By Anna Melis

As a member of Herstory, I can attest to it being a really busy month for the club. There was not only a movie screening but also an alumni panel, both of which were very informative.

A few weeks ago there was a movie screening for The Color Purple. The admission price was $5 and all of the proceeds went to a group helping rid Guatemala of violence against women. The Color Purple is a movie that presents a harsh view of many women’s (and men’s) lives, including domestic abuse. The movie came out in 1985 and took place from 1910-1940. However, the issues shown are unfortunately still ongoing. Every year approximately 10 million people are abused. This just shows how far we have to learn and grow and change. By holding fundraisers, Herstory hopes to raise money and awareness to stop such abominable realities.

Mr. Cates attended the fundraiser and he was quite moved by the story. During the movie there was a scene where a character was dancing with someone else and in a moment of confusion he said, “That is so nice! What a lovely couple!” After realizing that they were indeed not a couple he said, “That’s not right.” That phrase is a good sum of the movie; so many awful things happened.

In the end everything worked out and the main character stood up to her harasser and showed immense strength. If only this were the case for all of these victims.

On the brighter side, there were some really funny and uplifting parts. Parts of the movie that would cause the entire audience to shout bursts of, “You go, girl!” and “Whoooooo!” Overall, the movie was a great success and was for a truly good cause.

Another great event was the alumni panel. Last Friday the founders of Herstory came and spoke about how their lives were influenced by the club and how it was beneficial in their futures. One of the cofounders was a girl who wanted to learn more about women in history, a topic often glazed over by the TPA curriculum. She is now taking a multitude of women’s history classes. The intent of starting the club was to bring a place to learn and talk about things that may be skipped over in school.

Now Herstory is flourishing and partnered with Girl Up to make a change in our society and in our world. These events, little by little, are showing people things they may not have realized before and educating people on everyday women’s issues.