Leadership helps organize National Day of Silence

Jenah: It’s called National Day of Silence because you’re breaking the silence of LGBTQ community members.

[00:00:05] I was there early and I had to sign up earlier than all the rest. So I had a notepad. And on the top, it says National Day of Silence. And they also gave us a pencil that had a sticker that said National Day of Silence.

[00:00:19] And these are actually some of the papers that I used. And so I had this one piece of paper, that’d be like, ‘Hey, this is a face painting booth. What would you like me to paint?’ And then they’d be like, ‘Oh, I want a rainbow flag. And I want it on my cheek.’

[00:00:38] Yeah, so basically I was writing it all down on a notepad that they gave me and it started off like this, maybe an inch thick. And now it’s like less than a centimeter as I had this job that I had to use a lot.

[00:00:53] Ooh. Somebody asked me, ‘ What will happen if they talk? ‘I said, ‘People will think you are disrespectful if you talk for no reason.’

[00:01:02] And this one, I said, ‘We go to the same class next,’ and then she asked if we have a textbook in that class. And I said, ‘I don’t think so, but the math books, you can bring home.’

[00:01:10] A teacher was holding a milk up to her head like she got hurt and I’m like, ‘Did you get hurt?’ And she said, ‘Oh no, I just have a headache right now.’

[00:01:19] And then I was talking to my friend and I’m like, ‘My throat is being the worst right now. I hate allergies.’

[00:01:24] This is probably one of my favorite ones. So I said, ‘I don’t identify as a She-her. I identify as a Her-she. I identify as chocolate. I’m sweet.’

[00:01:38] Oh, yeah. I was describing my nights with my grandma to my best friend. I was like, I have every other Friday with my grandma, and today I spend the night with her! I’m so happy I get to spend it with her!

[00:01:48] I was having conversation with teacher about how I had my ears pierced two times. And she said, ‘Yeah, it’s only because they pierced the earring into your ear instead of just a needle and then the earring, but like at professional ear piercing salon places, they put piercing needles to your ear and then they put the earring in.’

[00:02:07] A new girl was sitting by me and she knew that I was participating. She was like, ‘How do you do this? And I’m like, I opened my mouth and she said, ‘Wait, you’re not talking, right?’ And I like look at her, and I write down, ‘Thank you,’ and I’m like, it was, I was this close to talking and I’m so glad I didn’t.

[00:02:23] There were others that were like writing your name and pronouns on a sticker that you put on your shirt. There were people, they weren’t participating, but they were helping, so they had to talk. They would go around, they called it the Noise Police, because if they see you talking, they watch you for a couple minutes. If you keep talking, they’ll remind you and then if they keep talking after that, hey, they’re going to ask you to hand over your sticker.

[00:02:46] So there’s Leadership where if you have a GPA over 3.5 I think you get to be in Leadership, and play soccer, or be on the track team, planning a dance, making a theme, putting up decorations. I would 100 percent plan a dance. Plan the whole entire event. Once you’re in Leadership, Leadership is planning all the school’s activities.

[00:03:07] The woman who leads the Leadership group, she’s like, ‘Okay, now everybody can scream to break the silence.’ So everybody screamed. And then she’s like, ‘Now whoever wants to talk, whoever wants to say anything, you can come up here and say into the microphone.’

[00:03:24] So I was not prepared at all to do a speech. But next year I will make sure that I have a speech ready for any time that we have anything like that.

[00:03:39] It’s called National Day of Silence because you’re breaking the silence at the end of the day.

[00:03:44] This is Jenna for KEPW 97.3 Eugene Peace Works Radio.