This week (though only half over for me) has been fascinating. Tuesday, I taught my Peer Ed class about nutrition (though I don't think it will stick, and there were only 2 students, who were there at different times because one was late) and then worked on my Self Esteem & Goal-Setting lesson plan. I decided I wanted to do a goal-setting worksheet, with questions like "what is your dream?" and then one main goal for the next 2 years. So I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to convince them that I'm not just talking about this in some kind of off-in-the-distance goal-setting way. I want them to really use it.
So yesterday (Wednesday), I spent the morning going over my plan and freaking out about it a little bit. I then went to the class and ended up not really teaching because for most of the time, there were only 2 students. Instead, I got in an accidental argument with one of the teachers about how she thinks Obama is going to "push us into socialism" (whatever that means) and that capitalism is great because you should be able to keep your money. How someone how is poor and works in a school with kids who live in poverty can hold those views is seriously beyond me. It got worse when I supported my argument with the fact that there are hungry people in the United States and that is messed up since we're the richest nation on earth. She countered that NO ONE in America is starving. Why? Because she hasn't seen it. She must have learned her critical thinking skills from our (now former) President Bush. Anyway, I didn't have statistics, so I couldn't feel ok about arguing too much whether there were in fact hungry people in this country. But regardless, the way she came to her conclusion is what upsets me. That just because she hasn't seen people who are hungry, and that the beggar on her street ONE TIME didn't want the rice she offered him...how does that mean there aren't any hungry people in the ENTIRE COUNTRY?? Additionally she argued that anyone who was begging on the streets was mentally ill. Needless to say, I was bothered and proceeded to look up the statistics. In fact, 1 in 8 Americans live in "food insecure" homes. 12 million children live in food insecure homes. 26% of the adults in the hunger study conducted by Feeding America had attended college or technical school. These people are not mentally ill (probably) and the majority of people who are "food insecure" are not homeless. And food insecure means that though people might have food sometimes, they do not have it all the time. So, no, most people are not starving as in literally dying of hunger. So that's good. But still. 11% of the population of the richest nation on earth doesn't always know where their next meal will come from. That's wrong. Moving on.
In the afternoon, I went to this great conference at NYU in the Wagner School of Public Service called "Innovation to Impact" that I thought might be kind of dumb, but ended up being really awesome. At least the keynote speaker and the conversations I had after the conference. I met some really great people, and had some really inspiring conversations. The main message of the keynote (a Muslim woman who is the author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith) was that we must ask questions out loud and speak truth to power, practice moral courage, use critical thinking. One thing she said that I really loved was that we must use tradition to come to new conclusions (more true ones, supporting women's rights, minority's rights, etc). So anyway, that was really really incredible. The "breakout" session was less interesting and more depressing--I went to one devoted to corporate social responsibility with a speaker who works for Time Warner. She clearly did not believe her company is socially responsible...but she had to act like she did. So that was totally awkward. She just seemed like she totally did not believe what she was telling us. It was sad.
Then we all got back together (or what was left of us...I've found that most conferences, you start out with like 100 people...the second activity has 50, the third 20) and I had a lovely conversation about how obnoxious non-profits are with two young women my age. It was nice to hear that a)my evaluation of non-profits from what I've seen is more or less correct and b)there are other people who are committed to actually making a difference. Then we got into smaller groups and wrote haikus, which was cool and I had a great group. After the group session, I ended up talking with two of the people in my group (ages~30 and ~50) for about 45 minutes. I just always love finding people who I connect with and can share experiences, both mine and theirs. Then I went to dinner with my ex-colleague, Cecilia (from AFSZ), which was also wonderful & enlightening. All-in-all, it was a good day.
This morning, I had my Peer Ed class again and talked about nutrition...again...because there were different people there. It was good, we had a nice conversation and hopefully they learned a little something about nutrition. I'm a bit skeptical about that. But THEN I went to the Family Group class and actually did my lesson about self-esteem and goal-setting, which went as well as possible. I think I even maybe helped some kids think about their plans a little differently. Still, they need more. They need more support, they need more examples, just...more. They don't understand the difference between having an unrealistic goal that will never be reached and having a vision of what they want in their life, then breaking that down into smaller, real goals, then breaking those down, and that you set a short-term goal and then re-assess the situation with any new options that reaching your goal have afforded you. Anyway, I think this is hard for all of us (my age)...learning to do our day-to-day and month-to-month, year-to-year activities while not losing sight of the long-term direction you're headed in. Heck, even having a direction. But I think it's so important. These kids will not get anywhere if they don't have a direction and understand how to move towards it.
Okay I'm getting off my soapbox :-). Love to all!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
People don't really want to believe the statistics about hunger in America. The first dose of bad news about hunger was back in the 60's when there were documentaries and books written about the number of families across America that going to bed hungry most days. That led to the Great Society legislation of the the Johnson administration. With the advent of the take over of government by the Right Wing of America much of what the Great Society programs were intended to address has been lost in rhetoric about needing to trim down Government spending. Of course, now our Federal Government spends more than it ever did for the Great Society--it's just on corporate largess and maintaining our war machine.
ReplyDeleteMeantime, we deny that there is any problem with people being homeless or hungry in America and refuse to spend money on social programs that would provide real safety nets for people who need support to get their basic needs met and to obtain decent health care. Your experiences going to the Ryan Center for health care are sad examples of what someone who has not got decent health insurance coverage has to deal with any time that they are sick and have to go to the doctor. Imagine how all that would have been for you if you had felt like crap and had to wait through all those lines.
I am also amazed about another thing with respect to your encounter with the teacher. It used to be quite obvious that there were homeless and destitute people in NYC. What has happened to them? Even assuming that many of those who are on the streets have mental illnesses I would say that in itself is a pretty sad state of affairs. Why can't we find ways to take care of people with mental illnesses in a humane way? Turning them onto the streets so the state doesn't have the expense is cruel. If your teacher friend needs to see some real street people to validate the claim that there are hunger problems in America, perhaps she needs to come to Chapel Hill and spend some time volunteering in the homeless shelter here. Or just walking down the street in downtown Chapel Hill. They may have swept all the homeless and hungry out of sight in NYC, but we have yet to do so here.
Well that's part of what was so weird to me--there ARE homeless & hungry people on the streets here. As I said, her back-up was that though these people weren't really hungry. I'm still unsure how SHE knows when someone is hungry. Obviously, she is not a particularly empathetic person, and just puts herself in whatever situation she's looking at. And Since she sees people who are overweight, or not underweight, on the streets, they are therefore not hungry. (which isn't true).
ReplyDelete"Anyway, I didn't have statistics, so I couldn't feel ok about arguing too much whether there were in fact hungry people in this country."
ReplyDeleteHaha, perhaps some greater assertiveness even in the face of a lack of handy statistics could serve you well in future discussions on the subject? Tell the woman to LOOK OUT THE WINDOW! :) Also I'm upset that you didnt tell me you started updating your blog again!