My heart is heavy about the shooting today at the Holocaust Museum. I cannot write about it yet, because my head is swimming. Ugh.
I spent today on the hill advocating for increased funding for domestic and sexual violence services. If you have never lobbied, I strongly encourage you to attend an advocacy day with a group of your choice. They are supposed to listen to us and will give you the attention you deserve. Overall, we were treated very respectfully by the Missouri delegation (i say 'overall' because there were a couple moments of disrespect but nothing major).
For more information about how to do this lobbying thing, I'd recommend a book called Lobbying for Social Change (this one is a little pricey, buy an earlier edition or find it at a library...).
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Heroes: Advocates to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
This posting will be brief because I'm tired and have to be up extremely early tomorrow morning. I spent the day with the National Network to End Domestic Violence in preparation for tomorrow's advocacy day. Tomorrow will be my first experience lobbying on the hill and I'm looking forward to it. I will be shadowing one of my mentors, Colleen Coble, the director of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Colleen received two separate awards today for her absolute amazingness.
It is an honor to spend two days of this week with advocates against domestic and sexual violence from almost every state within the US plus DC and some territories. The people in the room with me today, along with every other individual who works in the anti-domestic and sexual violence field are my heroes.
We were honored to have the following people present to us today (in chronlogical order): Valerie Jarrett (Obama's Senior Advisor), Marylouise Kelley (from HHS), Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (via video), and Catherine Pierce (Acting Director of the Dept. of Justice's Office of Violence Against Women).
At the reception, we heard Secretary Hilda Solis, Vice President Joe Biden (via video), Karen Rogers (Vice President of the Mary Kay Ash Foundation Board of Directors and granddaughter of Mary Kay Ash) Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI), Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Congressman Ted Poe (TX) and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL) declare their commitment to ending violence against women and children.
I look forward to seeing some meaningful legislation behind the wonderful speeches I heard tonight. And I look forward to tomorrow's jam packed day.
It is an honor to spend two days of this week with advocates against domestic and sexual violence from almost every state within the US plus DC and some territories. The people in the room with me today, along with every other individual who works in the anti-domestic and sexual violence field are my heroes.
We were honored to have the following people present to us today (in chronlogical order): Valerie Jarrett (Obama's Senior Advisor), Marylouise Kelley (from HHS), Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (via video), and Catherine Pierce (Acting Director of the Dept. of Justice's Office of Violence Against Women).
At the reception, we heard Secretary Hilda Solis, Vice President Joe Biden (via video), Karen Rogers (Vice President of the Mary Kay Ash Foundation Board of Directors and granddaughter of Mary Kay Ash) Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI), Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Congressman Ted Poe (TX) and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL) declare their commitment to ending violence against women and children.
I look forward to seeing some meaningful legislation behind the wonderful speeches I heard tonight. And I look forward to tomorrow's jam packed day.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Heroes: Used Book Stores
On day three of the month-long challenge, I didn't write. Boo. I have all sorts of excuses and reasons why that I won't get into... I doubt this counts but I will attempt to post two entries today.
Instead of driving back to DC directly from Richmond, VA (the aforementioned undisclosed location of the surprise party), my partner and I decided to take the long way home through Charlottesville, the Shenandoah National Park Skyline drive and Harrisonburg, VA. It was a beautiful day for a drive (though we would have preferred to be on motorcycles) and nice to be able to take our time and not hurry home. While in the cute downtown section of Charlottesville, we wandered into a used bookstore (there is a surprising quantity of used book stores in c-ville).
This leads to my first 'Heroes' themed post. I define a hero as someone (or an entity) that sticks to its principles through adversity and models self-sacrifice.
Somehow, I had forgotten my love for used book stores. I generally try to support local independent bookstores, though I do have my lazy amazon moments. For some reason, however, it had been way too long since I entered a bookstore with only used books. I could have spent the next several hours sitting on the floor surrounded by books.
I worry about the extinction of books and therefore am impressed that any (especially independent) can stay in business. I left the store with three books that I hope to complete this summer: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia ($3), The Trial by Franz Kafka ($3) and My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki ($6.50).
Instead of driving back to DC directly from Richmond, VA (the aforementioned undisclosed location of the surprise party), my partner and I decided to take the long way home through Charlottesville, the Shenandoah National Park Skyline drive and Harrisonburg, VA. It was a beautiful day for a drive (though we would have preferred to be on motorcycles) and nice to be able to take our time and not hurry home. While in the cute downtown section of Charlottesville, we wandered into a used bookstore (there is a surprising quantity of used book stores in c-ville).
This leads to my first 'Heroes' themed post. I define a hero as someone (or an entity) that sticks to its principles through adversity and models self-sacrifice.
Somehow, I had forgotten my love for used book stores. I generally try to support local independent bookstores, though I do have my lazy amazon moments. For some reason, however, it had been way too long since I entered a bookstore with only used books. I could have spent the next several hours sitting on the floor surrounded by books.
I worry about the extinction of books and therefore am impressed that any (especially independent) can stay in business. I left the store with three books that I hope to complete this summer: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia ($3), The Trial by Franz Kafka ($3) and My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki ($6.50).
Saturday, June 6, 2009
on the road again
Though we just arrived to our new home last weekend after an 800+ mile drive, we are on the road again to an undisclosed location for a surprise party. This also happens to be my first blog post via blackberry. I'd prefer to write on a larger keyboard but fear I will not have the opportunity to blog once we arrive. Luckily I'm not the one driving.
Today's post will be a brief comment on the power of growth and reconnection. Prior to living in St. Louis for the past three years, I lived in Chicago, close to my childhood home, where I was lucky enough to live near family and old friends. In fact, I had known the majority of my friends in Chicago for 10-15 years. Imgaine my discomfort when I moved to St. Louis to be with my partner of nine months. When I arrived, I had only friends of friends and acquaintances in St. Louis. Although I developed some fantastic life-long friendships while there, adult friendships are quite different from those you make during your child and teen years. I grew a lot while in St Louis, and did some important personal work that I doubt I would have done if I had stayed in the comfort zone of Chicago. It is only when you experience discomfort that you can grow. Though painful at times, I appreciated the challenge on multiple levels.
In the DC/Baltimore area, I have a good handful of "old" friends (from childhood and college). I'm excited about the process of reconnecting with them and renewing/re-energizing these friendships. There is something nice about already having a foundation from which to build your new home. And in the process of getting to know old friends again, I hope to learn more about myself and will even consider meeting some new people. (This is sarcasm, I know I'll meet new people, its just a little out of my comfort zone at times. It's the getting-to-know-you part that can be tedious.) This is my next challenge in experiencing discomfort in comfortable surroundings. And I'm ready for it... I think. For now though, I have to get back to my road trip with my lover to what should be an interesting evening.
Today's post will be a brief comment on the power of growth and reconnection. Prior to living in St. Louis for the past three years, I lived in Chicago, close to my childhood home, where I was lucky enough to live near family and old friends. In fact, I had known the majority of my friends in Chicago for 10-15 years. Imgaine my discomfort when I moved to St. Louis to be with my partner of nine months. When I arrived, I had only friends of friends and acquaintances in St. Louis. Although I developed some fantastic life-long friendships while there, adult friendships are quite different from those you make during your child and teen years. I grew a lot while in St Louis, and did some important personal work that I doubt I would have done if I had stayed in the comfort zone of Chicago. It is only when you experience discomfort that you can grow. Though painful at times, I appreciated the challenge on multiple levels.
In the DC/Baltimore area, I have a good handful of "old" friends (from childhood and college). I'm excited about the process of reconnecting with them and renewing/re-energizing these friendships. There is something nice about already having a foundation from which to build your new home. And in the process of getting to know old friends again, I hope to learn more about myself and will even consider meeting some new people. (This is sarcasm, I know I'll meet new people, its just a little out of my comfort zone at times. It's the getting-to-know-you part that can be tedious.) This is my next challenge in experiencing discomfort in comfortable surroundings. And I'm ready for it... I think. For now though, I have to get back to my road trip with my lover to what should be an interesting evening.
Friday, June 5, 2009
practicing the process
Since I'm a little rusty with writing and posting to my blog, I decided to sign up for National Blog Posting Month, a site that asks bloggers to post once a day for a month. I rediscovered this site through my friend Rachel's blog and I'm excited to see if I can "find the time" to blog once per day. (I placed 'find the time' in quotes because I know I have the time. It is not hiding from me, unless it truly did find a hiding place behind bejeweled and the wii...)
I'm in a privileged place this summer so I am trying to maximize the (potential) benefits. Last week, I relocated from St. Louis to Washington DC to enter a PhD program in the fall. I am working as a consultant for the summer, which means I am working out of the home and can set my own hours. I have several goals for the next three months until school starts. My goals are centered around one theme: self-discipline.
As a consultant soon-to-be PhD student, self-discipline is key. Those that know me will know that I am a hard-worker (which usually means workaholic) and might be surprised to read that I feel I am lacking in self-discipline. It's really in my non-work life that I have trouble. I am hoping to start to do the following things regularly: biking, yoga, reading, writing (blogging and not) and cleaning.... while fulfilling my commitment to my consulting client. I have trouble balancing my work and non-work activities, it seems that I can only do one (i.e., work work work or play play play).
So, like anyone looking to learn something new, I bought a book, entitled The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life, that promises to help. Despite the bougie assumptions of the author (e.g., "at the age of nine, like so many kids growing up, I began studying the piano"), I believe I will take something from the book. So far, it highlights our societal expectation and habit of multitasking and the pitfalls of a culture of instant gratification. (Get it. As I write this, I have itunes, an instant messenger, gmail, facebook, twitter and google reader open)
The second chapter is focused on encouraging the reader to focus on the process not the product of any endeavor. This is something I'm will ruminate on this week. I enjoy riding my bike (a lot) but I want to do the AIDS ride one day. I want to do yoga because I want to get rid of my chronic back pain. I write because I want to write a book. I want to learn to enjoy biking for biking, yoga for yoga and writing for writing. When I find myself saying, "ugh. I only rode 10 miles today, I'll never be able to ride 545!" or "my back still hurts" or "I can't write a chapter let alone a book!" I will attempt to check myself and remember that
"the paradox of patience and discipline is that it requires both of them to develop each of them" (p. 29 of The Practing Mind).
Hopefully this daily blogging challenge will be the first step in the process of the end goal of being more disciplined.
I'm in a privileged place this summer so I am trying to maximize the (potential) benefits. Last week, I relocated from St. Louis to Washington DC to enter a PhD program in the fall. I am working as a consultant for the summer, which means I am working out of the home and can set my own hours. I have several goals for the next three months until school starts. My goals are centered around one theme: self-discipline.
As a consultant soon-to-be PhD student, self-discipline is key. Those that know me will know that I am a hard-worker (which usually means workaholic) and might be surprised to read that I feel I am lacking in self-discipline. It's really in my non-work life that I have trouble. I am hoping to start to do the following things regularly: biking, yoga, reading, writing (blogging and not) and cleaning.... while fulfilling my commitment to my consulting client. I have trouble balancing my work and non-work activities, it seems that I can only do one (i.e., work work work or play play play).
So, like anyone looking to learn something new, I bought a book, entitled The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life, that promises to help. Despite the bougie assumptions of the author (e.g., "at the age of nine, like so many kids growing up, I began studying the piano"), I believe I will take something from the book. So far, it highlights our societal expectation and habit of multitasking and the pitfalls of a culture of instant gratification. (Get it. As I write this, I have itunes, an instant messenger, gmail, facebook, twitter and google reader open)
The second chapter is focused on encouraging the reader to focus on the process not the product of any endeavor. This is something I'm will ruminate on this week. I enjoy riding my bike (a lot) but I want to do the AIDS ride one day. I want to do yoga because I want to get rid of my chronic back pain. I write because I want to write a book. I want to learn to enjoy biking for biking, yoga for yoga and writing for writing. When I find myself saying, "ugh. I only rode 10 miles today, I'll never be able to ride 545!" or "my back still hurts" or "I can't write a chapter let alone a book!" I will attempt to check myself and remember that
"the paradox of patience and discipline is that it requires both of them to develop each of them" (p. 29 of The Practing Mind).
Hopefully this daily blogging challenge will be the first step in the process of the end goal of being more disciplined.
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