Reunion Online

Mariska and Maile here. We have some big news—and are asking for your help.

In light of the recent media attention and public outrage surrounding the Stanford University sexual assault case, our issues—and society’s response to survivors—are at the forefront of the national dialogue.

For the past ten years I have spoken openly and publically about my emotional, physical, spiritual, and sexual abuse, something I only did in the past in the way of justifying my behavior. I would tell my wife and friends, “If what happened to me happened to me happened to you, you’d be drinking or acting this way also.”

I was reminded recently of an important lesson about trauma recovery. The teacher was the son of a friend, a young man who spoke at his bar mitzvah about the competing motivations of fear and hope.

Maile Zambuto, Joyful Heart CEO, responds to Stanford.

Too often, when we talk about abuse we talk about how hopeless we feel. I will ask the question that was posed to me, “Who’s telling you that story?”

I work on a college campus full of faculty and professional staff, most of whom actively want to do good for our survivors of sexual violence on campus. However, we live in a society that perpetuates ideas about who can and cannot be affected by interpersonal violence (IPV).

As the Creative Projects Manager at 1in6, I wear a lot of hats. I manage our 1BlueString and Bristlecone Project awareness campaigns, maintain our social media, and coordinate special projects. A couple of years ago, I also took over the task of reading and responding to the feedback sent through the feedback forms located at the bottom of each 1in6 webpage.