Likely my Last "Slow" Day

My supervisor returns tomorrow from a series of trips that had her away since before Christmas, so I figured I'd blog now. Lots of stuff has been going on, like planning for the Beyond School Hours Conference in Atlanta in late February.

My office was closed for the entire week between Christmas and New Year's, and it was great. It would have been the first true winter break without work, had I not had graduate applications due...

But those are (almost) done, and now I can set some work-related resolutions for myself:

1. Be more productive, already. It's not a concrete goal, but I definitely need to use the LeechBlock add-on more often.
2. Use that workout room. In the place I actually used to have my desk is now a workout room with two treadmills, an elliptical, a bike, and a flat-screen TV. Sweet. The gym near my house is way overpriced anyway.
3. Do more outside "stuff": Whether it be seminars, meet-ups with my mentor, or visiting schools in Philadelphia. I'm not a huge fan of changing up my schedule and going to different places, but I want to become one.

I guess that's all for now. I'm very thankful that my Tuesday tomorrow is not a date with the Dean!!!

Back on my grind

Well fellows, 2011 is upon us, and I'm not the first to note it in this space. I'm glad to have this new beginning. I was happy and lucky to spend a week out of Chicago for the first time since moving, and the break came at just the right time. I suppose December kind of threw me off, never quite settling back into the routine after Thanksgiving, knowing that more holidays were around the corner. With folks out of the office for various reasons, and a strangely low number of clients coming through North Lawndale Employment Network's doors, December was quiet on the work front. But just as I was glad to step away from my fellowship life, I was equally glad to return, if not more so. I loved the time with family and friends, the hedonism of Christmas cookies and New Year's champagne, but when I got on the flight back to that city in the midwest, best city in the whole wide wide world, I was happy.

In advance of our major annual fundraiser, the Sweet Beginnings Tea, to be held in February, work at North Lawndale has kicked into overdrive in the new year. I for one am glad to be back in the swing of things, back with the rhythms of the work week, and all the little things that make living in Chicago phenomenal. On my cab ride from the airport late last Sunday, the cabbie and I got to chatting. He mentioned that he collects proverbs, with a new one for every year. For 2011 his proverb was this: "Life is like riding a bicycle, you have to keep moving forward to keep your balance." He told me this on the Stevenson Expressway, with the glittering lights of the Chicago skyline up ahead, and I fixated on what he said.

Certainly it's been a change to be here in Chicago, where only seven months before I had been a naive Princeton senior finding creative ways to fill my time after I handed in my thesis. Following the proverb though, I've managed to keep my balance by just moving forward. 9 days into 2011, and I've got high hopes for my contributions to my organization, and my own development during the rest of this fellowship experience.

New Year, New Start

It's been great reading about some of the other fellows' New Years resolutions for their positions. For myself as well, the month of January looks to be a period of transition: as of Monday, I will be under the supervision of a new member of the Foundation Center! My current "boss" isn't going anywhere, but a new Business Development Director starts on Monday. I haven't even met her yet, but heard great reviews from those who have. My position is a new one at the Foundation Center so my actual job description has always been a bit vague, but it looks to evolve even more as we take on a new leader of our small (but mighty!) Business Development Team. I am excited to see what new ideas she has and how I can contribute, and have already been working on some projects to prepare for her arrival. So 2011 really does mark a new phase in my fellowship, and I look forward to keeping the Project 55 community updated on the developments!

The Perks of My Job

As a post-placement counselor at Prep for Prep, I am responsible for not only meeting with students on a monthly basis, but also chaperoning events held every other Saturday. At first, I seemed a little skeptical about having to work a couple of hours on certain Saturdays. However, I have now come to realize that there are so many unintended perks to this arrangement. First and foremost, I generally work on a Tuesday to Saturday schedule, which gives me Monday off. This gives me the chance to run all necessary errands on Mondays when offices across the city are actually open. Another perk is that I am able take advantage of events that are so emblematic of New York City free of charge. Over the last couple of months, I have been able to visit the Bronx Zoo, watch a Mets Game at Citifield, see the Big Apple Circus, and sit front row at an Alvin Ailey Dance Show. I must admit, that the role of a chaperone can at time be stressful. We often have to lead 30 plus students across trains and crowded streets to get to our final destination. We hold a group count at least four times throughout the day to make sure we don’t lose anyone along the way. Yet despite all this, I am very grateful that my organization is exposing my students and me to these different facets of the city. The Saturday activities definitely provide me and the other counselors a chance to observe and interact with our students.

Ringing in the New Year

The wind is quiet and the dirty piles of ice line the streets. All the gear is in place, but the uncertainty of such a change makes me almost want to stay home. “You have your new lobster gloves so now you don’t have an excuse,” I can hear her voice saying to me. Slowly, I begin to pedal down the nearly empty streets of Astoria, my breath rising in a steady rhythm. Up ahead I see another cyclist so I pick up speed and coast along with her until finally the Queensboro Bridge is in sight. As the bridge becomes steeper, I start to sweat and the winter breeze finally cools me as I pass over the East River, catching a glimpse of Roosevelt Island. Ringing my shiny bell all the way down, I arrive at work refreshed and without caffeine!

Another P55er Reilly inspired me to take the road and bike to work. With the MTA price hike, it is hard not to feel the $100 a month. Luckily, my job is a block away from the Queensboro Bridge exit so I have no problem getting to work. At first I was terribly fearful of the mean streets of NYC, but one becomes accustomed and even finds it exhilarating. For now, I ride along bike lanes because a part of me still dreads the car-dominated avenues, but I am certain that with time I will have the audacity to venture along other roads.

I think biking is one of the best ways to experience the city. Not only is it environmentally friendly and gives you killer legs, but it also forces you to explore new areas of the city. Who knew where York Avenue was or that 1st Ave. had a bike lane? Plus, the skyline is never as beautiful as when you ride home in the early evening as if you were a postmodern cowboy exiting the wilderness of lights! Huffing and puffing, you make your way home only to find the desire to ride again on such steel stallions.

Out riding,
Ale

Belated December Post

A few cool/fun things that happened in December:

1. The Writers Workshop ended for the semester. On the final day of the program, we gave each student 3 chapbooks (that we printed in the office... Check out the pic. I don't think they look too shabby) with their poems that they had been working on throughout the semester. We had pizza, juice, cookies, and fun celebrating the students' hard work.

2. My supervisor took me (and the two other women she is supervising this year) out to breakfast at Sweet Maple. I'm not much of a breakfast person, but it was delicious! When I was walking towards the restaurant, I wasn't sure of the exact address... and I literally followed the smell of the food. It was really nice to start the morning out of the office, with good food, in good company, and to be recognized for our work.

3. I went home to NYC!!! It was a lot of fun catching up with friends and family. I even took a trip to Princeton to visit a former coworker at Butler College Office. When I met up with friends in Manhattan (I'm from Brooklyn), I felt like such a tourist. I forgot just how busy the city is and gets during the holiday season. I also forgot how beautiful the lights in Times Square are as well as the holiday lights throughout the city. While I was in town, NYC had a snow storm--- about 20+ inches of snow. Why was the weather worse in NYC than Chicago? The weather forced me to stay indoors for two days which was probably for the best; it forced me to rest (something I haven't been too good at doing). I returned to Chicago the afternoon on the 1st after ringing in the New Year with Princeton friends. It was hard saying "see you later" to NYC but it's nice to be back in the midwest (where they seem to know a little more about cleaning snow).

Resolutions and Reverberations

Happy New Year Princeton Alumnicorps! I hope everyone had a great holiday, and that all those on the East Coast are dug out after the blizzard.

As I start 2011, I want to make note of a few job-related resolutions for the new year.

1. I will pack my lunch at least 4 days a week. I've been pretty good about this all year, but there are times when I haven't gotten to the grocery store, or my Tupperware is dirty, or I snooze one time too many. Sure that $14 salad from Whole Foods is incredibly tempting, sure this means making sure I wake up 3 minutes earlier every day, and yes-this means eating a LOT of PB+J, but on my P55 fellow's salary...it's the way to go! Why not all 5 days? I'm only human, OK?!

2. I will learn more from the people at the Foundation Center. I am making it a resolution to talk to at least 1 person a week about his/her work. The Foundation Center has so many different initiatives going on simultaneously. I know I can learn a lot by talking to people who work outside my immediate cubicle area. This will also give me a better grasp of the Center as a whole, which I think will help me in my work going forward.

3. I will make the Foundation Center New York's facebook page more of an online community. The whole "if you build it, they will come" philosophy isn't working out so far. I can only put so much content on the page without people interacting with what I've posted. This is a challenge because obviously authentic online community can't be forced. But I'm going to do my best!

In other news, I've been keeping up with my sporadic blogging for the Center, posting features on the Philanthropy Front and Center New York and on PhilanTopic. This week, I posted a PhilanTopic post about the differences I've noticed between working for social change on campus and in the "real world".

It was pretty cool to see that my post, which was tweeted by the Center, was then retweeted by several Princeton affiliated organizations. I guess the Princeton network is just as strong online as it is in real life!

Obviously p55ers probably have plenty to say about the process of finding your way in "real world" public interest work. If you have a chance, let me know what you think in the comments section on PhilanTopic!