Be the Change- Act Locally

Students!  Ena is an inspiring example of someone making a difference in her own community.  We talk a lot about systemic change.  What about being the change we talk about?  The Black Panther movement started as a local movement in Oakland in response to distrust in the police.  The idea was- If the police don't keep us safe we need to keep ourselves safe.  A reincarnation of the Black Panther movement today may be a viable response to Eric Garner.

How do community gardens and other grassroots efforts promote social justice?  What is one thing that you could do in YOUR community to promote social justice?

Three Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Final Paper

In the spirit of the "listicles" that comprise a frightening bulk of online "news" these days, here is a list of three things I want you to do on the blog this week:

1) Respond to the person who commented right before (above) you, by providing a "text" (video, website, poem, scholarly article, editorial, advertisement, song, test, WHATEVER) that has something to do with his/her topic.

2) Provide a brief explanation of the topic you are thinking about for the spring.

3) List one "text" you are thinking of using to teach your topic and briefly say why.


So we will create a kind of feedback chain for one another.  And since I am going first, I don't have to respond to anyone.  I will jump in with #2:

2)  I will teach a class next semester on the importance of metaphor in our popular/political discourse, such as the use of the "war" metaphor in phrases such as "war on drugs" or "war on terror."  I want students to leave thinking about how the language we choose can actually shape our sense of reality.

3) One text I might use is an excerpt from Susan Sontag's Illness as Metaphor in which she talks about how the use of particular metaphors (such as talking about things that aren't diseases as being diseases) shape our thinking.

So the next person should give me a suggestion about something I might consider in relation to "metaphors" and then go on to describe his/her topic.

Let's see if we can get this loop working!

Mentors Coffee

Hello All,

First off I wanted to thank you all for sharing what you do at your agencies and for being honest and open with your mentor. I learned a lot and I am glad some of us were able to connect the work we do to the other agencies that our peers are doing their internship at. While we have had a lot of discussion on structural changes, nonprofits, theory, etc., Professor Reitz suggested I make this blog a bit more specific.

Personally, I loved the mentor coffee because I was able to see the different resources provided by your agencies and how I can use you as a connection to help even more people. We saw with Fred that I asked him about undocumented students and that Lauren used two agencies and their resources to come up with her idea for her project.

My questions to you all are: what was what you enjoyed the most about the mentor coffee/breakfast? What did you find shocking, surprising, unusual? Do you suggest any changes for the upcoming mentor coffees?

Finally, what has been your overall experience at your internship? Do you feel like you have learned or changed since the beginning of the semester? Any epiphanies, personally impacting experiences?

You can use these to self-evaluate the work you have done and how you have changed or stayed the same. 

Fieldtrip to the Vera Institute of Justice

Welcome to the Mother Ship!

    It was wonderful to have to opportunity to see the "flagship" of all of our agencies. I had been at the Vera Institute prior to this visit to listen to David Kennedy speak. One thing I noticed was the drastic change of environment compared to my placement. At FedCap its a 3 story building in South Bronx with empty halls, computer labs, and blue and beige walls. I was wondering whether work environment made an impact on my supervisors or even myself. Anyways, it was a warm welcome on behalf of Karen Goldstein, Margaret diZerega, Shameeka Mattis, Nick Turner and Fred Patrick.

     According to the Vera Institute Spin-off Took kit the spin-off process should deliver two fundamental returns (1)" allows the demonstration project to grow to scale and continue innovating according to its particular mandate and vision" and  (2) "allows Vera to remain focused on its own mandate and vision: exploring and developing new avenues for innovation in justice". In your own true opinion, do you believe that your particular agency is maximizing its development in order to improve the persons lives it serves? I know that many of us are placed in agencies that address similar issues such as reintegration into society by providing job readiness skills and educational opportunities, but what makes our agencies "a unique and distinct identity from Vera's"?
    Referring to the Demo's and Spin-off Over time, particularly with the subject and focus area nearly half is criminal justice with juvenile justice, employment, and SUMH being the most dominant topics. It amazes me how little immigration makes up on this rough breakdown. I am glad to hear that Danyeli and Bekah's placement have acknowledged this growing issue. Maybe in the future there will be a spin-off of Safe Horizon with an emphasis on immigration.
   All four speaker were passionate of what they spoke of. What resonated with me from the session was what Ms. Mattis said, "everyone has a role". She was referring to those working at Common Justice. Everyone has a role and none of the roles are pointless. Towards the beginning of my placement I wondered and was unsure of what my role would be at FedCap. I spent the first two weeks observing but it was not until recently that I felt like I had a meaningful role in helping student prepare for the TABE test and assisting those customers who speak primarily in spanish. All the spanish speakers have found jobs and are no longer in the program, and a young man who I helped pass the TABE test has just got hired as a security guard. I've accepted being Ms. Barbara at my placement but at least I know that I have made an impact with those individuals. So I ask you all, have you found your role at your agency? If so describe how your role makes an impact on the individuals, your supervisors? If not, how can you create a role within your agency (no one wants to be a fly on the wall)?

Justice: The idea, The Word, The Legend.

Justice.

Justice is a word we hear echoing through the atrium of John Jay. Justice is defined as "the quality of being just, equitable, and morally right." On the walls of the 100 Centre Street court house, we see themes of equality, of men receiving their liberties, and of freedom and justice. Many would say the words etched into the walls of 100 Centre Street are the foundations of our country and the basis of justice. I would say they are hypocrisy. We, as a society, etch these sayings and words into a wall to show our "just nature and righteous agendas." And yet, who is carving these words into the walls? Is it the people who are thrown into the adversarial system? Or are these words thrown upon this building by those in society who have never seen the inside of a jail cell? One quote caught my attention above the rest. Engraved into the wall was "justice shall be denied no one." How ironic is this statement when one considers that just feet away, injustice is being carried out in the very building these words were meant for.

Our tour of 100 Centre Street was filled with discussions of injustice and inequality. However, I was very interested in the way we discussed approaching change in the justice system. Thomas brought up a point that caught my interest. How would a judge feel if his daughter was in this system? Would he be comfortable allowing his daughter to be processed the way he processes hundreds of human beings daily? And of course, there is this issue with the word "processed." This likens human beings to a product! Are we going to label individuals in society the way we label our milk? Thus far, our adversarial system seems to have shown that it does just that.

Throughout the tour of the court house, I was continually reminded of my position as a Criminal Justice Agency Intern. While at work, I always address the defendants as "ma'am" or "sir" and I make sure that I am polite. As of late, I have been discussing defendants with my co-workers, who almost exclusively say that "the defendants are so nasty. They should not be disrespecting us." I sit there and wonder at this phenomenon. How is it that I have only had one out of many interviews where I have been greeted with hostility? The answer was found today at 100 Centre Street. Being arrested is a difficult and traumatic process. When you are being shuffled around from person to person all day, of course there will be agitation. Also, if you are greeted with hostility and condescension, would you not also return the attitude? We, as a society, promise that "justice shall be denied to no one." How do we expect a defendant to trust us, when etched into the very walls of the building which "serves them justice" are words which, so obviously displays our inadequacy?

My question to everyone is this: how do we, in and with our agencies, help to stop the injustices of the adversarial system? Do you believe that we could stop this "conveyer-belt" mentality of the court with social change? Is it possible to create real equality in the eyes of the law so that justice may really be denied to no one?

I leave you with this.....Justice. What does this word mean to you?

Ecosystems in the context of Social Justice

Hey all,

Thanks for a great class today. I really appreciated hearing about everyone’s ecosystems and it was fascinating to learn how they have influenced your core selves. I think ecological models have a lot to offer in helping us achieve a more holistic, insightful and multi-dimensional understanding of an individual. It helps us move away from the “single story” of a person and allows us to understand what drives this person or how his/her identity has been formed or influenced by invisible forces (in the sense that Professor Waterston discussed) at every level of the system (micro, messo, macro).

In our line of work/study, we are so used to encountering people who are labeled a certain way: delinquent/sex offender/alcoholic/criminal, as if their psychological dispositions/behavioral tendencies told us the entire story about them. But now that we have the tools to move beyond a superficial understanding of a person (with the help of the ecological model), how then can we craft a suitable response that addresses not just his/her microsystem but other systems beyond that as well?

To put things in perspective, the client-to-client work we do at our placements are at the level of the microsystem. Catering to their immediate needs, we become a part of their microsystem. But I believe we can all agree: this is not enough. And I think this is what Hilfiker (whom we encountered a few weeks ago) was trying to get at: much of our social justice responses are geared at improving the microsystem, and our efforts are certainly laudable, but can social justice aspire to more? Can it try to bring about change at the macrosystem? Is that a task that can even be attempted by well-meaning individuals? How does change happen at the macro level? Should we pass better laws? Build more equitable institutions? Where should the will do these things come from? Would inciting mass awareness of existing inequality and discrimination help shift public attitudes?

Please feel free to steer this conversation in whichever direction you please. I look forward to reading your comments. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ecosystem. Cyntoia's story.

Dear All:

Thanks for the great class yesterday. Generally, our discussions involve the motivations as to why a specific individual makes a particular decision. What is that in the micro-, meso-, or macrosystem that force Cyntoia to kill that guy? What forces people to make bad decisions? If you all would come back to our chart of the ecological system, the most factors for our bad decisions are located in micro- and meso-level. Our families, friends, and religious affiliations are what develops us at a young age. Early phase  is the most important because the child understands the processes of development . To be effective, the interactions with the family members, friends, and school teachers must “occur on a fairly regular basis over extended period of time” (Bronfenbrenner, p. 38). A negative family characteristic, such as poor parental supervision of children, might be a risk factor for future instability and delinquency. It is connected with a lack of parental supervision, lack of mentorship, the low investment to the family . In Cyntoia’s case, the role of mother was really shady. My opinion may be based on my cultural perspective. For instance, I was not allowed to the spend night outside the house until I was twenty years old. My mother had total control over me; as a result, I rebelled. However, it was particular appreciation of authority.  Cyntoia may be missing the authority  in her life. Unfortunately, the correctional system was the entity of authority she listened to. Her mother's pivotal mistake was to give her freedom. Freedom for those individuals whom received mentorship is appropriate. However, Cyntoia needed particular attention due to the circumstances around her. I know many of you have a different opinion. Here is my first question: Do you feel that her mother did all she could to protect Cyntoia from committing murder?

Incarceration is very tough experience for everyone. I have done research on female offenders. Regardless of their crime, they suffer considerably while incarcerated. It is not going to be always like in the documentary . Does she deserve such a strong sentence? In my view, she should have been given probation because she is too young to be incarcerated. People who are incarcerated have difficulties with coping after being released. Is it appropriate to incarcerate an individual whose whose life just started? Is it normal to put this person in prison when other, more dangerous individuals, are on parole for a similar crime? Personally, I cannot make a decision. From one perspective, Cyntoia appears to be a very ignorant and broken person. She lacks the consistency in what she was doing. Always looking for understanding, she was able to get herself in many different complex situations. How can we guarantee or assume that this "normal" appearing girl would kill because he or she treated her badly? Again, I truly believe that understanding of the basics of communications were not given in childhood, it is too complicated to develop later in life. On the other hand, I cried when I saw the ending. She is just too young . She was denied the opportunity to see another side of life. She will never give birth. She will never play with children. She would never have a dog or kitten. She would never travel to another country . Now, she is denied a chance to find the trust and support that she was looking for. Here is my question: What other measures can be implemented in order to help her to come back to the normal world? 

Finally, considering the role of criminal justice system in this situation, I would like to say that these people did not care about her. Honestly, none of them were really interested in helping her. Psychologists explained why she might become such a person; however, he never suggested of providing any help. I am considerably disappointed with the lawyer. How is it possible that no one in that story attempted to help her. No one at all. Here is my last question: What I the role of your agency in changing the jusctice system ? What system is your agency trying to reform? What system should be reformed?

Again, thanks for the great class. Feel free to add your thoughts that are unrelated to what I  just wrote.

Culture of Poverty

The culture of poverty

The culture of poverty is an interesting topic for us to have, given that it relates to the mission statement of most of our interning agencies. Before going further in the analysis, I would like us to reflect on what role do our agency play in either preventing or furthering the culture of poverty?

Or, how does your agency come to have an influence on the culture of poverty in the neighborhood that it serves?

After reading the both readings by Oscar Lewis and Patrick Moynihan, I came to realize that there is no single element that causes the culture of poverty, multiple factors internal and external contributes to the advances of poverty in inner neighborhood. For example, Oscar Lewis focuses more on the outside explore the origin of the “culture of poverty” a little deeper Oscar Lewis theory of “Culture of Poverty”, where he argues that poverty experienced by those who live in the slums is attributed by institution and also furthered by the lack of organization and consciousness by those affected by it. After a while, culture of poverty becomes a way of life, where those affected by it, fail to see how they are affected. An example of this is yesterday’s scenario; those who were the poor (residents of the Wagner houses) were having difficulties admitting that they were poor. For most of them, crimes that happened around their neighborhood were just regular incidents that can happen in almost any community. (How does this relate to the normalization that Lewis argues in his analysis?)

Why was that?  Doesn’t it just make sense that these people live there and have full responsibility over what they deem to be right for their community?

Going back to the scenario from yesterday’s class, how is it that those who do not reside at the Wagner houses get to make decisions for those who reside there? Just like most agencies tend to have a solution for the problem of certain countries.

When combining both Oscar Lewis and Moynihan’s explanation on the causes of poverty, one can see the gradual characteristic of poverty.  Senator Moynihan deems the origin of this culture of poverty to originate from the weak structure of black nuclear families in America.  The absence of one partner in the house creates an imbalance in the life of the children and increases the likelihood of the family to end up in deep poverty. It goes on to the level of education that one attains in his life, and furthermore to the job that one ends up doing in life.

Let see this issue from an international perspective, the video that explained the social stratification, was more advancing the critic that Vladmir Lenin, a Marxist ideologist who in his book, Imperialism the last Stage of Capitalism- raised in regards to capitalism. He argued that capitalism would collapse after a certain period of time, due to the inflation of profit that it acquires. This theory was developed in the 1917’s, here we are in 2014 and capitalism is still going stronger and stronger.

Another point that was made yesterday, I remember someone mentioned that capitalism was a system that meant to oppress people and picked on a specific group to oppress. Indeed, capitalism is a system of oppression. However, it does not pick which group to be at the bottom. Instead, it stratifies people into classes with unequal distribution of wealth. The responsibility of the development of one group depends on the level of organization that it holds. (See Antonio Gramsci, Formation of the intellectual). If we will talk in terms of ethnic groups, look at the Jews, the Indians and the Chinese, at some point in their history, they were subject to capitalism oppression. But they came to realize the importance of developing economic power in order to better their position within the system. Going back to Oscar Lewis, he writes:

It is the low level of organization that gives the culture of poverty its marginal and anomalous quality in our highly organized society. Most primitive peoples have achieved a higher degree of sociocultural organization than contemporary urban slum dwellers…(pp. 23)

With this idea in mind, one reason why these poor community fails to prosper at the same level as the other is not merely because of where the ruling class wants them to be, but because of the absence of organization and the ignorance of the actual state of matter.

To conclude, if we are experiencing all these issue due to the capitalist system in place, would socialism be a form of social justice?

Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault, Suicide, Prison

Man, do I consider myself inexorably --I may or may not spend the entirety of this post poking fun at Orwell's rules-- lucky to be able to write about language. I was just conferring with my mentor about the way that I speak about oppression and how it varies depending who I talk to. For example, if I am talking to a white male who is agreeing with me in my disgust of the horrendously autocratic society in which we live, I will refer to the oppressors as "they". Conversely, if I am talking to a white male who disagrees  (for instance one who brings a cardboard cut out of Ronald Reagan to the Flood Wall Street demonstration and proselytizes to the protesters) I will refer to the oppressors as "you". Meaning them. This is something I may have done intentionally at one point in the past but now it is so natural that I won't notice unless its brought to my attention. See also: replacing "survivor" with "victim" and "convict" with "criminalized person" or "prisoner" with "incarcerated person". Orwell's rules give me little space to define why I chose to say "empowered" and so I am leaving Professor Waterson with an entirely different thought than I had intended to provoke.
I find my language changing based on my experiences and the peers I surround myself with who are always revealing to me the implications of the words and phrases I use. I quickly adapted to never joking about shooting myself/cutting myself/ending everything because I became friends with a girl who had all too recently found her brother hanging from a ceiling fan. Never in any of the times that I had lamented my struggles and casually pointed a gun shaped hand sign to my head had I ever thought of the seriousness of what I had implied and how that might effect those around my struggling with suicidal thoughts or who knew someone that had taken their own life. For them, the motion had an entirely different meaning.
I never knew how terrible the word "victim" was until society gave me that label. I will never call myself a victim of domestic assault-- I am not a victim, I am a survivor and so is anyone else who has been raped, abused or otherwise suffered terrible conditions. We are not weak, and if you do not know what it is like to have these experiences you cannot possibly understand the way it feels to be called a victim, as if there was nothing you could have done and nothing you can do now, you are weak and powerless.
I think many of us know the stories of mass incarceration all too well based on our placements and the simple fact that we all attend John Jay College, so I will not go much further into that because I do have more to say about other things (there is always more).
Our language connects our soul to other people, when we exchange words we exchange our principles, our ideals, our attitudes, our culture etc. Ngugi struck me because I am the privileged white female who was raised to believe that the only language worth learning was English, and regularly heard my parents grumble that if these immigrants were going to move to America they "sure as Hell better learn our language" (emphasis added). And because I do see language as empowering (because you chose to learn it and you have the strength/ability to do so) and also largely disempowering (because it can be and often is a symbol of colonizers).

I have tried to present adequately many lines of thought which are only related because they are about language but I fear I have done so inadequately, however I am leaving the remains of my thoughts to be explored and commented on by my classmates.

Topics I wanted to cover:
-how words have specific meanings and implications
-language as cultural
-language as empowering/disempowering
-language as a way to grow closer to other humans in humanity (a vessel to share souls with one another)
-----I want to explore these themes further in conversation with you, please go team go

Yesterday's class was intense. I think everyone can, to whatever extent, agree that everyone was frustrated. We all wanted to know the truth. We all wanted to know who's guilty. We all wanted to know what happened. We were all focused on finding out motives and reasons for this crime. We all wanted to analyze and scrutinize every single detail down to the color of the robes that the corpse was wearing. I think, although it might have been briefly mentioned, how do we know that any of these are objective? I can bet if we had continued to discuss and process the story we could have found reasons for the narrator to lie and to tell the truth. We all could have found losses and gains for each individual involved. How did our own points of view affect our interpretations of the narrator and of how reliable he or she was? And how do we define truth? Is truth based on your experience of a situation? Research shows that memory errors are rather common specially in high stress situations, like being a witness to a crime or trauma. So, how are we defining truth? Is truth really objective or (at least partially) subjective? If it's subjective... then what? Do we trust our own personal experiences and memories in order to be objective? What if others experience the same exact thing or event/experience totally differently. Do we need to put our perspective last on the list when doing this? Then what does that mean for research? If we rely on science to be objective what does this mean for the researchers interpretations and implications and limits. What about how they came up with the research questions and what possible perspectives lies behind that. How much do we trust the scholarly literature out there? Do we assume that these authors are objective, unbiased, and unprejudiced scientist? Can we, as humans, ever really be unbiased unprejudiced and totally objective? If this can be said about science, what could be said about the police departments or juries? These people aren't scholars or Doctorates. They may not have the knowledge that comes from being in academia. So are these institutions really just or fair? Do we really assume that "justice" is served? Can we walk away feeling secure and safe? I think it's safe to say that at the very least improvements could be made. So then what happens with our criminal justice system? How are our perspectives shaping our opinions on or about the necessary course of action? Do we believe this action is necessary? Even though it's flawed that doesn't mean everyone will think it needs to be fixed... Where do we begin to even tackle all of this? How can we start to make progress? How can we formulate answers to all of these questions? 

Boy, oh boy... 

P.S: on a less philosophical note: have a relaxing weekend everyone!  

Social Justice & Charity

First I would like to give a shout out to Nico! Not sure if you're going to read this, but thanks for coming and talk to us!

Second,  I would like to say I am mildly upset that we ran out of time today! I am sure I'm not the only one who wanted to talk about their agencies mission statement. So! I want everyone to put a direct link to their mission statement (if possible) in their comment. Summarize your opinion and what you would change in a paragraph or less.

http://www.jobpathnyc.org/about-us/our-mission/

Unlike most who spoke today, I really like Jobpath's mission statement. It really encapsulates the attitude and work we do. We aren't charity driven; we don't really provide "needs". Our organization isn't really changing any systematic deficiencies, social attitudes definitely. Of course nothing is perfect, I have some minor changes in mind. I would change the last line in the first section to read: to facilitate each person as they lead a full and active life. The change shows the individuals active role in the process. In the second part of the statement, I would change "We believe that" to "We demand that". I would also change all the "should"s to "must"s.  I would change "Everyone can play a role in community life" to "Everyone has the opportunity to play a role in community life" to emphasize that it is a personal choice that is completely up to the individual. Finally I would change "join the work force" to "provide for themselves".

In class, we did not get the opportunity to discuss the article on the Peace Corps. There were particular quotes from that piece that had me absolutely seething! Particularly, "Those countries are still poor. We were the ones who were enriched and sometimes I think that we reminded these people--as if they needed such a thing--that they were left out.", "Volunteers whose impact as volunteers may have been negligible but who throughout the course of their careers...went on to apply the lessons the hosting communities imparted unto them in settings where their impact has been more substantial.", and the worst, "Founding Director Sargent Shiver once recalled receiving a letter from a volunteer in East Africa that read 'People die here for want of so little.' and thinking to himself: 'How many Americans have the painful privilege of learning that lesson?"

I'm not sure y'all took it the way that I did, but to me these quotes all say the same thing: lets give privileged people from America money to observe and learn from the hardships of other people (under the guise of helping), so they can come back and make America better. I find this completely disgusting. Did anybody have a different take of the above quotes, and are there any different ones that spoke to you?

Adversarial system

 Hello everyone,

This week’s class was great. I am glad we are all together in this process.

I want all of us to revisit the subject of “Adversarial system”, but from our own perspective rather than Sturz’s or justice Sotomayor’s. What guarantee the victory of either the defense or prosecution? We could say that the side able to successfully present enough evidences to persuade the judge or jury to rule on that person’s favor. Would this mean that the chances of winning for a defendant attorney would depend on the size of the caseload and the time dedicated to each case?

           I can think of some scenarios that tell me there is an imbalance in the adversarial system.  Most of the time I hear from friends who have had an interaction with the criminal Justice system they tell me they have used plea barging. Some of the reasons they have given me are that plea bargain was an easy way to get a reduced sentence and that they were advised by their attorneys to take the deal. They all felt that whether they take the deal or go to trial the system will “screw them” anyways. I wonder if the people who can afford a lawyer have the same mindset when interacting with the criminal justice system. I am not criticizing the extraordinary job defense attorneys do. I just want to bring to the table how people who can't afford legal representation may have a different perception of the system from the ones who can.

What I'd Like to Learn

Welcome, new Verons,

I’ve taken the liberty of taking my notes from today’s class, combining them with Marina’s (thank you Marina!) and synthesizing them in such a way to identify the issues on your minds and “what you’d like to learn” over the course of the semester (at least as far as I "read" the conversation and the notes!).  Please read, reflect, expand on, subtract, revise or respond to what I've written as it strikes you.

In writing out this blog post, one thing that came to my mind was the recent video posted on youtube of another police shooting in Missouri. Warning: This is a difficult video to watch—even as it incorporates nearly all the issues touched on in today’s class: media, brutality, stigmatization, mental illness, violence, the ambiguities and meanings of bystander in the Internet age, fear, safety, humanity--and more, I am sure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTBPtWUJqPM

Social Justice Issues; Goals for the Class

Ferguson, Missouri, police brutality. Police brutality: it’s not a new phenomenon, it’s not just Ferguson. WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN: What people think about it? What are the issues?  What exactly you can do? Why is it happening? How pervasive is it? Help educate me about these issues.

Children and migration crisis at the border; the media. WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  How the media portray the situation in Arizona and NY, differences and similarities in portraits and portrayals and how these portraits shape people’s perceptions. Also, what are the immigration policies and practices in different states?

Larger issue related to the media: "(We live in a world) where media is allowed to tell my parents to buy into what the media says is 'true" (i.e., 'This is the truth.'). I could be more of an optimist if people would see things differently.” What does it mean when cops (and others) say, “Well, the cop needs to protect himself.”? WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  How does the media shape perception? WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  What does safety and protection mean?

Palestine/Israel. “Same exact thing” in terms of how “truth” is constructed: How is Palestine/Israel being portrayed? Why does one “side” seem to have “the right” and the other doesn’t?  Isn't that situation about the oppressed versus oppressor?  It’s not a conflict since "conflict" suggests two equal sides--and these two sides are not equal. Is it true you can’t change the media? How can you ever get to the truth? Also what is the role of the Internet in promoting or silencing voices? Who controls the filters and how are they determined? How do we manage to advocate for more freedom on the Internet? What does such “freedom” look like? WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  How to deconstruct the situation (the situation being about Israel/Palestine; the situation being about the shaping of perception) and try to get at what is true.

The educational system: Interested in how it is great for some and not so great for “others.” Who are those “others”? They include the disabled, disenfranchised, marginalized. WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  Why is the educational system we have the way it is? How did it get like that, and how can it be improved?

People with mental illnesses or diagnoses of mental illness: Concerned with how they are viewed and how they are treated. Issues around stigma, lack of access to care (health and mental health care), especially in prisons. What is the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system? Also, the strengths, talents, abilities, potential contributions of people stigmatized as “other” are rendered invisible by virtue of their disabilities. WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  What are the sources of such misperceptions? What are the consequences? How to address this?

The world is at war. Humanity is at risk. We need to step out of the specifics to ask: Are we safe anywhere? What are the roots to the issues that give rise to all the violences? And what of the bystander? Are we all bystanders? Why are people bystanders? How does “complacency” and/or “conformity” fit into the equation? What is the line where individual “rights” end and being a part of the larger community matters? How to understand the tension between the individual and the larger social? How do we look at someone’s experience and extrapolate from the personal to the political and from the political to the personal? WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN: How can we connect the dots to understand all of this?

Reading the 2 summer reading books: The solutions are Band-Aids, but these solutions/programs are not adequate.  WHAT I’D LIKE TO LEARN:  What are some other kinds of solutions, what are the substantive solutions that will really change things? 

Wow! What an agenda. I'm glad to be a part of this class.

From Perverts to Pranksters

Thank you so much for the wonderful class!

It was quite interesting to hear everyone reflection on searching for sex offenders in their neighborhoods. 

We dove right into the what the definition of "sex offender" was and we ultimately came to a conclusion that it is impossible to define what is a "sex offender" and the legal term "sex offender" varies from state to state. Such as in Virginia, a 16 year old having a sexual relationship with a 14 year would according to the law be considered a sex offender.  Because the law in Virginia states that anyone having a sexual relationship with someone under the age of 15 can be arrested, prosecuted and convicted. Lastly, he/she will earn him/herself a lifetime spot on Virginia's sex offender registry.  Stating this, do you think there needs to be a reform of our sex registries nationwide? 

Secondly, the majority of sex offenders are male offenders. However, in recent years we have seen big cases of female sex offender. The media might be responsible for hyping of female teacher cases with male student. As mentioned in class, can gender and stereotypes can impact how the criminal justice system handles cases of female sex offenders?

Females, are often seen as non threatening. Meanwhile because of cultural stereotypes, males are often given "props" when they have sex with an older female. Along with these female sex offender stereotypes we are undermining the result of reports on victimization, as it can lead to an under reporting. 

Conducting, our role play in class was very important for me. I hoped that it might have conveyed some of the concerns that FEDCAP employees have to deal with while trying to get a client hired. 

Lastly, I leave you with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTm9efzHaTk  

Thank you all again!

Managing for Success

Hello Everyone

Thank you all for your participation that helped make for a fantastic class. I know my class was dealing with a subject that we are not used to discussing on a daily basis at our seminars, but I was delighted to see the energy and enthusiasm that was very evident on Thursday.

As we learned in class, performance management is all about utilizing the data your organization gathers in a way that emphasizes the goals and results that your organization is looking to achieve. Performance management is very much a process of constant learning and adjustment. An organization that emphasizes performance management often times has certain mechanisms in place that allows for its staff to learn from the data they are collecting, and make the necessary adjustments to improve their performance. These mechanisms can manifest in a variety of ways. They can be as simple as having data representing staff performance easily accessible, or as complex as developing a feedback integration program by which trends and patterns that are found in participant’s responses are used to make necessary changes. So with that being said, I would like to ask you, my fellow Verons the following: (Please answer as many of the following as you would like. Do not feel obligated to try and answer each question in one massive post, a concise answer to any one of the following question is just as good as a long comment answering everything.)

1) To continue with how we ended class, if you did not get the chance on Thursday, or would like to amend an answer you did give, how does the agency you have been working at engage in the practice of performance management?

2) I would also like to ask you all, since this was different from our every day Vera content, what was your biggest takeaways regarding performance management that you will utilize in your future as a social justice advocate?

 3) Since we also saw in class that there is an inherent problem of culture surrounding the practice of performance management, what are some of the creative ways in which this issue can be dealt with so that funders and staff members embrace the practice of performance management?

 4) If you have any doubts regarding performance management, I would like to invite you to please share them now so that we can discuss.

Thank you all,

-Michael Segnan

The Right to Dream

Hey all!

I want to thank you all for making our last class a very enjoyable one. It was inspiring to learn about your beliefs on what an ideal world should look like.

In class, we explored how consumer culture and the market work hand-in-hand to produce social justice problems. In our analysis, we concluded that the role of the government—the enforcer of rights—has been reduced to all but that of a protector of the market itself. The thirst for profit spurs corporations to indulge in condemnable labor practices, and as governments divest themselves of their primary responsibility to the people, God is called upon to fill the vacuum. Is this a problem, and is it avoidable?

On a more positive note, we should conclude our posts the same way that we ended the class: exercising what Galeano describes as the never proclaimed Right to Dream. Feel free to elaborate on the sentence you submitted during the class exercise or comment on a vision you find problematic.

PS for our dear Verons that could not attend class, this is the instruction for the class exercise: Write one sentence stating your vision for a better world.

Thank you again.