Spring Break
Imprints: Taking passion to the next level
Grad student November Papaleo uses her enthusiasm, dedication to make change
Amanda Robbins
Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: News
"He basically gave her a bunch of excuses about not having clean laundry and that the shirt was funny," Papaleo said.
Her colleague questioned the message he was sending out and told him he should turn his shirt inside out.
"The response she got from him was not good," Papaleo said. "But later we ran into that same guy and he had his shirt turned inside out. We have to not be afraid to call out unacceptable behavior."
Based on this and other incidents, Papaleo thought it would be a good idea to bring Hollaback to the Pacific Northwest.
"There was already a Hollaback Seattle that was set up by Luke Lee," Papaleo said. "I contacted him and he e-mailed me back saying that he was going to disassemble his site and make a new one that included all of the Pacific Northwest."
Working with Lee, Papaleo does most of the public speaking and class presentations, while Lee does everything else.
In her presentations, Papaleo explains what people can do with the Web site, such as posting an offensive incident that happened to them. She also said people are allowed to take pictures of the person with their camera phones and post them on the site, but personal information about the offender will not be listed.
"Campus fits into my life," she said. "Off campus doesn't."
Although Papaleo does help run Hollaback Pacific Northwest, her primary job is being a student.
She started out as a cultural anthropologist at Washington State University - getting her first bachelor's degree in anthropology.
"I was just happy showing up during high school and my first four years of college," Papaleo said about not being enthusiastic about the courses. "I took a Bible as Literature course and my professor suggested that I take intro to women studies."
This was when things started to change for Papaleo. She had a place for her passion to be expressed.
"That was where this started. I actually started to care about what I was learning about and it is where my passion lies."
Her colleague questioned the message he was sending out and told him he should turn his shirt inside out.
"The response she got from him was not good," Papaleo said. "But later we ran into that same guy and he had his shirt turned inside out. We have to not be afraid to call out unacceptable behavior."
Based on this and other incidents, Papaleo thought it would be a good idea to bring Hollaback to the Pacific Northwest.
"There was already a Hollaback Seattle that was set up by Luke Lee," Papaleo said. "I contacted him and he e-mailed me back saying that he was going to disassemble his site and make a new one that included all of the Pacific Northwest."
Working with Lee, Papaleo does most of the public speaking and class presentations, while Lee does everything else.
In her presentations, Papaleo explains what people can do with the Web site, such as posting an offensive incident that happened to them. She also said people are allowed to take pictures of the person with their camera phones and post them on the site, but personal information about the offender will not be listed.
"Campus fits into my life," she said. "Off campus doesn't."
Although Papaleo does help run Hollaback Pacific Northwest, her primary job is being a student.
She started out as a cultural anthropologist at Washington State University - getting her first bachelor's degree in anthropology.
"I was just happy showing up during high school and my first four years of college," Papaleo said about not being enthusiastic about the courses. "I took a Bible as Literature course and my professor suggested that I take intro to women studies."
This was when things started to change for Papaleo. She had a place for her passion to be expressed.
"That was where this started. I actually started to care about what I was learning about and it is where my passion lies."
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