walk alone.
20. walk at 7 am. 5 am. midnight. 3 pm. 1 pm. 9 pm.

Our street actions over the last few years have been based on emphasizing small simple scenarios- which can be challenging even though they appear 'normal' and everyday. For instance- should it be hard to just 'stand' on the street as an 'idle' woman?
Would you 'dare' try it?

Keeping in sync with that trajectory of thought we have published this poster on the Blank Noise Blog.
Here's a Step By Step Guide To Unapologetic Walking

We have attached a B/W print friendly version -should you want to print out this A3 size poster
and spread the word in your office, college, school, neighbourhood? anywhere you have access to.

Some of you who have been associated with Blank Noise for a while may have already tried the step by step guide-
in that case we invite you to share your experiences from or try it again!

We request you to take charge by volunteering to translate the poster in your local language as well.
Do email us at blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com to inform us if you're interested.

Ofcourse, your response is crucial to this proposal. share your response here
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pXj9QqBrUiZ5eWN3JPPMhMQ
or simply leave it at the comments section on the post.

Be an Action Hero!

yours truly,

Blank Noise Team



Thanks to Rhea Daneil for suggesting easy to print b/w posters!

Thanks for spreading the word Sue!


***************************************************************************************************
Some months ago we had posted this on walking- based on interviews with women
in Manchester, UK.






3.10.08

street sexual harassment survey with you:

We received an email from Holly Kearl who has been researching street sexual harassment and would like you to participate in her online survey:

I live in the U.S. In 2007 I wrote my master's thesis on street harassment/eve teasing. Now I am preparing to write a book on the topic. As part of my research, I am conducting an informal, anonymous online survey to learn how people experience being in public, what they think are appropriate/inappropriate stranger interactions, and how they define street harassment/eve teasing. People have a chance to share stories in the survey too because one of the main things I want to do in my book is share people's stories - while many websites like Blank Noise share them, I don't know of a book that does. I have never been to India but I have been following various news articles and stories on Blank Noise about eve teasing and so I would love to include people's experiences in my research and in the stories I share in the book. Feel free to take and share the survey with others.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2zNzxBfuyVVLMKcoXoEtjQ_3d_3d

I will be the only person who sees the results and if there is a question you don't want to answer, you can skip it.

1.10.08

Blank Noise Spectators Special continues:


Blank Noise Spectators Special was created as an attempt to understand the bystander in regard to street sexual harassment. More often than not survivors/ 'us' refrain from creating a scene because there have been times when the public has just stood there watching. How should the public react? We don't and would not like to prescribe a formula for how public should react- which is why we open it to you- to share experiences of how you as a spectator to street sexual harassment became a witness and showed support. If you were unable or reluctant to show support we would like to know what stopped you.

Every individual makes the public split into survivors, spectators and 'perpetrators'.
Tell us your version of the story.

Like always, we encourage you to take the discussions home- speak to your neighbours, family members, friends, strangers..find out, discover and share it at
http://blanknoisespectators.blogspot.com

You could use this form. BNSblog will be updated every weekend.

some notes to spectators. some notes of spectators
Sri
Vivek
Sabah Ahsan Malik
Myna
Suparna
Kavitha
Sue
Anshika
more here