These past few days I have been in Baltimore for the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) conference. While I now find myself at home and exhausted, there are many things that I walk away with greatly appreciating from my time spent in Baltimore. I think what I most appreciate was the space that was created for many influential things to take place. Things that may have never taken place, had I not been in Baltimore for this period of time.
I am most thankful for the space and opportunity to enter into what I hope to be a great friendship with my cohort member Courtney. Up until this time, I had only really gotten to know Courtney through the context of our classroom. But now after 5 days spent in Baltimore, venting to each other about the outrageous amount of money we spent on a very disappointing hotel, studying for finals, processing the sessions we attending, creating documentaries on the ACPA experience, tequila shots, and an abundance of laughs, I consider her to not only be an absolutely incredible human being, but someone I intend to have a life long friendship with.
Sticking with the friendship theme, I am very thankful for the space provided for me to get to know some other cohort members in a better way and to really appreciate their personalities and who they are as people. Additionally, I am so thankful for some much needed space to work on redeeming friendships that had gone way off track and nearly derailed. While still a work in progress, the difference in our friendship from Friday to Wednesday is very recognizable.
Going to ACPA also provided me the space to: think, to discuss, to vent, to dream, to plan, to improve, to believe. All in a way that I hadn't yet before. I feel as though the conversations I had, the sessions I sat in on, the ideas that were created have given me enough things to reflect on to last me to the end of the semester. This conference only solidified my recently determined passion within the field of Student Affairs. I also feel that this conference instilled in me a confidence in my ability to hold my ground in this profession that I apparently had been lacking before. It is because of the space so adequately provided that I am thankful for everything that took place these past few days. However...
The only space that was not created from this trip involves my waistline and the now clear lack of space. I guess 5 days of eating out for every meal catches up with one quickly. Must find a way to immediately recreate that space!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
White Leather, Red Laces
It's nearly baseball season and there is no where I would rather be than here....
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| Twins Territory |
But of course, I am in Boone, North Carolina. I didn't really become obsessed with baseball until college. It must have been the 1/2 price general admission and the dollar dogs that got me. But it is seriously one of my favorite sports. Maybe because it shouts loud and clear "SUMMER". It could also be the sound of a packed stadium on a afternoon game, it's flat beer that only tastes good when sitting in a ball stadium, it's being able to people watch the entire game and never miss a thing. It is also becoming friends with the people sitting next to you...even if only for 9 innings! And if you're lucky - a few extra! It definitely is the 7th inning stretch and the kiss cam. Or possibly that one time you and your friends got the last few tickets for the home opener sitting in obstructed view seating and you started the slow clap!
Gosh...I LOVE THIS SPORT! Thankfully, just through the mountains about 40 miles is Elizabethtown where the Twins have their farm team. PTL! You better believe I am going to catch a game or two. But for now, I daydream about being with friends on a warm evening enjoying America's past-time. Thank goodness it is Baseball season!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Service: Redefined
If I were to reflect on the things that are important to me and the things I want to be about, I would typically believe that the term service would show up on multiple different occasions. My go-to leadership model is through servant leadership. I worked for a non-profit organization that developed service trips all across the United States that nearly 40,000 people attended each year. I participate in several different service opportunities each year. Service this. Service that. Service. Service. Service. This is something I think people should get involved in and make a priority in their lives.
However, this term service has been causing some sort of internal dilemma within me lately. I just got back from an Alternative Spring Break trip that gave students here at ASU an opportunity to get outside of their comfort zone of Boone and be a part of the ongoing work taking place in gulf cities such as Pascagoula, Mississippi. While the students worked hard all week with the various tasks given them, I felt that there was this lingering question about the level of service work they were doing. I think sometimes we think that we have to be working with children and having a lot of human interaction to gratify our needs for doing service and to quantify what has been done as such. On top of the recent ASB trip, I also attended a workshop on Globalizing Service Learning that discussed what service learning should and shouldn't be.
It is from that workshop and my previous trip that I am developing this skewed view of the word service. I feel that service has become this sort of self proclaiming- pat myself on the back- add it to the resume- look at how good I am - sort of thing people seek just to make them feel better about themselves. I think a lot of people have lost the real meaning and purpose of service as they enter into service opportunities with this appalling god complex. It's like I can hear them walk into those situations proclaiming "HERE I AM TO SAVE THE DAYYYYY!!!!" And that....DISGUSTS ME! If that is what people believe service is and how it should be approached, I want nothing to do with their kind of service.
Another contributing factor to this sudden dissonance in my comprehension of service came from an upcoming program to be held in my building. With the recent disaster taking place in Japan, my staff and I decided to host a fundraiser to help out a local organization Samaritan's Purse. However, it isn't just a "come bring down your pennies to help out a global cause", it is "we will feed you if you can please just spare a penny or two!" Now, I understand that I am catering to an audience of college students and if food is available at any function, they will magically appear. It's like in Field of Dreams when they say "If you build it, he will come" except it's more like "If you feed them, they will come." I digress. My sudden objection to this is that I feel like through these types of programming I am only enabling people to continue with this type of service where there has to be some sort of reward for people to participate. I feel like too many people ask "What's in it for me?" before even considering getting involved in a service opportunity. I'm sorry but if you are only getting involved and helping out because you get a free meal or to boost your ego then you are not doing service. Service in its purest form there is no evidence of selfishness or motivation for personal gain.
(deep breath)
So with all this I come to this conclusion that we need to redefine service. We have to reclaim it for what it is really suppose to be about. It is imperative that we check our motivations for becoming involved in service ensuring that our motives are pure and just. And with that, I step off my soap box.
However, this term service has been causing some sort of internal dilemma within me lately. I just got back from an Alternative Spring Break trip that gave students here at ASU an opportunity to get outside of their comfort zone of Boone and be a part of the ongoing work taking place in gulf cities such as Pascagoula, Mississippi. While the students worked hard all week with the various tasks given them, I felt that there was this lingering question about the level of service work they were doing. I think sometimes we think that we have to be working with children and having a lot of human interaction to gratify our needs for doing service and to quantify what has been done as such. On top of the recent ASB trip, I also attended a workshop on Globalizing Service Learning that discussed what service learning should and shouldn't be.
It is from that workshop and my previous trip that I am developing this skewed view of the word service. I feel that service has become this sort of self proclaiming- pat myself on the back- add it to the resume- look at how good I am - sort of thing people seek just to make them feel better about themselves. I think a lot of people have lost the real meaning and purpose of service as they enter into service opportunities with this appalling god complex. It's like I can hear them walk into those situations proclaiming "HERE I AM TO SAVE THE DAYYYYY!!!!" And that....DISGUSTS ME! If that is what people believe service is and how it should be approached, I want nothing to do with their kind of service.
Another contributing factor to this sudden dissonance in my comprehension of service came from an upcoming program to be held in my building. With the recent disaster taking place in Japan, my staff and I decided to host a fundraiser to help out a local organization Samaritan's Purse. However, it isn't just a "come bring down your pennies to help out a global cause", it is "we will feed you if you can please just spare a penny or two!" Now, I understand that I am catering to an audience of college students and if food is available at any function, they will magically appear. It's like in Field of Dreams when they say "If you build it, he will come" except it's more like "If you feed them, they will come." I digress. My sudden objection to this is that I feel like through these types of programming I am only enabling people to continue with this type of service where there has to be some sort of reward for people to participate. I feel like too many people ask "What's in it for me?" before even considering getting involved in a service opportunity. I'm sorry but if you are only getting involved and helping out because you get a free meal or to boost your ego then you are not doing service. Service in its purest form there is no evidence of selfishness or motivation for personal gain.
(deep breath)
So with all this I come to this conclusion that we need to redefine service. We have to reclaim it for what it is really suppose to be about. It is imperative that we check our motivations for becoming involved in service ensuring that our motives are pure and just. And with that, I step off my soap box.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
SPRING BREAK in MISSISSIPPI
This past week I spent some time down in Pascagoula, Mississippi with a group of ASU students for an Alternative Spring Break trip. After a fresh shower and a meal that doesn't consist of PB&J I am beginning to reflect on a great week. 11 hours. 11 hours I spent in a 12 passenger van to Mississippi with a bunch of students I had only seen a handful of times. We had a vague idea of the type of work we would be doing in a place we knew nothing about. We got down to Pascagoula Saturday evening and soon made plans to go see a Mardi Gras parade in Mobile, Alabama the next day. What a great way to start out a trip! I never knew that I could become so excited about getting beads thrown at me!
Throughout the week we worked on a house that had been impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The house had been flooded and within the last 5 years it has started to slowly get pieced back together. Apparently, soon after Katrina contractors would come to work on people's homes, promise to fix up all the damage but instead took off with their money and left their homes in ruins. Our group got to work on a home by caulking and painting the whole house. We started off the week with excess amounts of enthusiasm and nearly had the house finished painting by the end of the first day. After a little pep talk at the end of our first day, we decided to go back and be a little more meticulous with the work we were doing.
We worked with a man who had grown up in Mississippi but then moved around the country a lot. He heard about things taking place back in MS and decided to help out. What he does is he raises money from the help of donors and finds volunteers to fix up homes in the Pascagoula area. In the past two years he has helped over 50 families who were effected by Katrina.
While working, we kept ourselves entertained fairly well. We sang songs. We spoke in ridiculous accents. We turned the paint into face paint. We climbed up on the roof just to catch a few rays of sun. It was great! An older gentleman Ned was working with us on the house. Ned became a major theme in newly created songs, conversations and inside jokes. The best moments were when we got Ned to sing "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean with us while working on the house. There was also another guy working on the house who was born in MN so of course we got to talking about the land of 10,000 lakes! He now lives in MN but has been coming back to MN in the summers to participate in the triathlon in Buffalo, MN. Crazy meeting up with someone familiar with my home town on a service trip in Mississippi.
The group was 9 girls and 1 guy - poor Clay! Everyone was great! On the ride down we were still figuring out each others' names, but by the end of the week we were laughing like crazy and crackin' jokes with each other like we had known each other for years. I don't think I have ever laughed so much in one week. It's funny to me how this group of strangers have seen the real me, while the people I go to class with every day have only - at best- seen a glimpse of who I really am.
Wednesday there was a storm in the morning that prevented us from working. We spent the day playing Sardines and taking naps. We also decided to take a little driving tour around Pascagoula. The houses that are now on the Gulf are million dollar homes but there are still a lot of empty lots right there on the coast. You can see other parts of the city are still abandoned and destroyed from the Hurricane. We also somehow ended up by the port just around the time everyone was getting off of work. I don't recommend doing that. YIKES! So many people!
By Friday we had the house all painted on the outside as well as the inside. We even got to grout the kitchen and bathroom floors, which was an unexpected but welcomed task. Our help wasn't a major impact like the home next to us that had 40 people working on it and was gutted and resided within the week. But we did get to move the house one step closer to being a place someone can come home to and hopefully be a continued sign of hope for the people of Mississippi.
The best part of the week was going to get some BBQ at The Shed. Rumor has it this BBQ & Blues joint has been featured on Dinners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It has some incredible BBQ and you can sit outside under the stars warmed by the heat provided by the nearby bonfire all while listening to a great blues band play hits from Johnny Cash and Elvis among many others. It was fantastic! If you ever end up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi you must go eat there! You won't regret it.
And then after another LONG 11 hour drive I am back in Boone. I am so glad I got the opportunity to go to Mississippi for this trip. I was glad to get to know some students that don't live in my building and to be a part of something bigger than myself. I was reminded that one person can really make a difference in this world. I know that I may not be fixing homes and restoring hope, but I do hope that something I am doing here at ASU is making a difference. So all in all - GREAT trip! Mississippi, it's been real!
 |
| Yay Beads!! |
We worked with a man who had grown up in Mississippi but then moved around the country a lot. He heard about things taking place back in MS and decided to help out. What he does is he raises money from the help of donors and finds volunteers to fix up homes in the Pascagoula area. In the past two years he has helped over 50 families who were effected by Katrina.
While working, we kept ourselves entertained fairly well. We sang songs. We spoke in ridiculous accents. We turned the paint into face paint. We climbed up on the roof just to catch a few rays of sun. It was great! An older gentleman Ned was working with us on the house. Ned became a major theme in newly created songs, conversations and inside jokes. The best moments were when we got Ned to sing "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean with us while working on the house. There was also another guy working on the house who was born in MN so of course we got to talking about the land of 10,000 lakes! He now lives in MN but has been coming back to MN in the summers to participate in the triathlon in Buffalo, MN. Crazy meeting up with someone familiar with my home town on a service trip in Mississippi.
 |
| Oh Ned! |
 |
| Excited faces!! |
By Friday we had the house all painted on the outside as well as the inside. We even got to grout the kitchen and bathroom floors, which was an unexpected but welcomed task. Our help wasn't a major impact like the home next to us that had 40 people working on it and was gutted and resided within the week. But we did get to move the house one step closer to being a place someone can come home to and hopefully be a continued sign of hope for the people of Mississippi.
The best part of the week was going to get some BBQ at The Shed. Rumor has it this BBQ & Blues joint has been featured on Dinners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It has some incredible BBQ and you can sit outside under the stars warmed by the heat provided by the nearby bonfire all while listening to a great blues band play hits from Johnny Cash and Elvis among many others. It was fantastic! If you ever end up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi you must go eat there! You won't regret it.
And then after another LONG 11 hour drive I am back in Boone. I am so glad I got the opportunity to go to Mississippi for this trip. I was glad to get to know some students that don't live in my building and to be a part of something bigger than myself. I was reminded that one person can really make a difference in this world. I know that I may not be fixing homes and restoring hope, but I do hope that something I am doing here at ASU is making a difference. So all in all - GREAT trip! Mississippi, it's been real!
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