[Evelyn Wallace]

I can confirm Olivia’s sleep schedule. She packs it IN, day to day, friends! Also glad to see how the project born of this round of Initiative for you, Olivia, has, by the end, shown itself to fall somewhere that’s not the most important thing in your world. Good (for you!) to know!

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 10: Ten People of High Value

I considered this week who the 10 people in the field were, but all I could come up with is the one person at Powder River Correctional Facility who has the authority to say yes or no to my proposal. Even so, I didn’t make the call, because I wasn’t sure if I should hit them up right out of the gate and I remember Josh saying we sort of had 3 weeks to do this assignment but not really. My question is: do I need to find another 9 people to call first, even if they feel forced/ less directly involved than the one person I know I need to call? Is the answer right in front of me if I just crack open my Initiative book?

For what it’s worth, here’s my first draft at the script I’ll likely use to pitch the project to the VIPs:

Survival School is a new kind of support group that provides mentorship, life skills training, and alternative pathways forward for the incarcerated population. Survival School incorporates principles of triple bottom line sustainability and uses the Spodek Method—-an exciting new methodology with a proven track record-—as fundamental to the curriculum. Meetings ideally occur weekly but the frequency can easily be adjusted. Structurally, Survival School works on a rolling entry system, where participants can drop in and drop out as they see fit and as is allowed by the facility. Survival School:
• Helps the Department of Corrections fulfill its promise of rehabilitation
•. Helps correctional facilities maintain order by keeping the incarcerated engaged
• Helps outside communities by maximizing the potential successful reentry potential of returning citizens and minimizing criminality
• Helps the incarcerated population feel ready for life on the outside and connected to resources beyond the carceral system
• Helps the environment by utilizing intrinsic motivation

A pilot program is currently being designed for Powder River Correctional Facility. Before I ask for actionable advice, do you have any clarifying questions so far?

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 9: Second Personal Essay

I remember asking my friend once, as the early Covid era restrictions were lifting, if they knew of any support groups for depression.

“Sure,” they laughed. “They’re called bars.”

And there it is. This sad cycle of suffering. And addiction. And isolation. But where to begin in interrupting the cycle? Which group of people am I looking at and what are they feeling? My instinctive answer is: everybody living in non-sustainable cultures feel conscious or unconscious guilt, shame, and despair at the state of the world and their roles within it. But most people aren’t ready to admit it, in my experience. So, does that “count” as a problem, by Initiative standards of definition?

In the course of this workshop, my problem-solution set took various shapes. Here is a short list of the problems I was purporting to solve and the shape my solutions took:
• Early-stage entrepreneurs feel too busy to attend additional trainings; provide sustainability leadership workshops, later updated to coaching services & emphasize triple bottom line
• People in jails and prisons feel abandoned by society; provide sustainability leadership workshops in jails, later updated to cooking workshops in prisons, later updated to monthly support groups with food
• People in residential facilities feel lacking in basic life skills, such as cooking; provide cooking workshops (with sustainability leadership scripts utilized) in halfway houses and juvenile facilities, later updated to included senior centers, universities, large employers, etc, basically sold as a health and wellness class

But what problem am I really trying to solve?

The concept I keep returning to is a support group, even though I know the concept we’re supposed to start with is the unwanted emotions of a defined group. Still, though, the support group thing feels so resonant. The more I dive into sustainability as a lifestyle—and into sustainability leadership as a livelihood—the more I see addiction to plastic and pollution as the opposite lifestyle, and the more I wonder if other addiction models might help us break through to the general population. And the recovery world leans heavily on support groups. But then again, how do you run support groups for people who are addicted to a thing that everybody else in the world (rounding up) is also addicted to? We all generally agree as a society that opioids and alcohol are addictive substances which can cause massive harm, but we do not all generally agree as a society that plastic and petroleum products are addictive substances which can cause massive harm.

Any help, feedback or general thoughts are very much welcome.

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 8: 24-Month Projection

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1phqPChEiDdWCPgrAmrzmjurL58QCx1t5NIYr2tbOwao/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Reflection:

As someone who has until the very recent past considered spreadsheets to be frightening linear monuments erected in honor of my own inadequacies, I found this exercise to be refreshingly enjoyable. The numbers tell a story, and once I jumped over (some of) the hurdles to spreadsheet mastery, I began to recognize the story-telling power of spreadsheets. For example, I divided my project into 6-month intervals, if only for my own organization and vision. I figured I was confident in growing so much every half a year that it was truly enlightening to see that if that (what feels to be) very doable rate of growth persists over 2 years, I could very well be on my way to making a livelihood out of this project.

Another thought I had in this exercise: what if I can find 18 clients? I’m defining a client at this point as an organization who pays for my service as a program for their own populations. I’m thinking senior centers, universities, half-way houses, private companies, jails/ prisons, etc. In learning how to format an out-of-grid key I discovered how to revise the story (of the future!) with numbers. For example, if every client pays full price and remains a client, I wouldn’t need to secure grant funding… perhaps ever? However, the service could be offered in an entirely different way if clients weren’t charged a penny and the whole project was grant-funded.

If the only thing I learned from this is that spreadsheets can be a form of narrative expression, I’m counting that as a win.

[Evelyn Wallace]

Visual Model

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/154BMWGiK3RK5N37PLY0J_qMLU8-FL3iy1InLwe7SnU0/edit

(reflections to come)

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 6: Ten People Closer to the Field

List of advice from ten people relative to my project:
• Be aware of the mental acuity of participants/ literacy level
• Consider timeframe of program and adjusting it to constraints of incarceration
• Consider if secure facility is the best way to accomplish the mission
• Clearly define desired outcomes, and for which populations (the incarcerated, the warden, etc.); convince warden this is benefit to staff and inmates
• Consider limitations: can they have access to knives? Forks?
• Consider providing similar program in halfway house and/ or juvenile facilities
• Prove/ highlight the benefits/ why the juice is worth the squeeze
• First, prove it’s a problem (and define: a problem for whom?). Specify that this is not just “rich white lady” problems.
• Show that it’s more than just cooking, it’s life skills-building
• Don’t be a bull in a china shop, work with the people who have the authority to say yes or no
• Build coalitions
• Use terminology that the jail and prison systems prefer: “life skills” and “new hobbies” (Research this language). Life skills includes more than cooking so figure out what correctional facilities mean when they use terms like “life skills”
• Be careful it doesn’t turn into the haves making decisions for the have-nots without soliciting their input
• Consider the potential intellectual barriers of the local folks you’ll be dealing with (on the administrative/ managerial side)
• Be flexible around potential funding sources
• Emphasize that this is evidence-based
• Find commonalities: “our grannies were washing tin foil” etc.
• Consider hosting at prisons, not jails. Jails are not set up for this kind of programming, they literally just don’t have the space.
• Be tenacious. If you want to make it happen, don’t let a few ‘no’s’ get you down.
• Consider organizing leadership teams instead of going in alone. (Be clear about boundaries. Some people will be there out of boredom and/ or fall in love with you.)
• Name safety first. Make sure the jails/ prisons know you prioritize safety. (And then actually do prioritize your own safety.)
• Announce that it is plant-based food, otherwise people will feel tricked
• Emphasize that these will be economical, easy, healthy meals that will help them transition into life on the outside
• Be prepared for some level of weird. Things are weird behind bars.
• Go softly into that good night

An improved version of the project:

With this project I aim to provide life skills training to the detainees of Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker County, Oregon by offering sustainable cooking classes on a weekly or monthly basis. Incorporated into the workshop will be Spodek Method practice and training.

List of Referrals:
• Cooking Matters; most small communities have one
• Some D.C. re-entry experts, unnamed but to be cc’d on upcoming emails
• My mom
• Some sociology professors doing work in the criminal legal field
• My uncle Russ
• Destiny Payne, CHD reentry peer support
• Matt Christiansen, CHD jail diversion case manager
• Cody Bowen, the sheriff
• The chaplain or social worker at Powder River Correctional Facility

Reflections on experience:

I heard the words that Josh said last week about needing to call some number of people that was a factor greater than ten if the intent was to come to class prepared with a documented journey of ten calls made. I heard those words and thought to myself, “got it!” Then here comes the week, and all the other curve balls life throws, and I find myself thinking “does anyone else in my cohort have kids under the age of 5? Or under the age of 18 for that matter?” Then again, maybe I’m using my kids in the “my busy is more special than your busy” realm of excuses? In any case, here we are now.

I found as I made these calls that my understanding of who was or could be considered connected to this project (i.e. “closer to the field”) expanded. One of the delays at the beginning of the week was due to the first action item being “make a list of people closer to the field.” I knew I could figure some people out if I just sat down with it… but [reasons] and I didn’t. As I write this, I can think of at least half a dozen more people I can think to call, right off the top of my head.

This exercise also made me continue to hold the whole project up against that glorious unflinching light of skepticism. I often give the people I’m calling a chance to ask clarifying questions before we launch into giving advice, and some of the best questions I received were “why this population?” and, less directly, what are you really trying to accomplish here? I think this feedback helped me take an honest look at where my drive is coming from, and I’m realizing that one simultaneous problem I am trying to solve is that folks in the sustainability leadership space are eager to spread the word as far and wide as possible but they feel as if they still have a long ways to go with systems of broad reach. I feel like we need as many hands on deck as possible, and until people are champing at the bit to sign up for the Sustainability Simplified workshops (the next cohort of which starts Tuesday, September 10! Send your friends my way to get the registered!), I’m happy to find any willing participants, even if they’re locked up, even if they only show up for the free food.

I’ve heard the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and Josh keep reminding me that the battleground of sustainability leadership is in the hearts and minds of all 8 billion of us. Cooking workshops are a palatable way to get sustainability into people’s consciousness, and if that’s the consciousness of a person who happens to be under lock and key, I count that as a win.

[Evelyn Wallace]

Hi Bonnie!

I’d like to speak to the laziness/ fear thing, mostly because I deeply identify with these emotions. So first, I want to thank you for being vulnerable! It was a strange, immediate relief in my own heart to know that I’m not the only one. And of course, when I say it out loud (and maybe this was true for you, too), it seems obvious that OF COURSE I wasn’t the only one! Still, though, I just want to say thank you for sharing. I had more to say but… ran out of time lol

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 5: People Who Feel the Problem

Just to refresh, the project I’m now working on is some form of Sustainability Simplified workshops or offerings in jails and prisons. When I asked people who had been formerly incarcerated whether or not I was on the right track in thinking that those behind bars feel abandoned and neglected by society at large, here are the most poignant responses:

“You know what those dudes are MOST scared of? Their release date. They’re somebody inside. They’re nobody outside. They don’t have any family, nothing.”

“I felt fine when I was in there because I had people on the outside, but not everybody does.”

“Yes, it’s true…. They’ve lost everyone in their lives. They’re abandoned they feel alone, they’ve lost everything from the outside word.”

“The loneliness is why they [the incarcerated] do things. They’re reaching out to anyone they can get their hands on.”

“Yes, that’s right. Some people don’t have anybody on the outside. They have gangs and ‘family’ on the inside so what do they do when they get out? They connect with that ‘family’ and land right back in jail again.”

“Some people will ask about my jail time but then you sort of see them stop listening. Most people don’t even want to know. They think they know because they’ve seen it on TV, but they don’t know anything. So yeah, we feel abandoned.”

[Evelyn Wallace]

I did it.

I made the ten calls, received three pieces of actionable advice from each person, remembered to ask them who they might put me in touch with, all of it. I directed conversations, took notes, made files, and overall practiced my chops of early-stage project development. I was developing some real momentum around Sustainabilty Leadership workshops for early-stage entrepreneurs or small businesses.

And then I heard Jonathan Petts speak about solving a real problem. Which got me thinking: is it a real problem that early-stage entrepreneurs and small business owners struggle with the “triple bottom line” (i.e. financial sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability)? Or was that just me trying to smush something I knew I wanted to be doing into something I sort of know to be a tangential problem?

I haven’t abandoned the notion of providing workshops (or coaching) to small-scale entrepreneurs, but I have reconsidered which of the infinite problems on earth I would like to spend my time solving.

I landed on an issue that has been gnawing at me for years now: the incarcerated population of America tend to feel hopeless, helpless, and abandoned by society at large. Do they struggle, in general, with a wide array of other undesired emotions? You betcha. Are there mountains of other problems and issues around our culture of criminality and obsession with punishment, especially in America? Also yes. But an initiator’s gotta start somewhere.

My updated project idea is to provide one pilot program in our local Union County jail of Sustainability Simplified workshops. This is the first project that feels like it’s lifting off of its own accord, and I’m trying not to be intimidated by all the “you should call” advice I’ve already received.

At the same time, I’m also finding myself most doubtful about this project’s potential success. As one of my friends put it, “what can they actually do in there?”

And the truth is: I have no idea what they can do in there. Is it even possible to follow through with a Spodek Method commitment from a jail cell? These fundamental unknowns mean that this project could be a flaming ball of failure. Heck, it could get shot down before it even gets started. But the other side of that coin is: I also had no idea what any of the folks I’ve led through the Spodek Method could do. It’s a surprise every time! So if anything, I’m deeply curious to find out the ways in which our friends behind bars might tap into any of the same empowerment, hopefulness, and peace of mind that so many others have found through the Spodek Method technology.

In summary, here is the advice I received:

• (x2) Be aware of inmate limitations. What are the constraints on their time? Physical space? Rules?
• (x2) Reach out to others who have run programs in jails and prisons. Reach out to government department in charge to discuss other programs. Research other programs in prisons/ jails.
• (x2) Emphasize the desired outcome for inmates: will they be able to get jobs, regulate their emotions, etc? Emphasize skills built.
o Keep in mind we are not a community of risk-takers. Sell program as “this workshop helps people become self-sufficient, who aren’t such a tax on society anymore…”
o Speak the language of those who have the power to approve programs on the inside. Research DOC mission/ find ways to say the right words.
• (x3) Be cautious of particular personalities (like our DA, for example). They may know me by reputation, and not necessarily in a good way.
o Hearsay stories of programs being run poorly/ possibly illegally in past. Be aware of historical context.
o County commissioners notoriously risk averse. I could talk to them, but they’ll almost certainly send me to sheriff.
o Find commonality with Cody Bowen. He tends to go where the winds blow him. As a school resource officer, those winds were a bit more grounding. Now he’s prepping for a coup?
• (x2) Convince authorities this is a program worth putting on the roster. Consider who I know, directly or indirectly, to help me get “in.”
o Find social service coordinator for jail (sometimes social worker, sometimes chaplain). Connect with them.
• (x3) Tailor sustainability concept into this direction so it fits. Use as many of the same materials as possible
o Perhaps reconsider structure of workshop/ hours per session/ sessions per week
o Find a way to implement program without starting from scratch. Use any workshop materials or frameworks that already exist.
• Consider offering program to the newly-released
• Consider offering Initiative
• Consider how I’m going to be compensated, or decide if I’m just doing this as a passion project/ clarify parameters of intention.
• (x2) Keep in mind different inmates have different stories. “The incarcerated” is not a monolith.
o Narrow types of people who might be interested
• Get feedback from participants as you go. Build that into the workshop
• Bridge gap between “incarcerated” and “sustainability” and ensure that is communicated in pitching program
• Clarify description. Why is this a solution to their problems?
o Ask myself: why this group? Is the delta the greatest?
• Consider expanding emrollment beyond inmates: maybe jail admin or leadership, too? Try to engage with them while engaging with inmates
• Acquaint myself with order of operations in County commissioner funding. Money comes from county budget, goes to sherrif, but jail is run through deputy? But don’t jump chain of command!

Contact recommendations:
• Dr. Epperstein’s husband. (She was psychiatrist in town, moved to CO with family. Husband tried to start programs in town but came up on some obstacles. He may help me navigate the mine field.)
• Howard Univeristy department of criminology/ any professor
• My uncle Russ
• Andy Alpine, runs support groups for ex-convicts, worked in San Quentin
• Cody Bowen, sheriff. (Send Liz Meyer short write up of what I want her to say… and remind her a lot until she confirms she’s sent it!)
• “Esther” from Initiative
• Cami from NEON. She’s run NA programs in Union County jail.
• Warren Farrell, author of “Myth of Male Power”
• TED talk speaker, name forthcoming

[Evelyn Wallace]

5. Choice of project: Sustainability Leadership workshop targeted to small business owners in La Grande.

4. Before I counted, I thought for sure everybody voted for idea number 5 (i.e. sustainability leadership workshops for small business owners in La Grande), but after I counted, I realized that there was actually more of an even split.
-Small business votes: 3 people voted as first place
-Expanding social work curriculum: 2 people voted as tie for first place
-School-age kids after school-program: 2 people voted as tie for first pace & 1 person voted for second place

3. For reflections, see prior/ above post

2. The improved version of the project is that I learned to say “triple bottom line” before I say “sustainability leadership”?

1. List of advice I received for the winning project idea:

-Emphasize affordability of sustainability
-offer adventure; include sense of adventure (business trips can be adventure and sustainable)
-help business owners make sustainability a habit (and teach them that habits can change)

-consider their schedules/ capacity to attend yet another training
-small business owners are practical, so don’t lead with “I’m going to help you identify your values!” Switch to “…fulfill your values AND improve your bottom line!” They don’t have time to “natter” (their word)
-recognize that small business owners want to connect with like-minded folks as networking
-present sustainability in a non-ideological way
-remember to use sustainability as being the same as cost-effectiveness
-don’t do full-day workshops; consider how to pulse
-consider on-site coaching

-be aware that even small business models are different, maybe a one-size fits all model won’t work
-look into subsidies and incentives for sustainability measures small business owners can take

-conduct a needs assessment with the small business community (do they really need what you think they need?)
-prioritize financial element. Sustainability equals earning a living!

[Evelyn Wallace]

((Sorry if I misunderstood the assignment, guys! I didn’t at all go into the advice that the people gave me… But I DO have all the notes from those conversations so can talk about them readily in class tomorrow!))

The first time I took this workshop, Josh asked us all if we had noticed the spiral staircase on the cover of the book. “That’s not an accident,” he said.

This is the second time I have participated in Josh’s Initiative workshop series/ exercises. That is, I am on the second rung (?) of the spiral staircase: same spin, different level. And I can see from up here with more clarity the first rung… and the confusing-at-the-time feedback I received such as “the advice the person gives you isn’t the point.”

This time around:
• I was more organized with…
o Weekly schedule: I didn’t wait until Thursday to start thinking about it. I was committed to doing the work on time, so even though some of my original appointments didn’t pan out, I felt more confident just reaching out to any known/ trusted person I happened to interface with. Like “hey! Jeni! How are you! Glad to see you at the farmer’s market! Hey listen do you have like 10 minutes to give me some advice on some community projects I’m in the VERY early stages of developing?”
o Materials: I made sure to have scratch paper and pen during each meeting, and I dated and labeled all my notes. I know all these bits and bobs are going to go into one folder at some point, and I’m excited to build the portfolio this time knowing a bit better where it’s headed.
o Meeting management: I was able to lay out for people what to expect, and to get some of their feedback and preferences in the places that was possible. I was also more confident in redirecting people when they started just… talking. (“I hear you! That sounds [fill in the blank/ emotion word]. If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to steer us back in the direction of advice, and if we want to get back to that later, I’m game!”)
• I talked with people I had talked to last time, and even though I do a lot of other community work with these particular folks, these exercises have only been strengthening those working relationships. For example, one colleague said “Wow, Evelyn, I’m just so impressed with how solution-based you are! Can’t wait to hear how this all goes!”
• I built more confidence around my own role in the community as sustainability leader

Over the course of this exercise:
• I got more confident and more concise in discussing each problem and solution and in introducing the whole format of the conversation at all. (“I’m in the very early development stage of some community projects…” and “Would you rather me go through all five project ideas and you can decide where you want to give advice, or do you want to give advice as we go?”)
• I improved the explanation of the projects, especially the one that ended up being the favorite
• I learned how to define my terms, such as “sustainability leadership”
• I gained a sense of who would be valuable to speak to in the future
• I began to understand how the advice isn’t the most important thing… but I also learned to recognize which advice is potentially more valuable… and I also learned how to make sure that I am responding even to the less valuable advice with the same grateful attention I do for the rest of it.

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 2: Five Problems and Remedial Solutions

Problem 1: Student social workers feel limited by the social work curriculum as outlined
Solution 1: Sustainable leadership coursework is added to social work curriculum

Problem 2: School-age children in the U.S. feel anxious that the grownups do not, in fact, have everything under control
Solution 2: Sustainable leadership activities are offered to school-age kids through after-school programs or workshops

Problem 3: People using social media feel dissatisfied with the amount of time they spend online
Solution 3: Sustainability leadership workshop (or other offering) is designed specifically for social media “addicts”

Problem 4: Singles looking for connection feel conflicted about or resistant to using dating apps
Solution 4: Sustainability leadership workshop (or other offering) is designed specifically for singles

Problem 5: Small business owners (in La Grande, anyway) feel overworked and view sustainability as an important thing they can’t afford or don’t have time for
Solution 5: Sustainability leadership workshop (or other offering) is designed specifically for small business owners

Reflections:
• How hard was it to identify problems?
• Was it easy or hard to see them from a perspective of the people they affect?
• Did it get easier with practice?
• Do you think your problems and solutions have much chance to become viable projects?

At first I found myself feeling somewhat frustrated… with Josh specifically. Like “why do you always put all these silly constraints on things, JOSH??? Why can’t I just explain like a normal person what a problem is? Or better yet, why do I even have to name a problem? Why can’t I just do the thing I want to do?” All these thoughts happen within the first second of response time, by the way, because by the second second, I’d already come around. “Oh, right, I’m in this class to learn new things. Also, I’ve done this very same class before and I know why this is laid out the way it’s laid out.”

I noticed that groups of people experiencing the problems I identified at first were groups that I was a part of. I also discovered that the more I expanded into groups I wasn’t a part of, the more I found myself recalling past conversations that justified my assumptions that group X felt emotion Y. (In other words, I found myself trying not to guess, but still kind of guessing.) Finally, I noticed that there was a clear pattern to my solutions. This part made me feel like I was unconsciously working backwards, where I was starting with the solution and manufacturing a problem to fit. On a conscious level, however, I was definitely working in the proper sequential direction, which makes me think that sustainability leadership really is the solution to most (like, really MOST) of our (human) problems.

[Evelyn Wallace]

Initiative Exercise 1: Personal Essay by Evelyn Wallace

In the summer between fifth and sixth grade, I spent a week away from home at a summer camp sponsored by the YMCA but operated by rolling generations of outdoor, dirtball, fun-loving hippy types. There was an unspoken rivalry between two popular summer camps, and I somehow ended up in the group with all the cool kids from school. (For those who know me in my present tense state of being—e.g. impeccable style, erudite yet accessible humor and of course trademark humility—you may be surprised to learn that I was not always so hip. It was actually a big effing deal that I was somehow part of the cool group during those formative summers.) Anyway, one of the important philosophical differences between the cool kid summer camp (aka CJH) and the OTHER summer camp was that CJH incorporated a cornerstone overnight backpacking trip for all campers of all skill levels. That means every single camper participated in a three-day, two-night adventure lead by a few teenagers who somehow managed to get every camper out and back safely season after season, year after year. We were rugged and responsible and proud of it.

My experience as a camper was so influential that I decided at age 15 to return as a leader in training, and eventually as a counselor. One of the phrases CJH used a lot (like, a lot) about how to transition into a leadership role was: take initiative. Notice a camper’s sleeping bag is not gonna cut it for the cold mountain nights? Take initiative and reach out to the Adventure Program Coordinator to organize a loaner. Want to add puff paint to the arts and crafts center? Take initiative and figure out what it would take and make it happen. Camper looking kind of lonely at the weekly camp dance? Take initiative and engage with the wallflower. What I learned is that the whole magical, formative operation depended on kids (teenagers) like us springing to action without being directly asked.

And you know what? The summers I spent at summer camp were more rewarding, more authentically satisfying than anything I’d learned at school hands down no question not even close. At school, the best I could be was like valedictorian or star in the school play or some other opportunity as defined by the adults in charge, even if some of those positions were somewhat fun. At camp, the best I could was actually be responsible for the actual safety of actual children. And not only the safety, but the fun! Because yes we were responsible to get these kids into the wilderness safely—for three days and two nights, mind you, plus the whole rest of the week back at base camp—but we were also responsible for giving these kids the best week of their lives. We took groups of kids hiking up horse-hooved, dusty inclines, slogging up seemingly endless switchbacks while carrying borrowed frame packs, borrowed sleeping bags, and wearing city sneakers that rubbed little blisters into the heels of feet, all to finally arrive at the most glorious mountain lake they’d ever seat and to eat the best peanut butter and jelly sammich they’d ever tasted. As a counselor, it was my job to help the kids find strength in themselves they didn’t know they had, and in doing so I found strength in myself I didn’t know I had. For reference, if I had done the same hike with my family, I would have been the complainiest one of the bunch.

That’s all to say that taking a class like this taps into that same authentic sense of doing something meaningful, authentic, important, and yes, even fun that summer camp tapped into. Sure, it takes some energetic output to get anything done, but my prior experience with these Initiative exercises taught me that whatever work I put into whatever project I land on will be as rewarding as my experience as a camp counselor. And I can’t wait to see what shape that takes this time around.

My Field of Interest: Community organizing, edutainment creators

1. Three people closer to my field of interest (app for music might include app designers, musicians, friends with lots of music apps, etc.)
a. Stephen Broyles (social worker/ community organizing pro)
b. Jeff Forbes (local media/ tech friend)
c. Adam Conover (from Adam Ruins Everything; he knows how to research bummer subjects and turn them into something funny)

2. Three people with high status or value in field:
a. Barack Obama (community organizing is where he got his start, right?)
b. KRS-One (through his hip-hop rapping/ music but also his Temple of Hip Hop spiritual guidance)
c. John Oliver (Last Week Tonight)

3. Three relevant role models:
a. Adam McKay (he produces edutaining content)
b. Lisa Ladendorff (she founded a local organization NEON and knows how to get the funding to do the things)
c. Gloria Allred (dude, she got stuff DONE when the world was against her. Single mama domestic violence survivor putting herself through law school and eventually doing work like prosecuting Bill Cosby? Sign me up)

[Author]

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