What is Quality

I work in the world of youthwork and out-of-school time. I run two youth groups and am affiliated the with city of Saint Paul. I also have several friends working for nonprofits, working for AmeriCorp, and working for school districts trying to better the world through quality youthwork practice.

Lately I've been so frustrated by organizations held up by the efforts of volunteers and interns. I wonder how an organization can ever grow, adapt and genuinely improve their work when their main staff source turns over every 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. I know so many adults who think they know the answer to the worlds problems, I find myself thinking that very thought. But in practice, in my practice, I find myself and other repeating fundamental mistakes over and over again. And mostly because of this turn over.

There is a study that has proven a bad program does more harm than good for a young person. We set up systems of free labor and label them as ways of building or workforce and giving experience. But that experience requires, in youthwork, building relationships with real humans, real organizations, real youth. I'm afraid that our short term stints, in terms or volunteer and internship or just our overall high turn over, is doing so much harm.

It not only makes it possible for bad organizations to continue to run, but it never allows organizations to really grow and adapt to a community of needs.

As problematic as Jane Addams may be, I love the way she grounded herself in one community and stayed there. I think that's what this world needs more of to make quality youthwork a reality.

New Content

So my blog has not been used for quite awhile. Since returning to the U.S. there is likely no one even checking in on it.

But today I thought up a new purpose for this blog, a new subject to sort through. The state of the world.

I often have very depressing thoughts about how the world, specifically the U.S. or Twin Cities, function and have to outlet for my frustration. As a way to lessen my mental load I intend on sorting through my frustrations here.

I cannot promise accurate statistics, reliable sources, or even well thought out arguments, only my feelings.

So here goes nothing!

Time Zones

Today was La Tomitina...we spent 2 hours getting to the small town it´s held in (which was probably only a 20 minute drive away) and missed it by 15 minutes... all because we forgot to push our clocks forward one hour.

We still walked around the town, saw the sights, bought a coke to support the locals, but were needless to say disappointed we missed out. However, we did hear a lot of girls saying how much they hated it. In fact one said she would have preferred getting raped up the butt, so maybe it was fate we didn´t make it in time. On the train home the man next to us puked in a bag. But we met a really nice Canadian man...

After today I think I´m a little more ready to come home.

Hello Portugal!!!!

So I have safely arrived to Portugal and having an absolute BLAST!!! I am staying in the upper level of a house and sleeping on the top bunk with the three girls I'm traveling with. Let me just say that I have been hot and sweaty since the moment I have arrived, I have yet to see a cloud, and am enjoying every second of it...even without AC!

There have honestly been nothing but good times since the moment I arrived. I had a position waiting for me when I can at Heather's bar as a flyer. Which is such a great time. Basically I walk around town or chill at a corner, always surrounded by other flyers because each and every bar has about 4 of them on a night. I'm basically a salesperson trying to get people on the street to come to my bar, Whytes! At Whytes we have the 9 deadly sins, which are nine different shots. If you beat the record they are free, but either way you get a tshirt. Needless to say my bars a good time. I drink for free, in fact I'm expected to be drinking throughout the night, and had a few inductions shots last night!

After work last night a group of 20 flyers headed to the beach and had a bon fire!!! We all went swimming in the ocean in our bras and underwear and then just dried off next the the fire. We didn't end up getting home until 530am!!! Which I'm coming to find is very common. Typical daily schedule of a flyer:

12pm wake up, lay around until 1pm when the rest of your house mates are up and ready go get something to eat. 2pm head to the beach, lay out and swim in the ocean until 5 or 6pm. Shower, chill, internet. 7pm dinner, 8pm work until 230-4ish depending if you stay after hours and drink with the staff! It's a pretty excellent schedule, completely devoid of responsibility! I'm loving it right now!!!

For those of you who may be wondering, I will be returning to Minneapolis on August 28th. I will be back in Appleton over Labor Day weekend and then back to Minneapolis on Tuesday for class!

My Apologies!!!!

It has been far too long!! Very VERY sorry! Living on a mountain I have learned a few things, you are extremely isolated from mankind (I have cabin fever like no other,) weather is extreme, I am either surrounded by cloud which is cold and depressing, or the piercing hot sun feels as though it is a few feet away, and finally the internet is not dependable :( Because of this I had not had internet for 5 days.

I literally JUST booked my flight to Portugal and am Freaking OUT with EXCITEMENT!!! I have four days of work left, tomorrow being Earth Day and a 4 hour hike up the mountain which will be GREAT!!! Than 3 of the easier camp days!! The end is Definitely in sight!!!

As of right now I am a tad concerned about money and what sort of situation I am going to be in upon returning to the States, but I told myself early on that money could not be a worry of mine. Who knows the next time I'll be travelling around Europe!! But I will definitely be seeking out work in Portugal, I'll be in a city that is run by Brits and Aussies so fortunately everything is done under the table!!! While my parents are a bit freaked by this, I'm pumped for the experience!!! Employment sounds very fluid in Lagos!!

While I'm pumped for Lagos and Valencia, I'm really looking forward to returning to all my great friends and fam waiting for me!! I am going to be spending all of Labor Day weekend in Appleton, which I have not frequented since Christmas!!! I am VERY excited! And then I will be driving, oh yes, that's right, driving back to Minneapolis!! Goodbye Megabus!!! Hello transportation options!!!

That's all for now!!

The Stars Have Aligned!

By some act of cosmo power I am no longer working the last two weeks of August!! While I was told this would only happen if I straight up terminated my contract, which I did not do, it happened anyways!!! So now I'm planning on staying in Lagos Portugal for 10 days with some girls from camp. Two of them have been there before and have many connections for lodging and work!!! Than late August we will be going to Valencia Spain to celebrate La Tomatina, which is a tradition where everyone dresses in white, means in the center of the town, garbage trucks of tomatoes arrive, and everyone throws them at each other for hours...because why not?!

I also found out my new site assignment. I will be living in the Pyrnees for the next two weeks and I was also asked to do convoyage, which means I will be accompanying campers to camp from Paris!! So I was able to get two weeks to travel, I get to go back to Paris for a few nights, and then I get to live in the Pyrnees in the south of France for two weeks! Hella awesome!

Pedigocial Concerns

Today I was covering an ESL class for a co-counselor who had the day off. It was American History Day, I was given instructions to break the class into pairs and give each pair a different historical event to research and then teach the class about. I did that and then decided to share a historical event myself, so I showed my class the 'I Have a Dream' speech, and prefaced it by saying MLK was pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement and that he lead many of the demonstrations that led to equal rights.

While we were watching the speech I became extremely upset with myself and AmVil in general. I have spent the past year and a half studying social justice and working with kids that are effectly negatively daily due to racial injustice, and the only thing I had to say about it was the MLK created racial equality. Beyond that, each day at AmVil is themed, each theme perpetuates many of the stereotypes minorities have battled years if not decades to eliminate. The kids I work with are 15-18 years old and we feed them the same ignorant bullshit people learn from cowboy and indians & mobster movies.

While I recognize the language difference, and could argue a disadvantage when attempting to discuss current racial hardship in American, I still think it is worth the effort and possibility of difficult communication. I realized today, that while it may be within AmVils Pedigogy to teach various aspects of American culture through the use of inaccurate stereotypes, my personal pedigogy disagrees. Since being at camp I have not been challenged, often due to lack of diversity, to continue to think about the different social structures that are set up in my favor and put those of lower economic status or darker skin through greater obstacles. I miss working for PL, having conversations with young people about the difficulities they face and what they are willing to do to change them. And more than ever, I'm excited for HECUA in the fall. It's exactly what I need!