“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others” Saint John Chrysostom.
Like this quote we the editors have labored through our social justice issues with intense research and writing exercises in order to increase awareness on the issues we hold close to our hearts. Through our labor of love we hope to provide an inside view to polygamy, animal suffering, and the devastating effects caused from factory farming. These issues are all unique however; they share a similar bond of silence. The women, children, and animals in these stories have either lost their voice or never had one to begin with. The pain and suffering endured is silenced by violence and abuse in which we hope to speak loudly to.
The Beginnings of The Hive
Our group project brought together three women, three worker bees if you will, who all came together to create an informative website about the rights of women, children, and animals. Keeping in touch through online discussions, emails, and video conferences we were able to establish a website that would provide information to the public about the polygamist cult, factory farming, and animal abuse. In the beginning of the semester each of us was asked by our professor to write a flash memoir about our social justice issue that we had chosen, and this could be considered the spark to our research. Each of us was required to take a vivid memory that helped describe how and why we had become passionate about the social justice issue we had chosen, which in turn helped us begin our research - our journey.
Selections for the hive
Deciding which papers to use was relatively easy. We each selected what we felt were our strongest papers throughout the semester. Collectively we felt that our strongest papers were also the ones we enjoyed writing the most and the ones where the passion for the topics was effortlessly translated. Some stories are told through the eyes of a person that endured the pain directly, while others are felt through sheer empathy. We address these issues using adaptations, reflections,a flash memoir, profiles, a proposal, and reports. Our common goal is to have our reader walk away with insight, understanding, empathy, and a will to labor for others.
Editing for the Hive
Through a group effort we were able to help each other edit and revise each other’s written works and gain a better understanding of how and why each person came to research the social justice issue we each had chosen. In one of our first conversations Britany had stated, “I originally decided on this issue because of the abuse on animals but now I realize it's a much bigger issue that also expands onto our environment. My intention is to bring awareness to the issue but also provide readers with suggestions on how they can help alleviate the problem without having to become a vegetarian.” Brenda also commented, “My social justice issue is abuse inside religion (especially polygamist cults). I grew up in the FLDS (Warren Jeffs group), and escaped from there four years ago. I am now actively advocating for changes to be made so that women and children can have the freedom of choice in their lives.” Shania’s social justice issue was animal abuse, “I believe I have always been an animal rights activist, as I started volunteering at shelters at a young age and I am now currently a Vegan. When it came to choosing a form of animal abuse I couldn’t decide on just one so I found myself researching many different ones such as Animal Testing, Factory Farming, and Domestic Animal Abuse.”
While reviewing one another’s papers there was definitely a feeling of “girl power.” We were each other’s biggest fans and cheerleaders wanting to see the best work possible for our magazine. Since we had three members in our group we each were assigned to read both papers of one peer. By doing this we were able to keep some consistency in the reviews. We asked questions when we needed clarification, suggested removing areas of the paper that were not relevant, along with making basic grammatical adjustments.
Though our page is based on aesthetic appeal we definitely urge our audience to be intrigued by our words and our research. Our written works that are provided to you through this online magazine are the collective pages of research accumulated throughout months of research, editing and re-editing. We hope that our research gives you an intellectual advantage to the “not-so-known” world around you because we feel that issues like polygamy, factory farming, and animal abuse are not publicized appropriately by the media today. That is why we would like to use this magazine to shed light on the research we have done to appropriately publicize and provide information to our audience.
In regards to why we didn’t select certain papers over others was simply because we wanted to put our best work forward. For each of us that reason was different. For instance Brenda selected her profile because it was the heartbreaking story of her mother’s struggle with polygamy. I selected my report because it thoroughly showed not just the inhumane side of factory farming but also the health risks associated with it and the devastation it is causing our planet. Finally, Shania selected a profile piece on Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, which highlights an organization taking care of abused and neglected animals.
While reviewing one another’s papers there was definitely a feeling of “girl power.” We were each other’s biggest fans and cheerleaders wanting to see the best work possible for our magazine. Since we had three members in our group we each were assigned to read both papers of one peer. By doing this we were able to keep some consistency in the reviews. We asked questions when we needed clarification, suggested removing areas of the paper that were not relevant, along with making basic grammatical adjustments.
Though our page is based on aesthetic appeal we definitely urge our audience to be intrigued by our words and our research. Our written works that are provided to you through this online magazine are the collective pages of research accumulated throughout months of research, editing and re-editing. We hope that our research gives you an intellectual advantage to the “not-so-known” world around you because we feel that issues like polygamy, factory farming, and animal abuse are not publicized appropriately by the media today. That is why we would like to use this magazine to shed light on the research we have done to appropriately publicize and provide information to our audience.
In regards to why we didn’t select certain papers over others was simply because we wanted to put our best work forward. For each of us that reason was different. For instance Brenda selected her profile because it was the heartbreaking story of her mother’s struggle with polygamy. I selected my report because it thoroughly showed not just the inhumane side of factory farming but also the health risks associated with it and the devastation it is causing our planet. Finally, Shania selected a profile piece on Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, which highlights an organization taking care of abused and neglected animals.
Adaptions
The adaption section of this project is where we found the most difficulty. However, in the end we all went a very visual route that includes graphics, GIF’S, charts, and mapping. We all felt that sometimes conveying our thoughts with words is challenging because these are topics that people don’t care to talk about openly. By showing an image we allow the viewer to see an issue with the big picture in mind. It is open for interpretation and without strong prejudice. It allows the reader to develop his or her own interpretation of the issue and come to a conclusion without interference of another's opinion,.
Laboring for others
As quoted by Brenda during a discussion, she said something very profound, “There is very little information or statistics available. That's why I feel like it's important to get information out. Someone needs to help raise awareness of these issues and one day I realized that I am someone! As difficult as it can be, I am determined to make a difference." With that being said, not only do we each want to bring awareness to our individual issues but also now we are committed to bring awareness to one another’s issues. This is a group of women dealing with issues we feel passionate about and are determined to be a lending hand and united front for one another.
We believe that our final product is a complete work of all of our fullest efforts - we each put forth what was needed to create this magazine and stand humbled by it. The design is very eye catching yet focused on the information which we believe will help keep the reader’s interest. Our research is not only well prepared but also given through personal experience - which we feel is the most important research to be obtained. We do however believe that the magazine could have been better planned, that if given more time we could have presented it in an even more organized manner to our audience. Hopefully after reading through our work you will have developed a better-informed, broader and stronger opinion on polygamy, factory farming, and animal abuse. Maybe you will even go on to do your own research on these injustices and help provide much needed information to the public as we have tried to do. We have worked to save the rights of those who have been denied them, “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others” Saint John Chrysostom.