Call to Action: Re-Activation of Iota Sigma Rho SL Sorority

From The Desk of Iota Sigma Rho SL Founder & Pearls:

It has been two years since our beloved sisterhood took an hiatus and chose to focus on each other and the individual and mutual growth of each other and our sisterhood. It has been quite a journey. One that we feel blessed to have taken together. Secondlife dwells in the realm of escapism. In that process of trying to find our own secret paradise where we can control everything from what we look like to creating and molding things, we forget the one thing we can't control. People. As exciting as it is to socialize, we become obsessed with our social status, who is saying what and whats the latest news. I admit, we too fell victim. However, the biggest part of caring about yourself is caring about one another. Iota Sigma Rho is dedicated to continue to care and support the Secondlife community. Our love and loyalty towards our nations veterans and soldiers is still at the forefront of our service. As well as the alleviation of poverty in some of the most crime-stricken and impoverished neighborhoods in our country. It is because of this that feel we must continue our real world efforts within the realm of SL. Encouraging each of you to join us, stand up and join our cause. We are women who have been empowered by the stones that have crossed our paths and exceeded them. We, today, stand stronger for having overcome obstacles, self-doubt, shame and defeat. And, it is with great pleasure and honor to announce the re-activation of Iota Sigma Rho SL Sorority.




Thank you for your support,


Iota Sigma Rho SL Sorority

Spoken From The Frontline - A Tribute To Our Warriors

OUR TRIBUTE TO WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT! WE RAISED 16,010L$! ALL FEES WERE COLLECTED BY WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT ORGANIZER, A LINDEN LABS APPROVED NON-PROFIT VENDOR!

Worth The Fight

Every year, thousands of soldiers return to their home country with the deep scars of war. Some deeper than others, some more visible than others and yet they are treated the same by their home government. However, every soldier is not the same. They do not share the same scars or the same experience and therefore, they cannot receive the same treatment. Wounded Warriors Project aims to individually treat soldiers who many otherwise be left on the VA assistance list for a longer period of time. 

The Simple Things

When you donate to Wounded Warrior Project, a soldier receives a backpack with a calling card, clothes, food, hygiene products and other amenities that will help him get his life back on track and hopefully, get him on his way home. When you donate a car or truck is filled with gas that offers a soldier a ride from base to home. When you donate a soldier gets a job that will not only start his career but help his mind stay focused and out of the depression of war. When you donate to WWP, you save a soldiers life that helped protect yours. 

#IotaStrong

Iota Sigma Rho SL Sorority is strong because we are comprised of REAL WOMEN who have sons that are active duty Marine and Army, Cousins off shore in the Navy and Reserves and veterans in our own ranks. We stand by our military men and women because they make the decision every day to answer the call of our country, despite their political and social beliefs. They choose to arm their homeland with their life and fight for a freedom that is not free. When you see #IotaStrong, know that we are #ArmyProud, #NavyProud, #MarineMomProud, #AirforceProud and we are PRHOud to support our veterans and active duty military. 

Special Thanks

We would like to thank Lady China for Djing the first half for us and a special thanks to our Vet. Dj Blue2Smooth for sharing his stories and letting us know things that mean a lot to veterans when the return home. That is priceless information that will help us improve our efforts and therefore improve the quality of life in every soldier. 

Big Thank You to Frets Nirvana and WWP-SL for providing the kiosks as official Wounded Warrior Project Liscensed Vendors.

Thank You to SL Veterans Service!

Thank You to the sisters of Xi Beta Xi for Partnering with us in the month of February. 

Photos of the Event

Celebrating Women in Greekdom: A Tribute to True Sisters

Black History Month 2014
Mary T. Washington
Sigma Gamma Rho

Sigma Gamma Rho Soror Mary T. Washington was a bookkeeper who in the 1920's began methodically breaking down racial barriers in business.

Soror Washington Wiley earned her bachelor's degree in business from Northwestern University in 1941. While a student, she opened her own accounting firm in her basement, recruiting black businesses as clients. Soror Washington Wiley went on to become the first African-American woman to be a certified public accountant in the United States and the head of one of the largest black-owned accounting firms in the nation.

A study by the National Association of Black Accountants confirmed that in 1943, Soror Washington Wiley became the first black woman to become a C.P.A. and the 13th black C.P.A. in the nation.

With business partners Hiram Pittman and Lester McKeever, she founded Washington, Pittman & McKeever in 1968, one of the largest black C.P.A. firms. She retired from the firm in 1985 at age 79.

In 2002, Dr. Theresa Hammond (chairman of the accounting department at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College) published a book on the history of black C.P.A.'s, "A White-Collar Profession: African-American Certified Public Accountants Since 1921," which included Soror Washington Wiley's stellar career and significant influence.

Soror Washington Wiley died on July 2, 2005 at a nursing home in Chicago. She was 99 years old.

Soror Mary T. Washington Wiley, a phenomenal trailblazer breaking down barriers in the business arena!

Azie Taylor Morton 

Alpha Kappa Alpha 

Azie Taylor Morton (February 1, 1936 – December 7, 2003) served as Treasurer of the United States during the Carter administration (September 12, 1977 to January 20, 1981). She remains the only African American to hold that office. Her signature was printed on U.S. currency during her tenure; this is an honor she shared with four African-American men.

Morton was born in Dale, Texas and graduated from Hutson-Tillotson College in Austin. Her first job was teaching at a school for delinquent girls. Before becoming Treasurer, she served on President John F. Kennedy's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. From 1972 to 1976, she was a special assistant to Robert Schwarz Strauss, then chair of the Democratic National Committee. She was also an election observer for the presidential elections in Haiti, Senegal, and the Dominican Republic; a member of the American Delegation to Rome, Italy for the Enthronement of Pope John Paul II; chair of a People to People Mission to the Soviet Union and China; and a representative to the first African/African American Conference held in Africa. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Azie Taylor married James Homer Morton on May 29, 1965. They had two daughters. On December 6, 2003, Morton suffered a stroke at her home in Bastrop County, Texas.

Shirley Chisholm

Delta Sigma Theta

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924, Shirley Chisholm is best known for becoming the first black congresswoman (1968), representing New York State in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms. She went on to run for the 1972 Democratic nomination for the presidency—becoming the first major-party African-American candidate to do so. Throughout her political career, Chisholm fought for education opportunities and social justice. Chisholm left Congress in 1983 to teach. She died in Florida in 2005.

Famed U.S. congresswoman and lifelong social activist Shirley Chisholm was born Shirley St. Hill on November 30, 1924, in a predominantly black neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Chisholm spent part of her childhood in Barbados with her grandmother. After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1946, she began her career as a teacher and went on to earn a master's degree in elementary education from Columbia University.

Chisholm served as director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center from 1953 to 1959, and as an educational consultant for New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare from 1959 to 1964.

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm made history by becoming the United States' first African-American congresswoman, beginning the first of seven terms in the House of Representatives. After initially being assigned to the House Forestry Committee, she shocked many by demanding reassignment. She was placed on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, eventually graduating to the Education and Labor Committee. In 1969, Chisholm became one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Chisholm went on to make history yet again, becoming the first major-party African-American candidate to make a bid for the U.S. presidency when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972. A champion of minority education and employment opportunities throughout her tenure in Congress, Chisholm was also a vocal opponent of the U.S. military draft. After leaving Congress in 1983, she taught at Mount Holyoke College and was popular on the lecture circuit.

Chisholm was married to Conrad Chisholm from 1949 to 1977. She wed Arthur Hardwick Jr. in 1986. She authored two books during her lifetime, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

Chisholm died on January 1, 2005, at the age of 80, in Ormond Beach (near Daytona Beach), Florida.

"She was our Moses that opened the Red Sea for us," Robert E. Williams, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Flagler County, said of Chisholm in an interview with The Associated Press (January 2, 2005). William Howard, Chisholm's longtime campaign treasurer, expressed similar sentiments. "Anyone that came in contact with her, they had a feeling of a careness," Howard said, "and they felt that she was very much a part of each individual as she represented her district."

Freedom From Fear Campaign: After Fight

Everything that glitters isn't gold. Ever heard that statement? In terms of domestic violence, what may seem like an innocent couple, in a typical fight, may be deeply routed habitual abuse. In many situations of domestic violence, long term relationships can be as violent and as turbulent, if no more so, than the newer relationships. Don't be fooled! Stand up to domestic violence!

Fact: IPV alone affects more than 12 million people each year. [v]

Fact 2: From 1994 to 2010, about 4 in 5 victims of intimate partner violence were female. [ix]

VIEW PHOTO AD ON OUR BLOG: www.iotasigmarho.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/IotaSigmaRhoSecondlifeSorority

Featured in this ad: Saivee Rho (ISR) & Phil O. Matic (OPS)

Research: www.thehotline.org (National), www.domesticpeace.com/(Arkansas)
Call 1-800-799-72339 (SAFE) |1-800-787-3224 (TTTY)
ADVOCATE!

Find out more about both orgs at:
www.iotasigmarho.wix.com/rush
www.opssl.org 

Freedom From Fear Campaign: Mortal Kombat

"I'm Gay, I'm being ABUSED, I have rights. Just like you. Don't I?"

LGBT couples are no different than same-sex couples when it comes to signs and characteristics of domestic violence! If you are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Pan-Sexual, YOU HAVE RIGHTS! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!! These hotlines are open for ALL peoples in ANY situation!

Fact: 1 out 4 Same-Sex Couples will experience domestic violence. (1 out of 3 in heterosexual couples).

Fact 2: A LGBT person is less likely to report abuse due to fear of being "outted", lack of public understanding and many other factors that a heterosexual person DOES NOT experience.

VIEW PHOTO AD ON OUR BLOG: www.iotasigmarho.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/IotaSigmaRhoSecondlifeSorority

Featured in this ad: Uqqn Zelin Owens & Cherokee Bellic (ISR)

Research: www.thehotline.org (National), http://tncoalition.org/(Tennessee), http://www.opdv.ny.gov/(New York)
Call 1-800-799-72339 (SAFE) |1-800-787-3224 (TTTY)
ADVOCATE!

Find out more about both orgs at:
www.iotasigmarho.wix.com/rush
www.opssl.org 

Comparing Domestic Violence of Same-Sex Couples and Straight:

• Straight and same-sex domestic violence share many common characteristics:
• The pattern of abuse includes a vicious cycle of physical, emotional, and psychological mistreatment, leaving the victim with feelings of isolation, fear, and guilt.
• Abusers often have severe mental illnesses and were themselves abused as children.
• Psychological abuse is the most common form of abuse and physical batterers often blackmail their partners into silence.
• Physical and sexual abuses often co-occur.
• No race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status is exempt.

Distinctive Straights:

• Gay or lesbian batterers will threaten “outing” their victims to work colleagues, family, and friends. This threat is amplified by the sense of extreme isolation among gay and lesbian victims since some are still closeted from friends and family, have fewer civil rights protections, and lack access to the legal system.
• Lesbian and gay victims are more reluctant to report abuse to legal authorities. Survivors may not contact law enforcement agencies because doing so would force them to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Gay and lesbian victims are also reluctant to seek help out of fear of showing a lack of solidarity among the gay and lesbian community. Similarly, many gay men and women hide their abuse out of a heightened fear that society will perceive same-sex relation- ships as inherently dysfunctional.

The Problem:

• Authorities often lack the knowledge of how to handle domestic violence cases involving people of the same gender. An officer may mistake two males living together for roommates, for example. And officers may fail to report an incident of domestic violence since the two parties involved may be unwilling to divulge their relationship status. In some cases the victim will be detained instead of the aggressor because the latter was physically smaller.

Source: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/news/2011/06/14/9850/domestic-violence-in-the-lgbt-community/

Freedom From Fear Campaign: Spy. . .

 VIEW PHOTO AD ON OUR BLOG: www.iotasigmarho.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/IotaSigmaRhoSecondlifeSorority

Featured in this ad: Naomi Mocha-Eternal (ISR)

Stalking by excessive calling/ texting, tracking and continual psychological torment is ABUSE! Don't make excuses! Stalking is a real and living thing that can cause psychological and emotional damage! Be safe, make a plan, seek help!


Fact: More than 1 in 3 women (35.6%) and more than 1 in 4 men (28.5%) in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.[vi]

Research: www.thehotline.org (National), www.njcbw.org/ (New Jersey)
Call 1-800-799-72339 (SAFE) |1-800-787-3224 (TTTY)
ADVOCATE!

Find out more about both orgs at:
www.iotasigmarho.wix.com/rush
www.opssl.org

2014 Domestic Violence Fact Sheet & Definitions

2014 Domestic Violence Fact Sheet

VIEW PHOTO AD ON OUR BLOG: www.iotasigmarho.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/IotaSigmaRhoSecondlifeSorority

Featured in this ad: Naomi Mocha-Eternal (ISR)

|:: Defining Domestic Violence ::|
(As defined by the National Domestic Violence Hotline & Wheel of Power & Control)

(http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined/)

Using Children
Making her feel guilty about the children

Using children to relay messages

Using visitation to harass her
----------------------------------------------------------------
Using Isolation
Controlling what she does, who she sees and talks too.

Controlling what she reads and where she goes

Limiting her outside involvement
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Using Intimidation
Making her afraid by using looks, actions and gestures.

Smashing things, destroying her property.

Abusing Pets

Displaying Weapons
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using Male Privilege
Treating her like a servant

Making all the big decisions

Acting like the "master of the castle"

Being the one to define "mens" and "womens" roles

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using emotional abuse
Putting her down

Making her feel bad about herself

Calling her names

Making her think she's crazy

Playing Mind games

Humiliating her

Making her feel guilty

Research: www.thehotline.org (National),
Call 1-800-799-72339 (SAFE) |1-800-787-3224 (TTTY)
ADVOCATE!

Find out more about both orgs at:
www.iotasigmarho.wix.com/rush
www.opssl.org
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