Reflections and Takeaways from our Fellowship Experiences

To start off I would like to just say not just for myself, but I am sure for my fellow fellows as well, being able to visit the Vera Institute of Justice was truly an honor and we are all very lucky to have been afforded the privilege to be guests there. It is one thing to read about Vera or talk about it in class; it is another thing to be at the place where all the magic happens.

This past week has been truly exceptional for me personally. Along with the visit to Vera, this week my mentor Danielle and I were able to attend a workshop through a partnership of ThoughtWorks, Parsons School of Design Strategies, and Blue Ridge Foundation that helps non-profits develop a vision of how technology can help extend their program’s reach, lower costs, or add significant new capabilities to existing models. There were around 70+ different non-profit organizations represented at this workshop and it was really exciting to simply be in the room with so many ambitious people striving to achieve so many admirable goals with their respective organizations. It was also eye opening to see the sheer number of non-profits represented in that room alone.

I had a conversation with Professor Waterston as we were leaving Vera on Thursday about how it is truly incredible the amount of exposure we are gaining to the non-profit world through this fellowship, a world many of us knew little to nothing about prior to becoming fellows. Between the visit to Vera and my experience at the workshop I attended, it seems to be becoming more and more apparent to me that there is so much more opportunity for us in this world than I could have ever known before. The biggest takeaway I therefore have from this fellowship so far is that an entire world has been opened up to us through this program and, as Nick Turner said, it is vital that we make the most of these opportunities. Recognizing how incredible the opportunities this fellowship is providing us are, I am thrilled to continue to move forward in this program and ultimately see where these opportunities take each of us.

With this being said, I would like to ask you all what have been some of your biggest takeaways from this fellowship so far? I feel the visit to Vera yesterday provides an excellent opportunity for reflection and I am very interested in any particular lessons you have all learned so far, whether it is through your internship, at the visit to Vera yesterday, or in the classroom. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Thank you,

-Michael Segnan

Today's class was fascinatingly uncomfortable (as were the articles leading up to today). While reading, I faced an internal dilemma: the  capitalistic norms and values developed  throughout my lifetime clashed with the intellectual curiosity within me probing deeper into each authors ideas. As a Vera fellow, I'm sure I do not speak for myself in saying I get excited when everything I know gets shattered because of a new and innovative idea. 

The video about the unsustainable neoliberalism system in which we currently live was truly the icing on the cake. When the system finally does implode, and everything we have ever known become remnants of a system that failed, what do we do? When future epochs of human civilization reflect back on capitalism, what will they say? Is there anything we can do to change the status quo before it is too late? As depressing as it may seem, thinking about these questions excite me, and I hope the responses to my post show that the feeling is mutual. 

Hello Everyone,

During this week's seminar, we touched base on leadership through a simple but thought-provoking exercise. I personally felt the exercise highlighted the roles individuals assume in society. For instance, I quickly associated the leadership roles with individuals who push toward change and making an impact to one community or another. By making the effort and taking the first steps, the leaders accumulate followers and move towards achieving the proposed change. Of course, this is an ideal sort of relationship between the two because there are instances where it is simply not that easy. Most importantly, during our conversation, Simmone said something that really stood out to me. She stated, "Sometimes being a good leader is knowing when to follow". I agree with her statement because as it was evident in our exercise, assigned roles can potentially hinder and take away from the natural rhythmic relationships societies possess.

On another note, while reading the testimonies of "In a Grove," I could not help but associate the scenario with our criminal justice system. I envisioned the actors of the system and the hardships they encounter when trying to solve cases. How are we supposed to know who is telling the truth, for instance, in a criminal case? Who are we supposed to believe and why? What should our outcomes be based upon, evidence, mere testimony, etc.? As any lawyer would say, "It is not what you know, but what you can prove". But is that the way in which we should base our decision? How does subjectivity and objectivity come into play?

One last thing, while reading the testimonies, I could not help but re-read paragraph two of page seven which stated, "You kill people with your power, with your money. Sometimes you kill them on the pretext of working for their good. It's true they don't bleed. They are the best of health, but all the same you've killed them. It's hard to say who is a great sinner, you or me". (-Tajomaru's Confession) It was such a powerful statement and always goes back to the same question, what are the motives of those who push for social justice?

I look forward to reading your comments.

-Ana

First Seminar Thoughts and new attitude towards writing for class

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to say I am genuinely excited for this class based on the brief discussions we have had so far.  Out of our conversation about the homage that was A Kind of Genius: Herb Sturz and Society’s Toughest Problems, we discussed the unreliability of Statistics (both Qualitative and Quantitative), whether someone can truly be non-ideological and the “stakeholders” who supposedly benefitted from the work of the genius we know as Herb Sturz.  Through the latter speaking topic of stakeholders, we see that the question of who benefitted from his work would bring unsure and somewhat unflattering answers about the effects of Sturz’s work.  The book never mentions where the homeless go after they have been cleaned up and the neighborhoods they once dwelled are no longer affordable to live in.  Page 190 exemplifies the concept of gentrification in the two picture comparisons that referred to the minority men as derelicts (a problematic term which is reminiscent of when President Bush called African Americans in New Orleans “refugees” after Hurricane Katrina). This idea brought me back to when Professor Stein mentioned in class that with every empire, like the one Herb Sturz has built with Vera, there is colonization. 

I personally was tentative about mentioning the ideas of gentrification, but after the underlying issues we were able to bring about in class, I feel like I could have written a much better paper after Thursday.  With this in mind, I will definitely push myself in my writing to question even the best of examples of successful initiatives in social justice as Sturz has accomplished.

With that I leave you with a short video that talks about the setbacks of gentrification that started in the Lower East Side as told by filmmaker and Brooklyn native, Spike Lee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Pm5cZ8qrA

-Spencer

Welcome!

If you are reading this, you have made it to the blog site!  May this be the hardest thing you have to do this semester!  Many thanks to all of you for a great start to the seminar yesterday and to Spencer for leading us in conversation this week.

Hello everyone,

First of all I like to wish our Professors a very Happy Mother’s day.

To all of you, thanks so much for such a great class, everyone was wonderful, with so much to contribute to the topic. I was so glad so what an ardent topic this is and that everyone fells as passionate as I do and that you all had so much to say about it.

The topic of immigration is one that provokes many heated debates and one that will probably not be resolved any time soon. The reality is that immigration affects us all, whether we ourselves are immigrants or our families migrated to the United States or because we find that in some economic or social aspect, immigration affects our lives and our society. The question in reality is, how does the government deal with the issue of immigration and how can it be done in a more humane, civilized and non-discriminatory manner? I do not know that this question can be answered or if the solution is evident and if we can get there.

As we began our class I asked everyone to give their definition of an “illegal immigrant.” The interesting thing, (not really surprising), was that almost each one of us said an “illegal immigrant” is a Hispanic/Latino, probably a criminal, who crosses the border (Mexican border, obviously). We all agreed that most people do not consider those who overstay their visas as “illegal”, nor do most people consider immigrants from other, non-Latino nations, as “illegal.” My question then is: Is the immigration issue really about the economic hardship that immigration, (legal or otherwise), inflicts on our nation and our citizens?

Given the New York Times article, Professor Stein read for us and the views of some “highly educated” individuals regarding Hispanics and our IQ’s: Do we seriously believe there can be any real change to the immigration policies and the way immigration laws are enforced?

My last point, which is the reason I chose this topic, is the criminalization of immigrants and the inhumane manner in which immigrants,(legal or unauthorized) are treated, detained, imprisoned and punished for offenses that are not categorized are ‘criminal offenses.” In the Parenti reading we learned about many instances in which laws were bent and even broken in an effort to crack down on immigration and to prevent, “illegal immigration” and the crimes provoked by said immigration practices. What I do not understand is how we justify breaking the law and circumvent around the civil rights, imparted by our Constitution, in order to justify certain illegal actions perpetrated by many governmental offices and officials. To this point I do not really have one particular question but rather I would like to hear what your opinions or views are on the following: the retroactivity of the 1996 immigration reform, IIRIRA, the deportation of legal residents as well as US citizens for previous crimes already convicted, sentenced and punished for, the Double Jeopardy clause of our Constitution and also the manner in which many immigrants are held without hearings and deported without the right to contest deportation. What are your views on the US government willingness to circumvent so many or legal rights and violate human rights to protect national security and control immigration.

Reevaluation of the "Sex Offender"

Hello Everyone,

Thank you all for a great class! We dove into many different layers of the meaning behind a “sex offender” and analyzed the various perspectives of the stakeholders. I will start off by giving a breakdown of what happened in the seminar. For those of you who were unable to make it, make sure you share your opinions in your post :) We began class by going around the room and having everyone state their definitions of a “sex offender,” where/how they developed that meaning, and whether their definitions changed after the readings and videos. Joe stated that his definition is someone who “violates a personal sexual space,” while other Verons made references to the media for how they developed their definitions. Shows such as “To Catch a Predator” and “Law and Order” made such influences. After the definitions and a brief discussion, we then did a workshop in which everyone was divided up into three groups, the policy makers, the reentering sex offender, and the victim’s families. The purpose of the workshop is to evaluate the current sex offender laws. The groups were required to present a three minute speech stating why they feel the current sex offender laws should stay the same, or change. To start off the official blog post, we will dig into an idea that Meiner’s highlights in her article… the actual sex offender registry and who it is meant to protect.

In the Meiners’ chapter, she speaks about the social construction of "children" and "childhood." She highlights that the image of a child is constructed by adults and their memories of their own childhood experiences, fears, fantasies, etc. The social construction of the child currently revolves around the idea of their innocence and vulnerability. They are “pure, unpolluted beings free from sin and guilt.” My first question to you is: Does our notion and understanding of “children” shape our views on sex offender laws and what we believe to be “effective?” What defines a “child?” Do our personal views play a role in shaping what we believe their protections should be?

A second point that stood out during our discussion was in regards to sex offender registries. The issue was brought up about how we have sex offender registries, but no registries for murderers, rapists, etc. We spoke about the stigma and negative connotation that the “sex offender” labels place on the individuals. Profession Waterston even mentioned how labeling demonizes. There is a lot of distortion in the registries and as we discussed in class, there is a disparity between the “sex offender” who urinates in public versus a father who molests his daughter throughout her childhood, but people of the community don’t always recognize this. My second question to you is: Do you believe that there should even be a sex offender registry and how “effective” is it? What do sex offender registries even do?

My last question to you all deals with “treatment.” Do you feel that there is an effective treatment program for sex offenders? If so, what is it? If you do not believe there is an effective treatment, why not? 

Feel free to express any other thoughts on the class. Once again, thank you for a great class!