In case any of you were worried, I have not been attacted by zombies. My post is late because I was in Madison all day for a conference and did not have time to write out a post. I've also been buried under quite a bit of work.
This is the current state of my desk.
I'm off topic. I also keep getting distracted. Today is one of those days where all I want to do is crochet...or bake. I'm not really picky. I kinda just want to do something domestic. Well maybe I'll do that this weekend. We'll see.
This week has been about as busy as any other week. A few of my projects have gotten to move forward, which is very exciting.
On Monday I was here for the Focus Group I was putting together. I did not sit in on it, but I kind of wish I had now. From what I've heard from the facilitator, it went well. I was supposed to have six people show up, but only three came. It was ok though, because it was just a pilot group and it has given us some tips on what does and does not work for gathering a group together.
Tuesday was just a normal work day, I think I mostly worked on sorting and untangling embroidery floss. Although, I've discovered there is even more in the craft closet that needs to be sorted. I think I also might re-reorganize the closet. It was done once this summer, but I'm just going to put all of one thing in one place. I was looking for clothes pins the other day, and I found them in six different boxes. Everything in the closet is nicely labeled, I'll give the girls who did that kudos. I'm just gonna move everything. Maybe next summer they can re-label. (ps. I have no idea if they read this or not.)
Wednesday was exciting because I went to the JDC again and had, what I think was a fun activitiy. We did the 4-H Eco-Bot challenge where they had to work together to build a small robot from a toothbrush head, a watch battery, a pager motor, and tape. They were then able to use dixie cups, straws, and tape to figure out a way to get the "hazardous chemical" (birdseed) out of the contaminated bay. By the time we left, they had not achieved their goal, but they had some good ideas about what they could do to achieve it. Hopefully they are continuing to work with it. The hardest part about that was trying to get both of them to work together. One of the kids there was not applying herself very well. But that's just one challenge that I need to learn to work around and overcome. Next week, I hope to paint bowls with them for the Empty Bowls fundraiser.
Yesterday, as I said, I was down in Madison. I went with our Family Living Agent to a seminar about working with Mexican Youth. UW-Extension got a one time fund, I believe, to bring up two individuals who work with La Jugarreta in Mexico. In my brilliance, I forgot to bring a legal pad with me, so I took the notes on the back of an agenda from a previous meeting. Heres what they looked like.
La Jugarreta is a community organization that encourages youth and adults to work together to improve and create unity with in thier society. For more information you can visit their website. http://www.lajugarreta.org.mx/index.php?cs=2&l=2
The first thing we did in this program was talk about what the words democracy, citizenship, and participation mean. Some ideas that we came up with were:
Democracy:
- Everyone has a voice
- everyone has the right to be ugly
- sense of change
- author of your own fate
- cannot happen without participation
Citizenship:
- give natives do not earn
- belonging
- built with participation
Participation:
- engaged/engagement
- using gifts
In my own effort to understand this, I drew this picture. Citizenship is the plant. It can exsist without the protection of the Participation Umbrella, in that if you are born in the US you are a citizen. But without participation the rain will flood the plant, and it won't look so nice. The Decadent Democracy Duck wouldn't survive at all without the umbrella. It would melt away into a sad pile of goop. So I wasn't just doodling. I was trying to better understand the ideas being discussed. :)
To help us understand how they see these three connected in Mexico, they gave us these ideas:
Democracy: Lifestyle, social order built by the same people who use it, self-determined (not of divine origin or from the gods), each person has a role and a responsibility.
Citenzenship: right to vote, but also have rights because you are human, and they have the capacity to transform the enviornment, therefore children are also citizens.
Participation: the ways we change our environment.
So these are pretty similar, but with very subtle differences. One thing that struck me was that one of the presenters was talking about how everyone participates. Everyone helps out, without questioning why. She described it as walking toward a Utopia. You don't know why your walking there, you don't know what is there, and you know you won't get there, but you are still walking toward it.
One point they made was that the idea of community and collaboration is big for them. But only for their own community. They do not often see a reason to help another community when they have their own problems to solve first, but they see great importance of helping their community and their family, whether blood related or not.
Unfortunately I did not get to stay the whole time. We had to be back for something else. But what I was able to hear was fantastic, and I learned so much. It made me think about the differences in our cultures and how to better communicate with the hispanic population in my area.
Well I have a busy weekend coming up, I'm headed to my Alma Mater for the homecoming football game, so that should be fun. Plus tonight I'm going to a Josh Turner concert! YAY!
Until Then!
No comments:
Post a Comment