For this particular post, I'm trying something different. I'm running a playlist on Spotify, my new favorite way to get music on my laptop since I don't want to transfer my gigs of music from my desktop to this thing. As the songs come up, they shall be the theme for the parts of my post.
Mad World- Gary Jules
We've been talking in our classes a lot about diversity issues. As a higher education professional, I have to be adept in facilitating rather heavy conversations about race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religion, etc. and how all of those things interact. I love this part of the job but its very intimidating. With our cohort in particular, we have trouble creating a safe space. If we can't even share with each other, how can we share with students and ask students to do the same thing. This week things changed. Why? I'm not sure but we seemed much more open in class on Tuesday, talking about more personal issues in an effort to share perspectives. THEN someone in our classroom decided to come out of the closet for the first time in that setting. WHAT? I guess it really was a safe space. Everyone seemed to be more willing to share and to listen and for the first time the mad world that was our class lacked the tension that has followed those conversations in the past.
Madness- Muse
Carrying on with the theme, Muse takes me to my counseling class the next day, where our instructor, who is both an experienced psychologist and VP of Student Affairs at OSU, asked all of us to talk about a time when we were the "other" and talk about what that felt like. People talked about everything from blatant homophobia to being in a foreign country to family isolation to growing up poor. These very touching, very open stories I think really built on the previous days openness, and by being forced to share, forced to take a step toward comfort with each other, was really good for us. There is solidarity in hearing about the madness of other people's lives. Sure not everyone shared completely, or shared deep secrets necessarily, but it was still very much a place where we spent time to actually LEARN about each other, that thing we always ask students to do. Imagine that. Professionals doing the work they are going to teach others to do to. Go us. Poignant line from the discussion: I don't know what it's like to be a black man, but I do know what it means to be the "other".
Brand New Colony- Postal Service
Shifting gears, I had a conversation with my dad about politics last night. I'm comfortable saying I'm an independent vote who waits a long time before deciding who to vote for. I'm conservative on some issues, liberal on others, and love to get everyones perspectives. My dad is pretty strongly conservative and I'm so happy to have him in my life. First, I very much respect his perspectives and trust his viewpoints. He sees things past the rhetoric on my issues. He also knows what he wants from his government, his country, and what he has to do with his own life to contribute to those things. And he's a different demographic from me, meaning he picks up on issues that are not things I pay much attention to. I work on a college campus and a big university in a swing state. Obama has come to visit our campus three times in the last 4 months. I asked the question on Tuesday when he was here, Is anyone going to that rally not already going to vote for him? I am surrounded by one perspective for the most part and I don't like that. Unlike Cheeky Monkey, Drew Jules York, and even my mom, I'm actually willing to engage my dad in political conversation. Sometimes I think they take the, "I don't like conflict I don't want to hear it" because my dad is wonderfully passionate about a lot of this stuff. I love it and besides, aren't I going into a field where I need to have civil discourse about hard issues. I mentioned way back in the London/Ireland travel blog that I see my role in my family as one of translator. That comes from my patience, willingness to listen, and ability to talk in a relatable way to both my parents and my siblings. I'm happy to play this role, just as we all have our roles in family, friendship work and play. So going back to politics, I will continue to watch the debates both on TV and in person and make my voting decision to see how our country shifts to become something brand new.
Some Nights- Fun.
What do I stand for though? I ask myself this in talks of voting, politics, diversity, and counseling. This has been an ongoing question throughout my educational career. I'm still not sure what I stand for, but I do have some nice road maps. Religion, experience, family, friends, education, failures, successes, and just the world we live in and how I react to it. One big revelation I had this week was what my job is going to be. I am a peddler of hope. I sell hope to students. As a career counselor, I pitch the hope that you are ready for that interview, ready to get the job in the future. As an assistant resident director, I sold the hope that this place you lived was home, and your concerns would be heard. In diversity discussions, we are working toward the hope that those moments when we are isolated, hated, hurt will soon be gone. That's the "It Gets Better" campaign. That's what both politicians are running under: the hope that the US will be better in the future. Hope has been central tenant for me. In my religion, the three cardinal virtues are "Faith Hope and Love". I resonate with all three but hope has a special place for me. Frenchie's Choice said in our trip last week that I now understand why you are so optimistic. I take the hope that when people fight and disagree, there is the hope for growth and change from those conversations. I would summarize the American dream as one of hope, hope that you can make your life better. Even as I hear more and more how other countries do things so much better, like China cleaning the streets after a flood in one day when we couldn't handle Katrina... still. But we have the hope in so much more than the Chinese students do. There's a reason many students HOPE they can come to this country, stay in this country. Because America is the land of hope. Not a guarantee of fruition, but one of hope. And I like that.
Finally Found You- Enrique Iglesias
One thing I dare to hope for recently was a new person in my life. As most know, I don't talk about my relationships much, but I would like update you readers who may not have heard but I have started seeing someone again. The year of single life has been fine but you never know when God throws you someone great into your life. Cali Foodie has been that great person, someone I've had the pleasure of being great friends with first, only to find we had way more in common than we thought, despite apparent stark differences (ie she hates all my pun jokes, which have already earned me several PUNches). So if you want the full story, feel free to ask, but the summarized version is: I chased and she let me catch her. Which of course prompted Drew Jules York to ask, "How does it feel to have a relationship based entirely on pity?" Well, sir, it feels just fine. Jerk. :)
50 Ways to Say Goodbye- Train
Well friends, that's the end of the first every Playlist Post. I'm going to head out and enjoy this great weekend. Cali and I are heading to a corn maze, cuz when are two Californians going to get that opportunity again? Best wishes to all!
-JTY
Listening to: Survival- Muse, cuz I am trying to determine if I like this new album and these are two of the songs that I like more than most. After this, I'm going to listen to Adele's Skyfall cuz I really liked that one too but it's not on Spotify yet.
Reading: Baseball articles, cuz I love baseball playoffs!
Playing: Finally got a game of League in with Dungeon Daddy, Drew, and Spam Boa. Sorry, I've been a little preoccupied lately :D
Mad World- Gary Jules
We've been talking in our classes a lot about diversity issues. As a higher education professional, I have to be adept in facilitating rather heavy conversations about race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religion, etc. and how all of those things interact. I love this part of the job but its very intimidating. With our cohort in particular, we have trouble creating a safe space. If we can't even share with each other, how can we share with students and ask students to do the same thing. This week things changed. Why? I'm not sure but we seemed much more open in class on Tuesday, talking about more personal issues in an effort to share perspectives. THEN someone in our classroom decided to come out of the closet for the first time in that setting. WHAT? I guess it really was a safe space. Everyone seemed to be more willing to share and to listen and for the first time the mad world that was our class lacked the tension that has followed those conversations in the past.
Madness- Muse
Carrying on with the theme, Muse takes me to my counseling class the next day, where our instructor, who is both an experienced psychologist and VP of Student Affairs at OSU, asked all of us to talk about a time when we were the "other" and talk about what that felt like. People talked about everything from blatant homophobia to being in a foreign country to family isolation to growing up poor. These very touching, very open stories I think really built on the previous days openness, and by being forced to share, forced to take a step toward comfort with each other, was really good for us. There is solidarity in hearing about the madness of other people's lives. Sure not everyone shared completely, or shared deep secrets necessarily, but it was still very much a place where we spent time to actually LEARN about each other, that thing we always ask students to do. Imagine that. Professionals doing the work they are going to teach others to do to. Go us. Poignant line from the discussion: I don't know what it's like to be a black man, but I do know what it means to be the "other".
Brand New Colony- Postal Service
Shifting gears, I had a conversation with my dad about politics last night. I'm comfortable saying I'm an independent vote who waits a long time before deciding who to vote for. I'm conservative on some issues, liberal on others, and love to get everyones perspectives. My dad is pretty strongly conservative and I'm so happy to have him in my life. First, I very much respect his perspectives and trust his viewpoints. He sees things past the rhetoric on my issues. He also knows what he wants from his government, his country, and what he has to do with his own life to contribute to those things. And he's a different demographic from me, meaning he picks up on issues that are not things I pay much attention to. I work on a college campus and a big university in a swing state. Obama has come to visit our campus three times in the last 4 months. I asked the question on Tuesday when he was here, Is anyone going to that rally not already going to vote for him? I am surrounded by one perspective for the most part and I don't like that. Unlike Cheeky Monkey, Drew Jules York, and even my mom, I'm actually willing to engage my dad in political conversation. Sometimes I think they take the, "I don't like conflict I don't want to hear it" because my dad is wonderfully passionate about a lot of this stuff. I love it and besides, aren't I going into a field where I need to have civil discourse about hard issues. I mentioned way back in the London/Ireland travel blog that I see my role in my family as one of translator. That comes from my patience, willingness to listen, and ability to talk in a relatable way to both my parents and my siblings. I'm happy to play this role, just as we all have our roles in family, friendship work and play. So going back to politics, I will continue to watch the debates both on TV and in person and make my voting decision to see how our country shifts to become something brand new.
Some Nights- Fun.
What do I stand for though? I ask myself this in talks of voting, politics, diversity, and counseling. This has been an ongoing question throughout my educational career. I'm still not sure what I stand for, but I do have some nice road maps. Religion, experience, family, friends, education, failures, successes, and just the world we live in and how I react to it. One big revelation I had this week was what my job is going to be. I am a peddler of hope. I sell hope to students. As a career counselor, I pitch the hope that you are ready for that interview, ready to get the job in the future. As an assistant resident director, I sold the hope that this place you lived was home, and your concerns would be heard. In diversity discussions, we are working toward the hope that those moments when we are isolated, hated, hurt will soon be gone. That's the "It Gets Better" campaign. That's what both politicians are running under: the hope that the US will be better in the future. Hope has been central tenant for me. In my religion, the three cardinal virtues are "Faith Hope and Love". I resonate with all three but hope has a special place for me. Frenchie's Choice said in our trip last week that I now understand why you are so optimistic. I take the hope that when people fight and disagree, there is the hope for growth and change from those conversations. I would summarize the American dream as one of hope, hope that you can make your life better. Even as I hear more and more how other countries do things so much better, like China cleaning the streets after a flood in one day when we couldn't handle Katrina... still. But we have the hope in so much more than the Chinese students do. There's a reason many students HOPE they can come to this country, stay in this country. Because America is the land of hope. Not a guarantee of fruition, but one of hope. And I like that.
Finally Found You- Enrique Iglesias
One thing I dare to hope for recently was a new person in my life. As most know, I don't talk about my relationships much, but I would like update you readers who may not have heard but I have started seeing someone again. The year of single life has been fine but you never know when God throws you someone great into your life. Cali Foodie has been that great person, someone I've had the pleasure of being great friends with first, only to find we had way more in common than we thought, despite apparent stark differences (ie she hates all my pun jokes, which have already earned me several PUNches). So if you want the full story, feel free to ask, but the summarized version is: I chased and she let me catch her. Which of course prompted Drew Jules York to ask, "How does it feel to have a relationship based entirely on pity?" Well, sir, it feels just fine. Jerk. :)
50 Ways to Say Goodbye- Train
Well friends, that's the end of the first every Playlist Post. I'm going to head out and enjoy this great weekend. Cali and I are heading to a corn maze, cuz when are two Californians going to get that opportunity again? Best wishes to all!
-JTY
Listening to: Survival- Muse, cuz I am trying to determine if I like this new album and these are two of the songs that I like more than most. After this, I'm going to listen to Adele's Skyfall cuz I really liked that one too but it's not on Spotify yet.
Reading: Baseball articles, cuz I love baseball playoffs!
Playing: Finally got a game of League in with Dungeon Daddy, Drew, and Spam Boa. Sorry, I've been a little preoccupied lately :D
James, this was one of my favorite posts. Hope all is well friend!
ReplyDelete-Mama Goldfish