phoenixandsam4psu

[phoenixandsam4psu]

We began our campaign with this quote. Phoenix and I (the campaign manager) drafted our About Us page with this quote at the top because we both feel these words resonate in our lives. 

It is just as fitting to end with it, because it is still true. We must still scour and scrounge for the truth that will set us free. 

We are honored to continue to do that work with our communities moving forward.

With love and gratitude

Community Rising  

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Hey folks! The election results are in and we would first like to give a shout out to the Community Rising slate senators who got in: Khalifa, Kaitlyn, and Luis!

And secondly we will say that Phoenix and Sam were not elected to president and vice president. Our victory here is that we honored the work and support of our community by running the only campaign with 0 infractions and lots of heartfelt support. Thank you all!

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Rising Together

Follows, reblogs, shares, notes, views, likes, comments, tweets.

Conversations, art, connections, laughter, jokes, homework, food.

You all have been a part of this campaign. You all have done great work. From taking the time to self-care to supporting one another in getting through school. From being with us when we struggled as students and friends and family, as community members, to making this campaign everything it could possibly be.

Right now, Phoenix and I are unwinding at home. We are filled with a sense of connection and love from these communities, which include all of you, that have supported her and Sam in this campaign. Elsewhere, Sam is preparing to observe Shabbat. 

It is time for the exhale. Time for care and coming in. Time for votes to be counted and decisions to eventually be made. Time for appreciation and thanks. 

Through this campaign we have learned that our communities rise in love and rest in healing. 

Thank you, all of you. 

Thanks to those close friends and family who put up with our 24/7 campaign modes on top of all your own work, mental, emotional, and physical. Thanks to all of you for sharing and voting and in any way being a part of this with us. 

With gratitude and with love,

Community Rising

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Highlights from today's Community Round-table on Schools Not Prisons and Freedom Summer.

We only chatted with a few students today, but here's what we covered :)

How prisoner rehabilitation programs have been cut and defunded, making it difficult for formerly incarcerated folks to get resources in higher ed.

How current students, particularly those with intersections in marginalized and at-risk communities, can get involved by following the example of Freedom Summer.

How to make involvement in such activism accessible to folks across ability/disability spectrums by valuing online work and emotional and mental labor.  

Thank you everyone for being involved with us online and in-person. Thank you for you mental, emotional, and/or physical work. Thank you for participating in these discussions in all the various, wonderful ways that a community of communities can! <3

Thank you for rising with us. Voting officially ends today at 7p. You can vote here if you'd like :) 

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Phoenix on "The Raging Moderate," KPSU. 

Also folks, there's still time to vote! 

You can vote here until Friday 05/23/14 at 7p. 

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Join Community Rising tomorrow in the PSU Park Blocks for another community round-table. 

If you can't come out, there will be pics and highlights posted later :)

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Highlights from yesterday's community round-table

(Content warnings for discussions of sexual assault, victim blaming, and imprisonment)

We talked with students about:

Sexual assault interrelated with higher ed and the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). Particularly when at-risk students don't feel safe reporting assault because of drugs and alcohol involved, victim blaming, putting the survivor on trial, and survivors that have gone to jail for defending themselves.

The PIC puts students more at risk as opposed to less. Marginalized students are not protected by police, but instead at risk of getting taken to jail themselves.

Legal services that criminalize and blame the victims of sexual assault.

Women getting assaulted by cops.

Oregon investing money into the prison system. What does this mean for folks in our communities? Especially when we're told we're never going to get into college.

Difficult to even afford or get into vocational colleges after prison.

Media campaigns in the 90's funded by the PIC that created fear of being "soft on crime" and helped fuel the war on drugs targeting primarily Black People. 

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Tomorrow, join Community Rising on campus for brainstorming and discussion. Let's get cerebral together!

If you can't make it out we'll be posting pics and highlights tomorrow evening :)

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Highlights from tonight's convo.

[phoenixandsam4psu]

District 7:

Phoenix & Sam 

Their strategy has been to band together with tributes from the other districts. To refuse to be the enemies of anyone else in the games, 

"We'll die anyway," some protested. 

"We can win together or not at all" Phoenix insisted. 

So they stood together. They chose their weapons to fight the challenges the Capitol threw at them. 

The plan is to outlast, outwit, outplay the game itself. To win--each and every district, each and every tribute--together. 

[phoenixandsam4psu]

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Hey folks, if you're a PSU student you can still cast your vote here until Friday the 23rd. 

We're not saying vote for us. We're saying look at the pretty flower. 

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Sam says he id's with Hermione. Which now that I think about it, obvie. Like, we don't even need to use Google around him.

The Order of the Phoenix.

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Phoenix says: "A Hufflepuff person that was never focused on in the harry potter series because THERE WAS ONLY TWO HUFFLEPUFFS"

So you could headcanon some awesome unsung Hufflepuff who like, helped organize some community based Hogwarts-wide student union. And that would be Phoenix. (That's actually her irl, like I'm not even joking)

I haven't heard back from Sam yet, but I'll let you know when I do :) (I do know he's a Ravenclaw)

The Order of the Phoenix.

[phoenixandsam4psu]

The Order of the Phoenix.

[phoenixandsam4psu]

FemShep is boss.

[phoenixandsam4psu]

Money, Money, Money (Mama Mia)

Near the start of campaigning, Students for a Better Tomorrow Today approached us with the following proposal for campaign finance reform:

“Limiting the influence of money in politics promotes equity in our elections and allows students to make the most informed choice. It gives everyone the opportunity to participate in our democratic process – regardless of economic status.”

Our two camps agreed to be accountable to one another under the following limitations:

$50-per-student limit on campaign contributions

Restricting campaign contributions to PSU students only.

Reporting all contributions and amounts each weekend.

Initially, because we wanted to be accountable to the students as well, we announced this arrangement at the debates last week and sent a statement to the student press. However, this did not create the level of transparency among the student population we desired. So while both of our campaigns have been sticking to these self-imposed limits and been very open and communicative about our contributions with one another, we feel the students have not been as openly communicated with.

Therefore, even though this comes a bit late in the game, our slates are glad to finally be declaring the standards we have held ourselves to regarding financial contributions throughout this campaign. This declaration is to fulfill one of our most important reasons for campaign finance reform: accountability to the students above anything else.  

You can view our contributions reports here:

Community Rising

Students for a Better Tomorrow Today 

<3