I have been listening to the lyrics of the "One Republic" song called "Good Life." It seems like it is on repeat on the radio recently.
Though it may not be *about* the same topic, the song really speaks to me.
My sweet mother is fighting ALS, the horrible disease many know as Lou Gehrig's. She is such an inspiration, and I know that she has had a good life. She is so loved by her friends, family, and community. I am proud to have been raised by such an amazing woman, who loves God and all people. Her courage inspires me to have a good life, to be the kind of mother that I want to be.
She has given me a Good Life.
Mom, I love you. We are all going to be ok. You have taught us the lessons that we need to have a good life. When there are airplanes I feel like I just can't jump out of, I think of you...and I jump. Thank you for giving me the courage...and the knowledge that there are things that I should not complain about.
Your mom made me memorize her favorite bible verse when I was little, the first verse I learned from the heart.
Philippians 4:8: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
A difficult topic to discuss- the commercial sexual exploitation of our children
We give power to the continuance of community problems when we do not discuss them.
As members of our community, we can impact our community by talking about difficult topics.
A couple of years ago, I became aware of a huge problem facing my community - the commercial sale of children for sexual acts. I understand that it is a disgusting, difficult topic to discuss, but it is one that maintains its power over us by our silence.
Approximately 500 children or more are sold for sexual acts in my community each month. A recent study revealed that 47% of those soliciting children for sex acts lived in north Metro Atlanta. It is a staggering problem that we MUST become informed about and take action on.
These children are often as young as 11 or 12, and the biggest misconception is that this issue does not impact us directly. These children are OUR children, kids without the voice to advocate for themselves. And this is where we come in.
Last night, PBS debuted the allegorical tale of "The Candy Shop" which demonstrates some of the issues involving CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). In the post show discussion on air, PBS interviewed a CSEC survivor and advocates - legislative and community - who are openly and passionately voicing the dimensions of the issue and how you can become involved.
I am linking the online program through PBS here, along with a fact sheet distributed by the Governor's Office for Children and Families, so that you too can share your awareness of the issue and how we can be the vocal advocates for our children.
We can all be community advocates, and it begins with being informed about the issue and discussing it openly with our communities.
Five specific things that you can do to become involved include:
1. Writing your legislator to tell them that you care about this issue and ask them to discuss it with their colleagues. Then, they can take action as well.
2. Discuss what you have learned with your families, your co-workers, and your communities. As uncomfortable as the topic might be to discuss, your voice is the voice of those who cannot talk openly about it.
3. Participate in Capitol Days advocating on this issue.
4. If you live in Georgia and you suspect that a child is being sold for sexual acts, then contact the Georgia Care Connection at 404-602-0068.
5. Contribute to the Safety Gap Fund (in Georgia) that provides victim services for children who have been prostituted for commercial profit.
As members of our community, we can impact our community by talking about difficult topics.
A couple of years ago, I became aware of a huge problem facing my community - the commercial sale of children for sexual acts. I understand that it is a disgusting, difficult topic to discuss, but it is one that maintains its power over us by our silence.
Approximately 500 children or more are sold for sexual acts in my community each month. A recent study revealed that 47% of those soliciting children for sex acts lived in north Metro Atlanta. It is a staggering problem that we MUST become informed about and take action on.
These children are often as young as 11 or 12, and the biggest misconception is that this issue does not impact us directly. These children are OUR children, kids without the voice to advocate for themselves. And this is where we come in.
Last night, PBS debuted the allegorical tale of "The Candy Shop" which demonstrates some of the issues involving CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). In the post show discussion on air, PBS interviewed a CSEC survivor and advocates - legislative and community - who are openly and passionately voicing the dimensions of the issue and how you can become involved.
I am linking the online program through PBS here, along with a fact sheet distributed by the Governor's Office for Children and Families, so that you too can share your awareness of the issue and how we can be the vocal advocates for our children.
We can all be community advocates, and it begins with being informed about the issue and discussing it openly with our communities.
Five specific things that you can do to become involved include:
1. Writing your legislator to tell them that you care about this issue and ask them to discuss it with their colleagues. Then, they can take action as well.
2. Discuss what you have learned with your families, your co-workers, and your communities. As uncomfortable as the topic might be to discuss, your voice is the voice of those who cannot talk openly about it.
3. Participate in Capitol Days advocating on this issue.
4. If you live in Georgia and you suspect that a child is being sold for sexual acts, then contact the Georgia Care Connection at 404-602-0068.
5. Contribute to the Safety Gap Fund (in Georgia) that provides victim services for children who have been prostituted for commercial profit.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Female Role Models - Happy Birthday Mom
Today is my mother's 70th birthday!
To honor what a wonderful role model she has been for me, I wanted to share 7 things that she has taught me...
1. Sunday best is called Sunday best for a reason. Dress up when you are going to church.
2. Proper grammar is important. Speak it, model it, and correct it. Then, your children will learn it.
3. Treat everyone equally. A conversation with the clerk at the grocery store is just as meaningful as the one you have with the CEO of a business corporation.
4. Manners are an art form that need to be learned and practiced.
5. Everyone deserves a second chance.
6. Being a good mother and wife is perhaps the most important job that one can have...and the hardest.
7. In order to impact your community, you have to be a part of it. Be active, be visible, and be carefully engaged.
My mother has never met a bridge game she didn't love, a stranger she did not smile warmly to, or a child that did not melt her heart. She has been an active citizen in her community all of her life: giving back by doing community clean ups, supportive civic club meetings, and volunteering at a second hand clothing shop. But, if you ask her neighbors what they see her doing most, it would probably be walking the dog around the neighborhood and stopping to chat with all the people she encounters...bragging about her grandchildren, her children, and her friends.
She has taught me so much, and I am so very thankful that she has been my role model of how to be the best wife, mother and friend that I can be.
So, who is your female role model? and have you thanked them for what they have taught you? To honor my mother's 70th birthday, please reach out to that person and thank them for how they have inspired you!
To honor what a wonderful role model she has been for me, I wanted to share 7 things that she has taught me...
1. Sunday best is called Sunday best for a reason. Dress up when you are going to church.
2. Proper grammar is important. Speak it, model it, and correct it. Then, your children will learn it.
3. Treat everyone equally. A conversation with the clerk at the grocery store is just as meaningful as the one you have with the CEO of a business corporation.
4. Manners are an art form that need to be learned and practiced.
5. Everyone deserves a second chance.
6. Being a good mother and wife is perhaps the most important job that one can have...and the hardest.
7. In order to impact your community, you have to be a part of it. Be active, be visible, and be carefully engaged.
My mother has never met a bridge game she didn't love, a stranger she did not smile warmly to, or a child that did not melt her heart. She has been an active citizen in her community all of her life: giving back by doing community clean ups, supportive civic club meetings, and volunteering at a second hand clothing shop. But, if you ask her neighbors what they see her doing most, it would probably be walking the dog around the neighborhood and stopping to chat with all the people she encounters...bragging about her grandchildren, her children, and her friends.
She has taught me so much, and I am so very thankful that she has been my role model of how to be the best wife, mother and friend that I can be.
So, who is your female role model? and have you thanked them for what they have taught you? To honor my mother's 70th birthday, please reach out to that person and thank them for how they have inspired you!
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Art of Negotiation - Martin Luther King Jr.
This week, and on the day where we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I return to teaching again after a week of snow holidays. I am thrilled to be teaching a class in negotiation and conflict resolution for the first time at my college, nestled in the home on the (US) Civil Rights Movement!
We will begin with the art of negotiation, something that I observed when interviewing the subjects for my book, Sinn Fein Women.
A good negotiator is a listener and an even better observer.
Negotiation is often about getting to the heart of the underlying issues in conflict, rather than debating the positions that one brings to the table.
Being disingenuous is counter-productive. Trying to be something that you are not is disingenuous. Feeling entitled will not achieve success either.
The art of negotiation is a delicate process of acknowledging what you bring to the table and what other stakeholders do as well. The limits of conflict resolution are made by the parameters of set expectations, but the goals of conflict resolution are defined in the process itself.
On this Martin Luther King Jr Day, I pause to think about the goals he set for our society - the truth and equality that he sought, the openness he pursued, and the content of character that he displayed in the pursuit of social justice and peace.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. " -MLK Jr.
So, let the content of our character guide our negotiations, for it will be revealed in our endeavors.
We will begin with the art of negotiation, something that I observed when interviewing the subjects for my book, Sinn Fein Women.
A good negotiator is a listener and an even better observer.
Negotiation is often about getting to the heart of the underlying issues in conflict, rather than debating the positions that one brings to the table.
Being disingenuous is counter-productive. Trying to be something that you are not is disingenuous. Feeling entitled will not achieve success either.
The art of negotiation is a delicate process of acknowledging what you bring to the table and what other stakeholders do as well. The limits of conflict resolution are made by the parameters of set expectations, but the goals of conflict resolution are defined in the process itself.
On this Martin Luther King Jr Day, I pause to think about the goals he set for our society - the truth and equality that he sought, the openness he pursued, and the content of character that he displayed in the pursuit of social justice and peace.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. " -MLK Jr.
So, let the content of our character guide our negotiations, for it will be revealed in our endeavors.
Friday, October 29, 2010
To participate or not to participate?
Yesterday in my political theory class, we did a test on democracy and participation. With the midterm elections next week, I asked them to identify the ways that they could enhance their citizenship and increase democratic participation. Last night, while musing through their comments, I was compelled to bring the question to this blog.
I remember reading Making Democracy Work by Robert Putnam in graduate school. In it, Putnam examines the civic culture of northern and southern Italy and concludes that democratic participation can be measured in various ways. The institutions alone do not make democracy. Their stability can and should be rooted in the civic culture that they serve.
Obviously, voting is one measure of participation, but it is not the only way one can participate in their community. Voting is a deliberate choice, and we must be deliberate in our choices.
Other methods include reading newspapers (now available online) and fostering the discussions around community issues and politics among your friends and family.
Democratic civic culture is like an ecosystem. The conditions for its responsiveness and effectiveness dynamically influence the institutions of governance. If the environment the institution is rooted in is apathetic, then the institution itself will not firmly root in its mission to serve the community.
So...what does your political ecosystem foster? How deliberative are you in your choice to participate in your community? Do your institutions of government effectively serve your community?
Most importantly, what are you willing to do about it?
I remember reading Making Democracy Work by Robert Putnam in graduate school. In it, Putnam examines the civic culture of northern and southern Italy and concludes that democratic participation can be measured in various ways. The institutions alone do not make democracy. Their stability can and should be rooted in the civic culture that they serve.
Obviously, voting is one measure of participation, but it is not the only way one can participate in their community. Voting is a deliberate choice, and we must be deliberate in our choices.
Other methods include reading newspapers (now available online) and fostering the discussions around community issues and politics among your friends and family.
Democratic civic culture is like an ecosystem. The conditions for its responsiveness and effectiveness dynamically influence the institutions of governance. If the environment the institution is rooted in is apathetic, then the institution itself will not firmly root in its mission to serve the community.
So...what does your political ecosystem foster? How deliberative are you in your choice to participate in your community? Do your institutions of government effectively serve your community?
Most importantly, what are you willing to do about it?
Friday, October 15, 2010
Only Connect - Lessons from Howard's End and Queens College
"Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die." - E.M. Forster from Howard's End (chapter 22)
I attended Queens College, now Queens University of Charlotte, as an undergraduate student. This passage from Howard's Ends served as the mission statement for the core classes referred to by the institution as "Liberal Learning."
Liberal Learning was an innovative approach to a liberal arts education. It combined team teaching of faculty and staff with an interwoven, interdisciplinary course. As a student, you were required to take this course each semester for the first two years of college and then for one semester the junior and senior years.
The first semester began with the birth of civilization and the capstone course examined contemporary ethics. Each small cohort of students was assigned a section leader for breakout discussions and then met in the lecture hall with all LL students for a team taught lecture.
We students often resented the five day a week schedule, often at 8 am, which seemed like a crucible for the college student!
BUT the comprehensive examination of studies linked music, arts, literature, history and politics with the common themes and struggles of humanity. The result was that one came to see the interconnectedness of life and the intricate knowledge that the arts were expressions of social, political and ethical themes embedded in our civilizations. Conversely, the social, political and ethical themes were influenced by the artistic expressions for community change.
As an academic myself now, I relish the unique approach to intellectual development and endeavor to embed a similar appreciation for "only connect" to my philosophy of teaching and learning.
I often swell with memories of slides of Cubist painters expressing the multifaceted perspectives of societies from the individual's point of view at the turn of the 20th century, Dr. Charles Reed wearing fly fishing boots and a lure ridden hat which jumping on the desk to portray the deep social theory we were examining, and listening to collaboration of Duran Duran and Milton Nascimento in "Breath after Breath" to dissect the thematic influence of styles and beats in South American music.
So, how does this book - Sinn Fein Women - "only connect?"
As Bobby Sands said:
Everyone, Republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small; no one is too old or too young to do something.
The connection is yours. I hope the reader will find some personal application to play a particular part in their community. No role is too small and no one is too old or young to do so.
"Only connect" the passion and the prose to inspire and transform that which is around you.
I attended Queens College, now Queens University of Charlotte, as an undergraduate student. This passage from Howard's Ends served as the mission statement for the core classes referred to by the institution as "Liberal Learning."
Liberal Learning was an innovative approach to a liberal arts education. It combined team teaching of faculty and staff with an interwoven, interdisciplinary course. As a student, you were required to take this course each semester for the first two years of college and then for one semester the junior and senior years.
The first semester began with the birth of civilization and the capstone course examined contemporary ethics. Each small cohort of students was assigned a section leader for breakout discussions and then met in the lecture hall with all LL students for a team taught lecture.
We students often resented the five day a week schedule, often at 8 am, which seemed like a crucible for the college student!
BUT the comprehensive examination of studies linked music, arts, literature, history and politics with the common themes and struggles of humanity. The result was that one came to see the interconnectedness of life and the intricate knowledge that the arts were expressions of social, political and ethical themes embedded in our civilizations. Conversely, the social, political and ethical themes were influenced by the artistic expressions for community change.
As an academic myself now, I relish the unique approach to intellectual development and endeavor to embed a similar appreciation for "only connect" to my philosophy of teaching and learning.
I often swell with memories of slides of Cubist painters expressing the multifaceted perspectives of societies from the individual's point of view at the turn of the 20th century, Dr. Charles Reed wearing fly fishing boots and a lure ridden hat which jumping on the desk to portray the deep social theory we were examining, and listening to collaboration of Duran Duran and Milton Nascimento in "Breath after Breath" to dissect the thematic influence of styles and beats in South American music.
So, how does this book - Sinn Fein Women - "only connect?"
As Bobby Sands said:
Everyone, Republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small; no one is too old or too young to do something.
The connection is yours. I hope the reader will find some personal application to play a particular part in their community. No role is too small and no one is too old or young to do so.
"Only connect" the passion and the prose to inspire and transform that which is around you.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Community Impact - how can you achieve it?
On Sunday, I did an interview with the Dunwoody Crier about the book release! Stay tuned for the link to the published interview.
During the interview, the reporter and I discussed how the book (on Irish women) could be galvanized for a call to action for all women.
As the busy mother of four and a full-time professor, it would be easy for me to lose sight of the challenges facing my community today. Time is precious, and family is a top priority for us all. But I want my children to have a better community and see the impact that they can make too - this is why I bring my children with me once a month to deliver meals at a local non-profit organization to chronic and terminally ill clients. The kids also help me pack up their used clothes and donate them to a unique community programme that promotes reunification and healing of children with their mothers battling substance abuse.
These small efforts contribute to a larger vision of community empowerment, and they do not take too much time. Small efforts can yield great rewards. These are small actions of community impact, taking ownership of our role in my community. It is community impact.
How can you impact your community?
In writing this book, I was inspired to deepen my commitment to voluntarism and community impact. I was also able to recognize the powerful (often unrecognized!) role that women can play in their communities - as daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, PTA volunteers, community volunteers, employees, business owners, cultural advocates and neighbors.
I was also inspired to say thank you to all the women in my life who have supported my community - from those "room parents" who volunteer in my children's classrooms to those advocates fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of Georgia's children. Every sacrifice that these women have made to impact their communities has fostered my community.
But most of all, I am grateful for my mother and my grandmother who instilled in me a compassion for all people and a commitment to act on the values I hold most dear.
I would like to ask you to thank a woman in your life for what she has done for you and your community. Please don't let her efforts go "footnoted!"
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