Fall Update:)

So…. it has been a while since my last entry. Sorry about that! These last few months have been a whirlwind, but I guess I can’t expect my last year of grad school to be laid back.

School has been really interesting so far this year. My concentrations are Social Enterprise Administration (combining SW and business models, learning management and HR techniques for human service organizations, and finding creative and innovative solutions to social problems) and World of Work (examining how work affects the lives of individuals and using work and organizational design as a method of enhancing the lives of individuals and society as a whole)

Until two weeks ago I had five classes because I was required to take a 7-week clinical course. Needless to say, I am glad to be back to a normal full load of classes.

I am loving my field placement at Palladia Inc., a non-profit in East Harlem that focuses mainly on housing and homelessness, substance abuse, and domestic violence services. Currently we are working on a grant that would allow us to begin a preventative program to stabilize people at risk of becoming homeless. I enjoy the program planning and development department because I am able to be creative and apply much of what I’ve learned in school and because everyone in our department have really gone out of their way to teach me the field—which includes: grant writing, budgeting, program evaluation, grant tracking, strategic planning, organizational development/quality and more. I’ve still got a lot to learn!

Harlem Connect is the caucus (such a weird word) I am co-chairing this year. It has been a great experience but a lot of work to recruit members, create events, and fundraise. The purpose of the caucus is to open dialogue and build community ties between Columbia students and Harlem residents. We do fun events (like eating soul food and going to jazz bars) educational events, and community service. A big issue in New York City right now is that Columbia is buying a huge chunk of West Harlem and pretty much bulldozing everything to make way for a new, modern campus. While this has its positive sides for Columbia students and for the community, the way Columbia has gone about its planning (using eminent domain) has caused a lot of trouble in the community. We are holding a panel next week so that students can educate themselves on the different perspectives of the expansion issue. Because we have representatives from the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, the University, the community and the school of social work, this event has taken a ton of planning—it all happens Tues. the 13th so please pray it goes well!:)

Amidst all of this craziness I had been hoping to get more involved in my church (originsnyc.com) this year. However, I think I have to accept in some ways that its not the time for be to take on more activities and that God is using all I’m learning and thinking about at school to help me grow. As always, I enjoy the Sunday services and have been able to connect with people who are such an encouragement during this busy busy time. God has been teaching me more about loving the people around me every day, rather than going only to church to serve and love people.

Thankfully, I’ve also been able to have some fun despite all of the above schoolwork. In late September John and I went to Coney Island for the first time. Unfortunately it was raining, but we still felt we were able to see it in all its carnival glory. Rumor is that they are closing Coney Island permanently to make way for beachfront housing so we thought we’d check it out before it is gone! We gobbled down hotdogs and cheese fries at the original Nathan’s hotdog shop (since 1898), ate some cotton candy on the boardwalk, and played some ski-ball.

In October my roommate Jenny was able to get cheap tickets to The Lion King through her work. It was a fun show, though I will say that the unbelievably creative costumes were the best part (I liked the music from the movie better). The fact that the actors took on so many mannerisms of the animals they were supposed to be was really fascinating as well. It was great to be able to experience a show I have heard so much about!

A few Saturdays ago, some friends and I rented a car and took off to upstate NY to see the fall leaves and go apple picking. It was great to breath in some fresh air, see all the pretty fall colors, and come home with a HUGE bag of apples. I will not be purchasing apples for a while, I got so sick of them;) But, they were gorgeous apples and tasted so much better than anything I could get at the store.

My good friend and former roommate Kate visited me about a week ago. We had a lot of fun catching up and seeing the sights! She braved the statue of liberty, Ellis Island, and 5th Ave. alone because I was at field, but we were able to cover quite a bit of NYC while she was here. Lunch in little Italy, shopping in China town, jazz in Harlem, seeing central park in all its fall glory, cupcakes and pizza on the upper west side, walking the Brooklyn bridge and the ritzy neighborhood of Brooklyn heights… to name a few of our activities.

Last Saturday I was able to see Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Blink) speak at Teacher’s College. It was great to hear him speak because his books are so interesting and he is a very quirky guy. He is a great connector of ideas because he is extremely intelligent in several fields (the man must read for five hours a day!) but he manages to explain simply how concepts connect using relevant cultural examples. Malcolm spoke about creativity and how our culture only rewards the type of creativity that fits with instant gratification and fully formed ideas (gave the example of The Eagles- smash hit right away) rather than rewarding creativity that is formed more steadily and improved over time (Fleetwood Mac took 10 years to put out a hit album). Apparently this subject is what his next book will be about.

Last night John and I managed to win the rush raffle and get two front and center seats to Wicked, the musical, for $26 each:):) We were so happy. It was an amazing show and a really clever story. I also loved the detail and creativity of the costumes and the music was unbelievable—so basically I loved everything about it. I’m sure it helped that we were in the front row and could see every expression of the actors faces and every detail of their costumes…. what a fun night!

This weekend my mom is visiting and I am so excited to see her and show her what I’ve been up to this past year (and almost a half- wow!).

On a sad note, it was in the 30’s today- not a good sign for this California girl:( I miss you all along with the CA weather but I guess I’ll survive another winter;)

Below is a link to pictures from this fall, enjoy!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbtWjJm3btmYl (let me know if the link doesn't work)