Hanging with Friends in DC

Erica and I had the opportunity to meet up with an old friend (and meet a new friend) in DC last weekend. Tim is a friend (I guess he's technically not an old friend, but when you switch jobs every two years like me, friends become old ones fast) from Kettering. We were both Research Assistants at KF, and now he's in his Ph.D. program at Cornell. This is the same school that Andy Bernard went to. He was with his girlfriend, Ellen, who is pictured, too.

It's easy to see why Tim and I are such good friends. We both have the same sense of fashion, and we both don't shave very much. We also have a penchant for hating Glenn Beck.

Moratoriums in Student Affairs

I've been thinking a lot lately about things I'm growing tired of in the field of student affairs. Maybe it's just the end-of-the semester fatigue/frustration that many student affairs folks feel at this time of the year (and probably even more so for doctoral students), but I'm becoming increasingly frustrated and mildly irritated by certain things in student affairs. I understand that it's difficult to break old habits and change language, so my suggestion is we place a one-year moratorium on the following two things for the good of our profession and the sake of my sanity.

1. Diversity Metaphors - Diversity work is hard enough without the complication of tired, stupid metaphors (e.g., crayons in a box, rainbow, symphony, orchestra, stir fry, mosaic). Yes, I understand that you may like said metaphors, but it muddles the meaning of diversity, downplays important concepts, and it isn't working. Plus, it irritates many students. Let's refocus our work on exploring and teaching the nuances sans metaphorical organizing mechanisms.

2. The term, or any variation of the word "para-professional" - Graduate assistant is not synonymous with paraprofessional. I don't even know what a paraprofessional is to be honest, but it sounds like something you could sign up for from late night tv to obtain a certificate online for. Just because grad students are 20 hours doesn't mean we need some sort of qualifier in front of our title. We never say "Student Affairs Paraprofessionals," so why do we say it in the singular? I think it's destructive and degrading to graduate students who do just as good (if not better) work than full-time professionals. (Incidentally, this doesn't happen in my office... it's very supportive, so this one isn't autobiographical in any way.)

Hopefully these are helpful. I doubt they get any traction in the field, but I hope that they get some chuckles. Do you have any others?

Old Photos

One of the coolest things about Facebook is the way in which other people can upload photos and "tag" you in them so they show up in your profile. This process often takes the form of getting together with a bunch of friends who are on facebook, taking pictures at the event, and having them uploaded a few short hours later. But every once in a while, someone with a box of old photos and a scanner upload some old photos from way back when. Case in point: My first grade class photo, a picture from a first grade play, and the last day of school in the sixth grade.






A few things to note. One, my fashion sense has progressed only mildly. Second, my hairstyle has remained remarkably consistent over the years, too.

A Day of Emotion

I just learned that as of a few hours ago, my brother, Scott, boarded a plane bound for the US from Afghanistan. After spending some fourteen months there, this day seemed like it would never come -- I can't imagine what he must be feeling.

Only a few months after my brother got married, he departed for Afghanistan as part of the United States ongoing battle with terrorism. He spent his days and nights trying to keep safe in the thick of the fight. He was able to come visit some of his soldiers at the mid-tour point here at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, DC, including one of his friends who had been seriously wounded and is now wheelchair-bound. Erica and I were able to spend some time with him that weekend, and it will forever be one of the most memorable late night pizza dinners on a Friday evening I'll ever experience. I could tell that the weight of a world was upon him, and I couldn't imagine how he was reconciling having to go back for another six months.

Shortly after his visit here, we learned that his platoon would be featured on 60 minutes. On October 19, 2008, Erica and I huddled close to the TV to watch the most gut-retching thirteen minutes of TV we've ever seen. There's something about watching your brother get shot at on TV that will do that to a person. (I've embedded the video of the 60 minutes segment on the bottom of this post.)

I know that this day is the culmination of thousands of prayers sent up from family, friends, friends of friends, and people who care for the safety of our fellow Americans who put themselves in harm's way each and every day. Some prayers were sent by name, others were sent in general. Both had a significant impact, I believe. The power of prayer truly is remarkable. I will continue to pray for our troops who remain in harms way, including the 17,000 additional troops that have now gotten the call, in hopes that they, too, return home safely when their day of emotion comes.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Not a Big Chart Person

Those who know me well know that I am fanatical about leadership, especially as it relates to leadership for social change. And, those who know me really well, know that I am visual/spacial unintelligent (See Howard Gardner's explanation of multiple intelligences to get a better idea of what I'm talking about if you are unfamiliar.)

So, when I come across something that looks to be pretty interesting when it comes to leadership, I always try to learn from it. This, however, sometimes becomes difficult when I have to use my spatial intelligence to understand it. I can usually glean some meaning from such charts, graphs, and diagrams, but sometimes I think it's just a lost cause.

Case in point:



I'm not sure where to even begin with this monstrosity. I think I'll just move on. Any sense you might make of it, let me know.

25 Random Facts about Me

I posted this on my facebook account the other day, and thought it might be fun to post it here as well. Enjoy!

1. I have a brother who is currently in Afghanistan.

2. I just tried coffee for the first time in my life this morning. Overall it was a pleasant experience, although I went through a two-hour period where I felt like I wanted to eat my computer monitor because I had so much energy.

3. I once owned a Stone Cold Steve Austin T-Shirt.

4. I worked three years in an outlet toy store.

5. I use this one all the time when I have to share something fun about myself: I have no preference for food. I can tell they taste differently, but I don't like one thing more than another. I can order anything at a restaurant and have the exact same experience each time. It also means that I never "crave" a particular food.

6. I go back and forth in my mind about whether or not I would leave higher education if I could write for The Onion. I still think I would.

7. For a couple of years, I have been telling people that I wanted to invent a feature on email programs that would scan the body of an email for variations of the word "attach," and then prompt the sender after hitting "send" if nothing was attached to avoid sending emails out without attachments. I now see that GMAIL offers that feature.

8. I live with 52 women.

9. I have a pair of men's Ugg boots (they're more like shoes). I was ahead of the fashion curve (if you could call it that) on Crocs, and I'm hoping a small following will develop with men's Uggs.

10. I have a reoccurring dream (at least three times a month) where I'm back in high school and I can't remember my locker combination.

11. My ITunes library is over 11,000 songs.

12. I met my wife in our college's cafeteria (The Doan).

13. I've seen the hair metal band, Poison, in concert five times.

14. I don't like to fly that much, although I find myself doing so quite often.

15. The smell of dog poop nearly makes me vomit, even at the slightest whiff.

16. I learn a new vocabulary word each day. Today's is nubilous, which means vague.

17. I have a freakish memory for things like lyrics, content of books, journals, articles, and people's names, but am incredibly poor at remembering events in my life, directions, and grocery lists.

18. I have lived in a haunted house, and worked in a haunted building.

19. I am on the federal "do-not-fly" list -- not because I have committed any crime, but because my name is a common alias, or so says the TSA. I think this is part of the reason I dislike flying.

20. I can't get brain freeze. I don't even know what it is. In fact, when I see others get it, I think they look ridiculous because I can't empathize with them.

21. I absolutely despise shaving my face.

22. I have lived in five different states already.

23. I'm an incredibly observant person.

24. While I once harbored some conservative ideals, I now find myself drifting further left everyday, much to the liking of most of my friends.

25. Reading over this list, I realize how eternally grateful I am to have a wife who loves me and appreciates all of these personal oddities.

Springsteen at the Super Bowl

One of my absolute favorite musicians (if not my favorite), Bruce Springsteen, will be playing the Super Bowl halftime show this Sunday. And, in a great tradition of halftime performers, he's being quite coy about which songs he'll sing. But look no further than Irresponsibly Responsible to know which four he'll sing. I think I have it pegged, including the order.

1. Working on a Dream - The title track from his latest release on Tuesday, this song is an absolute shoe-in for the mini set list. Great sound, great song.

2. The Rising - There's no better song to end a show than his biggest hit in the last ten years, written as an homage to the victims of September 11. If you've never read the lyrics, please do so here. They are quite moving when read in the context of the tragedy of September 11.

3. Badlands - He's got to throw a bone to the truce Bruce fans out there who'll be tuning in, and Badlands is the one because of the crowd interaction.

4. Born to Run - Because tramps like us, baby we were born to run! And because it's the best song he's ever written.

A lot of people seem to think he'll sing Born in the USA. I don't think he will, especially given the great conservative demagogue's attempt to co-opt the song in the 80s. So, we'll see. Any thoughts?

Family Feud... Just about Outta Questions

We had a snow day here at the University of Maryland yesterday in light of the three inches of snow (laugh!) that fell on our great city. (And just like 10-year-old Malia Obama said it best when she said that back in the Midwest, not only would they have had school, but they would have still had outside recess... but I digress)

Having the afternoon off, I did what any graduate student would do, which was nothing. I ran some errands, took a nap, and even watched a little TV. I happened to catch an episode of The Family Feud, which was a childhood favorite of mine. (I suspect I'm not alone in this.) I believe that I would be deadly on this show, and am constantly amazed at how poorly people do on that show. Well, the show has been on for a remarkable 26 years now, and it's clear that they are just about out of questions to ask those hundred Americans as evidenced by the show I watched last night. Here was the second round question:

"Name an animal a turkey would imitate to avoid being eaten on Thanksgiving."

Go ahead and think about that one for a moment.

How is one supposed to answer that question?!?!? It doesn't make any sense. I think it's about time to hang (no pun intended, if you caught that reference) it up there on Family Feud if that's the level of questioning being asked. Sad to see such a great show sliding into trying to decipher animal thoughts on national television.

Obamaiconing the Family

There's a great new website called www.obamicon.me. It allows you to upload pictures and make them look like the Obama "Hope" picture. Here are my creations of my family!

Holiday Photos in January

I had to take down some Christmas lights here at the sorority house today to avoid a fine from the city. I realized that I've never posted photos from our trip to Michigan for the holidays.

Well, here some of them are. The rest can be found here.

A Lesson in Privilege

With as much self-described Obama-homerism that takes place on this blog, it's important to sometimes take a step back and consider the dissenting views (which I believe incidentally is headquartered at FOX NEWS) that say that people are blindly following Obama, he's all rhetoric, and he's too much of a celebrity. I've heard a lot of this over the last two years, and I've heard a lot of the retort. But what I haven't heard anything about is the vital role that privilege plays in these scathing criticisms of Obama and his supporters.

Privilege is nothing more than having a special right, immunity, standard, or permission in a society. Given the inequities in our social society, then, it means that some people are more privileged than others. The challenge of our times, I believe, is coming to a realization and understanding of these privileges in order to make social and economic process.

So, one way to look at the aforementioned criticisms of Obama is to look at it through a privilege lens. Perhaps an example is best to begin.

One of the early criticism of Obama's rhetoric early-on in the campaign is when he would say, "We are the ones who we've been waiting for." There were--and still are--frequent criticisms that this is simply an exercise in empty rhetoric that sends the masses into a frenzy over nothing. But, as Harry Boyte points out, that sang ties deeply into a message that so many Americans have lived. You see, that phrase is one that emanated from the deep South, and the struggle for civil rights. That phrase, then, isn't just a nine word phrase used to excite people, it's used to invoke something larger -- a movement of a people that is reminiscent of overcoming great obstacles in American history. It's similar to the Obama's frequent message of it's not about me, it's about you. Some dismiss this as Obama merely trying to deflect attention that he so desperately craves, but again, look no further than the movement that hoisted MLK to similar heights to find so many parallels. MLK wrote and spoke about the perils of a movement that put too much faith and stock into a single leader.

So, what do these examples illustrate? I think it's a simple yet complex message that different people see and hear things differently, depending on where they sit in the world. It's an important lesson for those who sit a little higher along life's great hierarchy, especially. The golden takeaway for me is simply, "Let us not be so quick to judge without first examining first where we sit and where we have come from."

Our Experience Volunteering Today...

As reported on this here blog, Erica and I were selected to volunteer at the inauguration today. Here is a little bit of reflection on our experience. It's a bit lengthy, but worth the read, I think.

We awoke this morning at 3:30. We carefully layered all of our clothing, packed snacks in every orifice on our coat, packed our hand and feet warmers, and set out to the metro at 4:00 am. We were able to get downtown to our destination in 30 minutes, although our metro stop looked like something out of Deep Impact. We met our team at our designated meeting spot, and set out to find our post. Our job was to give people a "plus experience," which is a Disney term meaning to find a way to make people's experiences a little better. We were to greet people, smile, give directions, lend some encouragement, and just be available. We were just two blocks away from the capitol, and at the end of a long tunnel where thousands of people were pouring out. Shortly after we arrived, at roughly 6:30 am, most of our team left us because they were too cold. It was in the single digits this morning, but we were warm since we planned (and spent money on warm items) accordingly. Erica and I, among just a few others, stayed until 11 am helping people. To say that we helped nearly 10,000 people today would be a fair statement.

We were told that we would get food vouchers, a warming tent, and hand warmers for volunteering. After our team captain left us an hour into our time, we realized these things would never be coming for us. But these small inconveniences paled in comparison to what we witnessed from others.

People were generally in good spirits, although as the day wore on, people became more and more frustrated. Getting information--current, correct information--to people became impossible because phone lines weren't working. As volunteers, we were signed up for text messages when information changed, but we rarely got the messages in a timely fashion (even if we got them at all). Most people didn't have tickets, and were another 30 minutes away from the mall when we greeted them. People were tired, sick, cold, confused, and frustrated, but thankful we were there to help them along their way. For those who had tickets, we were able to find accurate information to get them to their entrances, but misinformation from others often forced them to backtrack 30-45 minutes. Many were not happy. We learned that many people who had tickets were turned away, sometimes even when they arrived four hours earlier.

There were a number of people with whom we interacted that we'll never forget: a 70-year-old African American woman who looked completely exhausted who told us that she marched further for civil rights and she wasn't going to stop short of seeing the first black president inaugurated, a husband and wife with two little children begging us for information on how to leave the city because they couldn't take the crowds anymore, a woman who waited for what seemed like forever to receive medical attention behind us because it took so long for medical crews to get through the crowds, and the tiny little boy who gave me a high-five and said "Obama!"

We left our post promptly at 11:00 to try to catch a jumbotron somewhere near the mall. It took us 30 minutes to walk just a few blocks. We couldn't get anywhere near the mall, and found ourselves surrounded by people--not moving, mind you--with no escape route in sight. We did what we could to find some clearance, and after what felt like an hour, we made it out to some clearing, just in time to find a metro station and catch the train home. We watched most of the inauguration proceedings (Obama's speech, etc.) from our phone with Sprint's live TV. We made it home just in time to catch the tail end of Obama's speech on the regular TV. And fall down exhausted in our bed to watch the rest.

We feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to help, in whatever way that we did, so many people. Even though we didn't get to "see" the inauguration, we feel as though we experienced it in a very meaningful and memorable way.

Below are some highlights from The Washington Post and a couple DC news sources regarding the crowds:

At 14th Street and Madison Drive NW, a crowd of thousands chanted "Let us out!" when barriers blocked them from leaving. Later, hundreds of people poured over a knocked-down fence near 15th Street, as National Guard soldiers let them pass.

On 18th Street NW, hundreds of people were using a novel strategy to escape the crush. When a siren-blaring ambulance passed, they ran behind it, taking advantage of the space it was clearing. The crowd was chanting Obama's name.

At 12th Street and Indiana Avenue NW, thousands moshed in gridlock, trying to turn north on 12th, just looking for a way around the security cordon. Several people were thrown to the ground as the crowd pushed them over curbs and between Jersey barriers. Parents screamed at kids to stay connected to family chains.

Overall, Washington area hospitals treated 350 people transported for medical emergencies ranging from hyperthermia to possible stroke during the Inaugural activities today, the D.C. Department of Health reported.

We Are One

Today was one of those days that are so rare, so significant, that it's hard to put into words my feelings.

We were blessed to attend the "We Are One" inauguration concert today in DC at the Lincoln Memorial, joining an estimated 750,000 people in the freezing temperatures. We were fortunate enough to be admitted into the main concert section on the reflecting pool -- the same place where MLK helped drive and inspire a movement that paved the way for today's events.





Much has been written--and certainly more eloquently than I could--about the event. It was incredible to see such a wide array of megastars, each of whom would be headliners in their own right. (If Bruce Springsteen OPENS a show, you know something out-of-this-world is happening.) What was truly amazing was the atmosphere of the entire DC area. Beneath the hats, scarves, and winter coats was a grin and an excitement that shined through the overcast clouds. It was a gathering of people that helped build a movement that starts with electing Obama to the White House. And everyone from that movement was represented: young, old, gay, bisexual, transgendered, black, white, Latino/a, Asian, and everyone in between. It was an atmosphere that had a palpable sense of optimism, excitement, and determination. Erica and I spoke little about what was unfolding around us because we were too busy taking it all in. We feel truly blessed to be in our nation's capitol at this time in our history. It's an exciting time, that's for sure.

It was also awesome to see many of the musicians, especially Bruce Springsteen (who when he sings "The Rising" still sends chills down my spine), John Legend, Pete Seeger (I seriously thought he was going to burst from all of his excitement), and Stevie Wonder. It was truly a remarkable day. I was also very excited to see all of the Obama memorabilia for sale on the streets. In fact, it was difficult to walk more than 10 feet without being offered an Obama button, poster, calendar, flag, or something of the like. One guy was even selling Obama ointment... whatever that is. Nonetheless, the spirit of a nation is alive and well, and we were happy to take part.

We'll Be at Inauguration!

I still have a lot to post about the goings on (technical term) in our lives over the past month, but one that just can't wait is the fact that we've been selected to volunteer at the 44th Presidential Inauguration! We were selected out of 80,000 applicants, and we couldn't be happier. Last night, we attended a three-hour training session to learn more about our specific assignment.

We knew that there would be a number of volunteer duties that we may be assigned -- helping with the parade route, working on MLK day, helping set up, tear down, etc. But, we also knew that we'd have a chance to either work at one of the balls or work on the national mall during the actual inauguration. Well, we were placed to work on the national mall! It's so exciting. It's going to be a tremendous experience. We'll be able to see Barack take the oath on the steps of the capital live and in person. It's going to be incredible. And, our job is only to assist people by providing them directions, maps, and a friendly smile. Seems easy enough, right? Plus, who doesn't want to hang out with 2.5 million of their closest friends starting at 4 am?

Here's a picture from our training last night. 15,000 volunteers in all. The most organized training I've ever been to in my life.