Taking care of our future:

Well, my name is Alexandra! I love the outdoors, reading, drawing, crocheting, and playing with our three cats, Ladybird, Juno, and Pancake.

I’ve been really into sports lately, I love playing soccer in the Lavender League. It’s a queer soccer program with over ten teams. Kennedy, our other roommate, and I all play on the same team, our team is called “Blood, Sweat, and Queers.”

I’m also really into finding new music; I enjoy listening to an entire album from start to finish. My favorite song right now is “Loud Bark” by Mannequin Pussy. It makes me feel a little bit evil — you know — it makes me confident.

The number one thing is that I trust you, Kennedy. You came to me with this cool opportunity, and right now it feels really important to align yourself with nonprofits and organizations that embody your values — for me, it’s places that are community driven, work on environmental justice and LGBTQ+ rights, and get people involved. 

When it comes to my skills, I am a designer and it feels imperative to contribute in any way that I can with what I am best at. I don't feel equipped to help in policy or write and change laws, but I can do my part by illustrating what community-centered policy work looks like. I hope to have made the work more accessible and interesting for people who, like myself, aren’t policy experts and possibly encourage them to get engaged in the legislative process. 

I feel passionately about all of them. For this legislative session, I’ve been illustrating graphics for those who are most vulnerable in our community, including immigrants, trans people, and houseless people, so those communities have been on the forefront of my mind recently. 

However, overall, taking care of our future is what makes me passionate. It kind of comes down to a feeling of anxiety. I have questions like: how can we build a future that is fair — a future that is considerate and comfortable? 

For all of the ACLU of Oregon’s priority issue areas, I think about the future, such as reproductive rights. If they are in danger, what can we do right now to ensure those freedoms for the future?

One of the ACLU of Oregon’s priority bills is Senate Bill 1098, advocating for the freedom to read in public schools. My favorite banned book is "The Handmaid's Tale" and it’d be such a loss if future students were prohibited the opportunity and access to read such an impactful and world changing novel. 

I really appreciated feeling like I am making a difference with my skill set and getting a glimpse into what the ACLU of Oregon does. I got to better understand what the legislative session looks like. I’ve illustrated lots of things before, like when I was working with a newspaper, but this set of illustrations felt particularly new. 

Despite being a life-long Oregonian, I’ve never worked or interacted with lawmakers or the process of a bill becoming law before. I felt like I needed to do research. Even though I had a lot to learn, working on this project with the ACLU of Oregon made me feel like we were all in on this together.

People don't need to go to the capitol in their suit and tie, they can advocate for their values in a lot of ways — everyday and average Oregonians can be involved.

Our little community building events have definitely been important. Every week, our household hosts a movie night where someone cooks a themed dish to share. Like right now, we watch a Twilight movie every Tuesday and each roommate picks a different week to cook a casserole dish for everyone.

I’ve also been prioritizing strong friendships and believe showing kindness to others is deeply important. For me, it’s about saying “yes” to events and showing up to things you love.