Disjointed Update

Sorry I haven't updated in quite some time. This summer has been incredible busy. With groups coming and going I never have time to sit down and breathe it seems, let alone write.

I am really loving my new job. I feel that I am really getting back into the groove of facilitating on a regular basis. I am able to fully engage all of my students most of the time, which is an accomplishment, while I too am having a good time! It's like a win-win! I am desperately missing my friends back in Columbia, which is compounded by all the fabulous Twitter updates and texts from 3Crown! Which isn't to say I don't appreciate them whole-heartedly, but makes me wish I had stayed another year.

I have also discovered how much of that E in ENFP I truly am. I have come to really not like my days off here as I don't really do anything with anyone. I forgot how much I have not having a large group of folks in my general age range to be social with. It was a problem when I was in Chicago and it is here as well. I must figure out how to over-come this negative aspect of my situation. I completely love everything else, but the lack of other people around here is difficult for me.

I am very much looking forward to the AEE conference in Vegas in November, where I will be presenting. It's also kind of cool that 2 other people affiliated with my organization will also be presenting which is pretty cool!

Even more than that I am looking forward to a very special wedding in Jackson in October. It will really cool to get away for a weekend and see some beautiful faces.

I am also trying to find a time, maybe for a football game to return to Carolina. This would be the last year I really know anyone there, so if I am ever going to go back this would be the time. Any suggestions?

Sorry for this disjoined updated. They will get back on schedule from this point and much more coherent. Sorry for keeping you all holding your breath for no valid reason!

Trouble in Paradise

So this is an entry that is probably more personal than many I have posted thus far. This is something that happened to me last week. I was watching an episode with a summer staff member last week when this individual semi-accidentally disclosed to me that they were planning on drinking that night in their cabin, and that this was not the first time that they were going to drink on property, something explicitly against protocol regardless of age during the summer.

I knew that this was something that I could not stand idly by. I also knew that I was not going to report due to policy and the fact that my job could have been on the line, but more so to do with the fact that the students with which we work come from backgrounds that are less than ideal, perhaps often to do with drugs and alcohol. How can we create a safe space for them to grow and learn if these activities are going on in the very same space.

I of course went and spoke with my supervisor immediately. The next day we all got together, the staff living on property for the summer and had a conversation. All the summer staff were very upset to say the least, save for one or two. Additionally, it seemed one of the summer staff at one point had spoken up to the group but had been ignored and I felt as if they were going to start blaming this individual for “narking”. Finally I spoke up and told the group that it was me who said something.

They were not exactly happy with me. One individual actually spoke up and said that they didn’t know if they would be able to trust me. And then an additional person spoke up to say the same thing. This was probably the single most hurtful thing that has ever happened to me that has been an blow that happened verbally.

I take trust very seriously and believe that I have never given anyone a reason to doubt me, to not trust me, certainly not anyone from this group. I don’t believe I betrayed anyone’s trust, so this blow hurt me greatly.

Since then, it has been rather awkward with the summer staff. Most of them no longer like me, which is difficult to work with, but it has improved in the past few days, especially since we had a program the last few days last week, which was amazing and the subject of another post.

Thanks for listening! Talk with you all soon!

g

A new take on an old activity.

Many of you are familiar with the challenge course initiative pipeline, I found a really cool blog today with a variation of this that I thought I might share here. The post is by michael cardus and can be found here:

http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building-activity/team-building-activity-coriolis-affect

It is called the Coriolis Affect and I can't wait to try it out! What is your favourite activity that you have recently learned?

DMB, Snakes & Training

So this past weekend I went to upstate New York with two of my roommates for a spontaneous weekend trip to see Dave Matthews Band. It was a blast. I had such a great time. The show was a bit different than the one I went to last year in terms of energy and types of songs he played, but in all it was a good time.

Since I have gotten back we have been prepping for the summer staff to arrive. It is kind of weird as I am watching all of my friends be the summer staff while I am getting ready to train/ be trained with the summer staff here. Some of them came this evening and we got to have dinner with them. In all they seem like a pretty cool group. I am very excited to meet with more of them and learn more about them.

Additionally, I got to go kayaking this Sunday with two of my roommates on the Delaware River. It's pretty much like a big ole lake, which for my whitewater boat, kind of sucks. I have to paddle extra hard to keep it straight as opposed to them who had a leisurely paddle. At one point, we kept seeing all these fish and it was really cool and exciting. I got a bit ahead of them and thought that I saw a really BIG fish. So I sped up to see it and it was moving really fast. I got a bit closer and saw that it was REALLY BIG, like 5 feet big. Them I realized that this fish had no fins. Then I realized based on how it was swimming with it's head above water that it was a water snake! Now, as some of you may know I had a pet snake for a while, so snakes don't generally freak me out that much, but water snakes freak me the hell out. I immediately turned right around and paddled my happy ass out of there. It was crazy!

Luckily, they do not have poisonous water snakes here, so I need not to be freaked out that badly, just mildly! :-)

Well, training started tomorrow and it's going to be hella intense.I am excited. I shall update you on it as we go!

Thanks friends!!

New Groups

SO today I ran support for two different groups. One high school peer leadership group and one middle school group. The middle school is a group of students with which we work on a regular basis and the high school group had come out to us at the beginning of the year and now this was the culmination of their year-long peer leadership experience.

Running support generally means making sure the programs run smoothly by doing whatever need to be done. I enjoyed this, but the highlight was being able to facilitate the dam rappel with the peer leadership group. That was a lot of fun and the students were fabulous!

Also, I got paid for a week of work. It was much more than I was making as a GA. Ugh. That was sweet. Now if I could only find a bank...

I guess that brings me to another thing I guess you all don't know about this situation. I live in the middle of nowhere. I know you all say that NJ is overpopulated and full of nothing but smokestacks and all. I call bull.

As you know I have been to many places in my life. My breathe was taken away today by the beauty of this old mill next to a field. It was crazy. I wish I had had my camera to take a photo. But I digress, as I was saying I am far from everything. It is really different and really cool. I like it a lot so far. I promise, sometime this week, I will try to get some photos up of the area.

Take care dear friends.

Moving In, Issues of World Peace & Environmental Concerns as well as abuse of power.

Alright, so it's been a while since I have last updated, and thus have a few things to say!

First off, when I first moved in, the cook here started taking me on hikes around the area, mostly in the Delaware Water Gap Rec Area. Here are two pictures from these excursions. The one is from an overlook (I can't remember where) the other is a picture of a doe that was just chillin and let us drive, yes, I said drive right up to her from the road. Crazy!




The job is pretty stellar. We had a group last week of about 280 students and parents from central Jersey. It was crazy in some ways, but the students were soo sweet. I ended up doing the Dam Rappel most of the time as that is all I had been trained on up till that point. I also lead my first night hike, which the other facilitators that went with my group said it was really good, so I was very happy with that.

This week, we have two more groups, one I will preform support for, the other I will not only stay with the group in the cabin but co-facilitate/shadow my roommate, Claire during the program. I am very excited for this.

The next topic is one that the world is aware of, the gulf oil spill. This is disgusting. I wish we could just move to a more sustainable and clean alternative energy source. What is also bothersome is the fact that there are other things going on in the world that are being all but ignored. For those that haven't heard, there is a big event happening in Gaza.
http://tinyurl.com/27z6lcm
Click there for some recent stories. There are, of course, as to any story, two sides, however this is also disgusting and needs to stop now. As a man of Jewish descent I must say that I am beginning to more and more find the politics of Israel horrible. This needs to stop and the world, America especially, needs to say enough is enough. There needs to be a fair solution taking both sides into account.

Now, on to more unfair abuse of power and imperialism. I got pulled over today on my way home. I was driving up 206N doing the speed limit, seat belt buckled and everything else all legal. Promise. The guy rolls up to my window and all he says is "What's the story with the tinted windows and exhaust" He took my info and went back to his car and then after he ran my info, and instead of bringing it back to me, signaled me to come to his car and get the info back. Once I got it back he drove away.

Several times I have been profiled in my car based on the exhaust and tint and all. They usually drive away once they see me. This makes me sick. This time however he didn't drive away, but I could see the shock in his eyes once he saw me. This only reaffirms the fact that I generally don't like most cops. Far too often the exercise a supreme abuse of power, and it bothers me. I'm bovvered, as my dear friend likes to say.

I like to try to end on a happy note. My brother is going to freshman orientation next weekend, which is exciting for me due to my experience in Higher Ed and so many of my dear friends off doing NODA internships this summer and because, well he's going to college soon! Sooo cool. Also, there is a party for my roommates birthday next Saturday which will be fun! My father's birthday is next Sunday and he and his girlfriend are coming to visit me for lunch and a lil bit of a hike. I think I will take them on the Van Campens Glen hike. Oh well.

If you lasted this long, kudos to you!

Talk to you soon kiddos!

Sorry

Lot's of things happening. Starting my new job tomorrow. Pics and post to come tomorrow evening hopefully. Sorry.

Charleston, Avatar & the Angel Oak

Today I went to Charleston with my family. We went first to see the Angel Oak, which was really cool. It of course brought the comments relating it to Home Tree from Avatar, which was interesting considering the avenue and excess taking place. Quite a juxtaposition. Additionally, people were not respecting the tree for what it was in my mind, looking at it as if it were nothing more than an oddity. Shouldn't it be an oddity that this is the only one, or one a a very few that are like this? It would be great if the Angel Oak was the norm.

Also, we took a guided tour in Charleston. I typically hate this in general, as it was a carriage tour and I don't like to be pulled by an animal due to the laziness of humans, but I participated as that is what my family wanted. What bothered me about this, other than the not walking was the amount of excess. The thing that bothers me the most in this world, or at least near the top of this list is excess. The shear pornographic amazement of material excess. Houses and properties that are selling for millions of dollars and people living large with no care for others around them bothers me a great deal. Our tour guide talked about on this side of the street is the haves, on this side is the have mores. Well, on the other side of town is the have nones, what are we doing for them? It is the voyeuristic nature of our culture to watch. Whether that was the middle class tourists on the carriage watching these houses and wondering and wishing, or those in the properties watching us and those in a state of poverty, it is a graphic and disgusting show of which I have participated unwillingly and knowingly. That is the worst part.

Did I pick up that hitchhiker when I saw him? No, I did not, because I have been taught that he will surely cause harm to me in some respect. Is that correct? Perhaps, perhaps not. Did I look at him? Yeah. Does this make me as bad as those in the mansions looking out on the masses walking about and spending money we don't have on things we don't need? Perhaps.

A lot of questions, fewer answers.

Sorry about this.

Out.

Social Justice

A man whom I respect greatly, Jim Wallis, the leader of the Sojourners religious organization recently posted a letter to Glenn Beck about what Mr. Beck has said in the past concerning both Social Justice as well as the recent immigration law in Arizona.

I personally feel that the law is ridiculous and while immigration does need some reform, this is not the right direction. We need to make it acceptable to come to this country, that is what we were founded on. I agree with Jim that this law is a harkening back to Nazi Germany, making people carry papers at all times just because they could be suspected as being foreign born. I highly recommend this article, and a dialogue in the comments section.

Glenn Beck, Immigration, and Social Justice

On a lighter note, I graduate in 2 hours.

Bias

Something that has occurred to me for a number of years now, but something that I want to get in writing is my musings on the thoughts of diversity and bias. For those of you that don't know, I have worked for the past two years as a social justice educator. One of the aspects of this job is to encourage folks to confront their own privilege and bias and do a self-inventory and examine where they are in this regard. This is where it begins to get a bit tricky.

Part of social justice is an appreciation of diversity of people and of thought. If we are to truly appreciate a diverse array of folks (which I claim to love) can I fully embrace the diverse array of people when that includes people who have no appreciation for anyone besides themselves and people who look/act/believe like themselves? Racists, misogynists, misandrists, heterosexists, classists, etc?

Is this my bias? If I am to challenge folks to identify and challenge their biases, but can't accept those who revel in or even don't identify and recognize their own biases, does that make me as challenged as those folks? I guess this blog just got real deep real fast. This is a discussion I have had several times with a supervisor/mentor. I can't seem to come up with a conclusion. Can I teach diversity and acceptance if I don't accept those who won't accept others?

A New Idea

As I said previously, two of my interests are marginalized populations and politics. Well I guess I should add in I have a graduate degree in education, so that is very much an interest of mine as well.

I figure as well as adding in my own $.02, I would link to other articles of interest for folks. I found this one today from change.org a site that I very much like and admire. It is in a way a collaborative blog that focuses on issues pertaining to social change.

This recent entry by Josie Raymond focuses on for-profit institutions of higher education and tells a much different story than what those shiny commercials and web ads tell.

Check it out: Money-Hungry For-Profit Colleges Exploit Homeless Students

Never Updated

So I have decided, approximately a year ago that I would start a blog. I opened the account and never updated. So here I am a year later with a blank blog. I am going to update it.

I graduate from my graduate program in 4 days. I then am moving and starting my career as an outdoor educator working with marginalized youth. I suppose this blog will mostly be about that. I have a M.Ed in Higher Education & Student Affairs Administration and will soon be working in a field unlike my degree in many respects. I thought I would always be in student affairs, and perhaps I will return one day, but for now my passion lies with marginalized communities, where ever they may be.

This brings me to my next interest. Politics. I suppose of those that read this, I may be the most liberal, but I always welcome a little bit of dialogue. It might be fun.

I also have an intense love of music and a very eclectic love of it as well. For example this morning I started by listening to Yonder Mountain String Band's Elevation (amazing album) and this evening I have been listening to The Haunted - Made Me Do It and Cradle of Filth. Like I said, very eclectic.

I have varied interests and will post on some of them. Some of them I won't. In all, I will try to make it interesting.

Well, I suppose that will have to do for an introduction for the time being. Stay tuned for my next update hitting the street sometime soon.