The Second Day of Christmas, 2010
Dear Friends,
Even if I’m not in touch as often as I might like, please know that I count knowing you among my blessings and want to stay connected. --Or I wouldn't be hunting you down like this over the holidays. ;-)
I hope you are feeling loved and warmed by some cheer during this holiday season.
It's another quiet holiday for me (studying for round #2 of my GREs and getting my grad school apps together). I trust it will be my last December in the backwoods of Virginia, and that I will be starting a very new chapter in my life in the months ahead (I hope!).
Recess is Over!
As some of you know, I'm applying to nonprofit management PhD programs. The degree falls under Public Administration, at least within the schools I’m applying to. Beyond developing more expertise and credentials in NP organizational development (OD)/capacity building, I'll also get to study two of my other passions: multi-racial, multi-class coalition building, and effective liberal values messaging, or "framing." And I’ll finally(!) complete some related writing projects I’ve split my energies away from.
I'm really looking forward to delving into learning again. I'll be a more devoted student than I was back in my divinity school days when I was focused more on organizing for various causes.
(Here’s me at a Gulf War I (“The Prequel”) DC rally.) --Around the time I organized the take over of Harvard’s Memorial Chapel in support of S. African divestment. ;-)
I'm clear that I want to gain more depth in my education now-- a good thing, since getting through PhD programs generally requires scholastic dedication and a lot of hard work!
Given I should be able to transfer in some credits from my incomplete OD masters degree,** I'm determined to get it done within three years, four max. **(I unknowingly went over the time limit and wasn’t allowed to complete the last five credits --may Johns Hopkins U. rot in (you know where ;-) ). My plans then would be to write, teach, and do some consulting and training on the side.
I would like to move to the west coast and attend Portland State University for a number of reasons (including being near my grown nieces who lost their mom (my sister) last year and their brother and dad in recent years. (--Not that they need their long lost aunt in anyway, but I could pretend I might nice to have around, now and again.) It's a gorgeous part of the country with plenty of mountains and rivers for me to play on, and lots of fellow progressives to play with ;-).
(I got a lovely view from the airplane of Mt. St. Helens which is just to the left this shot of Mts. Hood, Rainier, and then Mt. Baker in northern Washington in the far distance.)
Hopefully my sun worshipping nature would allow me to handle the number of overcast or rainy days there. – If you’re not familiar with the NW, when the sun's out there, it’s a botanical paradise!
--However… if my house doesn't sell in the next few months, I'll need to attend a school in the DC area instead until it does, so I'm applying to some good schools locally as a back-up. At least I’d be able to get started, and although not ideal, transferring to another university later would be a possibility.
The only way I’ll be able to afford school is to get a research or teaching fellowship or assistantship with the free tuition and stipend that provides, but that won’t be enough to live on. I’ll support myself with periodic contract work in training and development. Some of you know I have talents in renovating, as well. If I can acquire another house or two to renovate and flip (anywhere but the middle of the woods!), that would also help me to stay in the green.
Career Ruminations:
So, after a few years of bumping along with trying to fit and package myself within the training business as a "practical" way to make a living, I feel I'm getting back on track with my sense of purpose. And I’ll have/be more fun again :-). It’s been very hard for me sitting on the sidelines of social change work. And without my heart being in it, training has not been very lucrative for me. Not being at an age where I can be impractical anymore, I have talked to a number of professors about teaching prospects, and I believe this path makes sense.
I also read a quote the other day which feels apropos when my fear factor emerges: "Sometimes when no other mode of transportation is available, a leap of faith is necessary." – Pretty good, eh?
I wish this career path had occurred to me before, but I’m told we don’t control all the timing or our own readiness. I guess I'll have to pretend I believe it. For a long time, I didn’t think of myself as an academic type. As it turns out, I guess I am my mother’s daughter --as much as I resisted ;-). In this field, however, I should be able to apply what I’m learning “on the ground," such as a term in common usage implies: “Pracademics.” --So, Onward!
$$$ Work/Moola: $$$
As soon as the holidays are over and my apps are in, I’ll be redoubling my efforts to pick up contract work as a trainer, training designer, and technical writer. I was on the board of the DC ASTD (Am. Society of Training & Development) this past year where I made some contributions and some good connections, but I invested too much of my time and focus in it, so I recently stepped down. – Know anyone with some training or tech writing needs? :-)
I just got a contracting offer from Management Concepts as a periodic trainer for their creative thinking courses (which I hope leads to additional work with them). With a couple more clients like this, I should be able to create a manageable living before and during school. And bonus: I should get to do a bit of traveling with them – yay!!
2010 Adventures!
Got to travel a bit this year, even on a shoestring, visiting friends and discovering the cheap thrills of international hostels:
While recovering from a health issue last winter, I took my first trip to Puerto Rico to help an acquaintance cook for a retreat on a beautiful island off the main island-- whilst Virginia & DC were buried under a vast white blanket of show-stopping snow. Good timing, VRon!
I took the train to Chicago for the national ASTD conference in May and got to ride a bike along my beloved Lake Michigan (being from Michigan, I’m a bit possessive about our “inland seas”). Wow - what a city!
In August, I went to California to visit dear friends I hadn’t seen for too many years. First, Meesun and her husband in San Diego, where I checked out a grad
program. We had a nice little visit to a Thich Nhat Hanh retreat center nearby – made me miss my Buddhist retreats and the simplicity of that practice.
I then took the train to Beverly Hills and stayed with my friend Dave and his ailing father, film director Irvin Kershner. Mr. Kershner later passed away just after Thanksgiving. I was glad to get to know him some. An interesting, humorous Renaissance man who's artistic gifts included having been a violinist, photographer, documentary maker, occasional actor, and humanitarian, who was also my kid of man politically. ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvin_Kershner
Although my friends, Donna and Abhaya, and I couldn’t get anywhere near the throngs
(200,000) at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” in DC, it fed our souls to be any part of this peaceful, democratic event in which the people expressed their caring for our society from such a range of human experience, and with humor to
ease the burden of outrage and despair. (--If only the “reasonable” majority was better organized -- Oh yeah, that’s what I’m going back to school for!) :-)
And my most recent adventure was getting to spend nine days in early November checking out Portland and Portland State (with glorious Mts. Hood and St. Helens looming in the background just 90 minutes away, about the same distance as the Pacific); visiting my niece Morgan and her young family near Tacoma; as well as some dear mentors in Olympia, Washington.
So, although income and social life were in short supply, it was a good year for exploring: both internally for reconnecting with my “bliss” and career path, and externally, visiting some beautiful places and good friends.
In Closing, Dear Friends…
I'm chomping at the bit to get started with my new life -- but then, I also need to do a better job with "Be Here Now" -- since this is where I still am!
I may lean Buddhist when it comes to compassion and some philosophical outlooks, but I’ve been lousy at the practice of living fully in the present.
(I mean-- I used to be lousy at it… Gonna change that! ;-) )
As for you….
"May you dwell in possibilities” in your year ahead, too, with some curiouser
adventures in store-- to the extents you care to venture!
Thank you for your friendship, specialness, and light. The picture below says 1000 words about the importance of the caring of friends, no matter how different our backgrounds or paths. (Let me know if you want the fuller story and additional heartwarming pictures emailed to you.)
After a few weeks of loving treatment to restore her trust at an animal sanctuary in England, an abused, abandoned, dog named Jasmine then began mothering each of the other rescued animals brought there. “She would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick. She takes all the stress out of them, and it helps them to… settle into their new surroundings… [She] even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."
The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits - and one roe deer fawn.”
Pictured from the left are Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, an orphaned Roe deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured barn owl; and Jasmine, with a mother’s heart…
Like Jasmine, may we also share in much love in the year ahead!
Namaste, Love,
Veronica/Ronni/VRon
