Forcing an Entry
I'm behind, and boy do I know it.
Things have been hopping around here. I got my intern in the tourism office, and we're scrambling to get her job description and goals written. It's not easy, because it involves deciding which tasks, out of millions, to focus on. The tourism possibilities are exploding all over the place and wrastlin' them to the ground so they can be acted upon is a challenge. This is a part-time job. Turning into an obsession.
And my intern's attitude is pretty negative. We share an office, and after a couple of days I'm entertaining the idea of counting all of the times that she sighs. She's already made statements like "If they think I'm covering that whole territory they're crazy. I'm not doing it." as if there was a lot of choice. How can a person be so put-upon after a week of work? I mean, this is a fun job, with lots of flexibility, and I'm working with her to create a job description that plays to her strengths and interests. WTF? Still, I've learned two things about myself in this short period: 1. I am a positive person, at least when it comes to my work tasks. I will try anything, and look for solutions to problems. Also, 2. I am no longer uncomfortable with calling people out for being negative. If their attitude sucks, I will point it out (and try to find a solution). I've already asked my intern "Do you regret taking this position? I am trying to work with you but I'm not sure what else I can do." She was much more positive after that.
Last night I attended a forum on youth leadership and development moderated by the other intern in the office. (She works under the direct supervision of the economic development director.) I loathed giving up an evening of quilting to go, but Miss Intern is very young and this was her first attempt at something like this and I would have felt like a bad parent if I had not gone. I'm glad I went! About 12 people discussed what we could do to beef-up existing job-sharing programs, get young people involved on boards and councils, and find stuff for them to do.
Hometown has lots of sports programs (and devotes 2-pages of each Daily News to youth sports--a ridiculously huge amount), and 4-H, Scouts, and all the other usual suspects are out there. But not all kids are joiners. If you are the parent of a child who is NOT involved in sports or organized groups, there is no place to see those kids do their thing, and no recognition.
My idea of a "youth co-op" got some attention, and it's all I can think about since. What if the city bought a downtown building (there are several for sale, and they're amazingly cheap) and gave it to the kids for a youth co-op? Time would become the currency of the co-op, and teenagers could finally have a teen center that went far beyond the lame efforts usually put forth by their elders. They could set themselves up as a non-profit and gain loads of experience in fundraising, managing money, teamwork, etc. while putting on entertainment and educational events for youth. There could be art shows, talent shows, dances, poetry readings (there was one of these not long ago and it was a huge success), movie screenings, etc. There could also be classes, taught by either kids or adults, on a wide range of topics of their choice. I think it's a hell of an idea.
Other than that, let's see. Every night I have to close one of my bedroom curtains to block out the neighbors' porch lights. Between two houses across the street, there are FIVE very bright porch lights. I like the convenience of town life, but I miss the darkness of the true country. What are they so damn afraid of, anyway? Any light that is shining in MY eyes is not keeping burglers away. It reminds me of when I lived in the woods and rarely, rarely used a flashlight. Did you know it's usually much easier to walk through the woods using the light that does exist in the night sky? You could always tell when a country rookie was around--out came the flashlights, even on clear, full-moon eves.
I made a new year's resolution to finish one quilt per month. I got January's in the bag (photo TK), and am well on my way to finishing February's.
I need to lose weight, but I can't make that a resolution. It's too cliche, and too frustrating when it fails within two weeks.
We're still horribly broke at the shop, but warmer weather brings all kinds of green. It's really stressful, you know, to not have the money to pay the bills when the bills come in. I can keep it in check most of the time, but a tiny negative event can bring it all roaring to the fore. That's rare, though. Kevin donated a "Custom Engraving" to a local sick kid's fundraiser this past weekend. It brought $200!!! He has plenty of scrap pieces of granite to carve stuff on (MLK Jr. and John Lennon, for example), and if it draws that kind of interest and money, it would make sense to donate more carvings to the plethora of fundraisers in this town.
Kids are good: Mark is still obsessed with farm animals, and wants to watch "Charlotte's Web" every day. Stevie is half-way through Harry Potter Year 5.
Enough!
Things have been hopping around here. I got my intern in the tourism office, and we're scrambling to get her job description and goals written. It's not easy, because it involves deciding which tasks, out of millions, to focus on. The tourism possibilities are exploding all over the place and wrastlin' them to the ground so they can be acted upon is a challenge. This is a part-time job. Turning into an obsession.
And my intern's attitude is pretty negative. We share an office, and after a couple of days I'm entertaining the idea of counting all of the times that she sighs. She's already made statements like "If they think I'm covering that whole territory they're crazy. I'm not doing it." as if there was a lot of choice. How can a person be so put-upon after a week of work? I mean, this is a fun job, with lots of flexibility, and I'm working with her to create a job description that plays to her strengths and interests. WTF? Still, I've learned two things about myself in this short period: 1. I am a positive person, at least when it comes to my work tasks. I will try anything, and look for solutions to problems. Also, 2. I am no longer uncomfortable with calling people out for being negative. If their attitude sucks, I will point it out (and try to find a solution). I've already asked my intern "Do you regret taking this position? I am trying to work with you but I'm not sure what else I can do." She was much more positive after that.
Last night I attended a forum on youth leadership and development moderated by the other intern in the office. (She works under the direct supervision of the economic development director.) I loathed giving up an evening of quilting to go, but Miss Intern is very young and this was her first attempt at something like this and I would have felt like a bad parent if I had not gone. I'm glad I went! About 12 people discussed what we could do to beef-up existing job-sharing programs, get young people involved on boards and councils, and find stuff for them to do.
Hometown has lots of sports programs (and devotes 2-pages of each Daily News to youth sports--a ridiculously huge amount), and 4-H, Scouts, and all the other usual suspects are out there. But not all kids are joiners. If you are the parent of a child who is NOT involved in sports or organized groups, there is no place to see those kids do their thing, and no recognition.
My idea of a "youth co-op" got some attention, and it's all I can think about since. What if the city bought a downtown building (there are several for sale, and they're amazingly cheap) and gave it to the kids for a youth co-op? Time would become the currency of the co-op, and teenagers could finally have a teen center that went far beyond the lame efforts usually put forth by their elders. They could set themselves up as a non-profit and gain loads of experience in fundraising, managing money, teamwork, etc. while putting on entertainment and educational events for youth. There could be art shows, talent shows, dances, poetry readings (there was one of these not long ago and it was a huge success), movie screenings, etc. There could also be classes, taught by either kids or adults, on a wide range of topics of their choice. I think it's a hell of an idea.
Other than that, let's see. Every night I have to close one of my bedroom curtains to block out the neighbors' porch lights. Between two houses across the street, there are FIVE very bright porch lights. I like the convenience of town life, but I miss the darkness of the true country. What are they so damn afraid of, anyway? Any light that is shining in MY eyes is not keeping burglers away. It reminds me of when I lived in the woods and rarely, rarely used a flashlight. Did you know it's usually much easier to walk through the woods using the light that does exist in the night sky? You could always tell when a country rookie was around--out came the flashlights, even on clear, full-moon eves.
I made a new year's resolution to finish one quilt per month. I got January's in the bag (photo TK), and am well on my way to finishing February's.
I need to lose weight, but I can't make that a resolution. It's too cliche, and too frustrating when it fails within two weeks.
We're still horribly broke at the shop, but warmer weather brings all kinds of green. It's really stressful, you know, to not have the money to pay the bills when the bills come in. I can keep it in check most of the time, but a tiny negative event can bring it all roaring to the fore. That's rare, though. Kevin donated a "Custom Engraving" to a local sick kid's fundraiser this past weekend. It brought $200!!! He has plenty of scrap pieces of granite to carve stuff on (MLK Jr. and John Lennon, for example), and if it draws that kind of interest and money, it would make sense to donate more carvings to the plethora of fundraisers in this town.
Kids are good: Mark is still obsessed with farm animals, and wants to watch "Charlotte's Web" every day. Stevie is half-way through Harry Potter Year 5.
Enough!
posted by lulu | 6:55 AM
1 Comments:
Your intern has probably been around negativity and thinks that's how grown-ups act at work, but in your energy-sphere she'll learn otherwise.
The youth coop sounds great.
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