For changing lives

In the Phillips neighborhood, there is a building on Park Avenue--newly built, bright, and modern. It was named the Center for Changing Lives--it houses a Somali-owned daycare, a Lutheran pentecostal church, an affordable cafe, Refugee Services of Lutheran Social Service (LSS), and other social services. I take my laptop over there from the main LSS administrative building in St. Paul every week or so to work in the space with Pastor Mary, one of my supervisors. We go there because, we say, we want to get our lives changed.

What Makes You Happiest?

In his article "The Way to Produce a Person," David Brooks relates the story of Jason Trigg, a Wall Street hedge fund manager who lives well below his means and donates the majority of his earnings to fighting malaria. Brooks urges caution to anyone thinking of doing the same, outlining three main concerns.

Yay Muppets !!!

Did you know that 1 in every 15 African American children in the US have a parent currently incarcerated? A lot of these children are very young- many are preschoolers and grade-school children. The emotional trauma these kids have to go through is immense. 

A Myth: Social Change without Personal Change

"Perhaps you are a better person than I am. I hope you are. But, if you’re like me, take this moment to remind yourself: we are parts of the problems in this world. We acknowledge that we are part of a broken society, yet we are participants in this brokenness, and we are fools if, even in our activism to change it, we separate ourselves from it."

"Sit down, shut up, and listen."

I can barely begin to think about all the theory and methodology that has gone into all of the lessons I've received from teachers since age 3. I had always assumed that teachers just had natural tendencies that enabled them to effectively communicate with even the most difficult child, break up fights between stubborn youth, and manage to have an entire room of squeamish and impatient elementary students focus politely on what they were saying.

Learning from Doing

I don't know about the rest of you high achievers, but I've always had trouble admitting that I don’t understand something, especially when it comes to academic knowledge or a similar skill set. Not understanding a subject or an idea is incredibly frustrating to me, probably one of the things that frustrate me the most.

A Lesson from Pink Eye

Perhaps one of the more mundane lessons that I have learned from my internship experience so far with SHAC is that my immune system is not used to the illnesses of little kids. I have been sick for about a week and a half now with pink eye and a bad cough, but if you'll bear with me, I'll turn my experience with sickness into a reflective blog post.

One Banana Only, Please!

Banana is one of the cheapest fruits available in grocery stores nearby. It is our house-fruit, mainly because of two reasons: healthy and budget friendly. With approximately $135/weekly budget for dinner and shared food such as bread, milk, peanut butter and jelly, and banana (of course), we really need to be wise on deciding what to buy. Buying bananas is definitely a win-win solution so we do buy them every week. Here comes the problem though:  bananas are usually gone by Wednesday. Thus, we keep buying more, but seriously, how many bananas are too many? We can't just fill the whole shopping cart with bananas because then the other people will lose the opportunity to keep their budget low (not the actual reason).

Why else would a tough middle-school boy want to do yoga?

A student of mine is the poster child for “at risk youth”.  He is the playground bully threatening to beat up everyone up who crosses his short fused temper.  He is the anarchist rejecting all authority of his teachers.  He is the forced participant of summer school programming just so that he can make it to the 9^th grade and not dropout.

Roots and Tops

Over the last few days, I have learned much about how my organization functions in the public sphere.  I met (well, encountered) two of its board members in the real world, learned about its role in transit legislative coalitions, and spent some less-than-captivating time with the online member database.

The Impact of Storytelling

You have all most likely heard the phrase "Kids say the darndest things", referring to the hysterical comments that kids tend to say in the most unlikely moments.  Having the opportunity to work with students ranging from 2nd graders to 12th graders, my days are filled with these "darndest" moments.

Getting Schooled in Early Childhood Family Education

This past week I had a few opportunities to volunteer at some of the early childhood family education (ECFE) programs in Northfield, as well as participating in Fairbault’s Mondays’ in the Park. I believe my participation within these programs and discussing early childhood programming with Professor Gross and Gina have given me a beginning sense of the programming differences and struggles between Northfield and Fairbault.

Responsibility and Community

Our house conversation last week got me thinking about the role of responsibility in a community. Members of a household community, for example, may have simple, specific responsibilities such as washing the dishes, taking out the trash, buying groceries, or cooking dinner.

Learning from Lice

As some of you know, the Northfield house has been struck by an infestation of these gorgeous creatures:

The Role of a Changemaker & The Importance of Empathy

Throughout these past few weeks while working for Ashoka, I've been challenged to view "social change" through a very critical lens.  Ashoka, an international organization focused on changing systems, has already exposed me to a plethora of the world's best social entrepreneurs - honored with the Ashoka Fellow title - and their solutions for making our world a better place. 

A Tripartite Theory of Empathy (and biking)

 “[Cities] are not like suburbs, only denser. They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers.”

            - Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Sustainability on a Budget

Hello! I'm Will, and I've been doing summer research instead of an internship in the Leaders for Social Change program. I've been examining sustainability, and how we can engrain it in our culture in order to create more resilient communities.

"I believe consenting to society is an active choice, unless you’re Mountain Man Walden or something."

Over zucchini spaghetti and cookie dough cheesecake, our community discussed  David Brook's New York Times op-ed "The Way to Produce a Person", which was written in response to Dave Matthew's "Join Wall Street. Save the World" this week. The articles are about Jason Trigg, who works at a hedge fund on Wall Street and gives back the majority of his money to charity.

Fitting Individuals into the Fabric of a Community

     Last Wednesday's conversation steered me toward the idea of a community from an individual's perspective. I cannot think about a community without considering each person's role - and after living in Lincoln Manor for three weeks, my mind obviously turns to the roles each of us plays in the house.

Community Conversation on Community (St. Paul House)

Sonja got us off to a rousing start this week, sharing some examples of the local rules and regulations sometimes passed in the name of community, such as codes on building appearances and the sale of alcohol.  From there, we moved back to address some of the fundamentals in talking about community...

Conversation and Community in the Northfield House

After a draining and nit-picky week, many of our internships and research positions were finally coming to fruition. Matthew started his position at the Arts Guild, and many of us now felt more comfortable in our new experience.

Coming out of an intense Twin Cities seminar, many of us had the idea of community on our minds. What is community? What does it mean? What’s the goal of a community? What makes a good community? 

A rousing conversation followed.

Asian Rural Institute: Culture, Community, and Conversation

Hello from Japan! David, Hawera, and I have almost completed our first week at the Asian Rural Institute. During our conversation last night, we discussed our initial impressions of ARI and how the culture compares to St. Olaf.

Pickles, Northfield House, Social Change ...?

Our refrigerator has a paper with a running tally of quotes on it. Some of them came from our time cooking, some from excursions outside the house, but one thing remains constant: all our quotes came from extensive conversations with our housemates.

Real Talk with the St. Paul LSC-ers

During our discussion, when Mike was describing his organization, he said: "I feel like I hit that nail on the head there. And, also, probably missed a couple of them too."  In other words, we are still getting a feel for our internships - we learned a lot in the past week, but also still have some stuff to figure out (how many times have we gotten lost biking or busing? You don't want to know). 

Northfield House Summer Goals

Summary of Community Goals:

St. Paul House Summer Goals

Summary of Summer Community Goals:

Orientation Picture

Program Overview

The Leaders for Social Change program complements a St. Olaf education by providing an opportunity for students to complete an internship or research project in Northfield or the Twin Cities while participating in ongoing academic and vocational reflection with faculty, staff, community leaders and alumni. Students gain professional experience, discern their vocations and develop leadership skills that prepare them to foster the common good in future civic and work roles.

More information about the St. Olaf Leaders for Social Change Summer Internship Program