For my on campus event I chose to go to one of the presidential brown bag lunches. I chose this because I wanted to expose myself to some ideas that were against my political beliefs. I think that I sometimes only talk about politics with the friends that I know will agree with me and only read about the news from sources that advocate a liberal agenda. However, I really do believe that it is important to spend time listening (open-mindedly) to people who have differing opinions because it is a good way to discuss and understand why I feel the way I do. Unfortunately this event was not as much a stretch for me as I would have liked, as all of the speakers strongly supported Obama over McCain and there was little if any discussion of areas in which McCain might be more qualified or reasons why one might wish to vote for him. Because of this disappointing result I chose to watch the election results on November 4 with a group of friends that included a McCain supporter. I found that this experience produced some of the results that I had hoped for when I attended the presidential brown bag lunch discussion. For instance I was reminded about how important I think it is that people of all political orientations work together. I feel that the smugness and superiority that often comes with being a part Washington’s party in power is often very damaging and stands in the way of our government being productive. Additionally, I think that the goals of the American people are in many areas the same for most people, with the real disagreement lying in how to accomplish these goals. During this election I have been rather upset with how much we as a society have been vilifying the members of the parties who oppose our political beliefs. I am as guilty for doing this as anyone else is, however I feel that this is something we should strive to move away from in the future. The conversations that I had while watching election results with friends that have opposing beliefs gave me hope that this is possible.
I don’t really know much about the city of Georgetown, especially in the political realm, I don’t know if we have a mayor, or who that person might be and I don’t know what propositions or ballot initiatives were decided during the election, because I voted by absentee. I feel bad that I am so uninformed about the town in which I live, so I decided to attend a public meeting of some sort in Georgetown for my off campus event. I chose to attend the Georgetown Municipal Airport Advisory Committee meeting. I pick this event because I didn’t even know Georgetown had an airport (also, to be honest, it was at a more convenient time for me than some other meetings). The meeting was held at a firehouse right next to the airport at 7 on a Monday night. The main question under discussion at this meeting was about the lease for the land the airport is on. As I understood the situation the land is leased from Georgetown for the airport to be able to operate. The board members were discussing if they wished to renew the lease with the same terms that they had had before or if they wanted to renegotiate it. I thought that this was particularly interesting because it is not at all how I would have imagined such a decision being made. It was by no means an elaborate legal process including polling about how individuals felt about the decision. Instead each of the members gave their opinions and it was fairly quickly decided that the lease would be renewed as it was before. I really enjoyed seeing the legislative process on such a small scale with just a few people in a room talking about what they thought would work best. It certainly seemed more reasonable and humane than some of the debates that occur between legislators in Washington.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Civic Engagement Blog (take two)
I am optimistic about our motives for civic engagement. I certainly feel like we are on the right path to avoiding the “coat-drive” self-righteousness, but I also thing it is important to keep this goal in mind through out our work. However, the fact that is a concern we are aware of will help us to avoid such a situation.
I think that it is certainly okay for us to be ambitious, and I think we might have more fun if we try something that “stretches” us. At the same time, if we do choose an ambitious project I think we also need to be willing to accept the fact that we may not get everything accomplished that we set out to do. Since our ideas from the last meeting are still sort of fluid and in the works it’s hard for me to say whether they are to big or to small. I think all the ideas we threw out are still new enough and flexible enough at this point that we can work with them to ensure that they are not to small.
I think I would prefer us all to work together as a group. While I do understand the advantages I feel that working together and having a shared experience would really help us to get to know each other better, understand how each individual works, how we can work together and what we can learn from each other.
I really feel like 3 is a magic number in terms of encounters. I feel that in order build some sort of relationship we really need to be in contact with the same population at least three times. For my schedule committing to work once every other week would probably be easiest. In terms of scheduling encounters I am really fond of the following: Perhaps we can set up a regular weekly time for some of the cohort to work at whatever site or project we choose. Then we could sing up for the various days according to our schedule. That way students could work on the project as often as they wish (although I’m sure we would set a minimum) and if you know you’ll be crazy-busy for the 2 weeks in March planning whatever for the organization you are president of you could schedule around that.
I’m not really excited about the populations we have discussed working with. This is largely because I feel especially passionate about other populations. I spent the summer working as a call councilor for a crisis hotline that picks up for two major national suicide hotlines. As a result of this work I am really passionate about helping people going through mental health crises, or those struggling with disabilities. I’m not suggesting that we all go be call councilors for a suicide hotline, but I would be interested to see how we could maybe meet the needs of persons with physical, mental, and/or psychological disabilities. I also feel that veterans are a population that is in great need, especially those just returning from Iraq. There really are not a lot of services for these men and women, especially for those who are dealing with issues like PTSD. This is an issue that we might be able to do a lot for by raising awareness and seeing how we can work inside the system (i.e. the government) to demand a change in this. Since this project is about civic engagement and not just volunteerism it might be interesting to explore some ideas that tap into the civic side. Maybe we could facilitate a letter writing campaign or start a petition to demand better mental healthcare for veterans. As a non-mental health alternative I’m also a big fan of amnesty international and I think it might really interesting and eye-opening.
If we do decide to pursue working with children or the elderly I really think that the project would be nice if it was one-on-one and fairly unstructured. I think this is important because it would facilitate making connections and building relationships. Also I think this is an important way we can avoid the “coat-drive” problem because this way we can listen to what the people we are working with want and need instead of assuming that we know what is best for them. If the unstructured idea is too fluid for some people we could come up with a basic outline of what we want to do and then maybe talk to the groups we would be working with to see how they feel about it and if they have any additional suggestions or ideas. I like the idea of incorporating art, literature, sports/team building, etc, but I think we should talk to the people we would be working with before we make any unchangeable choices and also see if they have additional ideas.
If we do decide to work with children I would prefer to work with economically disadvantaged children, but I do not have a particular age preference for the group we would be working with.
I mentioned above (fourth paragraph) some of the ideas I have for organizing the project in terms of scheduling and contact. I think that there are ways the program work well whether we decide to structure it in a centralized or decentralized way. The suggestions in my fourth paragraph are simply ideas I had that I think could work well, but I’m interested to see what others have to say about this part of the project in particularly and I am certainly open to suggestions. In terms of the project having leaders or no leaders I think it might be hard to say definitively what would be best in this area without first knowing what sort of project we want to do. For instance if we decide to do art with kids than maybe a couple of people would want to form a sort of lesson plan or activity and others could help do the activity with the kids. On the other hand we certainly do not have to have leaders and another sort of project (doing something with amnesty international or the caring place for instance) might be just a easily and successfully completed without leader. I am open to all of the potential options involving leaders (or lack there of), however if we do decide to use leaders of some sort I think it might be best to use a system of volunteering/nominating and voting on leaders.
I think it would be really neat if everyone could come up with one or two ideas of a project that we could do (complete with preliminary research of the organization involved – maybe Suzy could help us individually with this if we want) and then present that idea to the group. I think this would be a really interesting way to do things because it would make each of us more invested in the projects we are discussing and it might let the group hear about some ideas that haven’t really been discussed yet. For me I sometimes end up liking ideas that are completely different from my own, just because they are ones I never would have come up with on myself. If others aren’t so interested in having to filter through so many different suggestions then I think it would be really good to either have Suzy take the lead on this or at least guide us through the process. I think having Suzy help us would be really great because she has a good deal of experience working with different organizations and so she can help us understand how they work and if they might be a good fit for us.
I certainly don’t want to prevent anyone from doing something they have their heart set on, however I do think it is important for us to explore a few different ideas, so the following suggestions are some projects others might not have thought of but still might be really interested in:
Amnesty International: this is an organization that works to correct civil rights injustices throughout the world. You might have heard about them in history class from their attempts to raise awareness about Nelson Mandela and other “forgotten prisoners” of South African Apartheid in the 1960s. The USA branch of the organization has a bunch of interesting suggestions and ideas of how to get involved on their website, including those especially for college students. Of particular interest to us might be lobbing congress, educating the public, and starting a letter writing campaign. For more info check out http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-activist-toolkit/page.do?id=1031046.
Lone Star Circle of Care: this is an organization here in Williamson County that provides healthcare for people who are uninsured or underinsured. They have clinics in Georgetown (literally walking distance down 29), Round Rock, and Granger. I’ve work with them through APO and done things like filing, making folders, and reading to kids in their pediatric waiting room. They have a website too, it’s http://www.lscctx.org/index.html.
R.O.C.K. (Ride on Center for Kids): This organization is here in Georgetown and they do hippotherapy (therapeutic horseback riding). This would be really neat if we wanted to work with kids and animals. R.O.C.K. works with kids that have cognitive and mental disabilities. Also, the staff always has organizational stuff they can use help with if you don’t feel comfortable working with kids. Website: http://rockride-org.doodlekit.com/home.
That’s pretty much all I have to say for now, but I can’t wait to read everyone else’s ideas!
--Margaret
I think that it is certainly okay for us to be ambitious, and I think we might have more fun if we try something that “stretches” us. At the same time, if we do choose an ambitious project I think we also need to be willing to accept the fact that we may not get everything accomplished that we set out to do. Since our ideas from the last meeting are still sort of fluid and in the works it’s hard for me to say whether they are to big or to small. I think all the ideas we threw out are still new enough and flexible enough at this point that we can work with them to ensure that they are not to small.
I think I would prefer us all to work together as a group. While I do understand the advantages I feel that working together and having a shared experience would really help us to get to know each other better, understand how each individual works, how we can work together and what we can learn from each other.
I really feel like 3 is a magic number in terms of encounters. I feel that in order build some sort of relationship we really need to be in contact with the same population at least three times. For my schedule committing to work once every other week would probably be easiest. In terms of scheduling encounters I am really fond of the following: Perhaps we can set up a regular weekly time for some of the cohort to work at whatever site or project we choose. Then we could sing up for the various days according to our schedule. That way students could work on the project as often as they wish (although I’m sure we would set a minimum) and if you know you’ll be crazy-busy for the 2 weeks in March planning whatever for the organization you are president of you could schedule around that.
I’m not really excited about the populations we have discussed working with. This is largely because I feel especially passionate about other populations. I spent the summer working as a call councilor for a crisis hotline that picks up for two major national suicide hotlines. As a result of this work I am really passionate about helping people going through mental health crises, or those struggling with disabilities. I’m not suggesting that we all go be call councilors for a suicide hotline, but I would be interested to see how we could maybe meet the needs of persons with physical, mental, and/or psychological disabilities. I also feel that veterans are a population that is in great need, especially those just returning from Iraq. There really are not a lot of services for these men and women, especially for those who are dealing with issues like PTSD. This is an issue that we might be able to do a lot for by raising awareness and seeing how we can work inside the system (i.e. the government) to demand a change in this. Since this project is about civic engagement and not just volunteerism it might be interesting to explore some ideas that tap into the civic side. Maybe we could facilitate a letter writing campaign or start a petition to demand better mental healthcare for veterans. As a non-mental health alternative I’m also a big fan of amnesty international and I think it might really interesting and eye-opening.
If we do decide to pursue working with children or the elderly I really think that the project would be nice if it was one-on-one and fairly unstructured. I think this is important because it would facilitate making connections and building relationships. Also I think this is an important way we can avoid the “coat-drive” problem because this way we can listen to what the people we are working with want and need instead of assuming that we know what is best for them. If the unstructured idea is too fluid for some people we could come up with a basic outline of what we want to do and then maybe talk to the groups we would be working with to see how they feel about it and if they have any additional suggestions or ideas. I like the idea of incorporating art, literature, sports/team building, etc, but I think we should talk to the people we would be working with before we make any unchangeable choices and also see if they have additional ideas.
If we do decide to work with children I would prefer to work with economically disadvantaged children, but I do not have a particular age preference for the group we would be working with.
I mentioned above (fourth paragraph) some of the ideas I have for organizing the project in terms of scheduling and contact. I think that there are ways the program work well whether we decide to structure it in a centralized or decentralized way. The suggestions in my fourth paragraph are simply ideas I had that I think could work well, but I’m interested to see what others have to say about this part of the project in particularly and I am certainly open to suggestions. In terms of the project having leaders or no leaders I think it might be hard to say definitively what would be best in this area without first knowing what sort of project we want to do. For instance if we decide to do art with kids than maybe a couple of people would want to form a sort of lesson plan or activity and others could help do the activity with the kids. On the other hand we certainly do not have to have leaders and another sort of project (doing something with amnesty international or the caring place for instance) might be just a easily and successfully completed without leader. I am open to all of the potential options involving leaders (or lack there of), however if we do decide to use leaders of some sort I think it might be best to use a system of volunteering/nominating and voting on leaders.
I think it would be really neat if everyone could come up with one or two ideas of a project that we could do (complete with preliminary research of the organization involved – maybe Suzy could help us individually with this if we want) and then present that idea to the group. I think this would be a really interesting way to do things because it would make each of us more invested in the projects we are discussing and it might let the group hear about some ideas that haven’t really been discussed yet. For me I sometimes end up liking ideas that are completely different from my own, just because they are ones I never would have come up with on myself. If others aren’t so interested in having to filter through so many different suggestions then I think it would be really good to either have Suzy take the lead on this or at least guide us through the process. I think having Suzy help us would be really great because she has a good deal of experience working with different organizations and so she can help us understand how they work and if they might be a good fit for us.
I certainly don’t want to prevent anyone from doing something they have their heart set on, however I do think it is important for us to explore a few different ideas, so the following suggestions are some projects others might not have thought of but still might be really interested in:
Amnesty International: this is an organization that works to correct civil rights injustices throughout the world. You might have heard about them in history class from their attempts to raise awareness about Nelson Mandela and other “forgotten prisoners” of South African Apartheid in the 1960s. The USA branch of the organization has a bunch of interesting suggestions and ideas of how to get involved on their website, including those especially for college students. Of particular interest to us might be lobbing congress, educating the public, and starting a letter writing campaign. For more info check out http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-activist-toolkit/page.do?id=1031046.
Lone Star Circle of Care: this is an organization here in Williamson County that provides healthcare for people who are uninsured or underinsured. They have clinics in Georgetown (literally walking distance down 29), Round Rock, and Granger. I’ve work with them through APO and done things like filing, making folders, and reading to kids in their pediatric waiting room. They have a website too, it’s http://www.lscctx.org/index.html.
R.O.C.K. (Ride on Center for Kids): This organization is here in Georgetown and they do hippotherapy (therapeutic horseback riding). This would be really neat if we wanted to work with kids and animals. R.O.C.K. works with kids that have cognitive and mental disabilities. Also, the staff always has organizational stuff they can use help with if you don’t feel comfortable working with kids. Website: http://rockride-org.doodlekit.com/home.
That’s pretty much all I have to say for now, but I can’t wait to read everyone else’s ideas!
--Margaret
Monday, November 3, 2008
Civic Engagement Blog
I'm not exactly sure what civic engagement means to me. I know that I have always viewed volunteerism as an important part of my life and that seems to be a key element of civic engagement as well. I also feel like civic engagement has a more purposeful drive and more stable foundation than simple volunteerism. I hope to make an impact on SU with CE work in paideia. I am trying to remain open and fluid about what that is exactly at this point, but it is important to me that the CE work I do have a positive impact on at least one life. In approaching the topic of CE I am a bit concerned about finding a topic or issue that all of us in the cohort feel passionate about. I think that will be a key factor in making our CE work great, but because we are such a diverse group I am a bit concerned about us being able to choose something everyone cares about.
The areas I am interested in (today at least): are healthcare for the un/underinsured, mental health issues, domestic hunger (especially in children), and homelessness.
The areas I am interested in (today at least): are healthcare for the un/underinsured, mental health issues, domestic hunger (especially in children), and homelessness.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Yay for Study Abroad!
For me study abroad fits into Paideia in two main ways. First it continues the theme of stretching oneself, and maybe committing to something you might not otherwise do. Second, based on the program that Sue suggested for me on our first meeting studying abroad will provide me with an oppertunity in my field (psychology) that I wouldn't otherwise get. The oppertunity to take a number of remarkable classes about subjects in psychology that are not typically offered at SU.
When setting out to find a program for study abroad I had two main goals; to find an oppertunity in my field that I wouldn't otherwise get, and to see as many different places as possible in my time abroad. Now that the first of my goals has been met I am working on arrainging the second. Luckily, I will have the opertunity to travel a great deal within the program I have chosen, however I am also looking into ways of expanding my travel oppertunities on my own after the program ends and my summer break begins.
As an extremely curious and self-modivated learner there are a number of ways in which I expect my study abroad experience to be no different than my experience at SU. I expect that I will continue to research certain topics that interest me purely for the fun of it and to take every available oppertunity to visit museams, art gallaries, theatrical and musical productions, as well as cultural events. However, the main thing I hope to gain while studying abroad is a somewhat greater sence of independance and cofindance in my ability to adapt and produce quality work in an unfamiliar environment. I additionally hope to gain increased knowlage and proficienty in my field as I hope to gain from all my academic ventures.
I mainly expect my time in Copenhagen to build on and expand what I have learned at SU and to act as a building block for further learning when I return to SU.
The distance from my family and freinds is a bit of a concern for me that is compounded by the time difference. However I feel fairly confidant about the structure of the program and the dedication of the staff (something that I was aprehensive about previously). Another concern for me is the weather as I have every reason to expect that January in Denmark will be colder than a girl from Texas like me could ever imagine. I guess I'll just have to ask for a super warm coat the Christmas before I go.
At this point my plan for study abroad is to study abroad in the Spring of 2010 (the second semester of my junior year). I plan on studying in Copenhagen, Denmark through the Danish Intitute for Study Abroad (DIS). I plan to study in the Psychology track of the program and take 13-14 hours worth of classes. I am so excited and I can't wait to go!
When setting out to find a program for study abroad I had two main goals; to find an oppertunity in my field that I wouldn't otherwise get, and to see as many different places as possible in my time abroad. Now that the first of my goals has been met I am working on arrainging the second. Luckily, I will have the opertunity to travel a great deal within the program I have chosen, however I am also looking into ways of expanding my travel oppertunities on my own after the program ends and my summer break begins.
As an extremely curious and self-modivated learner there are a number of ways in which I expect my study abroad experience to be no different than my experience at SU. I expect that I will continue to research certain topics that interest me purely for the fun of it and to take every available oppertunity to visit museams, art gallaries, theatrical and musical productions, as well as cultural events. However, the main thing I hope to gain while studying abroad is a somewhat greater sence of independance and cofindance in my ability to adapt and produce quality work in an unfamiliar environment. I additionally hope to gain increased knowlage and proficienty in my field as I hope to gain from all my academic ventures.
I mainly expect my time in Copenhagen to build on and expand what I have learned at SU and to act as a building block for further learning when I return to SU.
The distance from my family and freinds is a bit of a concern for me that is compounded by the time difference. However I feel fairly confidant about the structure of the program and the dedication of the staff (something that I was aprehensive about previously). Another concern for me is the weather as I have every reason to expect that January in Denmark will be colder than a girl from Texas like me could ever imagine. I guess I'll just have to ask for a super warm coat the Christmas before I go.
At this point my plan for study abroad is to study abroad in the Spring of 2010 (the second semester of my junior year). I plan on studying in Copenhagen, Denmark through the Danish Intitute for Study Abroad (DIS). I plan to study in the Psychology track of the program and take 13-14 hours worth of classes. I am so excited and I can't wait to go!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
50 Facts
I enjoyed leading my 50 Fact discussion, however I do feel that the discussion felt a bit more like a lecture than I would have liked. I would have preferred if more people had joined in on the discussion and shared their thoughts and opinions. Additionally, I feel like I did a great deal of the talking during the discussion. This is probably partly due to my own gregarious nature, but I also wonder if it was in part due to the more unusual nature of the topic I chose – rather than a topic like religion, with which most if not all people have at least some experience. Perhaps discussion would have flowed more easily if everyone had a more extensive background regarding languages.
However, leading the discussion was a great chance for me to learn about something new and different. Language extinction is probably not something I would ever have done research on if it weren’t for Paidiea. I am also having a lot of fun reading the 50 Facts book, because it makes me think about things I probably wouldn’t otherwise think about and it raises my awareness for a number of important issues.
This is a link to the Rosetta Project website so anyone who is interested in learning a bit more about language preservation can.
http://www.rosettaproject.org/
However, leading the discussion was a great chance for me to learn about something new and different. Language extinction is probably not something I would ever have done research on if it weren’t for Paidiea. I am also having a lot of fun reading the 50 Facts book, because it makes me think about things I probably wouldn’t otherwise think about and it raises my awareness for a number of important issues.
This is a link to the Rosetta Project website so anyone who is interested in learning a bit more about language preservation can.
http://www.rosettaproject.org/
Thursday, September 4, 2008
What I Expect from Paideia
I signed up for Paideia for several reasons. I thought that it might stretch me, for instance I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of studying abroad, but I know it will be a very enriching experience, and by being involved with Paideia I will be forced to do that and hopefully some other things that will give me great learning experiences but that I might not otherwise do. I also chose Paideia because I knew that this year would be my only opportunity to join a Paideia cohort and I didn't want to regret not getting involved in Paideia. Another reason that influenced my decision to join Paideia is the opportunity to learn from others prospective. I spend a great deal of time absorbing information through a psychology perspective and that’s great because I’ve been inspired by another discipline quite the way that psychology inspires me, but I also know that there are many other valuable and interesting perspectives to consider (especially at a school like SU) and I want to be able to learn as much about as many different things in as many different ways as I can. And to be entirely honest I can’t complete this section without including another motivation for doing Paideia – the McCombs apartments. I also wanted a shot at having my own room and bathroom my sophomore year, and to be entirely honest I couldn’t be happier with my living situation. This is the first time ever I haven’t had to share a bathroom with someone and it is heavenly. The main reason I chose the section “Understanding Human Behavior” is because that is really what drives me. Many of my life and academic goals revolve around a deeper understanding of human behavior and I think that in coming to understand humanity in a deeper and more honest way will lead to greater peace and stronger community ties in our world.
My goals for the Paideia experience involved a lot around the idea I mentioned before about stretching myself, going outside my comfort zone if you will. There are quite a few things about Paideia that are not the most comfortable. For instance I really like structure it makes me comfortable and I feel that I have things more under control within structured environments. For me structure does not have to be imposed from the outside, I am perfectly happy to enter an unstructured environment, but then I create a structure for myself. However one of the unique things about Paideia is that because of the group dynamic I can’t really create structure without forcing it on others (something I certainly do NOT intend to do). So I hope to become more comfortable with fluid programs during my time in Paideia. I’m also typically not a huge fan of group work because in my past experiences I’ve been left having to do everything at the last minute a lot and that really sucks. I’m hoping Paideia will give me a new prospective on group work and help me to trust others to do their part while learning to better collaborate constructively. I also expect Paideia to change my mind about some things, I think that sometimes people just decide that their opinions are right and then close their minds to all other options but this past year I learned a lot about there not ever being one right answer to any question (unless of course a professor is asking you). And through some really interesting discussions I was able to listen more without assumptions about “right” and “wrong”, learn new ideas, facts, and ways of looking at things, and ultimately form a more well rounded opinion of certain issues.
I really have no idea where I want to study abroad, but I do know that wherever I go I want to find a place that will allow me an opportunity within my field of study that I would not otherwise have. I think I’d also like to go somewhere that I haven’t been before. I’m very hesitant to consider any program that only has classes in a language other than English because honestly my Spanish is pretty weak and that is the only foreign language I’ve ever studied. But I would be willing to go to a place that has a native language other than English, just as long as I can write my papers in my native tongue.
I’m excited about the idea of the civic engagement project because I think that it is such an important part of being a good global citizen. Although I am often far from successful I try very hard to maintain a certain level of involvement in whatever community I am in through volunteer work. I’m really open to most issues we could work with in the area of civic engagement, but some areas that I have done work in or have interested me in the past include; AIDS/HIV, mental health, care for the under/uninsured, environmental issues, living wage/rights of the worker, the chronically homeless, and educating voters on issues important to elections.
I’m not really especially concerned about anything in Paideia yet, but that could easily change as the semester wears on. I’m not really worried about this but I will be curious to see how the dynamics of our cohort change next year as we leave to study abroad at different times. Also I really don't like that I can't use the tab key to indent in this program when I'm typing.
My goals for the Paideia experience involved a lot around the idea I mentioned before about stretching myself, going outside my comfort zone if you will. There are quite a few things about Paideia that are not the most comfortable. For instance I really like structure it makes me comfortable and I feel that I have things more under control within structured environments. For me structure does not have to be imposed from the outside, I am perfectly happy to enter an unstructured environment, but then I create a structure for myself. However one of the unique things about Paideia is that because of the group dynamic I can’t really create structure without forcing it on others (something I certainly do NOT intend to do). So I hope to become more comfortable with fluid programs during my time in Paideia. I’m also typically not a huge fan of group work because in my past experiences I’ve been left having to do everything at the last minute a lot and that really sucks. I’m hoping Paideia will give me a new prospective on group work and help me to trust others to do their part while learning to better collaborate constructively. I also expect Paideia to change my mind about some things, I think that sometimes people just decide that their opinions are right and then close their minds to all other options but this past year I learned a lot about there not ever being one right answer to any question (unless of course a professor is asking you). And through some really interesting discussions I was able to listen more without assumptions about “right” and “wrong”, learn new ideas, facts, and ways of looking at things, and ultimately form a more well rounded opinion of certain issues.
I really have no idea where I want to study abroad, but I do know that wherever I go I want to find a place that will allow me an opportunity within my field of study that I would not otherwise have. I think I’d also like to go somewhere that I haven’t been before. I’m very hesitant to consider any program that only has classes in a language other than English because honestly my Spanish is pretty weak and that is the only foreign language I’ve ever studied. But I would be willing to go to a place that has a native language other than English, just as long as I can write my papers in my native tongue.
I’m excited about the idea of the civic engagement project because I think that it is such an important part of being a good global citizen. Although I am often far from successful I try very hard to maintain a certain level of involvement in whatever community I am in through volunteer work. I’m really open to most issues we could work with in the area of civic engagement, but some areas that I have done work in or have interested me in the past include; AIDS/HIV, mental health, care for the under/uninsured, environmental issues, living wage/rights of the worker, the chronically homeless, and educating voters on issues important to elections.
I’m not really especially concerned about anything in Paideia yet, but that could easily change as the semester wears on. I’m not really worried about this but I will be curious to see how the dynamics of our cohort change next year as we leave to study abroad at different times. Also I really don't like that I can't use the tab key to indent in this program when I'm typing.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Welcome
So, Dr. G asked that we set up our blogs and write a welcome message, and this is my welcome message.
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