Ya sé como convertirme en viento

Esas palabras de 'El Alquimista' me siguen de lugar en lugar. Varios hechos últitmamente me hicieron recordarlas. En fin, me he convertido en el mero imagen de lo que nunca pensaba que iba a ser: el analista estadistico y presupuestario, no muy diferente del Santomé—protagonista de Benedetti,—aunque no me haya acordado a ninguna tregua conmigo mismo todavía. Es una cosa bastante desconcertante para un lingüista, de repente contar con tanta destreza matemática, pero no hay que complicar la felicidad. Falta un més para regresarme a casa, a Nueva York, digo, la casa en el Bronx ya no me queda abierto. Sin embargo, me encantaría regresar al lugar, o quizás un lugar cerca del mismo.

Today is Saturday, and it's an odd feeling. I finished, printed, bound, and packaged my capstone this past Thursday. I could have actually put it in the mail then, but I just didn't move fast enough to get out of the office on time, so it went into the mail yesterday (Friday). The required postmark date for the final draft is this coming Monday. There is only one other classmate of whom I am aware with enough forethought and planning to have completed the project at the same time, and she is to be commended. Every other classmate I've spoken with is steadily chipping away at the final version as I write this, or has already pleaded for an extension already cognizant of the fact that they won't be capable of making the deadline. I mention this because this blog, our cohort's studies, and even the entire point of this accelerated course is to train "leaders." Leaders prove themselves in the heat of battle, under the pressures of actually being in the lead, they manage their time well, know how to access the right resources at the right time, know who to call if they don't have the answer to a problem, and so forth. 

Leadership, in contrast, is not endemic to those with a haughty attitude, a practice of unprecedented self ascription of power, the inability to speak softly and wield a big intellect, or any of the myriad personality malaises which I've witnessed in excess along this very uneven and incredibly difficult trajectory. Of course, there are several people in my current experience that do not fit the disparaging commentary above. In point of fact, I can think of several. But I am distressed and disappointed by those that do. I feel sincerely that a poor choice was made in many cases, and that these individuals, in truth, do not belong in the position of access to power.

In reality, the whole purpose of this post was to announce that I had managed, much as I did with every other version, data set, or significant piece required by the professors, to turn in the final draft early. By all counts, mine arrived the date it was due, hard copy, through the mail, and an extra one sent to the folks so they can have it on their shelf. I had to maintain a personal standard, you see, though that has caused several of my cohort members great consternation. But, I can tell you, given that the chips were down, who I would rather have on my team.

Mentor for a morning

Last Thursday I took a personal day and went up to New York City for the Mentor for a Morning event at Baruch College. I'd been anticipating this for some weeks, it was an opportunity to meet with several people with whom I would not otherwise have interacted, or, more specifically, had the opportunity to interact. Really, I dislike doing 24 hr turnarounds in NYC; I don't get to see my family as much as I'd like, I completely miss out on the opportunity to see my friends, and it feels as if there's something waiting for me on the other side of the mirror (if anyone understands the pre-Colombian mythology reference.) Officially, we are down to less than two months away from the termination of our mentorships, and it feels like I could seriously use a vacation. I told several people during my trip that they shouldn't be surprised if I suddenly turned into Ghost Rider and my head burst into flames spontaneously. 

Talking with the mentors, I've found out several things: 1) my resume seems to be needing a bit of tweaking if I'm going to anxiously pursue a communications position. 2) As one mentor mentioned - 'There's a lot of gold here.' I am often - despite any outward appearances - unsure of whether or not that's actually true, so it was good to hear it reinforced. 3) Two different mentors suggested that I take the time to attend whatever free events I could get myself into related to the agencies with which I'm interested in working. Interestingly, both also suggested the idea of sending introductory letters, and how to format them - something I always forget to consider entirely. So, in between completing the last two assignments for the semester, gingerly escorting my capstone through a wordsmithing forge, and preparing my taxes this week, I'm going to be carefully tooling a letter of introduction to several places, to be followed up perhaps around the beginning of Summer II with official cover letters and resumes. In the interim, resumes, cover letters, applications to Federal and Municipal agencies, and some serious networking has been going on, all with the objective of being able to step lively from the stage for graduation into a desirable position.

The way back and forth from NYC, however, was incredibly adventurous to say the least. On the way up, I met an Audio/Video producer who does some fairly high level work I was fortunate enough to hear about but won't repeat here. We managed to get along swimmingly, and the best part is, one of my closest friends from years and years agone is also an A/V specialist and in need of something to do. Taking care of my friends, cuz it's all about your network. The way back, however, was not so pleasant, as it took six hours plus to complete a four hour trip, something about the air inside the bus completely unsettled my stomach, and I was unable to complete anything remotely resembling 'work,' even blogging. Once safely returned to the District of Columbia, it was still an hour plus to get home since we returned at an hour when the bus/train connections slow down and are entirely disjointed. The remainder of the weekend was mostly unproductive, I'm only up to about 5 pages with the final assignment for Management II (we have an 8 pg limit. Who puts page limits on these things? Ugh,) and still have to knock out 600 words for the last Leadership class assignment, but I'm not concerned about those getting done by the end of the day tomorrow. It's the whole taxes thing that's got me worried.

While I was in NYC, since Friday was a furlough day, I made the decision to stay an extra night so I could wake up and have breakfast with my dad, who I don't get to see or interact with enough while I'm here, and spend some time with one of my close friends from the city Thursday night. He's one of the integral members of a small collective I've affectionately termed Team Green, but it is to him and the rest in that collective that Joe Cocker is dedicated:

Jeff, her son...

As promised, I'm adding a few shots from my trip to the Jefferson library, and a couple more from mid-March that show Spring waging a relentless battle to peak through the gloominess of an extended winter (although I really like Winter, Virginia winters are completely unlike the frolicking, hot chocolate necessitating, snow-flaky, snow ball throwing fun fests that are winters in New York. Here, they are just an unending series of broad, immeasurable expanses of gray clouds, unpredictable temperatures, and wind. And noone seems capable of enjoying the experience. Almost to a person I've heard a ceaseless string of complaints since the month of November from neighbors, co-workers, people I've seen at the store. Luckily for the past couple weeks we've been having temperatures trending towards a more spring-like atmosphere. As 4everJung noted in one of her social media posts: "Bring it!"

And now, some photos -

The stairwell to the second floor

Detail of one of the corner elements surrounding the ceiling glass

The ceiling inside of the entryway to Jefferson's personal collection

Stained glass in the ceiling of the main entryway

Detail of the archway over the exterior door

The 6 panels of stained glass in the ceiling

Close up of one of the stained glass panels

Exterior of the library from street level. Notice the Neptune
fountain in the foreground

The Capital building, at dusk. 

A panorama shot of the library's exterior, from street level

A few blossoms along the street leading to my block

Dogwoods, same street.

I don't know the name of these.
But they were pretty

A string of cherry blossoms. Not exactly the
National Mall, but fairly impressive.

A superb effort.

The creation of myth

 Last night, on my way home from the office, my brain buzzing from sifting through a regulation on procurement, I saw a backlit advertisement in the DC Metro proclaiming a display of Gaugin’s famous works at the National Gallery of Art. For a fleeting moment, I thought to myself, “…that piece isn’t in the Met’s collection of Gaugin…” until, that is, I realized with a sudden shock that I wasn’t in New York. To purloin a phrase that has been recently circulating the interwebiverse relating to census counts and economic pressures – this was a ‘thud’ moment. But, there were boxes yet unfilled on the crossword, e-mails awaiting responses, media messages to be crafted….

Two weekends ago, my parents arrived in town to pass a few days with me. We saw the Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress which was truly impressive. I will have to create an entirely different post with a series of photos. Much as the opening statement to this entry, I was overwhelmed suddenly with the thought that I was not at home, having personally been inside of literally dozens of venues similarly adorned there, and began to feel on edge. The saving grace of the building’s environs was the fact that I heard every one of the half dozen docents leading tours around the building repeat the same refrain: “…he [Jefferson] wanted the building to be an intersection of art, learning, and culture.” So impressive was the display that I would quite well be inspired to create the same type of surrounding in my own home, once I have one, that is. Of course, I’m not likely to be gifted with several acres of Federal land and monies for the project, but a guy can dream, no?

Interestingly, on the second floor of the library was a Mesoamerican exhibit entitled “Exploring the Americas.” The rooms contained several pieces I’d never been able to see before, an unexpected pleasure. The collection’s variety of books spanned crucial recompilations of original drawings of petroglyphs, interpretations of calendar stones, depictions of Aztec, Inca, and Mayans from the origination of the ethnography field, and chronicles of the Europeans’ initial interactions with the New World.

Jefferson’s personal collection, on display on the opposite side of the library from the Americas exhibit, was a testament to the breadth of knowledge of a president and fellow bibliophile. If nothing else, it helped to embolden my own fascination for books, despite having to divest myself of the several copies I had been warehousing of former teacher’s editions of textbooks, and half dozen repetitions of novels that served little other purpose than to possess extra copies. Once this fellowship is over, and I triumphantly return to New York, I shall endeavor to install myself in a viable location, and further develop my extensive library. One of us must be responsible for the protection of knowledge.

Power

I've listed The New Teacher Project as this blog's out-link for a purpose; It's been roughly two months since I've posted something here, and in that time, the NUF mid-year conference has happened, at which we heard incessantly about leadership, what it means, precise ways for you to foment that within yourself, and what precisely to do with it after you've managed to get ahold of it. Gina Rudan spoke to us about how she helps others find the intersection of their skills and their passions, and that was an interesting conversation. David Mensah spent a great deal of time talking about finding your personal mission, and I realized at that particular point, that I hadn't really nailed down what mine was. All was not lost, however, as I realized shortly after my triumphant return to the Capital region what precisely that was.

One of my closest friends in New York has a brother-in-law that lives in the area, and inevitably, we've also become fast friends. His children likewise think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Once I was back there, interacting with youth, it came to me like a Mack truck to the face - the youth, the future of tomorrow. That is my mission: to make sure that they are raised well, that they are shown the proper way to operate in society, that they learn well how to be valuable members of our culture. To that end, I've begun to refocus my post-fellowship job search to ensure that it has to do with Youth Development or a position as Education Director for an institution.

Amusingly, I recently read about a program in Philadelphia that has to do with interpreting in the school system. At the same time, I found myself wondering if there has been sufficient forethought and planning gone into the program for them to select a director. I know that operating simultaneously in two fields that I hold near and dear to my heart would be closely akin to paradise. We shall have to see how close to that I manage to find myself.

I continually refer back to Collins' scale of Level 5 leadership for a reason. Having participated in martial arts, operated in a school system, studied leadership through this fellowship, performed as an interpreter, written as a citizen journalist, and a whole variety of interesting things during my professional life, I believe I have developed a sense of what the term entails. I know for a fact it is horrifically overused. I also know that a majority of people overusing it have generally done so for the purpose of powerful self ascription of importance. My particular issue is education, youth development, and within that language access. So, when I see like posting a list of nearly 5,000 teachers who will find themselves under the ax due to 'budget constraints' and other efforts meant to unwind collective bargaining are solely to the detriment of or nation, and most specifically the more than 1.1 million students in the NYC Department of Education's care, I know 'leadership,' due to its overusage, is losing any semblance of validity. There is a better way, and there are agreements to be made. Students of history remember that the first thing every cult of personality did in order to rise to power was to decimate the teaching force. TNTP has been complicit in producing proposals to that end, and it is apparent that their objectives are in line with the philosophy.

Leadership is not only in the professional field, however, and this is where I find myself in a quandary. Our capstone experience is potentially one of the most intense pieces of the entire fellowship, but having done one or two dedicated research papers while in my initial Master's degree at NYU, and very similar types of brain intensive work as a teacher for 12 years - curriculum writing, and major projects that I developed to be able to utilize in the classroom, - this was perhaps less of a stressful enterprise for me than it likely should have been. I turned in 51 pages (with 52 references) nearly a week before the due date, and dedicated the remaining time to advising and coaching classmates that might be finding themselves in a difficult place. This week, I also received word from one journal that I had pitched an essay to that they are willing to accept my writing. I'm incredibly pleased about this because, not only does it result in a publication credit, it also results in remuneration! This, I believe, is more the type of leadership - thought leadership - for which we should be aiming.

Next weekend, my sister, my parents, my closest friend from high school whom I have not seen in nearly 20 years, and his wife and children descend upon my small hamlet for the weekend. My sister is also participating in a range of events and conferences with the City Council Chairman of her town, meetings with Congresspeople, and so forth as she climbs the political ladder. There is an evening planned for the DC dozen to meet with her, the City Council Chairman, and several other key players in about a week, and it will be the first time I'm in the same room with so many noteables at once. I think this is the point at which I should feel apprehensive. My main preoccupation for the evening is to make sure that I have enough networking cards available to hand out at the encounter. I can almost guarantee that there will be interesting photos from the affair.

Not necessarily as interesting as a Mariachi band headed by Antonio Banderas, but, you get the idea...

El Distrito de Columbia utiliza sus fondos para fomentar la comunidad de negocios hispanos

La nota que añado abajo la escribí para entregar a Washington Hispanic, uno de los periódicos locales escrito en castellano. Se lo mandé al editorial esta tarde y ojalá que me respondan con el afirmativo. En cambio, por si acaso que no, la tengo aquí desplegado para todo el mundo.

Durante el año fiscal 2010, solo por la agencia pública el Departamento de Servicios para Propiedades (Department of Real Estate Services, o DRES por sus siglas en ingles), el Distrito de Columbia entró en contratos con negocios hispanos como parte de sus esfuerzos de privatización cuyo valor total de más de $92 millones de dólares. La razón por la cual esta única agencia es de tanto interés es porque tiene responsabilidad por más de 95% de los contratos escritos para la comunidad hispana. De modo que es imprescindible seguir fomentando negocios entre el distrito y los latinos, la siguiente información viene a ser de mayor importancia.

Durante los próximos cinco años, el total de dólares que se predice tener el presupuesto del municipio decae por alrededor de $300 Millones, o sea, tres veces el valor total de contratos escritos con la comunidad en total. Estos datos son libremente asequibles entrando en la página del Contable Principal (Chief Financial Officer, o CFO por sus siglas en inglés) y buscando los enlaces del presupuesto. 90% de la cantidad total que DRES utilizó durante el año fiscal 2010 se dedicó a proyectos de construcción. Pero, como antes mencionado, durante los próximos años (comenzando con el año fiscal 2012) los fondos disponibles para tales trabajos se disminuyen hasta la mitad. Ese efecto marca la pauta hasta por lo menos el año 2016, el cual debe ser preocupante para todo quien es dueño de una compañía de construcción.

En realidad, nos quedan bastantes opciones para solucionar este dilema. Para comenzar, los negocios primariamente enfocados en construcción son capaces de crear alianzas estratégicas con otras compañas que trabajan en ámbitos diferentes. Las alianzas más lucrativas estarán en los campos de informática, servicios profesionales, ingeniería, diseño de arquitectura, traducción e interpretación, y en adquisiciones gubernamentales. Lo que ha dicho el presidente Obama repetitivamente con respeto a esto es que los puestos de trabajo laboral se han esfumado a lo largo de los últimos años es una realidad. Lo que necesitamos ahora es dedicarnos a nuestra preparación, nuestra formación en una fuerza laboral más adiestrado. Las compañías americanas buscan empleadas con una amplia variedad de habilidades como los designados arriba, y existen posibilidades de hacerse estudiante de cada campo listado arriba, muchos con la oportunidad de acceder fondos en forma de becas para estudiar. Póngase en contacto con el Departamento de Servicios de Empleo (Department of Employment Services, o DOES por sus siglas en inglés) para comenzar.

Para las compañías interesadas en crear alianzas estratégicas con otras compañías, basta con ponerse en contacto con el Departamento de Desarrollo de Negocios Locales (Department of Small, Local Business Development, o DSLBD por sus siglas en inglés. Allá deben también entregar una solicitud para hacerse un Negocio/Empresa Certificado (CBE por sus siglas en inglés). Eso le proporciona la ventaja de ser incluido en la lista de tales empresas, y considerado para proyectos de cierto tamaño (normalmente de $100,000 o menos) antes de los negocios que no lo son. Lo más ideal para las empresas en la comunidad sería que hicieran una combinación de los anterior: adquirir personal para diferentes destrezas, reentrenar algunos de sus empleados para que dispongan de nuevas capacidades, y desarrollen alianzas estratégicas con otras compañías para poder acceder una variedad más amplia de contratos no solamente con el Distrito de Columbia, sino con el mercado en general.

Seguir ignorando las señales que cada día nos aparecen como bofetadas al cerebro nos llevará a estados infortunios. Comunico mi mensaje para el bien de la comunidad, solo quiero que avancen, y recompongamos esta nación mejor que a nostros se nos entregó.

La reina del Nilo, o la reina del reniego. Cual quieras.

Un umim, y un tumim.

Those who have not read "El Alquimista" by Paolo Coelho, if you can comprehend it in Portugese, good for you. Spanish is a highly suitable secondary stand-in. The English version is only minimally approximate. But the reference to his work in the title of this blog is crucial. It is an experience I do not hesitate to recommend.

These past weeks have been so full of momentous events and developmental challenges that it seems impossible to approach them all with a clear head and find a particularly poignant point with which to punctuate my pontifications. But then, at the same time, that specifically is the purpose of this post; 'pontification,' as if emanating from the office of a pontiff, which clearly I am not, nor do I harbor any desire to be. Besides which, Jewish heritage likely precludes you from such a position, though I'm certain I don't know the rules behind it. 

In any case, I had initially intended to deal with this in a later paragraph, though it seems to have jumped to the fore much earlier. Following directly on the title, and my perambulatory ramblings above, I'll have to begin with Tuscon, and the most recent shock to the National psyche. Avid readers of this column will have already developed a prescient sense that I published a timely article regarding Jared Lee Loughner's atrocities, though my purpose here is unique. Much like the allusion to pontificatory publications in the principal paragraph, we suffer in this country of ours from predilections for perturbations and aversion to sobriety. We love dirty laundry, the public is galvanized and drawn as iron filings to a magnet once the mudslinging starts in a political dialogue of any sort. Politics infects everything - our schools, our national sports, our buying choices. And the virulent infection spreading throughout society erupts from series of non-events, is perpetuated by a two-step flow, and is delivered by the hypodermic injection of the ubiquitous media-rich environment that surrounds us. As a teacher, we are admonished for allowing students to witness anything visual, read anything, or hear lyrics that might be considered overtly contentious, inciteful of violent behavior, or blatantly erotic. Never mind that some of the greatest - both greatly inspiring, and tremedously soul wrenching - moments in history were caused by none-too-mysterious confluences of all three. Perhaps that, in a sense, is an indicator in our supposed 'last bastion of freedom,' and that instead of a tacit acceptance of the modernized version of barely beveiled Puritanism as the subtext to the national political conversation, perhaps we should convert to a more strict orthodoxy of freedom. This coming Monday is Martin Luther King day, a holiday repealed by the Tragedy in Tuscon state, and how might the overarching themes inside their political borders change if public service, peace, and not just tolerance, but acceptance of brothers, neighbors, and all the children under the sun dominated instead of guns, hatred, and discord? As a teacher we are trained habitually how to interact with developing minds, how to treat them with care, what to say, and what not to say, and how to urge them along in a positive direction. 

Similarly, and I've said this habitually in conversations recently: way back in the 90's, when Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were gunned down mercilessly (depending on how you view this,) a call went out to the entire rap community to calm down the lyrics because the country could ill afford to continue losing children to inner city violence. We all know the power and reality of influence that media has on the developing mind. That is the both the reason for and against using it for carrying punditry along the pundit-tree while the majority of the students across the land are crippled due to plummeting literacy rates and incapacity to comprehend, let alone remember history, nor understand the importance of the imagery that's being used. In stark contrast, every available voice that regularly utilized inflammatory language, consistently poured vehemence onto the airwaves, perpetually placated the masses with their rage inducing rhetoric, immediately took to their chosen distribution device - radio, television, web page, newspaper, - and quickly claimed "it couldn't have possibly been the lyrics." In the Communications field that's known as ad-libbing (or liberalizing your dialogue. Perish the thought!) In the Education field that's known as 'Brain Storming.' I claim no responsibility for the parity of this technique with another, much more pedestrian term. What I'm driving at is the fact that every single one of the "operators" - even that is a military term - pontificates, from every side of the quadrangle. O'Donnell's "Where is freedom of speech in the Constitution" to the Libertarian "What does the EPA, or the Department of Education...do?" to the Sarah Palin "blood libel" to Paul Kanjorski's hugely inflammatory commentary on Rick Scott. The answer, as I've said often and early in my column, is Education. Not the kind that's going on now, but the kind that takes into account classics, critical thought, philosophy, and trains students to be thoughtful, insightful, and enlightened citizens of the union. 

To that end, the College Board has made the magnanimous decision to revamp the AP Biology course and exam (two separate operations that, of all things, are closely coordinated.) This is crucial, because at a certain point in educational history, the Advanced Placement curriculum and exams were the gold standard against which each other class was measured. They represented - and I would warrant they still do - the pinnacle of educational achievement, the meter stick against which all other class curriculae were measured. Disproportionately, and as is pointed out in the excellent piece by Valerie Strauss, the longer we perpetuate that continually failing No Child Left Behind and conversion to privatization of our public experience has to be universally tempered with the ever present ideal that our objective is to plant the seeds of the ongoing Enlightenment Era thought experiment that is American Society. At the same time that the AP curriculum was the universally held ultimate objective in terms of educational attainment in the Secondary system, Arts, Sports, Music, and Foreign Language programs flourished, and this was indeed for the betterment of our society as a whole. Heed well the lessons of the daguerreotype analysis. For if we should continue down the path we are currently following, we shall be lulled slowly to sleep by our infinite ignorance, only to be woken up, as the man in the video, by the scurry of rats as they seek to do their natural, genetically precoded duty to help decompose that which is dead: our minds.