I'm happy...

...just wanted to share. I feel like I'm living in one of the rare moments where I am doing what I want to do, and realize it, and I realize that I realized it and am enjoying that too. If that makes any sense outside my head!

So here's what I'm up to...I am taking classes at the University of New Hampshire toward a Master's degree in Education. It took me a while to get back into the swing of doing homework, reading for class, studying for exams, etc. but I'm back and finding classes very enjoyable. Some professors are still frustrating and some lectures are still boring but I'm enjoying all those things are part of the experience.

I also have a job at Starbucks. Yep, I'm a barista! Believe it or not, this is my first "real" job...like one where I have to check a schedule, request days off, etc., etc. The first couple days were a little rough but I've almost got the hang of it now. Plus it is really good for my little introverted people skills.

And to top it all off, it's fall and there is pumpkin ice cream!

I've decided to make a list...

Some ways City Year/New Hampshire have changed my life:

1) I make lists. (This is really only funny if you knew me in college and in particular if you were one of my roommates who I mocked for making lists...i love you :) )

2) I no longer have a desire, nor even the ability, to lie around for days. In fact, the idea of only taking classes for this next year scares me. I'm going to be so bored! (Feel free to mock me later if I complain about being too busy).

3) New Hampshire feels like home. New Mexico seemed weird.

4) I appreciate good planning and leadership sooooooooo much. My summer job had neither. It was a bit painful.

5) I'm in the process of re-learning how to spend time by myself. That's a good thing...

6) I have developed an (I fear) permanent dislike for khaki pants. Seriously, I had a spasm when my Mom held up a pair in the store. I'm still okay with the color red though...

Micheal Franti dedicated this one to you Marieke, Mary, Callie, Tamie, Emily, Jillian, Els, Rach, Jeni, Amanda, Megyn, Crys :)

I've become sappy in my old age...

good stuff

I promise to write more soon!

Theory Part III - Results

Disclaimer: This is NOT good science...totally made up on my part, but it did encourge some interesting observations.

After a week observing my productivity vs. fun had on each day, I have noticed several things:

1) Saying you are having fun does not equal actually having fun, but it encourages movement in that direction.

2) I have WAY more fun when I am working with other people during crunch time than by myself. For example, Tuesday I ran around the school trying to organize things, share information, get projects approved, etc. for the big event but since it had to do mostly with communication, it wasn't a group effort. I didn't have very much fun on Tuesday (see Figure 1) because I felt stressed out the whole time. I also didn't feel like I got very much done because I felt like things were slipping out of my control. As a result, I ended up working in the office late trying to catch up - also not fun.

On the other hand, I had a blast on Thursday! That was the day before the projects and we had to get all the prep work done so it would be ready to go Friday morning. All five of us worked from 7:30am to 8pm during on and off rain to get it done. Lots of stress, lots of moving pieces, but because we were all working together there was lots of joking and craziness. So much more fun.

3) It is possible to have fun even when it feels like things are falling apart. In the middle of the projects of Friday morning (imagine 350 middle school students running around outside with shovels, paint brushes, wheelbarrows, etc. and you'll get a pretty good idea of the scene) it felt a little chaotic. Some kids finished their projects really fast and didn't have anything to do. Others didn't want to be outside or just wanted to talk to their friends. Others got covered in oil-based paint that wouldn't wash off. But even in the middle of it, I remember looking up and enjoying the craziness around me. P.S. Everyone was safe and had a good time. No one got sent to the nurse, no one even needed a band-aid. Good day.

4) Fun and productivity CAN coexist and there may even be some correlation between the two (see Figure 2). Hmmmm...

5) It is very interesting to observe oneself deliberately. And a little scary :)

Figure 1: Productivity and Fun had on a scale of 1 -10 by day of the week. Note: Monday I went on a field trip with the 6th grade. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't get anything done...not really relevant to this study here since we already know it is possible to have fun when one is not stressed out.


Figure 2: Correlation between Productivity and Fun Count. The R^2 value refers to the correlation coefficient. If R^2 = 1 that would mean the points all lined up exactly from which we can infer that the more fun had, more productive I was (or vice versa, it is undetermined in this experiment which is the cause and which is the effect). Monday's points was left out of the correlation analysis but is plotted above for your reference.

Theory Part II

This has turned out to be harder than I thought. But also more interesting. More details to come...

Happy Earth Day!

I recommend hugging a tree sometime this week to celebrate. Just make sure it's not covered in poison ivy first.

Quotes from "A Child of Our Time"

the darkness declares the glory of the light

I would know
my shadow and my light,
so shall I at last be whole.

The world turns on its dark side./It is winter...

The moving waters renew the earth./It is spring.

Theory

So, I have this idea that I plan on testing out this week. And since I might be getting a little rusty on my scientific method, I want to try it in proper format. Who knows, I might even make a couple graphs with my data :)

Hypothesis: It is possible to do good, quality work during stressful times AND have fun while enjoying life.

Methods: Global Youth Service Day is coming up. The entire school will be outside doing physical service projects with us. Just typing that makes me feel a little overwhelmed. But even if I am overwhelmed, I will try not to lose the idea that it can still be fun.

At the end of each day, I will take an internal "fun poll" to see how much I remembered to have fun that day or just how much I enjoyed myself. I may also include some people and ask them to rate my "fun-ness" for the day.

At the end of each day, I will also track how much I accomplished by writing a task list in the morning and seeing how much of that I accomplish by the time I go home. This two measures will be compared at the end of the week to draw some conclusions.

Materials: Myself.

Stay tuned... :)

Things that make me happy - Volume One

Number One: Having a working computer again! Yay, updating the blog.

Number Two: Warm weather. The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and highs in the fifties. I wore a skirt to church this morning and, aside from the wind, there were no serious repercussions.

Number Seven: Sunflower seeds sprouting. See below.



Number Thirteen: Easter pansies (I know they are supposed to be Easter lilies, but whatever works!)



Number Fifteen: Spending the day watching movies with my New Hampshire family.

Number Twenty-Two (and the last for now): The fact that I'm actually looking forward to the coming weeks of work! Yay projects and creative freedom!

Barbara Kingsolver rocks my socks...

"So you make this deal with the gods. You do these dances and they'll send rain and good crops and the whole works? And nothing bad will ever happen. Right." Prayer had always struck me as more or less a glorified attempt at a business transaction. A rain dance even more so.

...After a minute he said, "No, it's not like that. It's not making a deal, bad things can still happen, but you want to try not to cause them to happen. It has to do with keeping things in balance."

"In balance."

"Really, it's like the spirits have made a deal with us."

"And what is the deal?" I asked.

"We're on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying: We know how nice you're being. We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests."

"Like a note you'd send somebody after you stayed in their house?"

"Exactly like that. 'Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the refrigerator, and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry, I hope it wasn't your favorite one.' "

I laughed because I understood "in balance." I would have called it "keeping the peace," or maybe "remembering your place," but I liked it. "It's a good idea," I said. "Especially since we're still here sleeping on God's couch. We're permanent houseguests."

"Yep, we are. Better remember how to put everything back how we found it."

-From Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

I can dig this idea of prayer. Keeping things in balance seems like a good idea :)

Oh, I forgot the calendar...

Here's all the prizes you could win...cool, eh?

"What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid-gold baby? Maybe we'll never know." -Jack Handy

WARNING: Work related post...but please read on :)


So, as some of you may know, I'm currently keeping busy as a full-time volunteer with City Year. It's an Americorps program and here in New Hampshire, we work with middle school students, providing one-on-one tutoring and mentoring at schools and safe after school programs and school break camps.

Which brings me to this post...we have winter holidays coming up and we are running a camp for 150 middle school students in New Hampshire. We are providing a safe environment for parents to take their students in the morning and know that they won't be making bad choices while mom and dad are at work.

Unfortunately, it costs a lot of money to send 150 kids to camp, about $100 per student, which many parents cannot afford. So here's where you come in. As part of our fundraiser to help get them to camp without busting their wallets, some amazing co-workers of mine have put together a calendar raffle. Basically, every day during March, they pull a name and there is a prize associated with that day. A raffle ticket is only $10, but it really goes a long way to helping a student get to go to camp. I know this all probably sounds really cheesy, especially from those of you that I haven't talked to in ages, so I apologize. But if you can spare it, please buy a ticket...

Thanks for reading.

P.S. The link: https://ssl.charityweb.net/cityyear/ make sure that you indicate that the money is for the New Hampshire site.

My kids at camp last year on a trip to the Franklin Park Zoo!

P.P.S. The calendar raffle is for the whole month of March, so for your best chances of winning you should buy a ticket in the next two weeks! But you're welcome to donate to City Year any time :) My team has a goal to raise $3000 by the end of the year...

"A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences him(her)self, his thoughts and feelings, as something seperated from the rest - a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affextion for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.'

-Albert Einstein

Heck ya...integration!

A message from the Co-Founder/CEO of City Year

To the City Year community of corps members, staff, board members and champions,

As the nation prepares for the celebration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday and the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as its 44^th president, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), along with a bipartisan group of 20 senators introduced landmark national service legislation yesterday in the U.S. Senate, The Serve America Act.

Building on the success of AmeriCorps, The Serve America Act would dramatically expand service and volunteer opportunities in the country and overseas, invest in a series of new social innovation funds, and establish a new set of service corps opportunities to focus the civic energies of the nation’s citizens on solving pressing national problems, including the alarming number of children across the country who are falling off-track on the path to high school graduation.

City Year is a co-lead organizer of Voices for National Service, ServiceNation and America Forward, three national coalitions which have called for increased federal and private sector investment in service and social innovation to tap the civic power of Americans of all ages to meet the nation’s needs and develop citizen leaders.

It is especially meaningful that the Serve America Act was re-introduced on the eve of this most historic celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “Everybody can be great because everyone can serve.” As a common meeting ground that can unite Americans for a common public purpose, and as a civic rite of passage for America’s diverse youth, service helps our nation realize Dr. King’s dream of a more unified nation and a ‘beloved community’.

Both President-elect Obama and Michelle Obama have a deep commitment to service, with President-elect Obama serving as a community organizer in low income Chicago neighborhoods and Michelle Obama serving as the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago.

During the presidential election campaign, President-elect Barack Obama called for a bold increase in national service opportunities and the Serve America Act incorporates a comprehensive set of initiatives he has proposed. I was fortunate to be among those who attended his speech on national service in Colorado Springs this summer when he said: "This won't be a call issued in one speech or one program -- I want this to be a central cause of my presidency. We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing national challenges. When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream."

For twenty years, we at City Year have witnessed the transformative power that young people in service have to change lives, improve communities, gain leadership skills and inspire thousands to join them in acting on their idealism through service. The passage of the Serve America Act would begin a new era of service in America, and tap the talents and energies of hundreds of thousands of Americans at a time of economic decline when their service is especially needed.

That need is especially evident in many of our nation’s urban schools. Nearly one million students drop out of high school every year – creating what General Colin Powell, the founder of America’s Promise, has rightfully called “a national catastrophe” – and their path to dropping out begins well before their high school years. We have been asked by leading superintendents and mayors across the country to scale up our Whole School Whole Child program, which places teams of fulltime City Year corps members in high poverty schools across the country to build a positive school climate that is conducive to learning and help students get back on track to graduate.

The Serve America Act would, among other important investments, establish a national Education Corps, to bring new national service resources into public schools in high need communities, and make it possible for City Year and other national service organizations to address this need at scale.

Most heartening is the fact that we know that young people want to serve – City Year always has many more applications than funded service opportunities, and this year applications to City Year have already tripled.

City Year’s vision is that one day the most commonly asked question of a young person will be ‘where will you do your service year?’ The Serve America Act would bring us closer to that day, and help build a stronger America by utilizing the nation’s voluntary spirit, and its nearly limitless resources of civic energy to meet pressing needs and build a more just society.

In 2006, at the invitation of City Year Chicago Founding Board Chair Michael Alter and executive director Lisa Morrison Butler, then Senator Barack Obama addressed City Year Chicago’s Ripple of Hope dinner where he said:

“Who's the next generation that is going to lead us and inspire us and build an America we can all be proud of? When I look out at all of the City Year corps members in this audience who have been giving so much of themselves for a cause that is so much larger than themselves I think I have an answer to that question.”

Across the country, City Year programs will be holding annual ceremonies on Monday to swear in the 2009 City Year Young Heroes and City Heroes youth corps. This year more than 2500 middle and high school students will take their pledge to serve and their journey of service and leadership development, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream, will begin.

As I prepare to participate in these amazing moments of the American experience, and reflect on City Year’s 20^th anniversary year, I am filled with gratitude for the investment that you and so many people and institutions have made and continue to make in City Year and the national service movement.

Yours in service,

Michael Brown

The eight principals of fun...

Found this on Stumble! Exactly what I need sometimes...in fact, I kinda want to send it to all my stress and over-worked collegues. Think that would go over well?

Check out this video:
http://www.eightprinciples.com/

Looking forward to work tomorrow.

Like many of you, I am headed back to normal life after two weeks of only breaking my laziness with delicious meals and fine company. But oddly enough, I am excited. It's not that I'm bored or have not enjoyed my time off. I think I might be reading too much news or watching too many episodes of The West Wing (rephrase: I have been watching too many episodes of The West Wing...but it's just such a brilliant show!), but I fell like I am not doing enough. The world has kept on moving and problems are getting solved. There are kids to mentor, after-school programs to run, poop jokes to be made. I'm ready to get back in it. Hope you're ready too :)