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One of the best things about being in a VISTA...
March 21, 2008 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
 One of the best things about being in a VISTA corps, is, of course, making close personal and professional relationships. I simply can't facilitate certain workshops or work on projects without Carly, my previous VISTA co-leader. Half of my current projects are collaborations with her, or she advises me on their direction. Only recently did I realize what a rare gift our relationship was, when sharing one of our stories at a conference. I wanted to share this picture of us.
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I brought some work home this weekend to fini...
March 16, 2008 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
 I brought some work home this weekend to finish the first draft of an article I'm writing on asset-based community development for our first ever national Campus Compact VISTA newsletter. I'm excited about the organizational structure of the newsletter, which is decentralized and has rotating editor positions. It only requires complete commitment on the part of the five committee members to take responsibility for their part of the newsletter; we'll see how it turns out.
I saw a FIRST regional robotics competition with Greg this Saturday. I think I was supposed to become a zealot after seeing one match, but I remain only moderately excited about robots. There is, of course, something interesting about a thousand high school kids dressed in matching outfits, taping their machines for battle. And I want to believe that those teams represent some fundamental societal shift to bring sexy back to science and technology. Alas, seeing white suburban geeks build robots seemed like the same old show, just a little more organized and with many more mascots that the traditional science fair. In short, I've failed as the girlfriend of a geek.
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Jamie, the consummate evolutionary biologist
March 11, 2008 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
 Jamie, the consummate evolutionary biologist.
So, the web guy at work just decided to take a sweet job somewhere else. I don't blame him; working on a campus like Brown means free cookies every day. And I like cookies. But my job is an empty shell without him, and not only am I terrified that I'll quickly forget how to use a computer and revert to stamping letters on homemade collaged cards, but I don't know how to have fun without him. He is my office bowling buddy, my science fiction friend, my satirical confidant. Our web guy speaks truth to power... or at least mocks power in a way that makes me feel good about challenges I face. It's gonna be rough going without him.
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Can one be "martyred" in molasses, really? S...
March 10, 2008 by Jamie in Sadie & Greg
Can one be "martyred" in molasses, really? Seems as if you are too weak to run from a wave of viscous sugar syrup, you may need to be picked from the heard anyway ;-)
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I am sitting at home, wading through the emai...
March 10, 2008 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I am sitting at home, wading through the emails that are too pressing to leave in the withering sun of my inbox for another day. A national network of Campus Compact VISTA folks, so delicate in its beginnings, must be watered daily. Even if I have a cold, the revolution plows ahead.
Winter has finally begun it's strip-tease to Spring here in the northeast, shedding layers of salt and snow with a nice week of wind and rain. Providence is blessedly warmer than Williamstown ever was in March, although it is also much wetter. I spent Sunday in Boston, hunting down the plaque for the Great Mollasses Flood of the early 1900s and finding the small plastic marker thoroughly dissapointing. A proper plaque would have shown the hieght of the mollasses wave (40 feet!) or listed the names of those martyred (21 innocent victims, and uncounted numbers of livestock!). It's not even a part of the freedom trail; I plan to write a letter.
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I am writing this between a retruitment and t...
March 07, 2008 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I am writing this between a retruitment and training break at the IMPACT student conference at Northeastern University in Boston. I, alas, continue to have a fever/cough/cold/gravel voice, but I think that gave me a devil-may-care edge in my last workshop on Asset-Based Community Development. My co-presenter and bff Carly Bruder was equally drained through the two hour presentation. During a small group section of the workshop, she leaned over and said, "let's just cut out the rest." And we did, but no one seemed to notice- it was as if we, practicing Asset-Based workshop facilitation, gave up control of the workshop to that participants, and they stepped up the the plate with great panache. I was astounded. Well, if I had any energy left, I would be astounded; I just facilitated the best training I've ever done, and I wasn't even conscious for it.
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I was going to see Greg and his family this e...
March 02, 2008 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
 I was going to see Greg and his family this evening, taking care of a few stray birthdays with one dinner while they're all in Rhode Island to watch one of Greg's robot competition. However, Greg usually returns from these grueling competitions with circles under his eyes so big it's as if he scuffled with some of the rougher high school teams. His speech is often reduced to a melodic, closed-mouth mumbling, and his fingertips and knuckles are scraped from the rough metal edges of the robots. So instead of carrying the conversation for both of us, we're going to eat macaroni and cheese at home in a stupor-induced silence. No one told me growing up would be so tiring.
Work is fine. I was talking to a friend from Williamstown recently, and I really miss the simple collaborations of the Northern Berkshires. Even the occasional politics of the place seem quaint from here. I'm excited and eager to start graduate school in the fall.
And, of course, the inevitable graduate school update:
The University of Minnesota MPP program: accepted with full tuition and a graduate assistantship
Brandeis MPP program: accepted with a couple scholarships and they're matching of my education award
Waiting on: UMass Amherst, PSU
At this point, my graduate choice has nothing to do with you. I promise. I'm not accounting for your existence in my decision making. Money is the only thing that counts. However, if you give it to me, I may consider adding you into my accounting.
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