Declare Yourself
Do It With Your Friends And Register To Vote

GirlSite Journalists attended the Declare Yourself Spoken Word College Tour at UCLA on February 26, 2004. It featured Spoken Word Performances, DJ and Live Entertainment, Free Stuff, Voter Registration Booths and Real World Castmates Alton, Irulan and Melissa.

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to energize and empower a new movement of young voters to participate in the 2004 presidential election.  Declare Yourself will rally young Americans through a live spoken word and music tour of college campuses; an unprecedented nationwide voter education initiative for high school seniors; a comprehensive voter registration and election information Web site; an extensive online awareness campaign; a massive voter registration drive; a televised "get out the vote" concert; and public service announcements.  Unique alliances with technology and media partners, educators, the entertainment, music and fashion industries, the corporate community and the National Association of Secretaries of State will be used to ignite millions of young voters.

This nonprofit one-year voter campaign is the culmination of a three-year project, the Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a 50-city cross-country tour of the Declaration of Independence and a multimedia exhibit on the contemporary relevance of our nation's birth certificate.  Founded by TV producer and philanthropist Norman Lear, the DOI Road Trip and Declare Yourself are made possible by The Home Depot, Presenting Sponsor; the United States Postal Service, Official Carrier; and AXA Financial, Inc., Proud Sponsor. For more information, go to www.declareyourself.org.

GirlSite Journalists received cool t-shirts and gift bags from Declare Yourself.	They also learned the importance of registering to vote by informative videos.	GS Journalist Claire interviewed with YAHOO about why it's cool to vote!

Declare Yourself is going on a 50-city cross-country tour to promote voter awareness among young adults.	Performances include spoken word performances, DJ and live entertainment.

Gina Loring, a friend of GirlSite's, is part of the Declare Yourself team. Gina Loring began her performing career with a full music scholarship at the highly selective Happy Valley School (College Preparatory) in Ojai, California. Later, Gina worked on another love -- poetry. The top ranking female poet at the 2002 National Poetry Slam and a member of the 2002 Los Angeles Slam Team, Gina was featured on Russell Simmons' HBO Def Poetry Jam and BET's Lyric Café. She was one of the handpicked poets to perform in a Norman Lear-produced showcase and on the Underground Poets Railroad documentary tour.  She was also a featured vocalist/songwriter on the Brand New Heavies new album "We Won't Stop" and performed at the NAACP Image Awards Nominee Luncheon hosted by Diahann Carroll.

Gina is an up-and-coming vocalist with a poet's lyrical ability. Her highly reflective poetry demonstrates her ability to reveal the intimate.  Her highly reflective poetry contributes to her creation of powerful songs, encompassing subjects such as love, spirituality and social activism, which can be heard on her CD, "Sol Songs."  For more information about Gina Loring, or to purchase her upcoming live album, visit www.ginaloring.com.