Allie Moore, Student Staff
As the school year comes to a close, I think it is crucial to reflect on the turmoil of a year we have all experienced. It hasn’t all been miserable but it definitely has not been the best year ever. Through ups and downs, highs and lows this year has felt like the scariest roller coaster that is neverending. The kind of roller coaster that makes you feel queasy before you even get on and as you buckle in your seatbelt you contemplate getting off but there’s no possible way to escape. Every time it feels like you can see the end of the tracks you get thrown around again.
From being constantly stuck to the computer screen on zoom meetings to eyes being latched to the news on the TV. Black people being shot in the streets then to another zoom meeting. Peaceful protests turned into armed guards tear-gassing. More zoom meetings. Election time, I can’t turn off my TV as I watch red states turn blue and blue states turn red. Voter fraud? Thanksgiving with the family over zoom. New year! New vaccine! New president! Capitol siege by power-hungry bigoted white people. More zoom meetings. I finally got my vaccine. Midterms. Mass shootings. Asian hate. Peaceful protests. Back to zoom meetings. Black people shot by cops on the streets AGAIN. Finals.
The school year is over, I can finally relax. No, I can’t, the violence won’t stop there’s so much more work to do. How can this work get done if I never let myself take a break?
Maybe these feelings aren’t relatable to everyone because we all experience mass chaos differently depending on our identities. I am a queer, white, full-time student, a woman, on stolen land, and I come from an upper-middle-class family that supports me through my schooling. My privilege in my understanding of these events does not go unnoticed. That said, I think we have all felt at least some if not more of this devastation throughout this year: the unlimited amount of violence that has been witnessed in this country, around the world, and even on our own campus.
Now more than ever is the work at the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention so important. We have an amazing internal team made up of people from all around our community that care so deeply and have invested absurd amounts of time and energy into supporting our goals. From the advisory board members to our student staff, our working group members, community outreach members, and all the other organizations on campus that we have been working with. It has been the work at this center that has been the light for me throughout this year that has felt like nothing but darkness.
As I reflect on the accomplishments of the MCVP I would like to share some highlights. The social media pages have been doing incredibly well gaining over 300 followers on our Instagram page @uofucvp. The blog has gotten amazing feedback and has been an outlet for writing and sharing about this work. Our working groups have come together beautifully and are prepared for the fall semester. Our newsletter is up and running. Finally, we received generous donations during our giving week that we are eternally grateful for and will help the center continue the work we have so vigorously begun.
It doesn’t stop here. Refer to our strategic plan here to gain a better understanding of the work to come at the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention. To get involved follow our socials @uofucvp on Instagram and Twitter and sign up for our newsletter and working groups here. Together let’s shift the narrative on relationship and sexual violence.
Allie Moore is a student staff member at the MCVP and a third-year student at the University of Utah studying Writing and Rhetoric Studies and Gender Studies.