Vicissitudes
So, I've decided to honor the title of this blog ("Words are my Friends") and go back to my original idea of marrying each post to an overarching word/idea/concept. I've been keeping a little list of words I love (in the form of an email draft), and feel that "vicissitude" most accurately reflects what's been going on over, well, the past 25 years really, but I'll just limit the time frame to generally the 2 months since I last posted :)On dictionary.com, i see that vicissitudes are: successive, alternating, or changing phases or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs: They remained friends through the vicissitudes of 40 years.
Well, obviously anyone could characterize their life has having vicissitudes, but there are a few areas in which I've experienced change lately, including but not limited to: location (a new apartment with Anna!), work (Phil's new book is coming out; new office location at Getty Images building), dancing (joined a performance team), and, of course, the realm of thoughts and ideas (had a few epiphanies/interesting discoveries while searching sites such as aldaily.com and having great convos with friends). I'll cover these general topics below, with (I hope) some fun tangents/diversions along the way!
Location
While dealing with real estate for the first 5+ years of their marriage, my parents developed a love for driving around the different neighborhoods of Seattle and "house-watching." Now, people-watching has historically been a more preferable leusire activity for me, but that changed starting in January when Anna and I decided to move out of Seattle's Central District and into North Capitol Hill. We had a rough time finding an affortable 2br apartment in the prime area in between broadway and 15th and north of John/Olive, but we endedu up at a sweet place that I lovingly describe as "just northeast of the Dilletante Cafe" (a beloved Seattle Chocolaterie) and south of Volunteer Park (a gem of Seattle).
It's much smaller than our old apartment and definitely not as nice in terms of things like floors (no more hardwood!) and amenities (no more free laundry!), but the layout is actually better (it was designed to be duplex, as opposed to the other which was a 2 story house converted into a duplex), and the location is so much better that it we feel really great about the move (ooh, and we're saving money as well, and I have a garage to park in!). We are now on the 2nd floor and have windows all around so we can watch the people walking down and back to and from the hubub of Broadway, and I just can't wait for the summer when I'll be able to sit out on our tiny porch or take long walks to nearby parks. I've already developed a habit of jogging through the mossy, winding paths of Volunteer Park every weekend, where I see lots of young families and/or hipsters walking around. On my 5 block walk to the bus every morning, I really enjoy looking at the beautiful architecture of some of these old homes. In my estimation, north capitol hill is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Seattle in terms of interesting homes, yards, and people. Let me know if you want my new address and stop by to visit! Pics to come soon...
Work
Well, I might have already mentioned this, but I'm working a little over part time at both the UW Medical Center and Bridges these days. At Bridges, we were recently generously granted a new office space at the Getty Images building in Fremont, which is another of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. Plus, this summer, when I split my days, I'll be able to jog from one job on the Burke Gilman trail! I have to admit, there are days when I feel overwhelmed with working at both places and trying to maintain my already frenetic pace of social/dance/athletic life (which, of course, is totally self-imposed), but when I'm less overloaded I'm able to be really happy about my professional life.
If you want to know a bit more about Phil's vision when he created Bridges, you can check out this superb speech he gave at the TED conference last year: http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=p_borges Another exciting Phil development is that his newest book, Women Empowered (www.philborges.com/we/women-empowered.html ) is coming out on Monday, February 26th! The book documents the incredible work women have done in the developing world to rise out of their circumstances; I helped Phil write the stories of these women and the captions for all the photos as well as serving as a copy editor and statistic-generator! It was so fun to watch a book go through the conception stage to the final delivery stage; there were definitely some frustrating moments, but it feels good to see the book coming through now. I feel so lucky I got to be a part of this project, and it was just amazing to listen to tapes of these amazing women's stories.
At Bridges, we're continuing to try to harness the incredible, evocative potential of digital storytelling to help kids not only connect across cultures, but to do so in an education-oriented way. We're trying to embed ourselves more into the school system here in the northwest, with the hope that teachers can use the digital stories our kids have created in other countries as education tools. Then, ultimately, we aim to connect the kids directly to each other, so that if a child in Seattle is doing a report on, say, Egyptian pyramids, he/she can ask an Egyptian child questions and learn directly from them.
When I look around at a lot of the work done in the digital storytelling sphere today, much of it is oriented towards telling one's story as therapeutic or telling a story as an art form, which are really great, but it's exciting for us to be on what seems to be the forefront of taking this exciting new medium into the classroom. Time magazine recently published a cover story about "taking schools out of the 20th century." With Bridges, we are really trying to help move this along; not only is it good for education and for the kids, but it's a more sustainable model than before (where we relied upon a variety of connections, whether they were after school programs or nonprofit oriented or school based). .
One of the hardest parts of my job is juggling multiple tasks...I help coordinate digital storytelling workshops (where we train people to be local classroom mentors in Seattle and, abroad, train people to help facilitate the children's storytelling) here and abroad, which includes everything from marketing to making flight reservations to ensuring accurate follow up; write PR articles; keep track of our donor database; and manage our office/try to organize our digital content (including computers). It's a lot for a 24 hr/week position, but it's no more than most other nonprofit jobs I'm sure. I've read a few books on nonprofits lately ("Leaving MIcrosoft to CHange the World," "Three Cups of Tea") and it seems they often survive on the energy and motivation of a select group of very big-hearted people. The staff at Bridges is amazing and I'm learning so much, and we are all doing a delicate juggling act between maintaining our professional lifes, personal lives and health. The biggest struggle aside from juggling is just making sure we're all on the same page regarding our mission and goals. We had a staff retreat a few weeks ago which was amazingly productive/fun on that end, so I'm feeling good about things! I never would have thought I'd be here during college (and if i knew, i would have taken more computer science and media studies classes), but I'm really happy about it now. I'm looking forward to new changes such as a website revamp and working more with our awesome intern!
At the UW, I'm constantly inspired by my coworkers. We have a few characters who just have the best attitudes; one of the things I like the most about them is that they not only believe there's a solution to every problem, but they know how to fix anything! I got into some sort of crazy mess with my label maker the other day and my coworker patiently took apart the entire thing and put it back together. It was amazing...there I was, feeling stressed/out of control, when he was totally calm...I suppose that it's natural to feel calm when you know you can fix anything! Anyway, it's been fun working with those guys along with the front office team, doing hospital-wide signage with one of my coworkers. It's really fascinating to consider how different sign placement/wording can affect the way people experience a hospital visit. I hope we're making it easier for people!
Dancing
It's really interesting to take a step back sometimes and think about how my life might have been different if I hadn't taken some intro swing classes on a whim while living in Rochester, NY. I really just feel I've found my nitche in social dancing here in Seattle; it's not so much about the activity itself, but the commraderie and friendships that have developed through the dance community (hmm, it's a bit similar to soccer and other such activities, I suppose, but with even more of an emphasis on community-building activities).
Anyway, I just continue to marvel and delight in the experience of walking into Seattle's Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill, hearing the classic jazz of the 20s/30s, and seeing so many people just excited about this amazing dance. My favorite place to dance is actually not even a ballroom but the New Orleans Bar and Restaurant in Pioneer Square; every Thursday one of my favorite local bands, the Ham Carson band, plays hot jazz from 7-10. We dancers jam ourselves between the tables and waiters and just really enjoy being able to share our dance with the people who happen to be eating dinner/getting drinks. I've blogged about this before, but it's worth noting that this gem continues to be a great part of my social life!
I've joined Emerald City Swing, a local dance troupe/performance team, and we are working on a show for June, 2007. It's been really interesting and fun to work as a team and choreograph dances....choreographing really foces you to look at the logic of doing certain moves and address how they fit in with the music more so than social dancing, where the goal to me is more just enjoyment of the moment. I'm not sure that performing is ultimately where I want to put a lot of time and investment, but for now, it's been really fun to be part of a team and I can't wait for our show!
Thoughts and Ideas
1) My friend Paul once quoted the first line of Anna Karenina, which states that "all happy families are alike, and all unhappy families are different in their misery." Coming from a happy family, i got really defensive about this quote - why does it always seem that sad or dire situations seem more interesting or complex than happy or successful ones? It brought to mind the question of why what's considered "news" is usually tragic events and why the essence of a story (or what i was taught in college) is of a central conflict and then resolution. Anyway, when i first heard that from paul i thought the quote was unfounded, but lately i've begun to see perhaps a different meaning to the quote.
The quote may not necessarily mean that each family that is happy has similar personality types or whatnot, but that the essential building blocks of what make a family (or any social structure for that matter) work are, perhaps, going to be the same across the board. This thought has occurred to me after I've worked/volunteered in such a wide array of environments, from doing research in Australia/Texas/NY to working maintenance at my dad's boat marina in Seattle to playing/coaching numerous soccer teams to working/volunteering at numerous schools here and in central america to volunteering at a mental hospital in Austin, TX to working in the US nonprofit sector to working in a medical center in seattle (PHEW!). In all those environments, I actually see a striking similarity between the organizations that function well, wheraes the ones that don't succeed all have different reasons for failing.
Frustratingly, when i try to articulate what it is that the successful ones have, all i can come up with are these worn out platitudes: the ones that work are the ones where people are organized, communicate, have clear roles and an environment where honesty is appreicated, have the resources they need, and have a positive attitude. DUH, right?
Yet, there is a little more...one more factor that's been particularly fascinating to me relating to all this is the "gumption" factor, or just the willingness of members of a group to just work their tails off. My coworker Tania at Bridges likes to quote from a speech she heard on the "myth of talent" in which the speaker argues that people all too often limit themselves by saying they don't have natural aptitude in something (particular artistic ventures, in his case). Furthermore, he argues that basically anyone can learn anything if they try hard enough, whether it's learning to play concert piano, painting, or becoming a biochemist.
I hate to sound this cliche, but after being in the working world for 2 years I have to say that this adage has proven true again and again. It's not the smartest, most creative or most eloquent of my friends/cohorts who find themselves successful today but those who work the hardest (and, i should qualify that to say those who understand how to concentrate their work so it's going to pay off rather than spinning their wheels in the mud). Furthermore, it's the hard workers whom i most value in my professional/athletic life. Coaching a girls' soccer team has been so much of a learning experience because I really see how far gumption can take each one...anyone who's done sports knows this, but i see it even more clearly now from the sidelines. I've also noticed this in my dancing career - yes, some people are naturally more comfortable and flowing in their bodies, that's undeniable, but most people who i look at and say "wow, they are a natural" will tell me that they had to work incredibly hard to get where they are. I've always been interested in cognitive science, and i can see now that i have limited myself in the past, saying i'm not gifted in the sciences enough to be successful in that field. I wish i had had a better attitude in college and had been more willing to push myself outside the realms where i knew i had natural aptitude, because i see now that hard work could likely have made up the difference!
2) That thought sort of leads directly into my second thought lately, which was sparked by reading a fascinating article about children and praise (http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=The+Power+%28and+Peril%29+of+Praising+Your+Kids+--+New+York+Magazine&expire=&urlID=21157633&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnymag.com%2Fnews%2Ffeatures%2F27840%2F&partnerID=73272 ) First of all, let me clarify that this article doesn't actually apply to me in a lot of ways, but it does in terms of things like math and science which were harder for me in middle/high school. The basic thesis of this article is that children perform better when praised for EFFORT as opposed to natural ability. What happens when children are praised constantly for being smart is that they expect things will come easily so they shirk from challenge and feel they've failed when they have to work hard in one area to achieve results.
Anyway, I posted this article in my private blog (viewable only to my close friends; message me if you want to be added) and I was amazed at the responses I got. So many friends say that they totally identified with the article, that they were always labelled/praised as "gifted" or smart but then when they had to try hard they felt badly about themselves...well, there were lots of responses, but that was a general theme. I suppose the main point is to be as specific as you can with your praise, and to praise effort above natural ability. It definitely goes with my idea above that hard work can be much more valuable than anything else.
Well, there are more ideas, but that's it for now
| posted by Cheryl, 1/15/2007 04:05:00 PM | 0 comments |
More pics from 2006...
Comprehensive sample will follow, but for now you'll see Brian and I being silly at a BBQ, shelly and kev at their wedding, and Jo and I having a blast at a swing dance at the Century Ballroom! | posted by Cheryl, 1/08/2007 11:34:00 PM | 0 comments |
Best pictures of 2006: sneak preview
So, I'm a bit late on the whole "best pics of 2006" thing...but, for a sneak peak, i'm going to put a few cool pictures up right now from my dancing life :-) | posted by Cheryl, 1/08/2007 10:44:00 PM | 0 comments |
