The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

I apologize for the delay in my reflection, but my road-runner status is not quite ready to be put to rest. Last weekend proved to be a typical weekend for me. As you all know, I had to leave our Friday session a little early to meet my brother in NY. We were able to attend a very important event on ending mass incarceration at the historic Riverside Church; the same church where Dr. King delivered his now famous 1967 speech, A Time To Break Silence (one year to the day of his death). Cornel West, Angela Davis, Pam Africa, and Michelle Alexander were present and spoke of how the issue of mass incarceration is the greatest civil and human rights issue of our generation. It was very inspiring to see that beautiful church filled with thousands of people who also believed in addressing this injust system.

After the event my younger brother, and I got on an 11pm bus to Philly. We were in line waiting on the bus discussing some of his upcoming projects and papers at school, when a gentleman behind us, overhearing our conversation interjected his thoughts on quantum physics and the economic trajectory of Africa as an emerging global market. Of course this got my little engine revving, and we talked the whole two hours to Philadelphia.

What I found most significant about the conversation was, this young white intellectual male's interest in speaking honestly and candid about social issues such as race, economics, and education, it was truly the first time I have ever had a conversation with a white person minus guilt and defensiveness. As a mathematician, he said quite matter of fact, that the majority culture and its academic institutions look at statistics to explain various inequalities; although one must be cautious that data is analyzed not as causation but collating.

"For instance, the question, are black people dumber than whites? Some would look to data in education, economics, and poverty to answer yes, because of the huge disparities." Even though, he acknowledged, that there were many other factors that caused these disparities, the reality is, there's a linear perspective and approach taken when trying to understand these phenomenons.

I share this because, not only the article Pretince wrote about the winners and losers of philanthropy, but if in the field of philanthropy, strategic planning is being based off of managed knowledge and applied research to inform the decisions of where money and resources are being allocated then our presence in this field becomes even more necessary and valuable to present not only different ways of attacking these glaring inequalities, but most importantly to represent the blatant fallacy of these assumptions.

In that moment of conversation, I felt a shift. A clarity, affirming I am where I'm suppose to be. Everything, is aligned to ensure that I am apart of the epoch's shift towards humanity, and literally the only thing existing as an obstacle is me. I am determined to push myself beyond any limits I have every imagined. There are no boundaries in this monumental shift of society; innovation, creativity, and foundational truths become the tools for navigating not just this year, but the second decade of this 21st century.

I've digressed slightly, but these reflections serve as a wonderful tool for processing information, and I'm very thankful for them.

Of course, we made it to Philadelphia around 1am. Got to my mentor's home and crashed for a few hours, only to wake up at 7am for a jam packed itinerary. In the short hours of the day, I had to get my hair done, go to a lecture, get a uhual, retrieve my things from storage, and drive five hours back to Northampton. Thankfully it all got done and then some, arriving back in Western Mass a little after midnight. Oh but if the journey ended there, it would have been enough, but I had to get up early and take a 7am bus to Boston to retrieve my car from the Riverside metro station and then drive back to Northampton to pick up my brother and then drive him to New York to catch his flight. Of course I could have put him on a bus, but that commute was way to arduous and my parents were extremely anxious to ensure Jomo did not miss his flight back to school.

All of that being said, I was successful in my weekend's activities, and was at my desk bright and early Monday morning to begin an epic week of travel back and forth to Boston. It is alot and a bit jarring but completely worth it. At Tuesday's breakfast I had an enlightening conversation with Pretince about my interest in addressing criminal justice and race in philanthropy. He was very honest in stating that this is a very challenging goal. There are very few if any that are addressing this issue nationally, let alone state and locally. Amber, in our conversations later, affirmed this, sharing, "if a funding collaborative is something you seek to create, then it must be solid." She also committed herself to be a support for me through this process, and I am truly excited by these prospects.

I am diligently still working on my workplan, and excited to have a road map for navigating this year, and staying focused and intentional. I'm going to end here, but can't wait to see you all Friday, and if anyone is interested after Friday's session, I'm going to a yin yoga class in Cambridge, you are completely welcomed to come. Here is a link to yin yoga if you are interested (http://www.yinyoga.com/)!! Talk to you soon!

Peace and love!

She is No Longer A Vagrant

And this is as early as 3:30pm this afternoon.  To say that I am relieved and overjoyed is an extreme overstatement (vision is a little blurry from the tears in my eyes).

 This was too hard, and there were more moments than I want to acknowledge where I wanted to give up, but at those points reality sunk in and I realized there were no other options; this is my only option.  Either press forward or go home, and home is to mommy and daddy and I have never gone home.

If this moment is indicative of what this year long experience is going to be like, then I say bring it on!  This could not break me, and thank God for yoga, for I have become even more flexible, that I can withstand what ever it is the universe has to offer.

 And I will assert that everyone in my co-hort possesses this same spirit.  Not wanting to predict the future but I can already feel the power and motivation in each one of you to be change agents (of course we are growing into what that means as it relates to philanthropy), but I know that spirit exist in each and everyone of us, or else we would not be here today.  I am thankful for this hard experience of finding a permanent space to rest me head, and even more grateful for the fact that it is everything I envisioned. 

 I am living in Northampton with a plethora of yoga studios at my disposal, a fabulous coffee shop just down the street (the best chia I’ve had), a short walk to a vintage store, and a cute Indian restaurant around the corner.  I can’t wait to have you all come and visit!

 To say this week has been a doozie is an understatement.  Last week some of you might have known I lost one of my eye contacts, and in the chaos of packing and moving up here misplaced my glasses, and forgot to pick up the replacement contacts I ordered early in the summer (it’s not entirely because I am forgetful, it was more because I was taking a leisurely stroll through poverty).  So I was literally one-eyed Pirate Jane!  I had never functioned like that before; I had always had a back up, never having to exist more than a few hours with my vision impaired.  It was hard, and I felt so uncomfortable.

I don’t identify myself as impaired or disabled but not being able to see has made me far more appreciative of my vision, and it has also challenged me to find balance outside of my comfort zone. 

I was able to get by with little complaint until one evening driving at night, it became too much.  The lights were all blurry and I could not make out anything that was not right in front of my face.  It made me fearful and I did not feel safe on the rode by myself (so thankful to Kendra for being my eyes on Thursday night because we were literally driving by faith and one-eyed sight!)

Thank God work has been a fabulous relief to all of my personal drama.  I am settling in nicely to my data collection and am working on an email to introduce myself and the new survey I am leading to the MDF steering committee.  I submitted a first draft today and got valuable feedback on crafting it with more formal language that is representative of the audience.  To be honest I thought the tone was respectful to their status, but I guess I’m not cognizant of the individuals on the MDF steering committee, and thankful for the support offered to provide greater context about whom I’m addressing.

I have to say, that I love this staff; they are so supportive and so sweet.  Although most of my day is in a certain type of isolation, everyone is attentive to my development all while doing some really amazing national work around the issues of human rights, peace, and democracy.

I know I’m not suppose to say or think this, but I believe in laws of attraction and that thought, followed by words, materializes action – I want to work at Proteus at the end of this fellowship and I will bust my a** to show them that I am deserving.

 I need outlets for releasing stress so I bought a ticket to a show at Paradise Theatre in Boston Wednesday night for September 19; the performer is Michael Kiwanuka, he’s from London and is a Bob Dylan / Otis Redding folk soul singer; he sounds fabulous.  Here are links to his website and to Paradise Theatre for info on tickets. Talk to you soon

 

Peace and love,

JKW

 

http://www.thedise.com/

http://michaelkiwanuka.com/

 

Talk to you soon!

 

Peace and love,

JKW