i found this on youtube. how very inspirational.
cheers to the dreamers.
Friday
christmas at the cross.
12/28/07
this week has been both good and bad. i had four days in a row off, which was also a mixed blessing. i needed the break, but wish i had more to look forward to over those days. my first christmas as a mother was spent alone in a cold house waiting for something. i don't know what i was waiting for, but i think it did not come. what did come, was an awkward day of watching sitcoms.
the week was bustling. matthew is leaving for mexico today for the year of good works; i am again being left behind. i am going to miss him more than i'm prepared to admit. he spent the week flitting in and out of my sight, running last minute errands and still trying to keep me happy. he booked a lovely night at county clare and we had a little holiday in the midst of everyone else's holidays.
i also decided i will no longer be celebrating christmas. it broke my heart to be without my son, and so i am boycotting the holiday. from this point on, the family paradise will exclusively be celebrating kwanzaa.
by the way, today is the day to celebrate ujima, or collective work and responsibility. happy ujima, everyone! i really encourage everyone who is of african descent to look into this kwanzaa thing. it's very community-based.
one of my good friends was arrested last night. i got a call from a stranger informing me that this friend smashed into a fence, and was drunk, but alright. his drinking has been driving a wedge into our friendship, and the result is this final mess. i am worried about him.
a lot of things have been happening as a result of people binge drinking. i don't think that drinking is inherently bad, but it needs to be done in a safe, responsible manner. if you, or someone you know may be overindulging in an unsafe manner, please check out this article in the milwaukee journal sentinel. it might be helpful. it might even save a life.
yesterday, the new executive director arranged a potluck for the staff here. we all ate a bunch of bad for you food and eggnog and played a game of kind of jeopardy. it was really cute, because tracy was really excited about the idea of the game, but hadn't exactly worked out the kinks. it was fun to play a game with my co-workers, and our team even came in second place. our reward? a set of post-it notes, keychain first-aid kit, a tube of carmex, and a pouch of hot chocolate.
another really nice thing was a first year overtaking of a family tradition. since the decimation of my own nuclear family, my brother and sister have been amazing supports. they call and check on me, listen to me rant, and offer shoulders (but mosty tissues) to cry on. what we used to do when we all ived at home was renting a movie christmas eve and eating dinner. last night, my brother and sister came over to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, and also brought me presents. i got some stuff, but the best present was when my sister popped her head in with MY BABY!!!
it was so nice to get to see him without the pretenses of dealing with other people's rules. we got to play and eat and sing together with matt and cyndi and spencer and zack. it was really a great surprise. we also got to watch some most extreme elimination challenge. brilliant.
today there is a snowstorm. essentially, that is what this year has been to me. i've lost so much, and gained so much all at once. i am hoping that this coming year will be a good one. i am looking forward to the homecoming of my son, and to the completion of this project. i hope to do great things, and so i shall.
"Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves."
- Lao Tzu
Thursday
charm school and teaspoons
our friday trainer last week dubbed our team service project "the teaspoon."
how quaint. i think i like it.
we've begun meeting pretty regularly for the teaspoon. it's quite stressful, never the bearer of drink-sweetening goodness. it seems everyone is hesitant, tense. some of us are already anticipating working around those failing to meet minimum project requirements.
i started drafting the request for proposals as well as a cover letter. i was quickly reminded of the struggles i face as a writer. it's hard to begin, and even when you overcome that barrier, it isn't easy to continue. i managed to get it done.
presenting my hard work to the rest of the teaspoon team, i was torn to bits. not so much on the content of the letter, but the form. yes, i used standard RFP professional form, and sent it out for corrections. our meeting dwelled in that dangerous place. on the verge of cannibalism, teaspoons clanking against each other in a fury.
i picked up a copy of a local publication called citigal. inside, there was an article on why women are seldom successful in the business world. the author, melanie beres, called it "relational agression." it's basically when women tear each other apart to advance, never considering the cost of the damage. (she, of course, put it more eloquently.)
i like the fact that rather than just bitching about it, beres is putting her money where her mouth is. she's running a competition to groom young women into professionals while helping a few female-centric non-profits. beres is challenging women ages 20-30 to submit a 500-word essay on why they should be chosen for this project, called citigal charm school.
the charm school touts the ability to connect young professional females with business mentors who are women(!!!!), and to help lead them down the rocky path that is the corporate world. also, the winners get cold, hard, cash.
the top 12 essays are selected, and put into pairs. each team is assigned a non-profit (the women's fund, iou sports, cream city foundation, planned parenthood, coa youth and family centers, and the ophelia project) to hold fundraising events for. at the end, the team that raises the most money gets the $1000.
back to the point. i suppose that's the way i feel at allies sometimes. the ladies are hardly that, and are, in fact, unabashedly cruel to each other sometimes. i would like to see more of the principals of PA acknowledged in the participants. myself included. i'm no saint; but i mean well.
anywho, for those of you who would be interested in putting those skills to use, and also gaining more experience in business or nonprofit, submit your 500 word essays on why you should be chosen to citigal.wi.rr.com.
and by the way, which one is the teaspoon? or the salad fork?
how quaint. i think i like it.
we've begun meeting pretty regularly for the teaspoon. it's quite stressful, never the bearer of drink-sweetening goodness. it seems everyone is hesitant, tense. some of us are already anticipating working around those failing to meet minimum project requirements.
i started drafting the request for proposals as well as a cover letter. i was quickly reminded of the struggles i face as a writer. it's hard to begin, and even when you overcome that barrier, it isn't easy to continue. i managed to get it done.
presenting my hard work to the rest of the teaspoon team, i was torn to bits. not so much on the content of the letter, but the form. yes, i used standard RFP professional form, and sent it out for corrections. our meeting dwelled in that dangerous place. on the verge of cannibalism, teaspoons clanking against each other in a fury.
i picked up a copy of a local publication called citigal. inside, there was an article on why women are seldom successful in the business world. the author, melanie beres, called it "relational agression." it's basically when women tear each other apart to advance, never considering the cost of the damage. (she, of course, put it more eloquently.)
i like the fact that rather than just bitching about it, beres is putting her money where her mouth is. she's running a competition to groom young women into professionals while helping a few female-centric non-profits. beres is challenging women ages 20-30 to submit a 500-word essay on why they should be chosen for this project, called citigal charm school.
the charm school touts the ability to connect young professional females with business mentors who are women(!!!!), and to help lead them down the rocky path that is the corporate world. also, the winners get cold, hard, cash.
the top 12 essays are selected, and put into pairs. each team is assigned a non-profit (the women's fund, iou sports, cream city foundation, planned parenthood, coa youth and family centers, and the ophelia project) to hold fundraising events for. at the end, the team that raises the most money gets the $1000.
back to the point. i suppose that's the way i feel at allies sometimes. the ladies are hardly that, and are, in fact, unabashedly cruel to each other sometimes. i would like to see more of the principals of PA acknowledged in the participants. myself included. i'm no saint; but i mean well.
anywho, for those of you who would be interested in putting those skills to use, and also gaining more experience in business or nonprofit, submit your 500 word essays on why you should be chosen to citigal.wi.rr.com.
and by the way, which one is the teaspoon? or the salad fork?
Wednesday
out brief candle.
12/12/07
it's been a while, but much has passed. of course, we had a friday training session, but there was also a tragic event.
in order not to lose my thoughts on it, i'd like to cover the friday training. we met at the LGBT center again on court street. the training was called "diversity and oppression: heterosexism" and the facilitator was our own todd wellman of the national PA office.
in spite of his attempts to make it more about the normalization of heterosexist ideas, i do feel it was largely about homosexual culture. todd did a good job of making the topic more approachable for those among us who perhaps are insecure about their sexuality, or for those who blatantly oppose the idea of the LGBT community. we covered the terms 'homophobia' and 'heterosexism' thoroughly, which set the tone for our discussion.
breaking off into groups, we were assigned a list of questions to discuss. i found that most people grew up with negative introductions to homosexuality from either their families or church groups. for me, it was hard to understand. i grew up in a pretty accepting family, speckled with not only LGBT members, but also more multiracial children than singular ethnicity babies. from this experience, i likened the idea of being LGBT to that of being black.
black, to me, isn't something that needs explaining. it doesn't need to be discussed in a serious manner, nor does it need to be frowned upon. if you are black, you just are. likewise for me if you are LGBT.
many of the females in the program identify with the LGBT community. in fact, many of us have had same-sex or 'non-traditional' relationships. to my knowledge, none of the men have openly admitted to any experience and in fact shut down. is it because they are afraid of being identified as gay? not men?
this also sparks in interest in me as far as the overall demographic of society: most of the men in our group are minorities. traditionally, minority men are the least likely to speak on the topics in a positive way. also, we were missing 1 of our three white males... what would his opinion have been? would he have been comfortable sharing it? what about the latino community? so many of us are accustomed to the white and black views on the topic.
i will say i was surprised that it went as well as it did. there was one thing that i would have liked to change though. at the end of the discussion, there was a fishbowl exercises where several self-identified LGBT sat in the center of the group ad had a discussion on what it was like to be 'queer.' i understand the intention as to make this aspect of living more accessible in terms of personalizing the issue, but i don't really feel it's effective. because there is so much stigma attached, i think this exercise would have been best done anonymously. that way, i feel that more of the 'closeted' LGBT allies would have contributed.
drawing from my own experience, i guess the topic was something we needed to have. i just wish it might have gone in another direction. todd did a good job, and we got through a lot of work on friday that must have left people thinking.
now, for the other event. monday morning, i got into my office to find one of my coworkers had committed suicide sunday afternoon. i wrote a reflection on it, but didn't feel right putting it up right away. i wanted to let my feelings mature on it a bit more before i really put it out there for everyone to see. here's the bit i did. it's incomplete and barely cohesive, but for posterity, i think the truth of it maintains some of the integrity.
12/10/07
last night i dreamed a strange dream about being taken to some kind of emotional studies with a bizarre psychologist in a white lab coat. the building was sterile, brushed steel and fluorescent bulbs. there were televisions playing clips of young girls writhing in cages (no older than me). they were fetishized, in pvc clothing and pancaked makeup. it was important for some reason. the psychologist kept asking me how i felt, what did the images mean to me? he pried. it was disturbing for some reason.
this morning i got into my office, the new executive director came into my office quickly and quietly. i felt heavy, unsure. one of my co-workers committed suicide this weekend, jumped off a bridge on sunday afternoon.
what do you say to that? it's a different kind of environment, you spend time with these people out of necessity, but find yourself developing relationships. i didn't know this gentleman very well, but everyone at work has become so close. he's been working here since 1994 and a ton of people were close to him, including my boss.
veronica came into the office this morning shortly after me. she was so happy, one smile away from bursting into song. i panicked. knowing i wasn't the appropriate person to tell her the news, i insisted she please speak to the chapter executive.
a few moments later, i heard wailing and sobs. again, i panicked. what does one do? (one does what one must, right?) veronica is a very religious person, so she was grieving for a close friend who had taken his life.
people are wearing their grief openly here. i don't exactly know how to go about handling this situation. everyone here is so close, they've been here so long. it's as if a piece of everyone has gone.
i am not sure where to fit in to all of this. i am here, and their emotions affect me greatly. especially veronica, because she's making a great effort to be there for me through all my own issues. she encourages me, and still offers time-tested wisdom.
so, that's what i came up with. i'm not going to try and encapsulate it. there's nothing more to say about it. it just makes you realize that life truly can stop at any moment, people are hurting inside whether you know it or not. love one another, and take care.
it's been a while, but much has passed. of course, we had a friday training session, but there was also a tragic event.
in order not to lose my thoughts on it, i'd like to cover the friday training. we met at the LGBT center again on court street. the training was called "diversity and oppression: heterosexism" and the facilitator was our own todd wellman of the national PA office.
in spite of his attempts to make it more about the normalization of heterosexist ideas, i do feel it was largely about homosexual culture. todd did a good job of making the topic more approachable for those among us who perhaps are insecure about their sexuality, or for those who blatantly oppose the idea of the LGBT community. we covered the terms 'homophobia' and 'heterosexism' thoroughly, which set the tone for our discussion.
breaking off into groups, we were assigned a list of questions to discuss. i found that most people grew up with negative introductions to homosexuality from either their families or church groups. for me, it was hard to understand. i grew up in a pretty accepting family, speckled with not only LGBT members, but also more multiracial children than singular ethnicity babies. from this experience, i likened the idea of being LGBT to that of being black.
black, to me, isn't something that needs explaining. it doesn't need to be discussed in a serious manner, nor does it need to be frowned upon. if you are black, you just are. likewise for me if you are LGBT.
many of the females in the program identify with the LGBT community. in fact, many of us have had same-sex or 'non-traditional' relationships. to my knowledge, none of the men have openly admitted to any experience and in fact shut down. is it because they are afraid of being identified as gay? not men?
this also sparks in interest in me as far as the overall demographic of society: most of the men in our group are minorities. traditionally, minority men are the least likely to speak on the topics in a positive way. also, we were missing 1 of our three white males... what would his opinion have been? would he have been comfortable sharing it? what about the latino community? so many of us are accustomed to the white and black views on the topic.
i will say i was surprised that it went as well as it did. there was one thing that i would have liked to change though. at the end of the discussion, there was a fishbowl exercises where several self-identified LGBT sat in the center of the group ad had a discussion on what it was like to be 'queer.' i understand the intention as to make this aspect of living more accessible in terms of personalizing the issue, but i don't really feel it's effective. because there is so much stigma attached, i think this exercise would have been best done anonymously. that way, i feel that more of the 'closeted' LGBT allies would have contributed.
drawing from my own experience, i guess the topic was something we needed to have. i just wish it might have gone in another direction. todd did a good job, and we got through a lot of work on friday that must have left people thinking.
now, for the other event. monday morning, i got into my office to find one of my coworkers had committed suicide sunday afternoon. i wrote a reflection on it, but didn't feel right putting it up right away. i wanted to let my feelings mature on it a bit more before i really put it out there for everyone to see. here's the bit i did. it's incomplete and barely cohesive, but for posterity, i think the truth of it maintains some of the integrity.
12/10/07
last night i dreamed a strange dream about being taken to some kind of emotional studies with a bizarre psychologist in a white lab coat. the building was sterile, brushed steel and fluorescent bulbs. there were televisions playing clips of young girls writhing in cages (no older than me). they were fetishized, in pvc clothing and pancaked makeup. it was important for some reason. the psychologist kept asking me how i felt, what did the images mean to me? he pried. it was disturbing for some reason.
this morning i got into my office, the new executive director came into my office quickly and quietly. i felt heavy, unsure. one of my co-workers committed suicide this weekend, jumped off a bridge on sunday afternoon.
what do you say to that? it's a different kind of environment, you spend time with these people out of necessity, but find yourself developing relationships. i didn't know this gentleman very well, but everyone at work has become so close. he's been working here since 1994 and a ton of people were close to him, including my boss.
veronica came into the office this morning shortly after me. she was so happy, one smile away from bursting into song. i panicked. knowing i wasn't the appropriate person to tell her the news, i insisted she please speak to the chapter executive.
a few moments later, i heard wailing and sobs. again, i panicked. what does one do? (one does what one must, right?) veronica is a very religious person, so she was grieving for a close friend who had taken his life.
people are wearing their grief openly here. i don't exactly know how to go about handling this situation. everyone here is so close, they've been here so long. it's as if a piece of everyone has gone.
i am not sure where to fit in to all of this. i am here, and their emotions affect me greatly. especially veronica, because she's making a great effort to be there for me through all my own issues. she encourages me, and still offers time-tested wisdom.
so, that's what i came up with. i'm not going to try and encapsulate it. there's nothing more to say about it. it just makes you realize that life truly can stop at any moment, people are hurting inside whether you know it or not. love one another, and take care.
Thursday
sneakers.
12/06/07
there's a guy i work with the the cross who i really get a kick out of talking to. honestly, when he's at the front desk in the morning, i know i'm in for a smile at least. ty and i started our day off this morning discussing the pleasantries of interpersonal relationships, from the friendly hello to the intimate physical warmth. somehow, this led into a discussion about race relations and economic class.
ty is a black man raised on the southside of chicago, so he has a bit of knowledge about rough times. we talk about our pasts as angry black youth openly, and with the miraculous distance of affored hindsight. it's nice to hear the truth of it without any filters, no one to block the exchange based on attempts to "protect me" from that big bad world. ty knows that big bad world tossed me around, too, whether folks want to aknowledge it or not.
a little later, ty swung by my office to ask about some shoes he was looking at for his mom. we rapped a while, as shoes are a very accessible conversation for many folks, namely minorities. we talked about the functionality of specific sneakers; weaknesses we've identified in particular brands, the dependability in our favorites. soon enough though, we were talking about why people spend money on these things (and gadgets and cars and blah blah blah) instead of investing in their communities. we talked about gangbangers and petty criminals and crackheads. we talked about my father, who happened to be all three at one point or another.
something specific that i extracted from the conversation with ty was in regards to the visibility of "poor folks" (the oppressed in ally speak) in this world. we live in a time where people flatly ignore the problems facing a large chunk of people, so long as they are comfortable.
when ty walks home at night through the marquette campus, he said a lot of people immediately cross the street with the assumption that he is going to ask for money, or worse, engage them. occasionally, they would say hello, but more often than not, he could sense that they were afraid of him.
for him, there is the constant reality of fear; because he doesn't look like your average marquette student, ty is considered a threat. in reality, ty is a giving person who is more than willing to hear you out, let you do what you need to do and smile in spite of your attitude. so, to avoid making anyone uncomfortable, ty started crossing the street. he said, when you get to be my age, the battle isn't worth it.
but i say, what is the battle? i pay taxes, so i pay for side walks. my rights aren't based on the color of my skin, how much money i have (or don't have), or my mental capacity; my rights are grounded in the pure fact that i am a member of this society.
that's right. it's not a battle, it's an assertion of my existence. my sneakers and i have some sidewalks to claim.
there's a guy i work with the the cross who i really get a kick out of talking to. honestly, when he's at the front desk in the morning, i know i'm in for a smile at least. ty and i started our day off this morning discussing the pleasantries of interpersonal relationships, from the friendly hello to the intimate physical warmth. somehow, this led into a discussion about race relations and economic class.
ty is a black man raised on the southside of chicago, so he has a bit of knowledge about rough times. we talk about our pasts as angry black youth openly, and with the miraculous distance of affored hindsight. it's nice to hear the truth of it without any filters, no one to block the exchange based on attempts to "protect me" from that big bad world. ty knows that big bad world tossed me around, too, whether folks want to aknowledge it or not.
a little later, ty swung by my office to ask about some shoes he was looking at for his mom. we rapped a while, as shoes are a very accessible conversation for many folks, namely minorities. we talked about the functionality of specific sneakers; weaknesses we've identified in particular brands, the dependability in our favorites. soon enough though, we were talking about why people spend money on these things (and gadgets and cars and blah blah blah) instead of investing in their communities. we talked about gangbangers and petty criminals and crackheads. we talked about my father, who happened to be all three at one point or another.
something specific that i extracted from the conversation with ty was in regards to the visibility of "poor folks" (the oppressed in ally speak) in this world. we live in a time where people flatly ignore the problems facing a large chunk of people, so long as they are comfortable.
when ty walks home at night through the marquette campus, he said a lot of people immediately cross the street with the assumption that he is going to ask for money, or worse, engage them. occasionally, they would say hello, but more often than not, he could sense that they were afraid of him.
for him, there is the constant reality of fear; because he doesn't look like your average marquette student, ty is considered a threat. in reality, ty is a giving person who is more than willing to hear you out, let you do what you need to do and smile in spite of your attitude. so, to avoid making anyone uncomfortable, ty started crossing the street. he said, when you get to be my age, the battle isn't worth it.
but i say, what is the battle? i pay taxes, so i pay for side walks. my rights aren't based on the color of my skin, how much money i have (or don't have), or my mental capacity; my rights are grounded in the pure fact that i am a member of this society.
that's right. it's not a battle, it's an assertion of my existence. my sneakers and i have some sidewalks to claim.
Wednesday
the trading post
12/05/07
as a direct result of make a difference day organizing, my office here at the red cross has become a sort of trading post for non-profits in need of stuff. at first, i sent out a solicitation email letting everyone here know that we were collecting toiletries for the guesthouse. the response was awesome, as one of the people from disaster relief (melissa, i think.... is anyone picking up that i am terrible with names?) donated a ton of toiletries to us, as well as an overall positive response by the rest of the red cross staff.
so, all these toiletries were shipped on over to guesthouse, and life moved on. it was quite lovely, i felt good about myself and earned a gold star on my belt of humanity, etc... and so i continued with my presentations and events.
a few weeks ago, a lady who volunteers with one of the other departments came into my office. apparently, she'd also received the email and was coming to drop some things off for the event. during our exchange, she remarked on a stack of boxes piled haphazardly in the corner of my office. i told her that these boxes were remnants of some grand plan, left over batteries from a donation campaign that didn't go as planned (apparently, double a batteries are not very popular in the disaster realm). so in my office they sat, abandoned and lonely, occasionally dipped into by co-workers for am/fm radios and such.
the woman had a light bulb moment. would it be possible for her to take some of the batteries? she had a connection over at the habitat for humanity restore project. i consulted with my boss, and it was an a-ok deal. presto, four of those boxes of batteries found new homes helping another nonprofit. add another gold star, i feel good.
now, a few weeks ago, i sent out a call for help to fellow allies. i've been having problems scheduling presentations. veronica told me it's pretty slow this time of year, but i just feel like i could be doing more. as a result of this call, one of my fellow allies actually spread the word. michael's mom gave me a call, and in addition to wanting a presentation, she asked me if i would be able to help out with a couple different projects she's been working on. being poor as i am, i was regretful that i could only help with the presentations, but i kept her in mind.
yesterday, around 2 pm, melissa... which i am certain is not her name... came into my office and asked if i could use some more stuff. then, it was my turn for a light bulb moment. i was excited to track down audrey, michael's mom, to say that i did in fact have some things she could have! another gold star.
i think that being a part of the chain of progress is where i fit in best. matt and i were talking last night about my interests as a means to determine what direction i should head career-wise. i determined that i am interested in business, but am not so much driven by money as by success. (for some people, those two things are very much that same.) this series of events is, in my opinion, very much success. someone heard about this project, and kept it in mind. others had things to offer, and so the first part was successful. after the event, people were still willing, and that allowed for help in other ways (to audrey's projects.) it makes me happy.
i'm actually getting to implement some good working ideas and see some tangible progress. it's not theory, but practical; these things are physically helping people.
i'm looking forward to the TSP. i've been reading a lot about service learning, and feel like this is the time for me to practice all the skills i've hoped to hone. with guidance and sugestions from fellow allies, program managers and community leaders, i can't imagine this going wrong. our team has a lot of motivation and passion for change, so i'm looking forward to see what we come up with.
as a direct result of make a difference day organizing, my office here at the red cross has become a sort of trading post for non-profits in need of stuff. at first, i sent out a solicitation email letting everyone here know that we were collecting toiletries for the guesthouse. the response was awesome, as one of the people from disaster relief (melissa, i think.... is anyone picking up that i am terrible with names?) donated a ton of toiletries to us, as well as an overall positive response by the rest of the red cross staff.
so, all these toiletries were shipped on over to guesthouse, and life moved on. it was quite lovely, i felt good about myself and earned a gold star on my belt of humanity, etc... and so i continued with my presentations and events.
a few weeks ago, a lady who volunteers with one of the other departments came into my office. apparently, she'd also received the email and was coming to drop some things off for the event. during our exchange, she remarked on a stack of boxes piled haphazardly in the corner of my office. i told her that these boxes were remnants of some grand plan, left over batteries from a donation campaign that didn't go as planned (apparently, double a batteries are not very popular in the disaster realm). so in my office they sat, abandoned and lonely, occasionally dipped into by co-workers for am/fm radios and such.
the woman had a light bulb moment. would it be possible for her to take some of the batteries? she had a connection over at the habitat for humanity restore project. i consulted with my boss, and it was an a-ok deal. presto, four of those boxes of batteries found new homes helping another nonprofit. add another gold star, i feel good.
now, a few weeks ago, i sent out a call for help to fellow allies. i've been having problems scheduling presentations. veronica told me it's pretty slow this time of year, but i just feel like i could be doing more. as a result of this call, one of my fellow allies actually spread the word. michael's mom gave me a call, and in addition to wanting a presentation, she asked me if i would be able to help out with a couple different projects she's been working on. being poor as i am, i was regretful that i could only help with the presentations, but i kept her in mind.
yesterday, around 2 pm, melissa... which i am certain is not her name... came into my office and asked if i could use some more stuff. then, it was my turn for a light bulb moment. i was excited to track down audrey, michael's mom, to say that i did in fact have some things she could have! another gold star.
i think that being a part of the chain of progress is where i fit in best. matt and i were talking last night about my interests as a means to determine what direction i should head career-wise. i determined that i am interested in business, but am not so much driven by money as by success. (for some people, those two things are very much that same.) this series of events is, in my opinion, very much success. someone heard about this project, and kept it in mind. others had things to offer, and so the first part was successful. after the event, people were still willing, and that allowed for help in other ways (to audrey's projects.) it makes me happy.
i'm actually getting to implement some good working ideas and see some tangible progress. it's not theory, but practical; these things are physically helping people.
i'm looking forward to the TSP. i've been reading a lot about service learning, and feel like this is the time for me to practice all the skills i've hoped to hone. with guidance and sugestions from fellow allies, program managers and community leaders, i can't imagine this going wrong. our team has a lot of motivation and passion for change, so i'm looking forward to see what we come up with.
Monday
call 911, then pick an issue
12/3/07
howdy folks. it's been a while, but things are moving along. had a relatively leisurely week last week, and even had a good time at friday training. alicia had her baby, so the world needs to make room for cassidy james.
part of my placement is to give presentations to various community groups, 90 over the period of the internship. last month, i had a few presentations in different settings that gave me some idea about the degrees of difference in pockets of society.
my first round of presentations was at cass street school for the students. i went from classroom to classroom and talked to the kids about fire safety while the teachers hushed them (some even outright yelled). the kids were attentive, mostly interested despite having been told this a number of times, and over all fairly polite for five through ten year olds. they called me "miss ricks" and it made me grossly aware of my slow aging, the widening gap between between their playground freedom and my daily imprisonment to the office, shackled in place by a knotted-up phone cord.
the next presentation i want to reflect on was one i did at aurora adult day center. please know that i am blatantly ignorant about the living conditions of the elderly other than in ways displayed on such quality programming as "oprah" or even "the gilmore girls." going to the center was a little sad for me. it wasn't dirty or ugly or anything, but there was this overwhelming sense of gloom everywhere. the adults seemed lonely, some demented and confused; a few were doing art projects that would undoubtedly be thrown away within a matter of hours. these folks were very glad to be ushered into a room with me, but not so inclined to hear what i had to say. i found myself struggling as a young person trying to pass along knowledge to people who were a half century older than me or better. what could i possibly say to them that they hadn't already heard? here, i experienced the joy of being a mere space filler, a social gathering where the senior folks cajoled one another, even hooted and hollered a bit. i may as well have been speaking to myself.
my final presentation was at a local crime analysis meeting at the district 6 police station. this part, in fact, has absolutely nothing to do with my presentations, but more to do with increasing paranoia in the general population. there were a collection of angry citizens (most of whom were also much older than myself, and 3000% more likely to call the police than i am) as well as a few aldermen and assorted police types. for about 45 minutes, the officers discussed the lack of safety on the south side, and why people needed to call the police CONSTANTLY. someone in your backyard? call 911. are there a few kids milling around? 911. are you tired of those pesky renters? call 911. silly me, i thought 911 was an emergency response thing.
ok, friday training. i thought friday training went pretty well. granted, dave informed me that the cute guy from the beginning of year trolley ride was initially supposed to do this community organizing training, but the fellow (i think his name was steve*, so for all intensive purposes from now on, i will refer to him as such) who did it was pretty interesting to me.
he began the session by pointing out that he was NOT a community organizer. no, in fact he was a professor ( but you know what they say, those who can't...) but in my opinion, i felt he had the theory dead-on. starting by covering very bluntly what organizing was not (activism, mobilizing, and other half-baked intentions), he told us that everyone is not meant to be an organizer. he said that people were addressing insurmountable problems instead of focusing on tacklable issues. while giving examples, steve sort of cut sharply at particular jobs and organization missions, essentially saying they weren't important because they weren't getting anything done. people were offended at this, in spite of complaining about not making a change at their organization. it brought up arthur's previous point about the non-profits: shouldn't they exist to put themselves out of business?
so, that is basically where i'm at with that, with the exception of TSP. more on that later. congrats alicia.
*turns out his name is in fact aaron schutz. all apologies.
howdy folks. it's been a while, but things are moving along. had a relatively leisurely week last week, and even had a good time at friday training. alicia had her baby, so the world needs to make room for cassidy james.
part of my placement is to give presentations to various community groups, 90 over the period of the internship. last month, i had a few presentations in different settings that gave me some idea about the degrees of difference in pockets of society.
my first round of presentations was at cass street school for the students. i went from classroom to classroom and talked to the kids about fire safety while the teachers hushed them (some even outright yelled). the kids were attentive, mostly interested despite having been told this a number of times, and over all fairly polite for five through ten year olds. they called me "miss ricks" and it made me grossly aware of my slow aging, the widening gap between between their playground freedom and my daily imprisonment to the office, shackled in place by a knotted-up phone cord.
the next presentation i want to reflect on was one i did at aurora adult day center. please know that i am blatantly ignorant about the living conditions of the elderly other than in ways displayed on such quality programming as "oprah" or even "the gilmore girls." going to the center was a little sad for me. it wasn't dirty or ugly or anything, but there was this overwhelming sense of gloom everywhere. the adults seemed lonely, some demented and confused; a few were doing art projects that would undoubtedly be thrown away within a matter of hours. these folks were very glad to be ushered into a room with me, but not so inclined to hear what i had to say. i found myself struggling as a young person trying to pass along knowledge to people who were a half century older than me or better. what could i possibly say to them that they hadn't already heard? here, i experienced the joy of being a mere space filler, a social gathering where the senior folks cajoled one another, even hooted and hollered a bit. i may as well have been speaking to myself.
my final presentation was at a local crime analysis meeting at the district 6 police station. this part, in fact, has absolutely nothing to do with my presentations, but more to do with increasing paranoia in the general population. there were a collection of angry citizens (most of whom were also much older than myself, and 3000% more likely to call the police than i am) as well as a few aldermen and assorted police types. for about 45 minutes, the officers discussed the lack of safety on the south side, and why people needed to call the police CONSTANTLY. someone in your backyard? call 911. are there a few kids milling around? 911. are you tired of those pesky renters? call 911. silly me, i thought 911 was an emergency response thing.
ok, friday training. i thought friday training went pretty well. granted, dave informed me that the cute guy from the beginning of year trolley ride was initially supposed to do this community organizing training, but the fellow (i think his name was steve*, so for all intensive purposes from now on, i will refer to him as such) who did it was pretty interesting to me.
he began the session by pointing out that he was NOT a community organizer. no, in fact he was a professor ( but you know what they say, those who can't...) but in my opinion, i felt he had the theory dead-on. starting by covering very bluntly what organizing was not (activism, mobilizing, and other half-baked intentions), he told us that everyone is not meant to be an organizer. he said that people were addressing insurmountable problems instead of focusing on tacklable issues. while giving examples, steve sort of cut sharply at particular jobs and organization missions, essentially saying they weren't important because they weren't getting anything done. people were offended at this, in spite of complaining about not making a change at their organization. it brought up arthur's previous point about the non-profits: shouldn't they exist to put themselves out of business?
so, that is basically where i'm at with that, with the exception of TSP. more on that later. congrats alicia.
*turns out his name is in fact aaron schutz. all apologies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
