Jill Lake CRCRTH 692 22 Dec

Jill Lake CRCRTH 692 22 Dec. 2015

Self-Assessment at the end of a project Describe for each of the 10 + 10 goals a) something that reflects what you have achieved well related to this goal, and b) something you have struggled with/ need more help on/ want to work further on. (Even though you may have many examples for some items, one is enough.)

I. "MY PRODUCT SHOWS THAT..."

A. I can convey who I want to influence/affect concerning what (Subject, Audience, Purpose).

+ My project is clear about its subject – I gathered a collection of resources that will help teachers teach a variety of subjects in the School Forest on Forest Fridays.

 I need to work further on making sure that my writing connects to my audience. I find it difficult to frame information in a way to appeal to different groups of people (teachers, administrators, school board members, parents) who have different frames of reference and various amounts of background information about the School Forest, outdoor education, and place-based education.

B. I know what others have done before, either in the form of writing or action, that informs and connects with my project, and I know what others are doing now.

+ I know what others across the country and in the U.K. are doing with regard to outdoor and place-based education. I also know of other websites about outdoor education, how nature benefits children’s development, and place-based education.

 don’t know much about the kind of programming that was offered in the School Forest more than seven years ago. I want to connect with more alumni, such as Starre Vartan and two other women to learn how the School Forest was used when they were students. One woman now runs a park in upstate New York. The other leads environmental education in a New York City school. It could be useful to cultivate them as allies for the work happening now concerning the School Forest.

C. I have teased out my vision, so as to expand my view of issues associated with the project, expose possible new directions, clarify direction/scope within the larger set of issues, and decide the most important direction.

+ Yes. I put my involvement in the issues about creating a forest stewardship plan and conserving the School Forest land on hold. I chose this semester to work on an endeavor that may help to get the School Forest used more often on Forest Fridays. I chose to address the goal of getting children out in nature during the school day. My chief focus was to help teachers find resources easily to help them lead lots of different kinds of interesting activities within the School Forest on Forest Fridays.

 My vision for the website is ambitious, with lots of categories. It was difficult for me to pare down all that I learned this semester to prepare my paper. There is a lot I learned that I didn’t include in the paper, but will include in the website. I have to keep going back to the audience to make sure I align the content to the audience. And again, because some members of the audience have different backgrounds and frames of reference, I find this challenging. It may require talking with many different people who have different roles and asking them “what do you need?”

D. I have identified the premises and propositions that my project depends on, and can state counter-propositions. I have taken stock of the thinking and research I need to do to counter those counter-propositions or to revise my own propositions.

+ Yes. I’ve read a great deal of research on how time in nature benefits children’s health, ability to focus, creativity, resilience, and even moral values. So, I can state clearly that Forest Fridays are a good idea, and that outdoor education absolutely complements the work being done in classrooms. Further, I can state that providing resources to teachers to help them teach effectively in the School Forest makes sense and provides a benefit. It’s a useful endeavor.

 I was not able to write about all the research I found that shows nature’s benefits to children. But, I hope to be able to link to this information on the future website. This is important information provide and share to counter any arguments some people might make about forest excursions being a waste of time.

E. I have clear objectives with respect to product, both written and practice, and process, including personal development as a reflective practitioner. I have arranged my work in a sequence (with realistic deadlines) to realize these objectives.

+ I had a clear vision of what I wanted to learn about and what I wanted to convey through my paper. I did arrange my work in a sequence, and worked methodically to complete my paper.

 I learned that it is useful and helpful for me to begin the writing process earlier. I really enjoyed the research process, and information led me to more information. It will be important for my synthesis project to start writing earlier.

F. I have gained direct information, models, and experience not readily available from other sources.

+ I learned a great deal that I could not have learned otherwise by going on a Forest Friday outing with students and teachers, and also by interviewing storyteller Jonathan Kruk.

 I wanted to interview Craig Watters with Friends of the American Revolution, and Pete Salmonsohn, who is an environmental educator. I did not interview them. I still want to do this, as what I learn will inform the website. Talking with Pete will be really helpful in identifying for teachers what they can teach at which specific locations within the School Forest. He has taught in the School Forest for years. Craig Watters knows all about the effort to preserve and restore the fortifications that were part of Fortress West Point. So, I will want to talk with him, as well.

G. I have clarified the overall progression or argument underlying my research and the written reports.

+ I think so. I’ve shown that outdoor education benefits children. I’ve explained that the new administration of the school supports teaching in the School Forest more often, and has launched the Forest Fridays program. I think I’ve made it clear that the Garrison School’s teachers are not all trained in how to teach outdoors. At present, the school does not have an online resource that gathers information relating to instruction in the School Forest together in one place. And, I think I’ve shown that the information I’ve found will be useful to teachers and students. So, I think I’ve shown that I have identified a need, and that I am creating a solution for that need.

 I’m not really satisfied with the “How Nature Benefits Children” part of my paper. I’m not sure if that section makes a strong enough argument. I wanted to explain more about various researchers findings about how time in nature improves attention, helps with healthy body weight, helps with motor ability, etc. But, I couldn’t figure out how to discuss the research in the confines of the word count of the assignment.

H. My writing and other products Grab the attention of the readers/audience, Orient them, move them along in Steps, so they appreciate the Position I've led them to.

+ I think that by starting the paper with my experience on a Forest Friday, I draw the reader in. Then, I later reference the importance of fairy houses. So, I do think that I was able to move the reader along as I presented additional information.

 I wonder if the section about the rationale for my engagement is overly long, and if it really matters to my audience.

I. I have facilitated new avenues of classroom, workplace, and public participation.

+ I think I grew as a critic or reviewer of my peers’ work this semester. I tried to offer well-thought-out and useful feedback regarding my peers’ writing. I found it really useful to interview Jonathan Kruk.

 I reached out to both Craig Watters and Pete Salmonsohn to ask if I could interview them. Both of them were very enthusiastic and said yes. But, I did not schedule the interviews. So, I want to follow up on that. Both people are important allies, and they want to help with this project.

J. To feed into my future learning and other work, I have taken stock of what has been working well and what needs changing.

+ What’s been working well is using the UMass Boston Library, The New School Library, and my local library. I also found that I’m able to access the library at Bank Street Teacher’s College through my affiliation with The New School. This is great, as they have resources that I was not able to find in other places. Using diigo to save and tag articles I’ve found is also working very well for me. Keeping was is now a series of three notebooks throughout this class has also been very useful for freewriting and notes and drawings.

Δ What I need to work on is using an integrated system for citations for next semester. I was put off by Endnote. While Endnote basis is free, I wasn’t sure it would provide what I needed. Endnote for students costs $113.95. At the time, at the beginning of the semester, I was not sure that would be a useful investment. I did get the Endnote app for iPad, but didn’t use it. So, I need to explore this area. Perhaps there is another product that would be better for me. Or, perhaps Endnote is the right product. Also, as I wrote earlier, I need to start my writing process earlier.

II. DEVELOPING AS A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER, INCLUDING TAKING INITIATIVE IN AND THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS

1. I have integrated knowledge and perspectives from CCT and other courses into my own inquiry and engagement in social and/or educational change.

+ I integrated things I learned in my Human Development class into the work I did in 692 this semester. I also integrated things learned in Critical Thinking, Philosophical Thinking, and Dialogue Processes.

Δ I fell out of the Reflective Practice that I created in the spring of 2015.

2. I have also integrated into my own inquiry and engagement the processes, experiences, and struggles of previous courses.

+ Yes. I’ve reflected on what went well for me and what I struggled with in the past. For instance, I realized that I find APA style not so intuitive, and that I had difficulty with it in a past course. So, I felt that it would work better for me to use MLA style for my 692 paper. Also, although URLs do not have to be cited in MLA, they can be. This is useful for me, as I will be using information from my paper to build a website. Retaining the URLs is a smart effort that saves time for me later.

Δ At first, in 692, I was following to some extent what I had learned to do in the Action Research class. So, I had to learn to set that process aside and engage in what I was being taught to do in the 692 course. Also, as I am working on a real life project with things that occur through the actions and decisions of others, I needed to stay the course of my research and not be buffeted by what was occurring outside, in the community.

3. I have developed efficient ways to organize my time, research materials, computer access, bibliographies, etc.

+ Even though I didn’t use endnote, I had an efficient system of housing my bibliography in Google Drive, and adding to it when I found a new source of information. I used a succession of three paper notebooks for the class, which was useful. I have one red two-pocket folder for paper resources, which I carry around. My computer file organization is working fine for me. I saved digital resources using diigo. I found tagging them by subject to be very useful. I was also very dedicated and organized with my time. As I work on the computer in my office, my iPad, and my home computer, I email drafts to myself and also catalog them in Google Drive. I also save documents on my office and home computer.

Δ I think I will want to use Endnote or another attribution software next semester. I will want to re-name my Google Drive folders in the future, as they are named for each class. It will be useful to group resources by topic.

4. I have experimented with new tools and experiences, even if not every one became part of my toolkit as a learner, teacher/facilitator of others, and reflective practitioner.

+ I experimented with ways of writing and revising that were new to me. I experimented with diigo.

Δ I did not experiment much at all with Endnote. I will want to do this. Or, I’ll want to find a different attribution software to use.

5. I have paid attention to the emotional dimensions of undertaking my own project but have found ways to clear away distractions from other sources (present & past) and not get blocked, turning apparent obstacles into opportunities to move into unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory.

+ I haven’t talked about this much. There has been a re-organization at The New School, and I am now engaged in a job with far fewer responsibilities. I decided to stop fighting things at work and to just accept the new situation. What I found is that I can do my job quickly and easily, leaving a lot of time to actually work on my school work. I do want to find another job. But, when I realized the amount of work I had to do for my two classes – and when I developed a kidney stone and pneumonia – I stopped engaging in my job search. So, I did my much smaller job at The New School, and I also worked on my school work during my work day. I cleared my head of anger about past things at the job, and decided to put my energy into my school work. It was helpful to work in this way, because it helped with my home life. It helped me to be present with my family when I was with them. I worked this semester to get into better physical shape. I had begun swimming in July. Most weeks, when I was well, I swam five mornings a week before work. The swimming process helps me to move through problems with research, writing, bringing together ideas. I find that it’s a good complement to my engagement in the 692 course.

Δ It’s important for me to keep to a schedule for my school work, and to work on the train during my commute. If I drag my feet on something or get absorbed in a distraction, the work moves into the weekend, which is not good, as it may negatively affect my family life. So, I will need to continue to be self-motivated and return to the reflective practice that I developed in spring 2015.

6. I have developed peer and other horizontal relationships. I have sought support and advice from peers, and have given support and advice to them when asked for.

+ I’ve developed good peer relationships with Sara Kaplan, Myra McWethy, and Kaylea Champion. I believe I’ve given good advice regarding other students’ work. It may have been difficult for some of them to hear or take in. I’ve also received support from the Garrison School’s principal, superintendent, and members of the Environmental Education Committee.

Δ I need to ask for the kind of feedback I want. I think that when we sent our draft papers out, I should have listed at the top the kind of feedback I hoped to receive. I received useful feedback from one peer. From two others, the feedback was too positive, and did not really delve into the problems of my paper. So, I should have asked for what I needed.

7. I have taken the lead, not dragged my feet, in dialogue with my advisor and other readers. I didn't wait for them to tell me how to solve an expository problem, what must be read and covered in a literature review, or what was meant by some comment I didn't understand. I didn't put off giving my writing to my advisor and other readers or avoid talking to them because I thought that they didn't see things the same way as I do.

+ I identified many of the problems with my work myself. I knew that the writing was a process, and that it would get better with time and reflection. I did not avoid submitting work. I did reflect on comments provided, and I understood them better with time and reflection. Sometimes comments seemed to be in the form of a koan that I would figure out over several days of swimming.

Δ In terms of an expository problem, I was not able to solve how to get my paper to 4,500 words. That is a skill that I still need to work on. I need to learn how to revise to meet a certain length requirement – and still convey the information I hope to share.

8. I have revised seriously, which involved responding to the comments of others. I came to see this not as bowing down to the views of others, but taking them in and working them into my own reflective inquiry until I could convey more powerfully to others what I'm about (which may have changed as a result of the reflective inquiry).

+ Yes. I’ve changed and simplified content with the audience in mind, after learning that what I presented in my draft was confusing. So, that was great feedback. I also reflected for quite a while on the order of one section of my paper, and chose to change it because the change made more sense. I have engaged in an enormous amount of reflective inquiry and resulting discovery throughout the writing process for the paper.

Δ It is unclear whether I’ve achieved my goal in conveying more powerfully to others what I’m about. I need to share the paper with members of my community to find out if I really did speak to the audience.

9. I have inquired and negotiated about formal standards, but gone on to develop and internalize my own criteria for doing work—criteria other than jumping through hoops set by the professor so I get a good grade.

+ I definitely have an internal compass that provides direction for doing good work. Through many revisions of my paper, I identified holes and places that needed to be worked on. The work is for me, and for a project that I’ll create for my children’s school. So, I have a pretty high standard, because I know that it will be judged by an external audience.

Δ While I know that the maximum word count for the paper assignment was 4,500 words, I had a lot of difficulty cutting my paper and getting it to align with that requirement. So, I did revise, edit, and cut it down, but the final product is longer than the requirement. So, this is an area in which I need to grow and work on. I need to learn how to better shorten my work and still convey what I want to convey.

10. I have approached the course as a work-in-progress, which means that, instead of harboring criticisms to submit after the fact, I have found opportunities to affirm what is working well and to suggest directions for further development.

+ I have definitely approached the course as a work-in-progress. I am very grateful to have been able to engage in the writing in dialogue process. It has helped me to produce and submit work without fear of it not being “perfect” at that moment.

 I see what has worked well for me. And I’m clear that I need to learn more about revision. Perhaps I even need to learn to redefine my topic to make it smaller. I also know that I’m unclear about whether the final paper really speaks to all of the people in the intended audience. That is another important skill I need to master. I need to be sure that I’m able to speak to a specific audience through my writing. Jill Lake CRCRTH 692 Jill Lake CrCrTh 694 Exit Self Assessment

Exit Self-Assessment Describe for each of the 10 + 10 goals a) something that reflects what you have achieved well related to this goal, and b) something you have struggled with/ need more help on/ want to work further on. (Even though you may have many examples for some items, one is enough.)

I. "MY SYNTHESIS PRODUCT SHOWS THAT..."

A. I can convey who I want to influence/affect concerning what (Subject, Audience, Purpose).

+ Yes. I have shown through my product and through my paper that I can convey specific information for a specific purpose for specific audiences. The website I created is written for an audience of teachers, students, parents, and community members. I wrote my synthesis paper for the purpose of explaining the steps in the process of my capstone project for an audience of future CCT students.

∆ I want to work further on learning how to change the voice of my writing. I'm unclear whether I'm able now to consciously change the voice of my writing. I want to look back on my notes from our discussions in 694 about exercises one can engage in to practice writing in a different voice. I will revisit Peter Elbow's book to work on this, as well.

B. I know what others have done before, either in the form of writing or action, that informs and connects with my project, and I know what others are doing now.

+ I know what other schools across the country, in Canada, and in the U.K. are doing with school forests and with regard to environmental, outdoor and place-based education. I also know of other websites and books about environmental education, outdoor education, how nature benefits children’s development, and place-based education.

∆ I don’t know much about the kinds of grants that are available to school districts that would like to create programming or infrastructure for their school forests. I would like to learn what grant resources may be available to the Garrison School.

+ Yes. I had an initial focus on the Garrison School Forest, but when I teased out my vision, I realized that I should also present information on the website about the greater Hudson Highlands region. I saw that I needed to address the place where the Garrison School and its forest are situated. I also teased out a plan to use the product of my synthesis project as a portfolio piece to assist in my job search. I came up with a creative way for my project to assist my community and my own goals.

∆ My vision for my synthesis paper is ambitious, because I address nine different goals I hope to achieve through the website project and the paper. I am also moving in several different directions in terms of my next steps that will continue after the end of this course. Two directions are personal. They concern my career shift and job search, and my new public service role of serving on the school board. The other directions concern the future of the school forest and how it is utilized. I addressed my work to meet all nine of my goals in the paper, but I’m not sure my discussion of each goal was sufficient.

+ Yes. I’ve read a great deal of research on how time in nature benefits children’s health, the ability to focus, creativity, resilience, and even moral values. So, I can state clearly that Forest Fridays are a good idea, and that outdoor education absolutely complements the work being done in classrooms. Further, I can state that providing resources to teachers to help them teach effectively in the School Forest makes sense and provides benefits to teachers and children. It’s a useful endeavor. I can also identify the propositions that support preserving the School Forest in perpetuity and expanding it. I can state the counter-propositions to that proposal, as well.

∆ I would like to continue to explore interpersonal ways of being persuasive with my argument of propositions in one-to-one conversations and in public speaking. It's important to be able to express the same message in my public speaking, off-the-cuff, as I present in my writing.

+ I had a clear vision of what I wanted to produce in terms of my product and paper. I was also clear about the skills that I needed to acquire to accomplish my project. I created a production plan and carried out my work in a sequence. I created deadlines for myself, which I followed.

∆ I learned that I'm capable of creating and realizing a very ambitious project, but that I was not realistic about the amount of time I needed to complete all sections of the website. I set an initial website launch date of March 11. I actually launched the complete site on April 6. But, I did have a cushion of time built into my schedule for the semester. As I begin new projects in the future, I need to look carefully at the scope and scale of each project and better estimate the time that will be required. And then, I'll need to add a cushion of time to my estimate. This will be a continuing reflective practice.

F. I have gained direct information, models, and experience not readily available from other sources.

+ I learned a great deal that I could not have learned otherwise by going on a Forest Friday outing with students and teachers, by talking with teachers and administrators, and also by interviewing several people with specific expertise and knowledge.

∆

G. I have clarified the overall progression or argument underlying my research and the written reports.

∆ Part of my argument is that the website can play a role in the effort to preserve the School Forest in perpetuity. The link between the product and its potential effect is unclear. I am hopeful that this product helps the cause, but the result remains to be seen.

H. My writing and other products Grab the attention of the readers/audience, Orient them, move them along in Steps, so they appreciate the Position I've led them to.

+ In my paper, I think that my introduction captures the attention and imagination of the reader. I explain what I’m going to talk about, and what sections will follow. I presented nine goals and later in the paper discussed how I have met or am working to meet each goal. I do think that I was able to move the reader along as I presented additional information. I think that the “Taking Myself Seriously,” Next Steps,” and “Conclusion” sections help the reader appreciate the position I’ve led him to. The writing on the website grabs the attention of the reader, orients them, moves them along in steps, and helps them appreciate the position I’ve led them to.

∆ The “Process” section of the paper, which discusses some of the steps in my process may be overly long and overly detailed. It was difficult to determine how much detail to share and what to leave out of the paper.

I. I have facilitated new avenues of classroom, workplace, and public participation.

+ By creating the website, I've charted a new path in public participation for myself as a parent in relationship to the Garrison School. I am also now running for election to the school board. And, I've applied to be part of the Good Work Institute: Hudson Valley. So, I am definitely moving into new areas of public participation.

∆ I need to be really careful about my communication. I wrote a follow-up email message to the teachers, superintendent, and six parents who had participated in a community forum that I took part in on Monday, May 9. One of the teachers wrote to me and said she was concerned because she felt I singled her out unfairly in my email message. She is a 26-year veteran teacher. I have apologized. And, I expressed my desire, again, to working collaboratively together to develop solutions to challenges the school faces. I need to keep learning about how to engage and contribute thoughtfully, without being presumptuous and without offending others. It's a continuing practice.

J. To feed into my future learning and other work, I have taken stock of what has been working well and what needs changing.

+ I have taken stock of my process during the synthesis project. I see that the daily writing was central to the project. It is how I planned the project, engaged in the KAQF process to figure out what I was missing and how I could get that information, and how I planned to synthesize and present the information I collected. I also used my journal to figure out my own schedule of deadlines, and to track my progress on the project.

Δ What needs changing is that I need to continue to work on understanding my research and writing process well enough to accurately estimate the amount of time a project will take. My synthesis product was very ambitious. My initial deadline of March 11 was not reasonable. I was working on the project daily, but could not complete the work by that date. But, I was able to complete it by April 6. So, in my professional life – while engaging in projects for which I'll be paid – I will need to be more accurate about how long work will take, and what is possible by what date.

II. DEVELOPING AS A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER, INCLUDING TAKING INITIATIVE IN AND THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS

1. I have integrated knowledge and perspectives from CCT and other courses into my own inquiry and engagement in social and/or educational change.

+ I integrated into my synthesis work many concepts and skills I learned in my Human Development, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Action Research, Collaboration & Organizational Change, Reflective Practice, Philosophical Thinking, and Dialogue Processes.

Δ I see now that I want to go back to some exercises and practices from the Creative Thinking class. I need to buy the textbook; I had rented it. Unfortunately, the information from the class is no longer accessible through Blackboard.

2. I have also integrated into my own inquiry and engagement the processes, experiences, and struggles of previous courses.

+ Yes. I’ve reflected on what went well for me and what I struggled with in the past. For instance, I realized that I don’t find APA style to be intuitive. I had difficulty with it in a past course. So, I felt that it would work better for me to use MLA style for my 694 paper. I had started my writing process for 692 too late. So, I was careful in setting up my own deadlines for completing the website and beginning the paper to make sure that I allowed myself enough time to write. I incorporated many of the processes I learned about in Action Research into my process for completing this synthesis project.

Δ I still find the writing process to be mysterious and miraculous. Even while incorporating Peter Elbow’s and Peter Taylor’s methods and ideas, it was unclear what I would create. So, I will continue to practice writing and learning how to write.

3. I have developed efficient ways to organize my time, research materials, computer access, bibliographies, etc.

+ Yes. I did develop efficient ways to organize my time, research, computer access, and bibliographies. I housed my bibliography in Zotero. I used a succession of four paper notebooks for my daily writing for my synthesis project, which was my record of my ideas, plans, deadlines, and progress. My journals are full of lists, drawings, KAQF noodling, narrative outlines, and daily journal entries. I saved digital resources using Diigo. I found tagging my resources by subject to be very useful. I was also very dedicated and organized with my time. As I worked on the computer in my office, my iPad, and my home computer, I emailed drafts to myself and also catalogued them in Google Drive. I also saved documents on my office and home computers.

Δ Even though I had eliminated Facebook from my iPad and my phone when I took the Reflective Practice class, I sometimes, during my synthesis work, found myself wasting time by scrolling through Facebook and reading my friends' posts. Late in the synthesis project, I deleted Facebook from my phone and iPad again. I see that viewing Facebook provided a way of feeling connected to friends that I was not seeing at all in real life while completing the synthesis work. But I also see that engagement with Facebook was a distraction and a waste of time that I could have spent in another way. This is a weakness and a tendency that I will need to continue to monitor.

4. I have experimented with new tools and experiences, even if not every one became part of my toolkit as a learner, teacher/facilitator of others, and reflective practitioner.

+ I experimented with Zotero and found that it was very helpful to me in creating my bibliography. I continued to use Diigo, which I had experimented with in 692. I tried writing the paper using Scrivener. Contrary to the great reviews of the product, I didn’t like the interface. Eventually, I exported all of my writing and worked on the paper in Microsoft Word. Using Weebly to create the website was new to me. I had created websites using Virb, Arlo, and Google Sites. But, I had not created a website using Weebly until I created www.gufsee.org. I learned a lot about the capabilities of the interface and became very adept at using this web developer.

Δ I will learn how to create podcasts so that I can add them to the gufsee.org website. I will take a course offered by Creativelive. Then, I’ll need to learn how to use the Audacity digital audio editor software.

+ My husband took care of our sons on weekends so that I could work on my project. I felt very guilty about this, but he assured me that this was what I needed to do. We explained to our sons that there would be an end to this arrangement, and that I would be able to do things with them again after I completed the program in May. Additionally, I was engaged in a job with fewer responsibilities at The New School following a reorganization of staff. It was easy for me to complete my work. I had time to work on my synthesis project during my work day. I cleared my head of anger about past things at the job, and decided to put my energy into my synthesis project. It was helpful to work in this way, because it helped with my home life. It helped me to be present with my family when I was with them. I continued to swim each morning before work. The swimming process helped me to ponder issues with research and writing, and to synthesize ideas. It was essential to my process.

Δ I see now that the course has ended that daily writing is essential for me. I need to continue it so that I can reflect on what I need to be doing. I now have many tasks ahead of me concerning my job search. I also have tasks concerning creating new content for the website, and promoting the website. Additionally, I want to write a first-person piece explaining why I created the website, why parent involvement in schools is important, and why environmental and place-based education is essential for children. So, I see that I have to create structure for myself with lists and self-imposed deadlines. To support this work, I will return to the reflective practice that I developed in spring 2015.

6. I have developed peer and other horizontal relationships. I have sought support and advice from peers, and have given support and advice to them when asked for.

+ I developed good peer relationships with Sara Kaplan and Sandra McCollin, who were my writing partners. They supported me, and I supported them. I am really grateful to them. I also sought advice from the other students in my 694 class, Kaylea Champion, Anne Gladfelter, and Kerri Arruda. I believe I’ve given good advice to Kaylea, Anne, and Kerri. I’ve received very important support from the Garrison School’s principal, superintendent, and members of the Environmental Education Committee.

Δ I need to ask for the kind of feedback I want. I was not always good at articulating the kind of feedback I hoped to receive. So, as I move forward and engage in other writing projects, I need to remember to specify the type of feedback I seek.

+ I went right ahead and began to write copy for the website. I identified many of the problems with the work myself. I received good feedback from the principal, superintendent, teacher reviewers, my instructor, and my peers. I knew that the writing was a process, and that it would get better with time and reflection. I changed early copy I had written for the website near the end of the project, as I saw that I could do so much better. I did not avoid submitting drafts of my paper. I worked with a manuscript editor who gave me useful feedback. So, I was proactive in keeping the process moving.

Δ In terms of an expository problem, I wrote long again. In 692, my paper was more than 4,500 words. The synthesis paper I produced is 50 pages with 23 pages of appendices and works cited list entries. I still need to work on learning how to revise my writing to meet a certain length requirement – and still convey the information I hope to share.

+ Yes. I have revised seriously. It was helpful to receive feedback about the website. Much of the feedback was about the appearance and organization of the home page and the naming of one section. Other feedback helped me to understand that I should launch a complete site with all of the sections I had envisioned originally. It was helpful too, to hear from Peter that I needed to address my goals more fully in the paper. Sara Kaplan helped me to understand that I didn’t need to exhaustively outline every detail of my process. I engaged in an enormous amount of reflective inquiry and resulting discovery throughout the writing process for the website and the paper.

Δ As I write application letters for jobs, I will need to continue to make sure I am powerfully conveying what I’m about. I have a lot of writing ahead of me for the job search, and I’ll need to revise it just as seriously as I revised the website copy and my paper.

+ I definitely have an internal compass that provides direction for doing good work. I envisioned and produced a 52-page website that is chock full of information. I created the criteria for the resources I chose for the website. I had a very high standard, because I knew that the website would be used as a teaching resource. I created a method for citing sources on the website which is a modification of MLA style. As the website theme is responsive, the layout changes depending on the device on which it is viewed. So, I could not present the sources with a hanging indent. It was not possible. In terms of the paper, I organized it in a way that I felt best explained the scope of my project. I did not organize it in a way that my instructor dictated.

Δ I know that the paper was supposed to be 20-40 pages I had a lot of difficulty cutting my paper and getting it to align with that requirement. So, I did revise, edit, and cut it down, but the final product is longer than the requirement. So, this is an area in which I need to grow and work on. I need to learn how to better shorten my work and still convey what I want to convey.

10. I have approached the CCT synthesis course and the CCT program as works-in-progress, which means that, instead of harboring criticisms to submit after the fact, I have found opportunities to affirm what is working well in the synthesis course and the program as a whole and to suggest directions for their further development.

+ I have definitely approached the course as a work-in-progress. I am very grateful to have been in my cohort, which was a very supportive group. I harbor no criticisms now. My instructor and my peers helped me to move through periods of doubt and fear, and helped me to produce work that I am very proud of. I am really grateful for the experience.

I see that it will be good to approach many situations in life as works-in-progress. This is a more healthy approach to going through life. If I can apply this idea to my current work at The New School, it will help me to see the good that is happening, and how the institution is evolving. This philosophy will be helpful as I work on the school board, and in whatever new job I take on.

Aldi Case Study

August 21, 2013

CRCRTH 611 - Critical Thinking in Business

Aderonke Adeyeye (pink text)

Jill Corson Lake (teal text)

Lauren LeGendre (black text)

Executive Summary Aldi is the eighth-largest food retailer in the world. It was founded by Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1913. The brothers split the company in 1960 to form Aldi Nord (North) and Aldi Süd (South), which have been financially and legally separate since 1966 ("Aldi" Wikipedia).

Today there are about 4,981 stores that belong to Aldi North and 4,504 stores that belong to Aldi Süd. Aldi Nord operates in Denmark, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, and Poland. In addition, Aldi Nord owns about 367 Trader Joe's stores in the United States ("Aldi" Wikipedia). Aldi Süd operates in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, and Australia. It operates Hofer stores within Austria and Slovenia, and Aldi Süd operates the Aldi, Inc. division in the United States ("Aldi" Wikipedia).

Aldi is privately held and shares very little information about its activities. "ALDI has steadily grown since entering the U.S. in 1976 to over 1,200 stores in 32 states by offering a no-frills, low price approach to selling a basic assortment of 1,400 everyday items (DeRose and Tichy )."

ALDI is what is known as a "hard-discount retail chain." It supplies “customers with basic goods of daily need at the lowest possible prices, while maintaining high-quality standards. This is achieved through four fundamental policies: limited assortment of products; increasing the percentage of private labels offered at low prices; establishing and maintaining a high quality/low price ratio; efficient operations (Sachon).” Hard discounters offer a very narrow product assortment, with few stock keeping units (SKUs) per category. Aldi stores stock 1,400 SKUs -- far fewer products than other hard discounters and traditional supermarkets. In 2009 and 2010, Trader Joe's stocked 2,500 - 3,000 SKUs, Costco stocked 3,800 SKUs, and Kroger stocked 30,000-52,000 SKUs (Berman)."

"The Albrechts' approach has often been distilled into four essential attributes: simplicity, high quality, frugality and confidentiality. Their stores are staffed by an average of three people: a store manager and two assistants. All personnel unload the stock, clean the store, watch for shoplifting and check customers through. Aldi's personnel costs are 3 percent of sales versus 9 percent of a regular supermarket (Mitchell, and Sachon).”

Aldi is engaged in a rapid, worldwide expansion and plans to hire 4,000 employees within the next year worldwide (Times 100 1-6). Its expansion strategy relies on employee training and development.

Internationally, Aldi has a well-defined strategy to recruit employees. Aldi, Inc. in the U.S. now offers District Manager positions to college graduates that include “starting pay of $75,000 along with some perks, including a corporate credit card, Toyota Camry and paid gas for both professional and personal use (DeRose, and Tichy )."

The Aldi, Inc. website currently lists 37 hiring events for District Manager positions that were and will be held from August 2, 2013 to November 9, 2013 at universities in 12 states (“ALDI Careers”). "The new graduates, who are hired directly into District Manager positions, are expected to manage a staff of thirty to fifty people, while mastering operational . . . .The starting pay of $75,000 "comes with a job description similar to a small business owner – and similar hours, too (DeRose, and Tichy )." District manager pay will increase to $85,000 in year two, $92,000 in year three, and $100,000 in year four of an employee's tenure ("ALDI Careers").

Additionally, Aldi, Inc. will hold 50 hiring events for cashiers, shift managers, and manager trainees in the U.S. between August 2, 2013 and September 5, 2013 – 50 events in one month ("ALDI Internships and Careers").

While Aldi has a grand plan for recruiting and training District Managers in the U.S., it has a problem. Internationally, Aldi’s chief problem is its reputation of poor and unfair treatment of its employees. Aldi needs to overcome this problem to meet its expansion goals.

Subsequent problems include employee retention, the cost of recruiting and training new employees, the cost of worker's compensation claims that are the result of young, overly taxed, and poorly trained employees, the cost of defending Aldi against lawsuits filed by employees, and customers' frames of reference that may be negatively influenced by Aldi's record of treatment of its employees.

This team recommends that Aldi emulate the business practices of Trader Joe's, one of the brands owned by Aldi Nord. We recommend three specific things that Aldi may incorporate from the Trader Joe's model. First, we recommend that Aldi increase the wages of its retail staff below store manager level. Second, we recommend that Aldi promote from within and provide a clear path for long-time employees to advance from Cashier to management positions, including Store Manager and District Manager. Third, we recommend that Aldi begin to staff its stores with more employees.

Researchers of retail operations, including Dr. Zeynep Ton of MIT, Serguei Netessine of the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance, Marshall Fisher of the Wharton School of Business, and Jayanth Krishnan of the University of Indiana Maurer School of Law, have observed through their research that retail businesses become more profitable when they increase their employees wages. Further, they have found that under-staffing retail stores reduces profit and increasing staffing levels, increases profit.

This team understands, however, that taking the best practices from one company and trying to implement them in another company may be a dangerous idea.

Therefore, in our Action and Implementation Plan this team recommends that Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud hire global consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Aldi's senior executives from throughout the world, including Trader Joe's senior executives, must participate in an Organizational Health Index conducted by McKinskey & Company. Using the results of the Organizational Health Index, Aldi Nord, Aldi Sud, and Trader Joe's executives must work with McKinsey & Company’s Retail consultants, Human Capital consultants, and Organization Design consultants to define the best and most appropriate employee compensation strategy to fit into the Aldi culture and to support the company’s expansion goals.

We encourage Aldi's leaders to engage in an effectual process to explore the means at the company's disposal and the many different outcomes available to Aldi. This exploration may or may not produce a model that completely replicates the Trader Joe’s employee compensation model.

Problem/Issue Statement

Aldi is engaged in rapid expansion and plans to hire 4,000 employees worldwide within the next year ("Times 100 Business Case Studies" 1-6). Internationally, Aldi’s chief problem is its reputation of poor and unfair treatment of its employees. This is the problem Aldi needs to overcome to meet its expansion goals.

Resulting problems for Aldi include: employee retention; the cost of recruiting and training new employees; the cost of worker's compensation claims that are the result of young, overly taxed, and poorly trained employees: the cost of defending Aldi against lawsuits filed by employees: and customers' frames of reference that may be negatively influenced by news stories in the press regarding Aldi's record of treatment of its employees.

Aldi goes to great lengths to cut costs. Where Aldi makes its money is in reduction in labor costs. “Staffing is cut to the bone (Markin).” Aldi employs small numbers of staff in its stores, all non- unionized. Stores employ 10-25 employees. However, they are staffed by only three people at one time. "Aldi's low labor costs (2-4% compared with an average of 9% for competitors) means a higher profit margin (3% on turnover compared to the average 1-1.5% for competitors)(Markin)."

“Aldi treats its workers as little more than a variable in its formula for success. To determine the performance of its individual branches, the company simply divides the store's monthly turnover by the number of labor hours. Large branches in high traffic areas can make up to €1,000 [$1,328.50 USD] of sales per labor hour. In smaller branches, by contrast, performance can only be optimized when employees work faster -- or if they do work outside their shift (Amann and Tietz).”

Aldi has been accused of engaging in unfair labor practices (Lindeman). There is a history of lawsuits initiated against Aldi by employees in the U.S. Employees complain of mandatory unpaid overtime (Martin, Timothy), low wages, coercion and intimidation by store managers (Paterson), irregular shift schedules, physically taxing work, injuries, burn out, and even spying on employees by Aldi store detectives (Paterson ).

"’At many discounters, Aldi included, employees have to fight for adequate working conditions,’ says Agnes Schreieder, a representative of the union Ver.di, Germany's largest services union. That fight is particularly difficult at Aldi South (Amann and Tietz).” "Working for Aldi is hard graft, including on the upper management levels," says one top executive who has been with Aldi North for over 30 years (Amann and Tietz).”

Aldi must develop a solution to provide better working conditions for its employees below the District Manager-level worldwide. It must reduce the amount of time and money it expends to work against labor laws, and instead work within the laws of the 17 countries where the company operates stores. Aldi must create an organizational culture that works for all of its employees.

Aldi will be able to increase its sales by using its websites to pointedly articulate to customers its employee compensation and benefits systems and its ability to keep costs down. Developing and implementing a plan to provide better working conditions for employees will allow Aldi to expand into other markets with strict labor laws where Aldi has not established stores in the past. Such a plan will support Aldi’s strategic goals to increase market share in the countries where it operates stores, improve employee morale, and, in turn, increase customer satisfaction.

Key Decision Criteria for Aldi

When considering Aldi's success with its other franchise success, Trader Joe's and building on solid plans to increase and stabilize the overall profitability across the board, the best solution for Aldi will need to include the following:

Maintain profitability. Aldi utilizes profitability of a store as a measurement of its success. They check labor hours versus sales as a determination. It may need to hire more employees to keep over time a minimum.

Increase return on investment. Aldi spends money on turnover, recruiting, and apprenticeship programs. If it demonstrates and promotes value with all employees underneath a management postion this may have a great outcome on the longevity of the company's investment. This may also provide job security with employees and continuous profitable investment for the company.

Increase customer satisfaction. Increase in a customer's positive frame of reference on how Aldi treats their employees. If Aldi increases support on the floor it increases customer service which would increase customer satisfaction. Aldi can also look into the quality of sale items to meet expectations of a annual membership fee.

Decrease employee turnover. Aldi employee wages are low, including mandatory unpaid overtime. If Aldi focuses on increasing wages and providing better compensations and employee's feel that they are thought of, this may produce a high reduction in turnover.

Increase employee morale/safety. Aldi only allows a limited amount of employees on the floor which creates less productivity and increase safety issues. Aldi can begin by providing more support on the floor that may increase staff morale, productivity and overall safety for employee.

Data Analysis

Aldi, Inc. Wages in the U.S. A current employment listing on Indeed.com for jobs at Aldi in Queensbury, New York and Ballston Spa, New York lists the following positions and wages offered to employees ("ALDI Cashiers, Management"):

• Cashiers - $11.50 per hour • Shift Managers - $15.75 per hour

• Manager Trainees - $25.00 per hour

A current ad for Manager Trainees for Aldi stores in the Milwaukee, WI area offers an annual salary of $43,000 ("ALDI Manager in Training - Retail Management Trainee"). The ad states, "The Manager Trainee will report to and assist the Store Manager in achieving the company’s growth objectives by maximizing sales and controlling expenses. This position is designed to lead into the Store Manager position within 1 year with an average annual income of $75,000 - $90,000 per year."

Assumptions Regarding the Cost of Turnover

The following made the assumption that the average hourly cashier pay for Aldi employees is the same worldwide. Aldi is very secretive about its business practices. It was challenging to find specific financial and cost information for the company. It is also understood these assumptions are based upon gross pre-tax employee wages only. This data provides some perspective about the cost of turnover and the impact it can have on a business. We know that Aldi is hiring at all levels and that these figures are for illustration only.

Average Cashier hourly pay $11- $15 per hour (20-40 hours per week) ("The Pilot") So let's say on average it's $13 USD for a 30 hour work week ($390 per week) for 52 weeks a year = $20,280 gross pre-tax employee wages only (does not include benefits, insurance, etc). This is also on the higher said for the average hourly cashier wages which are closer to $11.61 per hour. The illustration is still valid. ("Aldi Salaries and Benefits")

Aldi plans to hire 4,000 new employees internationally over the course of the next year. Using the average rate in U.S. Dollars above ($20,280 USD) = $81,120,000 gross pre-tax employee wages only. Suppose 37 percent of these employee leave (voluntarily/involuntarily), it will cost Aldi 16 percent of its annual payroll for the 4,000 new employees, plus the cost of recruiting and training the new employees and the loss of institutional memory that the former employees had (Lucas); (Boushey and Glynn) 16% of annual wage of $20,280 = $3,244.80 37% of 4,000 employees is 1,480 employees 1,480 employees, annual wages is $30,014,400 solely from employee turnover wages.

More Aldi Numbers

10 - 25 employees per store (Springer) and approximately 9,235 stores ("Aldi"). Median number of employees per store: 18 18 * 9,235 stores = 168,130 employees 168,130 * 4% turnover (Wegmans) = 6,685.20 employee turnover 168,130 * 15% turnover (Whole foods) = 25,219.5 employee turnover

Grocery store employee turnover rate can be as high as 47.4% ("Turnover in Supermarkets"). Aldi mentions a lower than average grocery store turnover rate so it might be more comparable to Wegmans (4%) or Whole Foods (15%) (Martin). 4% turnover Cost: 6685.20 employees * $3244.80 (16% of annual wage of $20280) = $21,692,136.96 15% turnover cost 25219.5 employees * $3244.80 = $81,832,233.60

Cost of increasing annual wage of $20,280 by 5% = $1,014

Trader Joe's Wages in the U.S.

Trader Joe's has different names for its jobs. The "Mate" position is equivalent to an Assistant Manager, according to the Trader Joe's employment website. "A 'Mate' is a member of the store management team. Each store has one Captain (that's what we call our Store Managers around here) and multiple Mates. Have your sights set on Captain? Great! We promote exclusively from within," says a current job listing (""Mate" - Assistant Store Manager").

"Store managers can make in the low six figures, and full-time crew members can start in the $40,000 to $60,000 range. But on top of the pay, Trader Joe's annually contributes 15.4% of employees' gross income to tax-deferred retirement accounts. (Kowitt)" Average Trader Joe cashier salaries are closer to $13.13 per hour (Trader Joe's).

Alternative Analysis

Alternative One Aldi could emulate the business practices of Trader Joe's, one of the brands owned by Aldi Nord. It could do three things like Trader Joe's. First, it could increase the wages of its retail staff below store manager level. Second, it could promote from within, and provide a clear path for long-time employees to advance from Cashier to District Manager. Third, Aldi could staff its stores with more employees.

This alternative supports Aldi’s frame of reference that includes higher profit margins and employee training. To some, increasing wages counterintuitive. However, research shows differently. Dr. Zeynep Ton, MIT Adjunct Associate Professor of Operations Management, contends that a retail business becomes more profitable when it increases its employees' wages. "Research by Marshall Fisher, Serguei Netessine, and Jayanth Krishnan supports my findings: Their analysis of 17 months of data from a large retailer shows that for every $1 increase in payroll, a store could see a $4 to $28 increase in monthly sales (Ton 1-2)."

Dr. Ton has "found that the presumed trade-off between investment in employees and low prices can be broken. Highly successful retail chains—such as Quik•Trip convenience stores, Mercadona and Trader Joe’s supermarkets, and Costco wholesale clubs—not only invest heavily in store employees but also have the lowest prices in their industries, solid financial performance, and better customer service than their competitors. They have demonstrated that, even in the lowest-price segment of retail, bad jobs are not a cost-driven necessity but a choice. And they have proven that the key to breaking the trade-off is a combination of investment in the workforce and operational practices that benefit employees, customers, and the company." (Ton 1-2).

Payroll is considered a controllable expense, compared with the control of sales, which may be driven by customer base, merchandise mix, store layout, promotions, and price. Sometimes, when stores are not meeting sales targets they cut costs by forcing employees to work off-the clock or short pay them.Aldi is accused of engaging in this practice, also, as is discussed in the Problem Statement of this case study. In an effort to reduce payroll, stores reduce staff. Dr. Ton’s research has found that under-staffing retail stores reduces profit and increasing staffing levels, increases profit (Ton 1-2).

Alternative Two Aldi could create advancement paths that permit cashiers to advance to the level of district manager. This alternative focuses on the lack of defined career advancement paths for Aldi employees. Aldi hires young college graduates as its District Managers, but it does not have a transparent advancement path for store crew to advance to this level.

Past and current Aldi employees from many countries have written reviews about Aldi's employment practices on Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, lookbeforeyouleap.net, and Jobitorial.com noting that is not possible for employees to work their way up from Cashier to District Manager. By contrast, U.S. supermarket chain Publix almost exclusively promotes from within, "Every store displays advancement charts showing the path each employee can take to become a manager. Fifty-eight thousand of the company’s 159,000 employees have officially registered their interest in advancement.(Solomon )"

Creating clear advancement paths for Aldi store crew would encourage employees’ growth, improve employee morale, and help to retain institutional knowledge. Alternative Three Aldi could begin paying all of its employees for overtime. This alternative assumes that Aldi is not accurately paying its employees for overtime, and that this is the most critical issue Aldi faces. The payment of overtime follows the same principles as the increase of employee wages as well as the employee first model. Paying overtime to employees will not solve the under- staffing issues currently faced at Aldi stores. Additionally, it does not address or improve job rotation throughout the day.

Alternative Four Aldi could adopt the membership model of Costco and charge customers an annual membership fee to join Aldi. Costco charges an annual membership fee of $55 ("Join Costco"). Aldi limits its SKUs to reduce costs for customers in an effort to increase sales. Aldi may lose customers away by implementing an annual membership fee. The customer’s frame of reference is that Aldi is hard discounter. Having to pay a membership fee in order to shop at Aldi may turn customers away. Low- and moderate-income customers may view a membership fee as prohibitive, even if told by Aldi that it will help to keep costs down.

Alternative Five Aldi could also do something really novel by making its employees shareholders in its company, like Publix supermarkets. This would be radical, because Aldi's frame of reference is profit-driven, and the company is secretive about its business practices. Making employees shareholders would require Aldi to share its business practices and finances with its shareholders. However, the employee-shareholder concept encourages employees to consistently work to drive sales, since they, too, are investors.

Like Aldi, Publix is privately-owned and non-union.Publix, "the seventh-largest private company in the U.S., is also the largest employee-owned company in America. All staffers who have put in 1,000 work hours and a year of employment receive an additional 8.5% of their total pay in the form of Publix stock. (Solomon)" A store manager who has worked at the company for 20 years and earns between $100,000 and $130,000 likely has $300,000 in stock and has received another $30,000 in dividends (Solomon).”

Recommendation Aldi is engaged in rapid expansion and plans to hire 4,000 employees within the next year. Internationally, Aldi’s chief problem is its reputation of poor and unfair treatment of its employees. This is the problem Aldi needs to overcome to meet its expansion goals. As Alternative One suggests, Aldi should emulate the business practices of Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's was coveted by Aldi prior to the purchase of the company. Aldi could emulate the business practices of Trader Joe's, one of the brands owned by Aldi Nord. Aldi could do three things like Trader Joe's. First, it could increase the wages and pay overtime of its retail staff below store manager level. Second, it could promote from within, as Trader Joe's does, and provide a clear path for a long-time employee to advance from Cashier to District Manager. Third, Aldi could begin to staff its stores with more employees, as Trader Joe's does. A greater number of staff in each store could help workers to feel less burned out, and could reduce workers' need to work unpaid overtime. This increased staff allows for rotation between the cash register, re- stocking shelves, and customer service.

Trader Joe's business practices meet the factors for the key decision criteria that Aldi would want to follow: profitability, customer satisfaction, and decreased employee turnover. Trader Joe's is profitable and has proven that while providing fair wages, breaks, and benefits, the company can still increase sales and profits. The increase in staffing at Aldi stores solves a number of issues. Aldi staff will be able to rotate positions throughout the day, which will increase employee morale. Moreover, with more staff on the sales floor and better employee morale, customers will receive more individual attention, and customer satisfaction will increase. Trader Joe's has a cult-like following in many communities in the U.S. This is partially due to its low-cost items, and the high quality standards of its house brands. It's popularity is also derived from its friendly staff, knowledgeable customer service, and clean, inviting stores. Larger store crews comprised of individuals crew members earning increased wages will permit Aldi stores to emulate the distinctive Trader Joe's atmosphere.

The increase in employee morale and safety with provision of clear advancement paths should decrease employee turnover. Employee turnover can have a major impact on the bottom line as seen within the data analysis. It can cost companies millions of dollars that cuts into their profits and can be viewed as hidden overhead. Decreasing the cost of turnover will help maintain profitability for Aldi by reducing the hidden overhead costs of employee turnover. Implementing and advertising clear advancement paths for store crew that lead to upper management will provide a return on investment for Aldi. The funds Aldi spends to hire, train, and provide experience will not simply walk out the door; instead employees will grow with the company. This internal growth will be a key factor in emulating Trader Joe's employee compensation and advancement model.

Action and Implementation Plan

Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd are legally separate companies. Aldi Nord operates in Denmark, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, and Poland. In addition, Aldi Nord owns about 367 Trader Joe's stores in the United States ("Aldi" Wikipedia). Aldi Süd operates in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, and Australia. It operates Hofer stores within Austria and Slovenia, and Aldi Süd operates the Aldi, Inc. division in the United States ("Aldi" Wikipedia). Aldi has a frame of reference with a positive focus on cutting costs within its entire structure to increase profits. Aldi places less focus on its employees.

We recommend that Aldi and Trader Joe's work together. We recommend that Aldi learn from Trader Joe's in order to improve its company and potentially increase profits. We encourage Aldi and Trader Joe's to share and analyze information on workplace environments and employee compensation structures to increase employee morale, customer satisfaction, and overall maintain profitability across the board. Further, we recommend that Aldi engage in an effectual reasoning process led by a consultant to develop new ideas to increase sales and overall satisfaction for employees and customers.

Work Plan

First, Aldi’s two legally separate companies must agree to begin meeting with one another to discuss Trader’s Joe’s human capital framework, and how to emulate this successful model throughout all Aldi brands, including Hofer. Second, leaders of Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd must discuss with the leadership of Trader Joe’s their desire to emulate Trader Joe’s employee compensation system and human capital policies. Trader Joe’s leadership team includes: Daniel Bane, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Bryan Palbaum, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration; and Micheal Krause, Chris Maguire, Adam Mutoio, and Rory B. Violette, Regional Vice Presidents. ("Bloomberg Businessweek"). • Trader Joe's executive staff must share with and teach Aldi about how Trader Joe's treats and provides benefits for its employees. They should discuss employee scheduling which allows for proper job rotation.

• Aldi must analyze the cost of increasing employee pay and benefits versus the cost of employee turnover, in comparison with Trader Joe's comparable costs.

Third, leaders of Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd must retain and immediately begin working with global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, “which serves 80 percent of Fortune’s most admired companies”, and has deep experience in organizational change consulting for the retail industry and many other industries ("Careers"). This team believes that Aldi needs to work with an experienced team of consultants to assist the company in rapidly adopting changes throughout all of Aldi ‘s stores worldwide to help meet its goal of hiring and retaining 4,000 employees in the next year Fourth, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd must agree that leadership of all of its divisions in all countries will engage together in McKinsey & Company’s Organization Health Index (OHI) process. “The OHI measures and tracks the elements of organizational effectiveness directly related to financial and operational performance and offers actionable insights into areas of improvement. With hard measures for ‘soft’ issues, executives can bring lasting change to the mindsets and behaviors that impact the bottom line ("Organizational Health Index"). Fifth, with the results of the Organizational Health Index, leaders of Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd must determine with the McKinsey & Company Human Capital team whether it is in the best interests of Aldi to emulate the Trader Joe’s employee compensation structure. • Aldi must analyze the cost of turnover. It should pay close attention to onboarding costs for new employees, the cost of unemployment, and the cost of additional training for new employees. It should also look at the cost comparison between its employee costs (onboarding, turnover, etc) and the same costs incurred by Trader Joe's for the same types of employees.

A McKinsey & Company white paper on transformation of a company’s performance cautions that emulating best practices of another company may be more dangerous than helpful: “One of the great fallacies of management is that you can improve performance by copying best practices from other organizations. Though it may work in some operational areas, it can be a recipe for disaster in organizational health. That’s because health is systemic, and best practices from one system can turn bad when transposed to another system (Dewar, Blackburn, Bruun Nielsen, Irons, and et al).” Sixth, work with McKinsey & Company’s Retail consultants, Human Capital consultants, and Organization Design consultants to define the best employee compensation strategy for the Aldi culture to support the company’s expansion goals. We encourage Aldi's leaders to engage in an effectual process to explore the means at the company's disposal and the many different outcomes available to Aldi. This exploration may or may not produce a model that completely replicates the Trader Joe’s employee compensation and workplace environment model. At the regional level within each country where Aldi operates stores, begin to: • Hold small focus groups of crew members drawn from various store locations within a region. Create a safe space and encourage employees to give testimony on their experience working for Aldi.

• Encourage focus group members to make recommendations on how the workplace may be improved.

• Share all of this data with District Managers, regional management, Aldi leaders, and McKinsey consultants.

Seventh, implement the strategy throughout Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd with continued guidance from McKinsey & Company during the implementation phase. • Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud must agree to conduct weekly conferences with district managers to implement the strategy throughout all Aldi brands, including Hofer.

• In weekly conferences, Aldi should identify problems thoroughly and solutions utilizing critical and metacognitive thinking to continuously develop goals along with due dates per assigned district/person.

• Review accomplishments during every meeting. Prioritize current problems and risks and place urgency on problems/risk. Be strategic on how to proceed with solid solutions, increasing employees' motivation/morale and final product of meeting outcomes.

• Meeting agendas should consist of documented varied outcomes across multiple settings in order to have continuous plans for short- and long-term goals.

• Aldi should conduct annual workshops to improve co-worker relations such as reenacting the activities on a daily basis and how to approach stressors appropriately. During the workshops, we suggest that at least one district manager is paired with at least five workshop participants (employees) to effectively feel the impact of possible stressors or benefits of identified solutions.

• Aldi should deliver quarterly departmental company updates that address problems and solutions that were discussed in focus groups, workshops, and conferences. Quarterly financial reports should explain how this information affects employees, such as increased wages, increased vacation days, more support on sales floor, etc. Updates must cover competitors' wages and comparisons to what improvements have been made at Aldi, and what the future holds at Aldi to maintain the longevity of improvements.

• To change employees' frames of reference and assumptions, Aldi should celebrate its brand along with its employees by developing celebrations involving creative themes.

Conclusion The Aldi case study was chosen because all of the three of the team members have jobs with the focus on employees. The frame of reference we took was one of employee focus. While working on this case study it became apparent that Aldi is a secretive organization and it is challenging to find specific company information. Also that the original thoughts we had regarding Aldi had changed. The start of the case study was presented as if Aldi was for their employees, their training and their development however, that was not the case in some of the research we had found. We also illustrated that the cost of turnover can be high for supermarkets. We tried to provide a recommendation and action plan that Aldi, with it's secretive nature would be able to adapt for their needs. The main critical thinking skills we used were assumptions and questions and frames of reference.

Collaboration We used a couple of different forms of collaboration for this case study. We started with a Google Doc but quickly realized the wiki would be a better format. It was useful to have a main draft page and the final products on individual wiki pages. This allowed us to refer back to original ideas and move information through the wiki without feeling like someone else's work had been destroyed. The wiki became extremely useful when the entire project was inadvertently deleted. We were able to quickly recover the last saved page and no information was lost, using the Google doc may not have had the same outcome. We mainly had contact via email but even email with all of the documentation can become confusing over time, information becomes lost in translation, and assumptions are made. In an effort to correct this we used the Google Hangout for a team meeting while following on the wiki page.

Our team meetings had set agendas, follow-up action items, and all voices were allowed to be heard. One of the ways we were able to do this is by utilizing a collaboration technique where after each section of the agenda everyone is directly asked if they have questions, something to contribute or if they understand. the other technique used in the Google Hangout meeting was that the group was kept on task by following the agenda. This allowed the group to stay on task and utilize the time effectively as well as clear up any confusion among the group.

References: "Aldi." Wikipedia. N.p.. Web. 17 Aug 2013. .

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"District Manager Benefits." ALDI Careers n.pag. ALDI US Careers. Web. 16 Aug 2013. .

"Events." ALDI Internships and Careers 1-53. ALDI Store Jobs. Web. 16 Aug 2013. .

"Food Informants: A Week In The Life Of A Trader Joe's Employee." . Huffington Post, 11 Oct 2011. Web. 17 Aug 2013. .

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Lucas, Suzanne. "How much does it cost companies to lose employees?." . N.p., 21 Nov 2012. Web. .

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Martin, Melanie. "Data on Employee Turnover in the Grocery Industry." Chron. N.p.. Web. 17 Aug 2013. .

Martin, Timothy. "Aldi Faces Suit From Store Managers Seeking Overtime Pay ." Wall Street Journal [New York] 21 Jan 2010, n. pag. Web. 18 Aug. 2013. . Mitchell, Jordan, and Marc Sachon. "Aldi: A Supermarket With a Reason to Celebrate." IESE Insight (2006): n.pag. IESE Insight Business Knowledge Portal. Web. 17 Aug 2013. .

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Paterson, Tony. "The Lives of Other Workers: Store Detective Says Aldi Wanted Him to Spy on Staff ." Independent [London] 6 Jan 2013, n. pag. Web. 18 Aug. 2013. .

Plumb, Cathy. "Eye on Retail: Aldi." SaSR (Set and Service Resources). N.p., 17 Jan 2013. Web. 17 Aug. 2013. .

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Utermohlen, Karl. "Aldi Plans Big U.S. Expansion."InvestorPlace. N.p., 24 Jul 2013. Web. 17 Aug. 2013. . van Luit, Sander. "Corporate Culture: Putting ALDI in a Scientific Context." BS thesis. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2006. Web. "Welcome to Aldi." Aldi. Web. 17 Aug 2013. .

Communicating Opportunity to the Garrison School Community:

An Action Research Project

Jill Lake

CRCRTH 693

Jeremy Szteiter

May 11, 2015

Lake 2

Think about a favorite memory of outdoor play from your childhood. Did you make a fort in the woods? Did you collect crayfish from a creek? Did you swim in a natural swimming hole with a waterfall? Hold onto this memory and revisit it while you think about the action research project that I’ll describe shortly. Free-form play in wild spaces develops what Howard

Gardner, professor of Education at Harvard University calls the Eighth Intelligence, or naturalist intelligence. Leslie Owen Wilson, professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin notes that children with the eighth intelligence “like to be outside,” “care about animals or plants,”

“have keen sensory skills,” “notice patterns from their surroundings,” create collections of natural objects, “easily learn … names … and data about objects or species found in the natural world,” and “show heightened … concern for the environment and endangered species.”1 The

Pennsylvania Land Trust Association notes that “it turns out that the single most common influence on adult conservation values comes from … unstructured, frequent childhood play in wild settings. The kind of play that saw you start a rock collection, or build a secret fort in the woods, or sometimes just lie in tall grass and watch the clouds float by.”2

1 Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006) 71-73. 2 Ken Finch and Adam M. Loza, Nature Play: Nurturing Children and Strengthening Conservation Through Connections to the Land (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, 2014) 2, accessed April 19, 2015. http://s3.amazonaws.com/conservationtools/s3_files/1596/NaturePlayBooklet_Color_PALTA_li nks_150108.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=1NXAG53SXSSG82H0V902&Expires=1431366609&Signature =DeW4HsBWeB5%2FQyg%2BeF7xFFuU8gc%3D Lake 3

The Situation

My collaborative action research project involves a core group of individuals who love outdoor play and care deeply about children. We’re dedicated to educating children about the natural world through hands-on exploration outdoors. We’ve staged a series of persuasive communication interventions to activate interest in and support for the preservation of the

School Forest owned by the public Garrison Union Free School District of Garrison, New York.

Garrison is a wooded, naturally beautiful, rural community 72 minutes north of New York City.

It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River in a hilly, wooded area called the Hudson Highlands.

In Garrison, houses are situated far apart from one another, and dirt roads are common. In addition to residential property, Garrison contains farmland, New York State park land, two golf courses, a country club, churches, a library, a post office, the Garrison School, a café, and two gas stations. Significant intellectual, spiritual, and cultural institutions are located in Garrison, including the Hastings Institute, a nonpartisan research center on bioethics; the Garrison

Institute, which applies the power of contemplation to social and environmental change; the

Garden Conservancy; Hudson Highlands Land Trust; the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; the Walter Hoving Home and the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center; facilities that help individuals to overcome addiction; Boscobel House and Gardens, and Manitoga, the Russel Wright Design

Center, which is a National Historic Landmark that was added to the World Monuments Watch list in 2012.3

3 Wikipedia contributors, "Garrison, New York," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Garrison,_New_York&oldid=655985905 (accessed May 11, 2015). Lake 4

The Garrison School was founded in 1793. A small K-8 school with about 270 students, it is academically one of the top school districts in New York State. It received Blue Ribbon School designation from the U.S. Department of Education in 2010. The New York State Department of

Education designated it a Reward School in August 2014. One of the things that makes the

Garrison School District unique is its 185-acre forest. The Sloan, Osborn, and Gunther families gave the forest land to the School District in 1962. The Garrison School is one of very few public or private schools in New York State that owns such an environmental education site for its students. The School Forest contains forested land, wetlands, public trails, and Revolutionary

War-era fortifications. The Appendix to this paper contains a map of the Garrison School Forest.

The land was part of Fortress West Point during the Revolutionary War. General George

Washington established the Fortress in 1778 to protect the strategic “S” curve in the Hudson

River at Constitution Island, and to prevent the British from sailing beyond West Point. The

Fortress was comprised of forts, redoubts, and batteries on both the west and east sides of the

Hudson River. Two redoubts located in the Garrison School Forest were manned by troops during the Revolutionary War. Seventh graders at the Garrison School engage in a

Revolutionary War re-enactment each April in the School Forest. The most recent re-enactment was held on April 27, 2015.

I am interested in this school and its forest because my children attend the Garrison

School. My son Mac is currently in third grade. My son Bryce will begin Kindergarten in

September, 2015. I am a member of the school’s Environmental Education Committee. I am devoted to using the School Forest as an outdoor laboratory for students, and a site to explore Lake 5 history, geography, social studies, economics, botany, biology, mathematics, literature, art, music, and dance. I have fond and vivid memories of exploring the woods alone and with friends near my home in Stow, Ohio from the ages of eight through 13. Blackberries grew in abundance on a huge expanse of unimproved land behind a church up the hill from my house.

In the summers, my brother, sister, and I had the freedom to pick berries by the basketful, unsupervised. Blackberries stained our fingers purple, and we endured pokes from sharp berry bush thorns. But, we had fun, and delivered huge quantities of blackberries to my mother, who made delicious jam. My many outdoor free-play experiences as a young girl in Illinois and Ohio shaped my love of the natural world as an adult.

The deed to the Garrison School Forest land stipulates that after 2030, “the premises may be converted to other uses,” provided that a court in Putnam County “shall approve such other uses as being in the public interest.” Thus, if some unforeseen circumstance arises after

2030, such as school district consolidation or any fiscal need, it could put at risk the School

Forest’s intended purposes. Governor Mario Cuomo has expressed interest in consolidating school districts with fewer than 1,500 students. The Haldane School District in neighboring Cold

Spring is trying to sell the James Pond area used for environmental field studies to support a $2 million sports field project. Garrison community members and I do not want the Garrison

School Forest to suffer a similar fate.

A unique opportunity has been proposed to preserve the Garrison School Forest in perpetuity. Hudson Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) proposes to preserve the School Forest land in two different ways – either by selling the land to the New York State Parks system, or by selling Lake 6 a conservation agreement to HHLT. Either deal comes with a gift. The owner of the Garrison

Golf Club, LLC, has made an exceptional offer to the Garrison community. He will donate a 70- acre parcel of land adjoining the School Forest, if the School District agrees to conserve the

School Forest in perpetuity. This land will provide direct entry to the School Forest off a public road. It provides easier access to the School Forest than is currently available elsewhere. The flat land, accessible through a gate on Snake Hill Road, could be sufficiently cleared to allow school buses to park there. Additionally an environmental education classroom with a restroom could be built on the land in the future. This opportunity for the Garrison School presented seemed to be an ideal focus for my action research project.

Desired Outcome

I support the option for HHLT to purchase a conservation agreement (or deed of conservation easement) from the Garrison School District to permanently preserve the current

185-acre School Forest. HHLT is interested in preserving the School Forest land to link it to two large pieces of New York State park land that have been preserved already. If the School District sells a conservation agreement to HHLT, the School District will retain ownership of the land.

And the land trust will take on perpetual obligation to monitor and enforce the restrictions on the land outlined in the deed of conservation easement. At closing, the Garrison Golf Club will donate the 70-acre parcel of adjoining land, increasing the size of the School Forest to 255 acres. The purchase price for the conservation agreement will be determined by a fair market value appraisal. The revenue may be paid to the School District in a lump sum, or in a stream of payments over time. This transaction will be completely tax neutral. HHLT will become a Lake 7 partner with the Garrison School in addressing legal issues. HHLT’s conservation defense fund will share the legal costs associated with disputes regarding encroachment on, or impeded access to, the School Forest by adjoining landowners. HHLT and the Garrison School will jointly assume all liability for public access as partners. The public will continue to have access to the

School Forest for hiking. The School District could sell the School Forest land in the future, but the conservation easement would remain in force for subsequent owners. So, the land would continue to be protected.

I don’t favor the second option, which proposes that the New York State Park system purchases the School Forest. The State Park system would then own and manage the School

Forest. There could be an agreement that the Garrison School would continue to use the School

Forest land for educational purposes. This would be similar to an agreement between the State

Park system and the Audubon Society, which manages Constitution Marsh, State-owned park land in neighboring Cold Spring, New York. It is unclear whether New York State Parks actually wishes to acquire the property.

It is particularly important to support the first option now, because the Garrison Golf

Club’s offer of land will not be on the table forever. Additionally, the members of the

Environmental Education Committee and I believe it is important now to take action – instead of waiting until 2030 – to protect the historic forest land. By preserving the School Forest, we will provide a site for environmental exploration by children into the future. I hope you’ll join with us to support the sale of a conservation agreement for the School Forest land to HHLT. Lake 8

Remember what you learned by talking to trees, skipping stones in a pond, and building a fort in the woods?

Illumination of the Background

I initially learned about the HHLT proposal on December 12, 2014, when Andy Chmar of

HHLT gave a presentation to the Environmental Education Committee. I did not understand all aspects of the two options, so I used the KAQF framework to identify what I knew, what actions

I could take on the basis of that knowledge, what questions I had, and how to find out answers to those questions. I felt that a series of small group meetings would help me to learn what I didn’t know. So, I scheduled two meetings on March 4 – one with Andy Chmar and MJ Martin of HHLT and a second meeting with Fred Osborn, an environmental activist and descendant of

General Frederick H. Osborn, who donated the bulk of the School Forest land.

Andy and MJ answered all of my questions thoroughly. During our meeting, I offered to draft talking points to explain both options in layman’s terms. In a dialogue epicycle, Andy, MJ, and I discussed an initial communication strategy. At that time, we thought that the talking points document would inform creation of a letter of support from the Environmental

Education Committee to the School Board. My meeting with Fred Osborn was also very helpful.

He shared historical information about the community that I did not know. At the March

Environmental Education Committee meeting, the School Superintendent stated that she did not feel it complied with the Committee’s charge to advocate a position on the HHLT proposal to the School Board. But, she said that individuals could certainly work to communicate with the community and build support as private citizens. At that point, I decided to act as an Lake 9 interested community member. I am evaluating this action research project by counting the number of individuals engaged in and supportive of the HHLT proposals before and after each cycle of communication.

Constituency Building Cycles

The core group engaged in this collaborative action research project is comprised of the

Superintendent, the Principal, the 15-member Environmental Education Committee, including two members of the School Board, Fred and Annie Osborn, and HHLT staff. Throughout our discussions, we cycle back to our educational mission. This group of individuals has built trust and good will. We are transparent with one another, and we are inclusive. We take care to listen to one another with respect, and we engage in dialogue to explore options and opinions on how to act before we actually take action. We have engaged in several cycles of constituency-building as part of this project.

In November 2014, we held a School Forest Clean Up Day. About 25 people, including parents, community members, and students, showed up and separated into groups to clear brush from five of the six trails within the School Forest. In January, we invited those individuals, Garrison School parents, and community members to a February event called

“Think and Drink.” A group of seven women planned and made food for this event. Christine

Foertsch, a member of the Environmental Education Committee and the School Board, hosted the event at her home. Forty people attended this cocktail party and fundraiser for the Forest.

Fred and Annie Osborn spoke at the event and for the first time, introduced the HHLT proposal to members of the community. Fred and Annie asked for the participants’ support for the HHLT Lake 10 proposal. They explained that HHLT would speak about the proposal at a public School Board meeting in the future. In April, we engaged in a communication action to build awareness and a greater constituency by sending out talking points about the proposal. We sent information to

40 individuals who attended the Think and Drink event, to the 15 members of the

Environmental Education Committee, and to 40 land owners whose property abuts or is near the School Forest. Our goal is to educate members of the community about the HHLT proposal, and to persuade them that the option for the Garrison School to sell to HHLT a conservation agreement for the School Forest land provides the greatest good for the community and its children.

Action Proposal

I wrote the talking points document after engaging in a process of systematic research.

After reflecting upon my small group meetings with Andy Chmar, MJ Martin, and Fred Osborn, I attended an information session on March 24 about conservation easements led by the Scenic

Hudson organization. I learned how to write effective talking points by reading “Introduction to

Policy Writing for Public Policy Professionals,” by Ian Doughty of Deloitte and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. I set out to write the talking points for an intelligent audience with a beginner’s mind regarding the HHLT proposal.

MJ Martin announced on April 10 that Andy Chmar would speak about the HHLT proposal at a public School Board meeting on May 20. We now had a date, and needed to get people to attend the meeting. On April 11, I finished writing the talking points document. I sent it via email to Andy Chmar and MJ Martin. They vetted it for accuracy and made some revisions. Lake 11

I also sent the document via email to Fred and Annie Osborn, and the members of the

Environmental Education Committee and requested their comments. I incorporated the suggestions of the group into the document.

Following the editing process, Andy, MJ, and I engaged in a reflective dialogue epicycle to explore a communication strategy for sharing the talking points. They advised following a prudent communication strategy to keep from antagonizing the School Board by appearing to be too aggressive. They suggested that I send the document from myself as a concerned and involved parent and taxpayer. I agreed that I felt comfortable doing this. Further, they advised that I send the document only to the members of the Environmental Education Committee, the individuals who attended the “Think and Drink” event, and land owners whose land abuts or is near the borders of the School Forest property.

I then engaged in a research epicycle to identify land owners surrounding the School

Forest. I used the Putnam County online eParcel tool to find the School Forest property on the assessment map. I then found the names and addresses of all adjacent land owners by exploring the online public records regarding the land parcels bordering the School Forest. I created a list of those individuals’ names and addresses and sent the list via email to Fred

Osborn. Fred and I then engaged in a dialogue epicycle to decide how best to share the talking points with the land owners. We only had their addresses. So, we decided that I would send a cover letter and the talking points via the mail. Fred offered to write hand-written notes on all of the cover letters. This decision spawned new action cycle.

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Proposing & Planning Actions

While the focus of this collaborative action research project has been to increase awareness of and support for the HHLT proposal through a series of persuasive communication actions, simultaneous related actions have been initiated by other players. Andy Chmar of HHLT worked with Garrison School Superintendent Laura Mitchell and the members of the School

Board to secure the date of May 20 to present the HHLT proposal to the School Board. HHLT is preparing its presentation independently.

The Environmental Education Committee members met on April 28. We will not meet again as a group before the HHLT presentation at the May 20 School Board meeting. We engaged in a dialogue epicycle to discuss what each of us will say during the public comment period at the May 20 meeting. Additionally, the group decided to ask a reporter from The

Paper, one of the two local newspapers, to attend the May 20 School Board meeting. The

Superintendent noted that a reporter from the Putnam County News & Recorder (PCNR) attends all of the School Board meetings, but a reporter from The Paper does not always attend. The Paper presents objectively-written news stories. It received 13 Better Newspaper

Contest Awards from the New York Press Association in 2013 and 2014. The PCNR, owned by

Beth Ailes, the wife of Fox News President Roger Ailes, inserts a negative spin or conservative bias in its news coverage. I will contact The Paper to invite one of its reporters to attend the

May 20 School Board meeting. Additionally, I sought advice from political press officer and

Garrison School parent Joseph Mercurio and Matt Shipley of Scenic Hudson on how best to communicate with the PCNR and The Paper. Joseph Mercurio suggested that I call the editors of Lake 13 both newspapers on Friday, May 15 to provide an “elevator pitch” about the HHLT proposal, and to ask both editors to send a reporter to the May 20 School Board meeting. Further, Joseph suggested that I write a story about what happens at the School Board meeting in the form of a press release. He said that I should send it to both newspapers by Friday, May 22. Joseph does not anticipate opposition to the HHLT proposal from the PCNR if we are careful to provide identical information to both newspapers. Matt Shipley of Scenic Hudson is wary of the PCNR.

I will engage in another action cycle, by following Joseph Mercurio’s advice. I will call the editors of both newspapers on Friday, May 15. Additionally, MJ Martin of HHLT and I will invite people to attend the School Board meeting via Facebook event postings and tweets on Twitter, starting on Thursday, May 14. I will also follow Joseph’s advice and write a story following the event to submit to both newspapers by Friday, May 22.

We will evaluate interest in the situation by counting the number of people who attend the May 20 School Board meeting. Normally, only two people from the community attend the

School Board meetings. I anticipate that many people will attend the School Board meeting. I have heard from several people who received the talking points by mail or email. I believe we can expect at least 15 members of the community to attend, if not more.

Systematic Research on Effects of New Action

Following the May 20 School Board meeting, the core group of supporters plans to assess the reaction of the School Board to the proposal. The group will meet to engage in reflection and dialogue to discuss what was said by School Board members and community members. We will monitor coverage of the meeting by the PCNR and The Paper. We may Lake 14 decide to respond to questions posed, if we are able to answer them. We will refer other questions to HHLT. Two new School Board members will join the School Board in June. We will share the talking points document with them. We hope that the School Board will be interested in pursuing the idea of selling a conservation agreement to HHLT. We understand that the

School’s attorney will need to review the transaction and its implications for the district. We also understand that the land must be appraised, and that the process will not be swift.

Further, we understand that the community will seek more information about the opportunity.

Therefore, we may hold a public dialogue at Garrison’s public library.

Reflection

I have gained new confidence in my research, writing, and collaboration skills by engaging in this action research project. I have learned to examine what I don’t know to learn what I need to know. I’ve learned to outline an array of possible actions and to work with my collaborators to identify the best action for the moment. I will employ these skills in future action research projects.

To reach one’s desired outcome in a project such as this, it’s essential to provide information in an equal and transparent manner to all collaborators. This practice builds trust.

It’s also essential to keep in touch by phone and email, respond to one another in a timely manner, and to alert one another to possible changes in the situation or misinformation being shared within the community. It’s crucial to maintain and share contact lists of collaborators, supporters, and individuals whom you have contacted in constituency-building cycles. It’s also essential to seek and wait for collaborators’ opinions before taking action. If you make a Lake 15 decision in a small group, share it with the larger group. Additionally, it’s best to write as a team in a process of dialogue around writing. And, in this process, it’s important for the initial writer to be truly open to revision. Many eyes and many minds can make talking points, press releases, and social media messages better than they were as a first draft.

Thank you following the course of this action research project to date. The project is currently in process, and will continue with interest from the Garrison School Board and members of the community. As you think about this opportunity to provide a permanent space for nature play and environmental study in the Garrison community, I hope you’ll reflect on how much fun it was as a child to build a fairy house with a lush carpet of green moss and little bowls made of acorn caps. Please join me in supporting HHLT’s proposal to purchase a conservation agreement for the School Forest land from the Garrison School. The transaction will provide revenue for the district, and a gift of a parcel of 70 acres of flat land that provides easier access to get Garrison School students into the forest for hands-on environmental exploration.

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Sources Consulted

Doughty, Ian. “Introduction to Policy Writing for Public Policy Professionals: A Practitioner-Led Workshop.” The Harris School, The University of Chicago, accessed April 5, 2015, http://harris.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/files/writing.pdf

Drabble, Emily. “How to Teach . . . Outdoors.” The Guardian, July 8, 2013. Accessed March 14, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/education/teacher-blog/2013/jul/08/outdoor- learning-teaching-resources.

Finch, Ken, and Loza, Adam M. Nature Play: Nurturing Children and Strengthening Conservation Through Connections to the Land. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, 2014. Accessed April 19, 2015. http://s3.amazonaws.com/conservationtools/s3_files/1596/NaturePlayBooklet_Color_P ALTA_links_150108.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=1NXAG53SXSSG82H0V902&Expires=1431366 609&Signature=DeW4HsBWeB5%2FQyg%2BeF7xFFuU8gc%3D

Loeb, Paul Rogat. Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006.

Media Literacy Project. Introduction to Media Literacy. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Media Literacy Project, 2014. Accessed March 14, 2015. https://medialiteracyproject.org/sites/default/files/resources/Intro_to_Media_Literacy.pdf.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “School Forests in Minnesota.” Accessed March 14, 2015. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/schoolforest/index.html.

Putnam County, New York. Putnam County Real Property Tax Service Agency. Putnam County eParcel. Accessed April 17, 2015. http://www.putnamcountyny.com/itgis/eparcel/

Rubin, Laurie. To Look Closely: Science and Literacy in the Natural World. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2013.

Sherman, Gabriel. “Citizen Ailes.” New York Magazine, January 8, 2014. Accessed March 11, 2015. http://nymag.com/news/features/roger-ailes-loudest-voice-in-the-room/.

Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008. Lake 17

Sobel, David. "Beyond Ecophobia." Yes! Magazine, Nov. 2, 1998. Accessed April 13, 2015. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-for-life/803

Sobel, David. Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2008.

Sobel, David. Children's Special Places: Exploring the Role of Forts, Dens, and Bush Houses in Middle Childhood. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001.

Turabian, Kate. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students & Researchers. Revised by Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, Joseph Williams, and the University of Chicago Press editorial staff. Edition Number 8. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Wikipedia contributors. "Garrison, New York," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 11, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Garrison,_New_York&oldid=655985905

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Appendix: Garrison School Forest Map

Running head: DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 1

Dialogues on Graduate Student Academic Advising

at Parsons The New School for Design

Jill Corson Lake

University of Massachusetts Boston

DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 2

Dialogues on Graduate Student Academic Advising

at Parsons The New School for Design

This paper details the planning and facilitation of a series of three dialogues on the topic of graduate student academic advising at Parsons The New School for Design in New York in

April 2014. The dialogues were convened to explore the various practices employed at Parsons to provide academic advising for Parsons’ graduate students. They were also convened to provide research and the opportunity for practical application of the dialogue facilitation methods detailed in Fostering Dialogues Across Divides: A Nuts and Bolts Guide from the Public

Conversations Project by Maggie Herzig and Laura Chasin of the Public Conversations Project and C. Otto Scharmer’s model of dialogue. I felt that Herzig’s and Chasin’s prescriptive methods for mapping session topics and participants, meeting planning, facilitation, and assessment would help me to provide a container in which dialogue might have the opportunity to develop. Then, using Scharmer’s model of dialogue, I planned to examine how discourse proceeded in the facilitated conversations that were part of each of the three dialogues I convened.

Part One

Parsons The New School for Design offers sixteen graduate programs in art and design disciplines. These programs are operated by five schools within Parsons: The School of Art,

Design, History and Theory, The School of Art Media and Technology, the School of

Constructed Environments, the School of Design Strategies, and the School of Fashion. Parsons employs several different models of academic advising for its graduate students. Program directors, faculty, and/or professional academic advising staff members may advise Parsons

graduate students. DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 3

I work as Director of Global Advising within the Parsons Office of Advising. I advise graduate students in five programs: M.Arch Architecture, dual degree M.Arch Architecture/MFA

Lighting Design, MFA Interior Design, MFA Lighting Design, and the double major MFA

Interior Design/MFA Lighting Design.

Planning

I met with my supervisor J.P., Assistant Dean for Advising, on March 24, 2014 and proposed that I convene and facilitate a series of dialogues on the topic of graduate student

advising to provide information for our Advising team about our current practices, and to

provide research for the final project for my Dialogue Processes class. I shared portions of

Fostering Dialogue Across Divides with her, and explained that I would use this resource to plan

and facilitate the dialogues. J.P. approved of my proposal. Together, we mapped the plan for the

dialogue sessions, deciding that the series should include one session for program directors, a

second session for academic advisors who work with graduate students, and a third “lessons learned” sessions for participants of the first two sessions. We set boundaries to shape the container for the program director dialogue by limiting participants to program directors and

deans who have the responsibility for running programs. Although full-time faculty members

and some part-time faculty members advise graduate students, we limited the program director

group to program leadership only. This limitation also helped to keep the group from becoming

too large.

J.P. suggested that I write to the Deans of the five schools within Parsons to inform them

of this endeavor and to seek their support. I followed her advice and wrote to the school Deans

on April 4, 2014. Three of the five Deans responded. Two Deans said that they would like to DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 4

participate in the dialogue series. One Dean said that he would encourage his graduate program

directors to participate.

Fostering Dialogue Across Divides recommended that each dialogue session last for a

minimum of two hours. I scheduled the program director dialogue session for Wednesday, April

16, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. I scheduled the program director dialogue session for Friday,

April 18, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. I decided to shorten the “lessons learned” session to one hour to encourage participation. I scheduled this third dialogue session for Wednesday, April 23,

2014 from 11:00 a.m. to noon.

The Invitation

On April 7, I wrote an e-mail message to the thirteen directors of all sixteen graduate programs at Parsons, inviting them to participate in the dialogue scheduled for April 16. Two school Deans responded affirmatively. Six program directors representing four of the five schools within Parsons responded affirmatively. Two Deans and two program directors did not respond at all. I also wrote on April 7 to the eight academic advisors who advise graduate students at Parsons. I invited them to participate in the dialogue session scheduled for April 18.

Six advisors responded affirmatively. Two advisors could not participate. Both sets of invitations provided a context for convening the dialogue sessions, along with brief information about how the sessions would be structured:

We currently use several different models of advising for graduate students throughout

Parsons. My hope is that you may, together, generate ideas for one model of graduate

advising that we'll follow throughout Parsons. I will follow the Public Conversations

Project of Watertown, MA and Otto Scharmer's model of dialogue as guides in

facilitation (J. Corson Lake, personal communication, April 7, 2014). DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 5

On Monday, April 14, I sent confirmation e-mail messages to individuals who had confirmed their participation in either the April 16 or April 18 dialogue session. The body of my message included a list of proposed communication agreements derived from Appendix C8 of the Fostering Dialogue Across Divides guidebook (Herzig & Chasin, 2006), William Isaacs’

Initial Guidelines for Dialogue derived from his article “Taking Flight: Dialogue, Collective

Thinking, and Organizational Learning (Isaacs, 1993), and Otto Scharmer’s model of the four conversational fields of dialogue. I attached two documents to each message – an agenda for each dialogue session based upon the agenda in Appendix C7 of the Fostering Dialogue Across

Divides guidebook (Herzig & Chasin, 2006), and a document containing Appendix C-1: What

We Mean by “Dialogue,” Appendix C-2: Distinguishing Debate from Dialogue, and Appendix

C-3: Dialogic Aims and Sample Tools to Achieve Them, from the Fostering Dialogue Across

Divides guidebook (Herzig & Chasin, 2006).

Session Design

Meeting space is difficult to acquire at The New School, Parsons’ parent university. I booked Wollman Hall, a space that seats about 100 people, for the first and second dialogue sessions. While Wollman Hall is too large for both dialogue sessions, it is a pleasant space. It has floor-to-ceiling windows on the north and south sides of the room. It has a hardwood floor, a high ceiling, and non-fixed seating. So, seating can be arranged in any way that is suitable for a meeting. Bathrooms are located on the same floor of the building, adjacent to the hall.

I booked the Donghia Gallery for the third dialogue session. It has one homasote wall for pinning up art and design work for critique, and three glass walls. It has non-fixed seating, and is adjacent to bathrooms. It is one-quarter of the size of Wollman Hall. DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 6

I relied on Chapter 4. The Art of Session Design in Fostering Dialogue Across Divides to assist in planning the dialogue sessions. I followed the Single-Session Dialogue format, because

I was working with two different groups of individuals. Additionally, the questions I posed for the dialogue are derived from those suggested in Appendix B-1 of Fostering Dialogue Across

Divides. This is the agenda for the first and second dialogue sessions, which were two hours long:

 Welcome and Orientation

 Review of Proposed Communication Agreements

 Introductions and Hopes

 First Go-Round

o Question: Why is graduate advising an important topic for us to discuss? What’s

at the heart of this matter for you?

 Second Go-Round

o Question: How do you define academic advising for graduate students? What

about your life experiences have informed this definition?

 Facilitated Conversation

o Suggested starting point: Please speak about any value conflicts, gray areas, or

uncertainties you’ve experienced as you’ve thought about this issue.

 Parting Words

The Introduction and Hopes and First and Second Go-Round sections of each dialogue were held in a “go-round” format. In a go-round format, each person in the group receives an allotted amount of time to respond to the question. I timed the individuals. The participants may certainly elaborate on what another individual has said during their own segment of the go- DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 7 round. But, the go-round is not a time for back-and-forth discussion. The individuals in the first dialogue session were given more time, because that group was smaller. The time adjustment was the only difference in the plans for the first and second dialogues. Otherwise, the plans were identical.

For the third “lessons learned” dialogue, I modified the agenda. Instead of posing a new question to the participants, I chose to share with them the emergent themes from the first two dialogues. For the bulk of the meeting, I wanted to provide time for the participants to explore and ask questions of one another about the emergent themes. This is the agenda for the third dialogue session, which was one hour long:

 Welcome and Orientation

 Review of Proposed Communication Agreements

 Introductions and Hopes

 Review of Emergent Themes from the First Two Dialogues

 Facilitated Conversation

 Parting Words

I created scripts to use to facilitate the dialogues by modifying the sample scripts in

Appendix A-1 of Fostering Dialogue by Design. These scripts worked very well to help me explain the plan and content for each session, keep the sessions moving, and remain on time.

Additionally, I found the “Decisions You Need to Make” and the “Supplies and Materials” checklists to be very helpful tools in planning the dialogue sessions. They are both provided in

Fostering Dialogue by Design. DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 8

For all three dialogue sessions, I arranged chairs in a circle. The circle faced a wall on

which I had tacked up sheets of Post-It Note flip chart paper so that I could make notes during

each session. On each chair, I provided:

 The agenda

 The proposed communication agreements

 A notepad

 A pen

 A bottle of water

For the third dialogue session, I provided the items listed above, and added a list of the emergent

themes from the first two dialogue sessions. Additionally, for the third dialogue session, I printed

each emergent theme on a piece of 8.5” x 14” paper and pinned all of the themes to the homasote

pin-up wall in the Donghia Gallery.

Figure 1. Emergent themes displayed at third dialogue.

During the third session, I spoke objectively for five minutes about the emergent themes displayed on the wall. I identified the common themes that had emerged from both groups, DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 9

themes that tie together, and unique themes that came from either the program directors or the

advisors. I did not interject my opinion about the themes. Rather, I explained what emerged from the first two dialogue sessions.

In each session, I began by sitting in the circle with the participants. Following the

Welcome and Orientation, Review of the Communication Agreements, and Introductions and

Hopes, I left the circle and stood at the wall and began to take notes on the flip chart paper. I told

the participants in the Orientation in each of the three meetings that I would leave the circle and

take notes. I changed the placement of the chairs in the second session held in Wollman Hall. In

the first session, we were situated on the north side of the room near the HVAC blower, which

was loud. We had to speak up to hear one another. For the second session in the same space, I

placed the chairs on the south side of the room. We did not face the same issue with the loud

HVAC blower in the different location in the second session. The groups had no other

distractions in Wollman Hall during first and second sessions. That room is the only room on the

fifth floor of its building. So, there is no foot traffic. The Donghia Gallery is different, because it

has three glass walls, and is located on the floor where undergraduate architecture and interior

design students’ desks are located in a huge design studio. The participants told me that they

found it distracting when students walked by. I had situated the circle to face the homasote pin-

up wall, but, the participants could still see activity outside the room.

Dealing with Change

On the evening before the program director dialogue, one Dean and three program

directors from the School of Art, Design, History and Theory canceled their attendance. Early on

the morning of April 16, a program director from the School of Constructed Environments

canceled his attendance. Fortunately, that morning, one additional program director from the DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 10

School of Constructed Environments said that he would participate in the dialogue. In the end, four program directors from four of Parsons’ five schools participated in the April 16 dialogue session, along with two observers. I felt this number of participants was fine, because the Public

Conversations Project recommends groups of five to seven people for its dialogue format

(Herzig & Chasin, 2006). Additionally, I chose to view the size and composition of this first dialogue session from the perspective of Harrison Owen’s Open Space Technology gatherings.

The first principle of the Open Space Technology meeting framework is “Whoever comes is the right people” (Owen). I reflected on Owen’s assertion:

Those present are the only ones there. Whatever gets done will get done with them, or not

at all. There is little point, therefore in worrying about all those who should have come,

might have come, but didn't come. It is essential to concentrate on those who are there.

The experience is that, in some strange way, the group present is always the right group

(Owen).

Four programs directors and two observers participated in the first dialogue session. Six academic advisors participated in the second dialogue session. Three academic advisors and the

Assistant Dean of Advising participated in the third dialogue session. No program directors or

Deans attended the third “lessons learned” dialogue session.

Feedback

In my closing remarks in each dialogue session, I told the participants that I would like to receive feedback from them about their experience as a participant. I used four of the feedback questions from Appendix C-14: Participant Feedback Form in the Fostering Dialogue Across

Divides handbook. I posed the following questions via e-mail on April 24, 2014 to all twelve individuals who participated in one or more of the three dialogue sessions: DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 11

1. What was most satisfying, enriching, or valuable about your experience in this dialogue?

2. What was less than satisfying, frustrating, or disappointing?

3. Can you say something about what you are taking away from the experience?

4. Other comments?

I received feedback from four individuals: the Assistant Dean of Advising and three advisors. These are the participants’ responses to my questions:

1. What was most satisfying, enriching, or valuable about your experience in this dialogue?

 BM: “Getting to know the other advisors and the program directors and learning how

they feel about advising and services here. I really loved being given the time and

space to talk about advising, students, programs. Its so rare to take the time to do

that!”

 JP: “It was helpful to hear the perspectives on graduate advising from the Program

Directors. I appreciated Alison's comments about considering the arc of advising

extending from admission through job placement and how advisors play a critical role

at key points throughout that arc, particularly as students transition on campus, or are

experiencing challenges to their progress. It was valuable to learn that the Directors

who participate tend to view or define advising for graduate students in similar ways

to my personal perspective; that we are collaborators with the Program Directors and

faculty advisors contributing different but complementary areas of expertise...faculty

providing mentorship and curricular/career guidance while advisors provide a breadth

of knowledge about administrative functions, academic policies, student

development, and university resources.” DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 12

 MR: “I think the most satisfying/valuable experience for me in regards to the

dialogue was getting to hear about others practices and experiences in advising and

working with grad students. As someone who only started advising grad students very

recently, it was a great opportunity for me to hear what everyone else had to say. The

dialogue made me consider my role as a graduate student advisor and how we can

move forward to best advise our students, as well as keeping them informed of New

School policies and opportunities through items like NSO, program director

involvement, etc.”

 KS: “The most satisfying/enriching/valuable aspect of these dialogues was that we

were able to get perspective from both sides; program directors and advisors. It was

great that we were able to come up with some common, reoccurring themes in which

both advisors and program directors feel are important to the success and retention of

our students. Additional perspective is always good. I hope we can use this

information moving forward.”

2. What was less than satisfying, frustrating, or disappointing?

 BM: “I really wish we had more program directors and that they had come to the

wrap up session. I think we could have put more of our thoughts into action with

them there!”

 JP: “Though impossible to control, I was disappointed there was no representation

from ADHT, or some of the other AMT and SDS programs. It would have been

illuminating to hear a wider variety of perspectives.” DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 13

 MR: “I would not say that anything was frustrating or disappointing. I suppose my

only feedback here is that we could have perhaps benefited from more time to speak

with each other and a bit less time to answer questions independently.”

 KS: “I would have liked for some program directors to have been present the April

23rd meeting. I completely understand everyone's busy schedule though, especially

this time of year. I was happy that the facilitator was still able to convey their

perspectives and themes through a list that was put together which was really

helpful.”

3. Can you say something about what you are taking away from the experience?

 BM: “I think the whole experience has given me a much broader view of the process

of grad advising and how the grad departments work!”

 JP: “These dialogues hopefully will be the beginning of ongoing conversations that

will help us share more unity of practice across Parsons and to improve the quality of

our graduate students’ experiences.”

 MR: “From this experience, I am taking away how much we can really do in graduate

student advising and how much I appreciate my unique position of being very

involved in both the program I advise and advising these students. In our dialogue, I

realized that this is not everyone's experience, and I feel thankful that I can have this

much involvement and hope this will allow others to consider additional ways they

may be involved in grad student advising and with their program directors overall.”

 KS: “I found that the set up of these dialogues were very well organized and we

tended to stay on topic and not go off on tangents – which sometimes happens when

meeting or dialogues have no agenda/outline. I appreciated that we had an outline and DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 14

that the facilitating made the dialogue/meeting go very smoothly. All points in the

outline were covered and I felt like everyone had the opportunity to contribute as we

spoke in a go-around fashion.”

4. Other comments?

 BM: “Thank you so much for including me in the process! It was not only great to

listen to other but felt so wonderful to share some of my thoughts and feelings on

advising.”

 JP: “Thanks for facilitating these dialogues towards our common academic advising

goals. I hope your project and paper turn out well.”

 KS: “I also appreciated the communication agreements. I think we all spoke from our

own experiences and from our own perspectives. I felt the communication agreements

helped facilitate open conversation in a way in which we can all learn from. Having

visuals like the open notes and the themes pinned up on the wall helped too!”

Part Two

The Container

In Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, William Isaacs notes that “we cannot manufacture a ‘field.’ But we can create conditions under which a rich field for interaction is more likely to appear” (1999). The Public Conversations Project framework, the communication agreements, the placement of chairs in a circle, and the provision of comfortable space created settings in which interaction could occur between the participants of the three dialogues. I focused on the physical space, time space, relational space, and intentional space. The communication agreements observed by the participants in all three dialogues helped to govern the relational space. They were: DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 15

1. We will speak for ourselves. We won’t try to represent a whole group, and we will not ask

others to represent, defend, or explain an entire group.

2. We will avoid making grand pronouncements and, instead, connect what we know and

believe to our experiences, influences in our lives, particular sources of information, etc.

3. We will refrain from characterizing the views of others in a critical spirit, keeping in

mind that we’re here to understand each other, not to persuade each other.

4. We will listen with resilience, “hanging in” when we hear something that is hard to hear.

5. We will share airtime and refrain from interrupting others.

6. We will “pass” or “pass for now” if we are not ready or willing to respond to a question—

no explanation required.

7. If asked to keep something confidential, we will honor the request. In conversations

outside of the group we won’t attribute particular statements to particular individuals by

name or identifying information without permission.

8. We’ll avoid making negative attributions about the beliefs, values, and motives of other

participants, e.g., “You only say that because…”. When tempted to do so, we’ll consider

the possibility of testing the assumption we’re making by asking a question, e.g., “Why is

that important to you?” (Herzig & Caslin, 2006)

The containers holding each of the three dialogue sessions provided energy, possibility, and safety – three elements that author Joseph Chilton Pearce says are required for successful child development – and that Isaacs says are required for successful dialogue (Isaacs, 1999). It was very important to place the chairs in a circle. Isaacs explains that the circle is “a leveler: It implies that everyone is on the level (1999). I observed a noticeable change in interaction when DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 16 there was no table in the center of the participants, and no laptops creating barriers between the participants.

In terms of both intentional and relational space, the boundaries and rules that J.P. and I established really helped to create and maintain the container of the dialogues. We decided that conversation would be limited only those who were invited, and no others. We did face one challenge and possibly hurt feelings over this decision. A program director could not participate in the first session. She asked if she could send a part-time faculty member in her place. I talked with J.P. about this request before responding. She and I felt it was not appropriate for a person who was not in a program leadership role to be engaged with Deans and program directors in the first session. I told the program director that the part-time faculty member could not attend. She was not happy about that decision. However, J.P. and I felt it was key to preserve the container by regulating access to the session. Additionally, after the Dean and three program directors from the School of Art, Media and Technology canceled their participation in the first session, I did not invite them to attend the third session. By missing the exchange in the first session, they did not have a context for involvement in the third session. During the Welcome and Orientation of each session, I asked if anyone needed to leave early, and if everyone could stay for the whole session. Every participant in all three dialogue sessions agreed to stay for the entire sessions. As

Isaacs notes, “gradually growing a set of norms for how these kinds of interactions are handled is an important part of container building” (1999).

The Fields

Because the participants truly did observe the communication agreements, and because they felt safe in the container, the discussions moved very quickly out of Fields I and II in all three dialogue sessions. The participants in the first session, some of whom did not know one DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 17

another, took time to tell stories about their personal backgrounds and the eccentricities of the

academic programs they lead. Once they felt comfortable, they moved very quickly into Field

III. In the second and third dialogue sessions, all of the participants knew one another. People

giggled during the Introduction section, but then did manage to share things about themselves

that they had not shared with their colleagues before. One person is a bird watcher. Another

collects mid-century toy cars. This period of sharing helped to charge the container. In the

second and third sessions, the participants also moved very quickly to Field III.

In the first dialogue with the program directors and a school Dean, the participants were very quick to see the system in terms of Scharmer’s definition of seeing. In the go-rounds, they identified problems caused by a disconnection between the Parsons program directors and the

Office of Admission, Career Services, and Communication and External Affairs at The New

School. At first, they were in a blaming mode. But then, during the facilitated conversation, the

participants redirected their collective attention. They recognized themselves as part of the

system they were trying to fix. At the end of the facilitated conversation, they reached a point of

presencing, and together generated an idea that it would be helpful if program directors,

Admission staff, Career Services staff, and Communication and External Affairs staff engaged in

a dialogue together, like the one in which they were currently engaged, to explore the best ways

to recruit students, advertise Parsons’ graduate programs, and provide career placement for

students. During the same session, the program directors and Dean were able to see and identify

many problems that new graduate students face when entering the university. Together, they

took a deep dive and opened their hearts. They began to tell stories of individual students, and

they spoke about those students in the manner of becoming, and being students, as Scharmer

describes in the Theory U chapter on Sensing (2009). From this discourse, they developed the DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 18 idea together that students need guidance from the point of recruitment through career placement. They defined this timeline as the Advising timeline, which coincides with the goals of the new Student Success Center within The New School.

In the second dialogue, the advisors discussed their individual advising practices during the facilitated conversation. It was apparent to everyone that the practices were very different.

The group was reflecting together in Field III at this point. Participants expressed sadness about the lack of information they had about each other’s work with graduate students. This feeling of sadness changed and moved to a type of resolution to do something about the current situation.

Together, the participants expressed the need to spend time together to share advising practices.

They expressed the importance of coming together on that day for the dialogue session, and stated that they did not want this process to stagnate. Rather, they wanted to create an integrate network of graduate advisors who share best practices and emulate the model of advising followed by MR and the Fashion Studies program director.

In the third dialogue, PN began talking in the facilitated conversation about how the program directors feel about advisors. I observed that he was making assumptions. BM and JP who had attended the program director dialogue as observers stated, somehow without trying to persuade, their observations from the program director dialogue. They both said that the program directors had conveyed deep respect for the graduate academic advisors. They explained that most of what the program directors addressed as emergent themes for action involve improving advising from recruitment through career placement, and creating better working relationships with Career Services, Admission, and Communication and External Affairs. PN really listened. I observed that he suspended judgment and was able to get himself unstuck. He was able to move on productively without retaining a chip on his shoulder, which may have been based on an DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 19 assumption. BM and JP told first-person stories to PN. As Scharmer notes, “one of the most effective mechanisms for suspending judgment and connecting to wonder is to draw people into one another’s first-person stories” (2009). I witnessed the transformational power of the first- person story in that session.

All three groups reached Field IV at different points near the end of each dialogue session. For the most part, I believe the groups spent most of their time in Field III.

What Was Generated

Emergent Themes from Program Director Dialogue. The following are the emergent themes from the program director dialogue held on April 16, 2014:

 Program directors are curious about best practices and wonder if they are advising correctly.

 Program directors need for support when dealing with student health and emotional crises.

 It’s important to help students find classes that meet their career interests and aspirations.

 Guidance in the transition from working life to academic is critical for new graduate students.

 Students need to be introduced to the culture of Parsons and their program during the summer before they enter their program.

 Student anxiety about the future is marked in the first semester of the transition from undergraduate to graduate. Students are delicate.

 Advisors who have deep knowledge of the university’s resources are very valuable to new students.

 The Advising timeline goes from recruitment through career placement.

 Program directors want more information about the Student Success Center and centralization of Advising within The New School.

 Program Directors want to engage in a consultative and collaborative process in working with the Student Success Center to integrate all things from recruitment to career placement. DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 20

 In launching innovative new graduate programs, especially the MPS programs, the institution must support students through career placement.

 Everyone in the University who works with students – Admission, Communication & External Affairs (CEA), program directors, advisors, Career Services – has to speak the same language about program content.

 A homogeneous approach to career services does not work.

 Career fairs have not addressed careers for graduate students. Career Services needs to get out and talk with graduate directors.

 Recruitment done by CEA and Admission does not make sense for each program’s target market. Ads in The New Yorker don’t make sense. Problems with advertising lead to problems with program fit and retention problems.

 Admission and CEA need to engage in deep ongoing conversations with program directors. This type of dialogue format would be very helpful.

 It’s embedded in the program directors’ identities to help their students become successful.

Emergent Themes from Academic Advisor Dialogue. The following are the emergent themes from the academic advisor dialogue held on April 18, 2014:

 What’s the role of Advising at The New School?

 What the role of Advising for graduate students? Is it different from the role of Advising for undergraduate students?

 Parts of undergraduate support can be applied to graduate advising.

 Professional advisors are curious about best practices and wonder if they are advising correctly.

 Advisors can help students connect concepts and understand what courses meet their interests.

 Advisors want more information about the Student Success Center and centralization of Advising within The New School.

 We need to cater to / curate for the graduate students in the way we do for international students.

DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 21

 Don’t assume that graduate students are experts at navigating a university – specifically this university.

 The stakes are high with two-year programs. Graduate students need a thorough introduction to their programs and the culture of the program, Parsons, and The New School. We need to make sure that all information is abundantly clear.

 Early each summer, begin to orient new grad students to the culture, through online orientation.

 The Fashion Studies program orientation is a good model. It is four days long and resource- and content-rich.

 The MFA Photography program orientation, advising, and registration practice is a very poor. It must be changed. It does not encourage student success.

 Early on boarding can encourage students to deposit, and can help to retain the top candidates for each program.

 Advisors feel a tension between their role as administrators and their freedom to share values, feelings, and knowledge about programs.

 Advisors are educators. They should not be diminished as professionals. They should have latitude for thought and judgment.

 M.R.’s advising model and relationship with the Fashion Studies program director was viewed as a model to follow.

 Advisors want to share best practices in graduate student advising.

 Advisors want the work of these dialogues to continue – not stagnate.

Emergent Themes from “Lessons Learned” Dialogue. The following are the emergent themes from the closing dialogue session held on April 23, 2014:

 Desire to focus on orientation practices for incoming graduate students.

 Desire for the graduate student advisors to continue meeting to share practices before the

advising and registration period for new graduate students begins on June 2, 2014.

 Hope that the dialogues will push Advising and program directors forward as the start of

a continued plan of action. DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 22

 Designation of graduate student orientation as the action plan.

 Desire to include program directors in the meetings about improving orientation for

graduate students.

Facilitation

Before facilitating the three dialogue sessions, I re-read “The Personal Disciplines of a

Facilitator” by Jon and Maureen Jenkins. I have advised graduate students since 2008, and

currently serve as the advisor to 145 students in five programs. So, I certainly have opinions

about best practices in academic advising and methods to assist students facing challenges. But,

as facilitator, I played a different role. I needed to be extremely engaged in the moment, yet

detached in terms of my opinion about where the conversation would go. I needed to give

ownership of the content of each session to the participants. They owned each session. I was their guide – there to ensure that they abided by the communication agreements and time limits.

And, I was also there to help them to enact decisions. Jenkins and Jenkins write:

Engagement is in the first place is service. A facilitator is a servant of the group's

processes to make creative and meaningful decisions. Engagement is the discipline of

caring about the quality of people's decisions and their capacity to enact them. Caring in

this sense is not the emotion but the act (2000).

The script I used specified that I would call time, and wave my hand to let a participant know that she was out of time. I told the participants that they did not have to stop in mid-sentence.

They could finish their thoughts. I did experience instance in the first and second dialogues in which I permitted a participant to exceed the time limit because an important idea was emerging.

Jenkins and Jenkins note that part of the principle of Engagement “is knowing when to break the DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 23

rules for the sake of the growth or creativity of the group (2000). I found that I possessed this

capacity of engagement.

I also found that I possessed the principle of awareness. I paid attention to the unique

ideas expressed in each dialogue and found that I could "’swim’ well in the currents of common

wisdom in which the group [was] immersed (Jenkins & Jenkins, 2000). Each session was different. I could not have predicted their outcomes. I found it exciting, exhilarating, and rewarding to help these individuals reach conclusions and generate solutions together. I intentionally thanked each group several times for sharing their time and ideas. I was very grateful to have the opportunity to work with them in this manner. Additionally, I believe I expressed my intentionality about the importance of the process by building a container using the structure of the Public Conversations Project model. The communication agreements recommended by the Public Conversation Project, and agreed upon by all dialogue participants, helped the participants to feel safe to feel that they could voice their concerns and questions. I also showed my intentionality through my concern for the room set-up, writing supplies, the printed agenda, printed communication agreements, and bottles of water. I thought that it would be very helpful to the participants in the third session to see the emergent themes displayed on the wall, and on a list in their hands. In her feedback, KS wrote: “Having visuals like the open notes and the themes pinned up on the wall helped too” (J. Corson Lake, personal communication, April 24, 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the three dialogue sessions went very well. I was pleased with the ease and flow I felt as a facilitator. It was not difficult or scary. Rather, it was illuminating to participate as facilitator. The four participants in the third dialogue and I were disappointed that no program DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 24

directors attended that session. However, if I view that session through the lens of Open Space

Technology, I see that the right people showed up. And those people embodied service in Field

IV. They defined the highest end to which their conversation could serve. I am most pleased and

grateful for the opportunity to help my colleagues collectively see together. As Otto Scharmer writes in Theory U, “the leader’s real work is to help people discover the power of seeing and seeing together” (2009). Although I was the facilitator, and was not a “participant” in the

dialogues, I experienced a personal moment of presencing. I felt “linked to [my] highest future

possibility and destiny” (Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, Flowers, 2004). I saw an emerging future in

which I could do more facilitation, and help other groups to See, Sense, and engage in

Presencing. “The bottom of the U is where . . . you discover ’who you really are as a servant or

steward for what’s needed in the world” (Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, Flowers, 2004). This

project has produced meaningful and valuable outcomes for Parsons graduate students, academic

advisors, program directors, and me.

DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 25

References

Herzig, M., & Chasin, L. (2006). Fostering dialogue across divides: a nuts and bolts guide from

the public conversations project. Watertown, MA: Public Conversations Project.

Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogue and the art of thinking together: a pioneering approach to

communicating in business and in life. New York, NY: Currency.

Isaacs, W. (1993). Taking flight: Dialogue, collective thinking, and organizational learning.

Organizational Dynamics, 22, 22-34. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from

http://wayra.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Dialogue-Collective-Thinking-and-Org-

Learning_WilliamIsaacs_MIT_1993.pdf

Jenkins, J. C., Jenkins, M. (April 27, 2000) The personal disciplines of a facilitator. Presented at

the Art and Mastery of Facilitation – Worlds of Change Conference, International

Association of Facilitators. Retrieved April 30, 2014 from

http://www.collectivewisdominitiative.org/papers/jenkins_disciplines.htm

Lee, C., Hume-Pratuch, J. (August 22, 2013). Let’s talk about research participants. In APA Style

Blog. Retrieved April 29, 2014 from

http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2013/08/lets-talk-about-research-participants.html

Owen, H. A brief user’s guide to open space technology. In Open Space World. Retrieved from

http://www.openspaceworld.com/users_guide.htm

Paiz, J., Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., . . . Keck, R. (2013,

March 1). General format. Retrieved from

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Scharmer, C. O. (2009). Theory U leading from the future as it emerges: The social technology

of presencing. San Francisco, CA.: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. DIALOGUES ON ADVISING PARSONS GRADUATE STUDENTS 26

Senge, P. M., Scharmer, C. O., Jaworski, J., & Flowers, B. S. (2008). Presence: human purpose

and the field of the future. Cambridge, MA: Crown Business. (Original work published)

Running Head: STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 1

Strong Attachment to Dear Ones:

A Narrative of the Good Life

Jill Lake

University of Massachusetts Boston

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 2

Strong Attachment to Dear Ones:

A Narrative of the Good Life

Virginia is an 83-year-old Caucasian woman who lives in Beacon, New York. She grew up on a farm in Sanford, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Fredonia State College in New York. She was married to Robert for 58 years.

They had two children – a biological son named Kent, and an adopted daughter named Laura.

Robert was a Naval officer when they met. He earned a Bachelor’s degree at Cornell University after their marriage, and then went to seminary. He worked as a minister in the Dutch Reformed

Church. Together, they lived in Pennsylvania; New Jersey; several cities and towns in New

York; Ahuas, Honduras; and Warsaw, Poland. Virginia worked as a teacher for several school districts in New Jersey and New York. She also taught elementary school in Ahuas, Honduras and Warsaw, Poland. Additionally, she worked as a journalist, a clerk typist, director of a center for senior citizens, and director of a meals on wheels program.

Virginia and Robert moved from Afton, New York to Beacon in the summer of 2013, because Robert’s health was declining and because they wanted to live near their adult children.

Virginia’s son Kent, his wife, and their two sons live within a 30-minute drive. Her daughter

Laura and her wife live within a 10-minute drive. Robert died in March 2014 due to complications caused by Parkinson’s Disease. Virginia now lives alone in a mobile home located in a mobile home community in Beacon. She has a pet cat. She continues to drive a car. Virginia has a hearing impairment that is helped with hearing aids. She is healthy, mentally sharp, and engaged in her community and in writing. She is an elder and committee member of the Dutch

Reformed Church in Fishkill, New York. She also volunteers at the food pantry run by the church. She participates in a writing group, which supports her writing practice. She has written STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 3 two books, several short stories, and magazine stories. She was never wealthy as a child or as an adult.

Early Childhood

Virginia described what John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth would have identified as a strong, secure, and healthy attachment to both of her parents (Sigelman & Rider, 2012). I imagine that her mother engaged in child-directed speech, responded to distress, and helped her to learn to self-soothe. Sigelman & Rider (2012) explain that “infants who enjoy secure attachments to their parents have parents who are sensitive and responsive to their needs and emotional signals…. (p. 459). Looking at Virginia’s first year of life through the lens of the first stages of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development through the life span, I see that she successfully achieved trust in her caregivers. Erikson (1963) explained that this trust “forms the basis in the child for a sense of identity which will later combine a sense of being ‘all right,’ of being oneself, and of becoming what other people trust one will become (p. 282). The attachment achieved between Virginia and her parents gave Virginia a solid foundation on which to build her sense of self and her relationships with others outside of her family.

Virginia explained in her interview that both of her parents taught her many things when she was a young child. She also said that her mother answered the many questions she asked as a little girl. In the “Language and Power in Development Research” chapter of her book,

Deconstructing Developmental Psychology, Erica Burman (2008) describes the relationship between language and power in children’s relationships with their caregivers. Burman details the work of Harvey Sacks who analyzed conversations between children and their caregivers. Sacks found that children who ask questions – especially “You know what?” questions – are engaging in a device to give themselves the right to speak – and power in the relationship with their STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 4 caregivers (225). It’s clear from the interview that Virginia was not encouraged to be silent in her home. Rather, she was given space and had the right to speak to her parents. By successfully exercising that right as a young child, Virginia began to learn about the culture of the farm, her town, and the wider world. Lev Vygotsky believed that acquiring and using language helps children to “internalize cultural practices” (West, 2001, p. 60). Vygotsky also viewed spoken language as the most important tool that adults present to children (Lamb, 2015c, p. 11).

I decided to imagine what might have been learned about Virginia if she had been part of a developmental-longitudinal study of personality, such as the Dunedin, New Zealand study of a cohort of children studied from age 3 to 21 (Caspi, 2000). I imagine that three-year-old Virginia would have been assessed to be a well-adjusted child with the following behavioral characteristics: friendly, self-confidence, self-reliance, quick adjustment, and easy separation.

With this temperamental assessment at age three, I imagine that Virginia would have the

“positive emotionality” personality structure at age 18. Caspi (2000) notes that individuals with the personality traits of social potency, well-being, and social closeness have the positive emotionality personality structure (p. 161). “Individuals high on this dimension tend to view life as being essentially a pleasurable experience,” Caspi noted (2000, p. 161). Virginia seems to have been consistently supported by her parents, and appears to have moved through the second and third stages of Erikson’s psychosocial theory with feelings of autonomy and initiative.

Virginia mentioned several times that her parents encouraged her make her own decisions and to be independent. This encouragement must have begun when she was between the ages of one and three, corresponding to Erikson’s second stage – autonomy vs. shame and guilt. Regarding the second stage of his theory, Erikson (1963) noted that: STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 5

a sense of rightful dignity and lawful independence on the part of adults around him gives

to the child of good will the confident expectation that the kind of autonomy fostered in

childhood will not lead to undue doubt or shame in later life. Thus the sense of autonomy

fostered in the child and modified as life progresses, serves (and is served by) the

preservation in economic and political life of a sense of justice. (p. 285)

Virginia noted that both of her parents taught her many different kinds of skills. Both parents were adept at what Jerome Bruner called social scaffolding in terms of teaching language and modeling and teaching a variety of skills. Scaffolding is “a process in which more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own” (Taylor, 2015, p. 42). Virginia noted that her father never told her that she couldn’t try something because she was female, too small, or not strong enough.

He encouraged her to try things that were just beyond her ability, yet in what Lev Vygotsky called her zone of proximal development (Taylor, 2015, p. 44). This encouragement from her father throughout her childhood led Virginia to feel capable and built up her self-esteem. These feelings of competence persisted into Virginia’s adolescence and adulthood. C. Arbona and T.G.

Power found that “most notably, children with high self-esteem tend to be securely attached to parents who are warm and democratic” (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 356).

School Years

Virginia noted that she enjoyed school. It seems that she found the process of learning enjoyable. Thus, I believe she exhibited what Brophy called mastery goals as a student. It appears that she focused on increasing her competence or knowledge, engaged in “deep-level processing of material,” and had “feelings of pride and satisfaction associated with success”

(Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 327). In an article about her study of high school students at STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 6

Johnstown High School in a suburb of Chicago, Grace Kao (2000) examined students’ perceptions of their possible selves and their conceptions of success. Kao utilized the concept of possible selves developed by Marcus and Nurius in 1986. They “theorized three essential forms of possible selves: (1) hoped-for self, (2) expected self, and (3) feared self “ (409). While this is a contemporary research study of a school with a diverse student population, Kao’s findings do apply to Virginia as a teen 50 years earlier. It seems that Virginia was motivated by intrinsic goals and had a very strong “expected self.” I gather from the interview with Virginia that she expected herself to do well in school and in public speaking performances and competitions. She also expected to go to college. She did not say anything about her high school years that led me to believe that she was motivated by a feared self – a stereotypical self that she was afraid of becoming. This aligns with the images of academic performance of white students reported by the focus group of students that Kao studied. They expected white students to be “studious, do homework, ‘go for that A, [and to be] nerds” (414).

Adolescence & Identity

As a pre-adolescent, Virginia was fortunate to have at least three chums, Doris, Jean, and

Charlotte. Harry Stack Sullivan theorized that it is very important for pre-adolescents to have an intimate, non-sexual relationship with a chum of the same sex. Such a relationship helps an individual to “get rid of [the] feeling of morbid deficits, validat[e] [their] own worth, combat

[the] loneliness of adolescence,” and provide protection (Lamb, 2015a, p. 14). Remarkably,

Virginia has remained a close friend of many of her friends from girlhood, adolescence, and her college years. I will return to the importance of these friendships later in this paper. From the interview, it was unclear whether Virginia ever experienced an identity crisis as an adolescent.

She attended church as a child and adolescent, and continued to attend church and participate in STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 7 a Christian organization as a college student. James Marcia defined four identity statuses for adolescents “based on their progress toward an identity in each of several domains (for example, occupational, religious, and political-ideological)” (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 358). It seems that as an adolescent, Virginia was in what Marcia called the foreclosure status in terms of her religious identity. This means that she knew who she was, “but …latched onto an identity prematurely with little thought” (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 359.

Sexuality & Morality

It seems that Virginia was always attracted to men. She was clearly attracted to her husband, who was in the U.S. Navy when they met. She chuckled while telling me several times that she liked sailors. However, I did not ask her if she was ever sexually attracted to women, or had lesbian experiences. She did say that she was naive about a boy in her community who talked about wearing women’s clothing. And, it was only as an adult that she read a book that opened her eyes to homosexuality. When her daughter Laura came out to her, and told her that she is a lesbian, Virginia said that she was initially shocked. She exhibited what Jean Piaget called accommodation. In response to a new experience and new knowledge about her daughter, she adapted her knowledge structure (Taylor, 2015, p. 6). She chose to support her daughter and did not ostracize her. In terms of morality, it appears that Virginia did not focus on whether homosexuality is moral or immoral. Rather, she chose to embrace her daughter and to honor her daughter’s rights as an individual to do as she pleases. I believe Virginia’s stance is an example of what Lawrence Kohlberg would view as an integrated Stage Five postconventional moral judgment (Gilligan, 1998, p. 375). However, Carol Gilligan notes that for the men Kohlberg studied “the moral imperative appeared rather as an injunction to respect the rights of others and thus protect from interference the right to life and self-fulfillment” (p. 376). Gilligan notes that STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 8 from her interviews with women, a different kind of moral imperative from all of the women emerged, which is an “injunction to care” (p. 376). Virginia illustrated this injunction to care – and to love deeply -- in her response to her daughter’s revelation of her sexual orientation.

Intimacy & Adult Attachment

Virginia said that she did not date much in high school because she looked too “babyish.”

But she did date in college. At the point of her college graduation, she was infatuated with and dating Don, who had already graduated from college and was working in Corning, New York.

She chose to look for a teaching job near Corning, where Don was working. In terms of Robert

Sternberg’s triarchic theory of love, it seems that Virginia and Don experienced passion and perhaps intimacy (Sigelman & Rider, 474). Virginia found out that Don was dating someone else, which devastated her. So, in his relationship with Virginia, Don lacked of true intimacy and decision/commitment. After college, Virginia and her friends from college began sending around a letter that contained letters from each of them. The friendships and the round robin letter survive to this day. Only one of the women has died. It is remarkable that Virginia has maintained these friendships since college. Virginia's childhood definitely set the stage for a secure intimate relationship as an adult. I believe that Virginia’s strong attachment to her parents, the independence they encouraged, and her high self-esteem helped her to form a strong self identity by early adulthood. So, she moved through stage five of Erikson’s psychosocial theory and was able to develop an identity versus dealing with role confusion. In Erikson’s view, this prepared her for stage six, Intimacy vs. Isolation. Virginia told me that when she began dating

Robert, he told her that he liked taking her places, because she always found something to do. K.

Bartholomew and L. M. Horowitz developed a four-category model of attachment styles among young adults (Sigelman & Rider, p. 475). From the beginning of their relationship, it appears that STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 9

Virginia and Robert had what Bartholomew and Horowitz viewed as a secure attachment.

Bartholomew and Horowitz defined a secure attachment as a relationship with a “healthy balance of attachment and autonomy; freedom to explore” (Sigelman & Rider, p. 475). Virginia told me that if she had married a person who was not comfortable with her independence, the relationship would have ended. It appears that Virginia and Robert trusted one another and gave one another the freedom to cultivate and nurture friendships, explore new interests, and to grow as individuals. This growth was possible because of their secure attachment to one another. Sherry,

Lyddon, and Henson (2007) noted that “securely attached individuals generally reflect a balance between feedforward (assimilative) and feedback (accommodative) processes (p. 338). It appears from the interview that both Robert and Virginia were both flexible and open to new information. And this openness to new experiences helped them to experience the world positively. Their openness to new experiences led them to move to Warsaw, Poland, where

Robert served as minister for a church and Virginia taught school. And, they also moved to

Ahuas, Honduras for a short time, where Virginia taught school. In addition, to their attachment,

Virginia and Robert experienced love. They appear to have had a very strong cathexis, as defined by Goode (Millwood, 2015, p. 10). Virginia said that she and Robert balanced one another through the years. “He taught me to relax more. I was too uptight, Virginia said.

Parenting

Virginia noted that she had had a stillbirth before she successfully delivered her son Kent.

So, I imagine that her pregnancy with Kent was stressful. Kent’s birth was also stressful. He had to have a blood transfusion because Virginia is Rh negative, and Kent is Rh positive.

Additionally, Virginia was told that she could not nurse Kent because of the Rh incompatibility.

This may have affected early attachment between Virginia and Kent, but this is unclear. Because STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 10

Virginia’s tailbone was broken during delivery, she said that she relied on Robert to take care of

Kent for the first three months of his life. Demo & Cox note the importance of partner support for new mothers (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 499). So, at least at first, Robert and Virginia did not conform to the traditional division of labor that takes place after the birth of a child (Katz-

Wise, Priess, & Hyde, 2010, p. 19). I had asked Virginia how her upbringing affected her adult personality. She replied that it made her a better parent. “New parents who remember their own parents as warm and accepting are likely to experience a smoother transition to new parenthood than couples who recall their parents as cold or rejecting” (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 499).

Virginia noted that she tried to have another baby after Kent’s birth, and had two unsuccessful pregnancies. She and Robert decided to try to adopt a child. This desire and action showed generativity on their part. McAdams (2006) notes that “generativity is an adult’s concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations (p. 82). Generativity versus stagnation is the goal in the seventh stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.

McAdams (2006) notes that:

the man or woman in the middle-adulthood years seeks to make a positive contribution to

the next generation through parenting, teaching, mentoring, leadership, and creating and

caring for various products and outcomes aimed at leaving a positive legacy of the self

for the future. (p. 83)

Laura came to live with Virginia, Robert, and Kent when she was two years old. Virginia noted that once they had met Laura, she began living with them within days. So, they very quickly went from a family of three to a family of four. Weir notes that “an adopted baby can pose special challenges: parents … are suddenly thrust into parenthood, often with only a few days notice that their baby is on her way” (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 498). Virginia told me that she STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 11 had a “firm” parenting style. As the family of a minister, I imagine the children were held to high standards. From the stories Virginia told me, I believe she exercised what Maccoby and Martin called authoritative parenting. This type of parenting is characterized by “reasonable demands, consistently enforced, with sensitivity to and acceptance of the child” (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 490).

Working Life

Virginia worked for much of her adult life, while parenting her children. She noted that she didn’t want to stay at home, and didn’t like housework at all. She derived a sense of well- being by being employed – especially as a journalist. Having multiple roles as spouse, parent, employee, and friend was beneficial to Virginia, as these roles provided her with “additional income, social support, opportunities to experience success, expanded forms of reference, and increased self-complexity” (Lamb, 2015d, p. 20). Virginia discussed a change in her career direction that occurred when her family moved to Canajoharie, New York. She said that there were no teaching jobs available, and that she found a job at a small television station. Initially, she sold ads. Then, she began to do the local news for the station. After the station shut down, she began working as a reporter for the Gloversville Herald-Leader. Now, in retrospect, Virginia sees this career change as an approach to something new that she enjoyed, instead of an avoidance of working as a teacher. I view the change in her career direction as a crystallization of her desire to write (Lamb, 2015d, p. 32). This career change helped Virginia to focus on her personal writing, which was very satisfying to her.

Older Adulthood

Virginia noted that now in older adulthood, she has noticed a change in her memory. She said that she forgets – or has trouble retrieving – words from her memory. This bothers her. The STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 12 strategy she uses to remember them is to look up the words. Sigelman & Rider (2012) note that

“most elderly adults report that they have at least minor difficulties remembering things (p. 263).

Virginia continues to embark on new writing projects and sets goals for herself. She wrote a novel this year, and is embarking on putting together a collection of Robert’s poetry. She noted that she’d like to get her stories published, but that she is not very good at sending them out to publishers. Virginia noted that she is proud of the way her children turned out. She said she particularly likes that Kent and Laura have grown to like one another, and that they like each other’s partners. She said that it is satisfying to know that her children will help her if she needs help. Virginia is not suffering from “age segregation” in her friendships. She has younger friends from her writing group, from church, and from the Afton, New York area where she formerly lived. Virginia noted that she loves being a grandmother. She enjoys spending time with and spoiling her grandsons, then sending them home with their parents.

In terms of grieving and coping after Robert’s death, Virginia said that Robert helped her to prepare for his death. She said, “he actually expects me to move ahead and do things and be active and involved.” She said it also helped that she was already involved in her writing group – and that she had already joined a gym and had a place to go exercise. I believe Virginia was helped by her secure attachment style, also. A 9/11 study found that “those with secure attachment styles showed less depression and PTSD after a loss of a loved one” (Lamb, 2015b, p. 34). Virginia said that she looks at pictures of various events and vacations with Robert. She is also reviewing and organizing his poems. Bowlby suggested:

that many bereaved individuals maintain their attachments to the deceased indefinitely

through continuing bonds. They reminisce and share memories of the deceased, derive

comfort from the deceased’s possessions, consult with the deceased and feel his or her STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 13

presence, seek to make the deceased proud of them, and so on. (Sigelman & Rider, 2012,

p. 569)

Virginia said she is finding satisfaction in working at the food pantry that her church operates. She said that she would like to encourage her church to begin doing something for the homeless in her community. She believes strongly that churches should engage in service. And she also shows strong generativity in her nature. Even though she gets tired, she wants to continue to help others who are less fortunate.

Life Narrative

Virginia exemplifies how to flourish in older adulthood. She has developed a generative mission through her work with her church. She is keeping her mind fine-tuned and is continuing to learn through her research and writing. And, she seems to frame upsetting experiences as learning opportunities (Lamb, 2015d, p. 51). She is close to her children, and maintains many friendships. She has chosen to be active and engaged in the year and eight months following her husband’s death. I do think that Virginia found the good life, and enjoyed it with Robert.

Virginia’s stories about her memories indicate high levels of both maturity and well-being.

Bauer, McAdams, and Sakaeda (2005) found that:

mature, happy people … had memories that were both integrative and intrinsic. In other

words, when interpreting any one life event, mature happy participants were likely to

emphasize two concerns: (a) coming to a greater conceptual understanding (b) of

themselves and their relationships (p. 213).

Virginia’s stories about her life consistently focus on what she learned from her experiences. She spins her narrative positively. She doesn’t portray her life as a struggle with a “me against the world” theme. Rather, her narrative shows at its center her curiosity about the world and her STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 14 desire to keep learning and creating. Additionally, through her generativity and her caring style of morality, she illustrates a deep concern for others. Virginia’s narrative emphasizes her attachment to her loved ones and friends, and her desire to serve those who are less fortunate.

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 15

References

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Memories in the Lives of Mature, Happy People. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 88, 203-217.

Burman, E. (2008). Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY:

Routledge.

Caspi, A. (2000). The Child is Father of the Man: Personality Continuities from Childhood to

Adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78 (1), 158-172.

Erikson, E. H. (1963). Eight Stages of Man. In Erikson, Erik H. (2nd ed.), Childhood and Society

(281-297). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Gilligan, C. (1998). In a Different Voice: Women’s Conceptions of Self and of Morality. In B.

McVicker Clinchy & J. K. Norem (Eds.), The Gender and Psychology Reader (347-382).

New York, NY: New York University Press.

Kao, G. (2000). Group Images and Possible Selves Among Adolescents: Linking Stereotypes to

Expectations by Race and Ethnicity. Sociological Forum, 15 (3), 407-430.

Katz-Wise, S.L., Priess, H.A., & Hyde, J.S. (2010). Gender-Role Attitudes and Behavior Across

the Transition to Parenthood. Developmental Psychology, 46 (1) 18-28.

Lamb, S. (2015). Adolescence and Identity [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from

https://umb.umassonline.net/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id

=_68787_1&content_id=_6066993_1&framesetWrapped=true. STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 16

Lamb, S. (2015). Adult Development: Integrity vs. Despair [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from

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=_68787_1&content_id=_6068365_1&framesetWrapped=true

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=_68787_1&content_id=_6063644_1&framesetWrapped=true.

Lamb, S. (2015). Work, Middle-Age, & Life-Changing Decisions [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved

from

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=_68787_1&content_id=_6068330_1&framesetWrapped=true.

McAdams, D. (2006). The Redemptive Self: Generativity and the Stories Americans Live By.

Research in Human Development, 3 (2&3), 81-100.

Millwood, Molly (2015). Attachment and Love in Relationships [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved

from

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=_68787_1&content_id=_6029204_1&framesetWrapped=true

Sherry, A., Lyddon, W. & Henson, R. (2007). Adult Attachment and Developmental Personality

Styles: An Empirical Study. Journal of Counseling and Development 85 (3), 337-348.

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2012). Life-Span Human Development (7th ed.). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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=_68787_1&content_id=_6063613_1&framesetWrapped=true STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 17

West, C. (2001). Play/Therapy: A Vygotskian Perspective. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 20

(3), 60-67.

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 18

Appendix A

Interview with Virginia Brown

By Jill Lake

November 27, 2015

(Names have been changed.)

1. Could you start by helping me to get oriented to your early family situation, and

where you lived and so on? Could you tell me where you were born, whether you

moved around much, and what your family did for a living?

OK. That's easy for me. I was born at home in Sanford, and Sanford is 9 miles from the village of Deposit, New York. We lived on a dairy farm, so it was way out in the country. My mother had had a stillbirth and had been very sick, and so my dad really didn't want her to get pregnant again. But she wanted to, and I was the result of that. They moved onto the farm in April 1932, and I was born in July. My understanding is my mother was not allowed to do anything as far as the move was concerned. My family was helped to buy the farm by my mother's father, my maternal grandfather. It came with cattle and everything. But only short time after they moved onto the farm they discovered that one of the animals had TB, so all of them had to be put down, and they had to start over again with a whole new herd. Actually, by the time I was old enough to know what was going on, we had a large herd of 39 cows and a bull. And the barn held 40 animals, and we had two horses. It was a large farm. It had about 75 acres of tillable land.

Did your family engage in the dairy farm for the time of your childhood? STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 19

Yes. They were on the dairy farm until a year after I was married. So they had lived there all of my life as a child. I attended a one-room schoolhouse for the first five years of school. I was a very tiny child. The teacher didn't want to take me when I was five years old in first grade because I was too little. But my mother prevailed upon her because I was driving my mother crazy wanting to know this and wanting to know that.

I loved school.

2. How did you feel about school as a child, and how would you assess your motivation

to learn, and your engagement in learning?

I loved school. In a one-room school you can learn what the next grade is doing or two grades above you. Because Mrs. Parsons would put all of the spelling words for every grade on the board up in front of me, and so all I had to do was to learn the words. They were there for me and I did often learn a lot of the words that were above my grade level. The same was true with math. I loved math.

Mrs. Parsons was a very loving teacher. When I was in first grade, I remember sitting on her lap while she was working with older children, especially toward the end of the day. First and second graders were allowed to leave after their afternoon classes were finished. But sometimes, my Dad couldn't come and get me and it was too far for me to walk. So I would just be hanging around, and most of those times I would sit in the chair with my teacher. She had a lovely collar a fur collar, I think it was fox, on her coat. I loved the feel of that. STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 20

When I was in sixth grade, I began in the country school but I could never understand the reason, but the Deposit School Board had decided that married teachers weren’t acceptable for teaching.

And, of course Mrs. Parsons was married. Even though her children were both grown. I guess they thought she might get pregnant. I don't know what the thinking was. Anyway the school board, in their wisdom, in about 1943 or 44, decided that they couldn't have married teachers.

Several of the children moved away from the area leaving just four of us in the country school.

The principal asked the four of us could go to Deposit. Our parents agreed.

What were your proudest accomplishments in elementary school and high school?

I loved acting. I always had piece to say for the Christmas program, which was something that I learned by myself and gave as a solo recitation. I loved that and I often had the starring role in plays because I memorized the roles easily. So I loved doing that. I liked getting good marks in school. And then in high school I became a violinist and I played in the orchestra. I scored well on the New York State Music Association programs’ competitions and I was proud of that. I also performed in the prize speaking, which was sort of a continuation of the recitations that I did in elementary school. I learned different, longer speeches and was judged on those. And I did well, particularly in comedy.

3. Let’s go back to your parents. I’d like you to try to describe your relationships with your parents as a young child. Could you please start from as far back as you remember?

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 21

Well some that I remember and some that I was told, perhaps. One of the earliest things I know that I was told was that since I was an only child that I would go around saying to my mother

“what's that” and she would have to tell me what that was. I remember that my grandparents, my father's mother and father, lived stairs in our farmhouse. We had a big long farmhouse. It initially had 14 rooms and then up some of them through my lifetime were combined so there were fewer. But here was an apartment on the second floor of our house where my grandparents lived.

And I remember padding my way up the stairs. Actually I remember one time when I got mad at my mother. I went up to grandparents and they were not terribly sympathetic. And finally I had to apologize to my mother.

I had a very close relationship with my mother. She would answer any question I had. She answered questions on -- after I got to be a little older -- she answered questions about sex. She answered -- any question was a fair question.

Did you feel closest to her over your Dad?

Our relationships were different. But I wouldn't say one was closer than the other, because when

I was a little kid I always went with my Dad. If my dad was going someplace in the truck it was

“wait just a minute, I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” and I would go with my dad wherever it was, whether it was down to the corner to get some little thing or whether it was to go to some place to get sawdust, or to go to Deposit to get a piece of equipment, I went. My mother said that when I was little that I would wear four or five dresses in a day so that I would always be clean so that my dad could take me with him. As I got older, for example, if I wanted to go see a STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 22 particular movie in Deposit, I would say to mom “can we go to the movie?” “Well it's up to your dad.” So I’d go down to the barn and the say “Dad can we go to the movie?” “Well it's up to your mother.” So I figured it was up to me. So I said “Well it’s all right with her, if it's all right with you.” So therefore it must be all right. And we would go.

4. Could you choose five adjectives or words reflect your relationship with your mother?

And they can go back to ages 5 to 12.

She was a teacher to me. I learned all kinds of things. She wanted me to succeed. So, for example, as a piano, she wanted me to learn to play the piano, and I was taking lessons, and she disciplined me enough to make me practice. She didn’t let me out of that. If I wanted to do something that was fine, so you had to do it. She taught me sewing, she taught me cooking.

She was a reader. She read out loud to me and my father. Books and books and books. I was a prized child for her. I don’t know that that’s quite the right way to say it. She wanted always the best for me. Very loving, rarely critical. Non-critical. Non-judgmental. At 12, she began letting me make my own decisions even though she didn't always think they were good ones. She let me experiment.

And the same for your father. Could you name five adjectives or words that

describe your relationship with your father going back to the ages 5 to 12?

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 23

He never said "you can't do that because you're a girl." And that’s probably one of the most critical things for me, an attitude that my Dad had toward me. I asked could I do something, sometimes he knew I physically was not strong enough to do it. But he would let me try. He too was a teacher. And he let me do things that gave him gray hair. For example, I was teenager. I learned to drive probably when I was about 12 on a farm vehicle -- on old car. And I asked later on if I could back the tractor out the barn. The barn had a stone ramp that dropped off particularly on the left side into the driveway. It was a stone wall up that held this dirt ramp. And

I went to back out out the barn I had my foot on the clutch and it began to roll. And my dad yelled “brake, brake, brake.” And I slammed the brake on just in time. The next time that we took the wagon and the tractor into the barn -- I mean I was scared and so was he – but the next time I went into the barn with that tractor, Dad said “get on” and he got on with me. And he said

“keep your foot off the clutch.” That’s something I’ve never forgotten. I’ve never put my foot on the clutch since, unless it was absolutely necessary. And he made me back that tractor out. He wouldn’t let me quit, even when I wanted to. He let me do things too that sometimes my mother didn't approve of. He let me drive the car without a license, just a mile or so down the road. But it was a very loving relationship. He, too was a teacher in many ways. I hung around him a lot outdoors. He had a great sense of humor. He liked to tease.

5. When you were upset as a child what would you do?

As a young child I’d go up to my grandparents for sympathy, which I didn’t really get.

If you were hurt what would you do? STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 24

I'd go to Mom. Mom was the fixer of bruises, bumps, sickness. She was the nurse.

If you were ill, would you go to her?

Oh yes. Yes absolutely.

Do you remember her holding you if you were hurt or ill?

Oh yes, very much so. And she would hold me before I went to bed. I loved to have my ears rubbed.

Do you think that they were especially glad that you’d been born?

Oh yes. Yes. I guess that's why as an only child I was extra loved. And Robert would say I was the Princess. They were very generous with me. This little table here. Mom and dad had almost no money when it came to Christmas. I think that would've been shortly after they had to buy a new herd of cows. So they had virtually zip. My dad had fixed the sink in the kitchen and this piece was part of the sink, and he made this table for me out of it. And then he drove his milk to the creamery. At the time, he was going into deposit every day to take the milk to the creamery.

He had less than a dollar in his pocket and he bought that chair to go with the table. It was his last $.75. So I was a princess. My mother made most of my clothes. My grandmother decorated STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 25 them all. As soon as my mom made a dress for me, my grandmother made a lace collar, or smocked it, or did embroidery on everything. All of my clothes had extra bits that were so sweet.

6. I would like to ask you about your relationship with Doris. What relation is she to you?

How long you've been friends? Were you close friends when you were teenagers?

OK. Doris is my first cousin. Her father was my mother's brother.

Doris is about two years younger than I am. Let’s see maybe when I was 10 or 11 -- I don't remember exactly when it began -- but there were five of us cousins on my mother's side that played together. There was my cousin Keith, Doris’s brother, and Loretta who was my uncle

Carl's daughter, and Shirley, her sister, and myself and Doris. There were five of us that were kind of like within an age group and we always played together when we had family gatherings.

Anyway, Doris was of those cousins, and she began liking to come to the farm. When she was nine or maybe 10, she would come and spend a week or a few days. She loved the farm, and she and I were like sisters. We are still. Doris is the closest I ever had to a sister. So she was a confidant. We played together on the farm. She and I played croquet endlessly. We would play pinochle, monopoly we played games. We would go to the creek. We would go wandering. We would ride the pony. Doris loved the animals on farm. One time, we had puppies, and if you didn't know where Doris was, all you had to do was to go to the barn and find the puppies. That's where she was.

Did you have other close friends when you were a teen, as well? STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 26

Yes. Well one of my best friends growing up was in school with me in the one-room school,

Jean. Now she goes by Trish. She was Jean that time. She was the granddaughter of one of the families in the church and her grandmother and grandfather basically raised her until she was 12.

Jean and I used to meet together each other down the corner of Sanford Road and 41. There was a little store there. She’d meet me to have a Coke or something. She and I were buddies from first grade.

I understand there's a group of friends you have ongoing letter with that has been

going on since college. Could you tell me about that?

One of my other best friends as a teenager was Charlotte. Charlotte lived in Deposit and she played violin. By that time I probably was closer to Charlotte than I was to Jean, although Jean and I were still very close. Charlotte and I roomed together all the way through college. We borrowed each other’s clothes, and we disclosed our secrets. There were no secrets. So it was

Charlotte and the two girls that lived next door to us, Joyce and Fern, and another girl that we were a very good friends with -- Barbara. We all had been in the Methodist Church together. We had been in the student Christian Association together. We had done a lot of stuff together. Jean had gone to college with us, but she left in her sophomore year and joined the Air Force. Later she got married and was pregnant and they released her from the Air Force.

At one time we had two letters. That was Barbara, Joyce, Fern, myself, and Charlotte. And then the other letter was basically the same people without Barbara. Shortly after college, we began STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 27 the round robin. I would write a letter, put it in an envelope, and everybody would add one. And then it would come around and you take out your letter and put in a new one. We sent those around probably 2 to 3 times a year. We're still doing it. We've lost Joyce. I wish I had all of my letters, which I don't. I have letters probably from the last 20 years. I don't have the other ones. It was initially about boyfriends, all of the men that we met, etc. Then, it was about weddings and husbands. And then it was about the children, babies. And then it was about older children growing up. Now it's about getting older.

7. So what college did you attend?

I attended Fredonia State teachers College in Fredonia New York.

How did you choose that school?

Well, I thought I wanted to be a music teacher. We had a music teacher in Deposit , Miss

Valentine. And when I was a junior in high school, Ms. Valentine took Jean, me, Charlotte, and

Mary Lou. We were all musically inclined. And we made a trip to Fredonia together and she showed us the school. We liked the school. Charlotte, Jean, and I all applied to Fredonia and we all got in. Charlotte and I chose to be violin majors. I did not get along well as a violin major with the violin teacher. I never understood what he really wanted. I got a D the end of my first year. I talked to a psychologist about my problems with the violin, and decided I really liked

Fredonia, but I would probably be better off as an elementary teacher major. So, I became an STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 28 elementary student education student. They transferred all of my music credits as a minor, so I never lost anything as far as credit. I was able to graduate in four years.

When did you start college?

At 17. I graduated from high school at16 because I started elementary school at age 5 in first grade.

What are your proudest accomplishments from your college years?

The debate team. I liked the guy that I was teamed with. I was also chosen for a special class in my second semester as a junior. I think it was a class of 12 people with a question we were given. The question, as we formulated it was, is there a need for nursery education and will radio help satisfy that need? And we did surveys. We did analysis. We wrote radio scripts. We acted the radio scripts and so on. A lot of times the professor didn't show up, but we did. He knew we were just going to do it, so he checked in now and then.

And what did you hope to do after graduating from college?

What I hoped to do was to teach.

8. How did you meet your husband? STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 29

Maybe I should just give you that writing, as I have just finished writing that. I wrote on being a minister's wife, and it begins with not wanting to be a minister's wife. I met my husband because

I had fallen in love with Don, who had a lovely baritone voice. He had gone to teach in Corning because he was two years ahead of me in college. And I therefore assumed that we would get married. When I graduated, I applied for teaching positions near Corning. I got a job in Painted

Post teaching kindergarten. And one day Pat -- Pat took care of one of my kindergarten children

– she came to pick up Stephen And she said "Will you go out with my brother this weekend on

Saturday?" I said, "I don't know your brother, and I don't go out with people I don't know." She said "I'll bring him over tomorrow after school." I said OK. So, the next day I'm looking around, and I see that need to clean up the easel covered with paint. So I took the easel down to the basement of the school where with water was and I got it all cleaned up. Meanwhile per second paint all over me I carried the easel back upstairs into the room and there stands Robert. I had totally forgotten that he was coming.

How long did you date him?

We dated for one year before we were engaged. and then in the morning your and

Had you dated many other men?

Not much in high school because I looked babyish. No one thought I was old enough to date. But when I got to college, suddenly I got older. They figured if she's in college, she’d old enough to date. So, I dated some men in college and also some men in Corning other than Robert STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 30

How did you know Robert was the right partner for you?

It didn't matter what we did. We enjoyed being together. It didn't have anything to do with how much money we spent.

If you have a spouse who wants to be your end all – who wants everything for them and in attitude doesn't want you to go off and do something on your own on that’s separate. That ties you down. Robert never did that. And so it was kind of almost a smooth transition from being single to being married. There there were some wrinkles here and there. But in essence, there was a time when we were dating he said “Oh, I like taking you someplace because after we get there I don't have to worry about you. You’ll find things to do on your own.” That attitude is what gave me independence. It gave me the same value of myself that my parents had given me.

So they worked together. Now if I had had somebody as a spouse who couldn't stand to have me go out to dinner with somebody else male or female, well I probably wouldn’t have been married for very long. I would have ditched him. Because I couldn’t have lived that way. I couldn’t be under somebody’s thumb. I can be with you, but I don’t want you telling me what I should think, what I should do, what I should eat, and that kind of thing. I still love sailors.I think they considered him cocky to a certain extent. That’s why I liked him. I think we raised a couple of children who are a bit cocky, too.

Independence, being able to survive on your own. I worry about certain people. I worry about my friend Glenda. I worry that if Bob dies, she’s going to fall apart. She, to me anyway, is very dependent. Now maybe she’ll come through. I worry about people that are so dependent on one another they can't make minor decisions of what they’re going to do. After Robert began not STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 31 to be well anymore, I knew that I had to make the decisions. I knew that I had to go ahead and find a place. When we looked at houses, not whether or not that he would like it. I certainly wanted one that I thought that he would feel comfortable in. But at the same time I knew that I had to sign my name to it because I was going to be independent of him. Alan is good with finances. He came over to talk to me about our finances. I laid out our assets and told him what I thought we could afford and how much I thought it would cost us to live etc. And he said to me bluntly, “you are going to take have to take care of this. You are going to have to make sure that it’s something that you want.” And that really drove it home to me. You know, I still wanted it to be a couple thing. But Alan just drove home to me that I'm going to be the one that's responsible.

So, I knew when it came time to decide on a place, I was going to have to decide whether we would do it.

9. How long had you been married before you became pregnant with Kent?

Kent’s was not my first pregnancy. We had been married for four and a half years to answer your question when I got pregnant Kent. However I had been pregnant two years before that, and had a stillbirth in 1958.

How did you feel about becoming a mother?

I was excited and worried after having the stillbirths. I had not been anxious to get pregnant the first time. But then once I was pregnant, I wanted to have a baby. I was really angry at a woman that lived near me who already had five children and she didn't really take care of her children. That made me angry that I didn't have a baby. So when I got pregnant with Kent I was really nervous about it but excited about it.

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 32

Was it a relief to have a live baby?

Oh it was. It was. I remember being in the hospital and Robert being there and looking across the room to their three over there could not focus but it does but then you know that Kent had his blood transferred within five hours of his birth, because I'm Rh negative they and he's not Rh positive. yeah and today when they did that to the tell you before the they told the going to do about it I'm sure they told Robert whether or not what dawned on me at that particular time I was probably still too far out of it I gone to the hospital get for something morning in the call the doctor will relax will be in the couple of hours and only because he had the had me Dr. delivered tech the quick he went fishing the nurse told me wants to so I went fishing and he came in at eight gave me a shot and maybe after the transfer on I didn't see him until the next day that and at the time they didn't feel that I should nurse they know a lot more about a positive and a negative now than they did then. But the young pediatrician didn't think it was wise for me to nurse.

10. How did your relationship Robert change with the birth of Kent?

One the things that Kent did when he was born, was he cracked my tailbone. So therefore I couldn't sit. I couldn't sit in the chair and rock him for example. If I wanted to hold him I had to lay down in bed. I was totally reliant on Robert to care for him. I could stand up and I could bathe him. I just couldn't sit down and hold him and rock him. It took about three months for that to heal. I had cracked it before and your tailbone is normally flexible but if you do something to it it will harden. And that's what happened to me. It became firm, and then he hit it and cracked it. There is nothing that you do for it. I could tell when it was raining for years. STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 33

11. What different kinds of jobs did you do outside the home?

When we were first married, I had a teaching license for Pennsylvania. But I couldn't find a job. I worked in the nursery school about a block and a half away from where I lived. Then, after that, friends that lived near us suggested that I would enjoy working at the competent mutual home office which was three quarters of a mile away. And we could walk easily. She said why don't you come over and try for a job. So I worked there in spring and summer as a clerk typist. I got a job teaching in Interlaken while Robert was in college. Then we went to New Brunswick. After

Kent was six months old, I began subbing in the New Brunswick school system. Then I got a job for the last year and a half teaching in the Highland Park school system, which was across the river from New Brunswick, New Jersey. When we lived In Canajoharie, I first worked for a local cable station that went bankrupt. And then I really liked writing local news, so I went over to the

Gloversville Leader-Herald and offered my services and they accepted them. And I wrote for the

Gloversville Leader-Herald for the next five years or six years. In Albany I worked as a clerk typist. Then I was director of a senior center. And then I worked as the director of the Meals on

Wheels program for senior service centers. After that, I taught in Warsaw.

Which was your most favorite job?

My most favorite was the news. I was that so set aside to write I like to on I get to write think of features that I'd like to write in so did some freelance writing of articles for the xx. I’m pretty good at neglecting housework. I never like to do it. And actually, when Kent was little, I had STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 34 somebody that did housework for me. I had them come and do the housework. And I had a woman that came and took care Kent. And that's all she did was take care of Kent. She was a sweetheart. She was an elderly lady. And later on, I had some good babysitters in Bloomington when Kent was little, because I was always involved in the church choir, and Robert was always doing something. So I had two or three girls that took care of him, and there were a couple of women in the congregation that would also babysit for me. As far as when I was working, especially after my friend’s son Jeffrey was born, my friend Carol would take care of Laura.

Was there anything in your life that changed your direction?

My particular direction, or something in our marriage that changed my direction?

Either.

Well let's see. Actually, as far as professionally I had been subbing when we lived in

Bloomington in Robert's first church and I and all I had done previous to that was teach except for two or three months when I worked in an office in Philadelphia on The rest of time I had been teaching, and in Bloomington I had been subbing. When we moved to Canajoharie there were no teaching jobs. One of the reasons is that budgets were all going down so they were not hiring people work experience. They were hiring new teachers because they were cheaper, and somebody with several years of experience was not. So I looked around to see what I could do, and I found this little television station. And first I started selling ads for them. It was privately owned by a couple. And then I persuaded them that they should do local news, and they asked me to do it. So I began collecting the local news. And then when the television station went under, that's when I began working for the Gloversville Leader-Herald. I went over to them and said I've got a lot of contacts for local government and so on in Montgomery County and in the STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 35 area. Do you need somebody to write stories for you so? So that kind of changed the direction of what I would do, and I didn't really go back to teaching until we were in Warsaw. So for the next

18 years or so I did other things than teach. So that was the change that also got me writing much, much more. I did a lot of writing. I chose different topics and investigated them researched them.

And that prepared you for the writing that you did later?

Yes, and I began doing articles for magazines.

So how did that kind of work feel to you?

I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the news -- going out listening to board meetings. and you're going to school board meetings that among town village board the story and I enjoy writing. Being out and about was my thing at the time.

12. How did you decide to adopt a child?

OK. We wanted to have another child, and I got pregnant again, and I miscarried. I got pregnant a second time and should have miscarried, but I didn't because I was taking holding drugs. And when the baby was born it was severely malformed. And that was it for the pregnancies. Robert said, "you can't do that again." So we went to the County, and at the time adoptions were not handled privately. They were handled through social services. They accepted us. I wanted a little girl; I really wanted a baby. But it turned out that when they called and said we have a girl,she was one and a half. That was the fall, but then she was sick, so they couldn't bring her to us.

Then it was Christmas and the foster family wanted to keep her for Christmas, and then she had a cold. Anyway it was February finally I we've been waiting six months on they called and said STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 36 would you like to come in here case focus on about her children's pictures. you have to decide whether you want to meet her that's not paramount keeping meeting So they brought her the next day to our house and when that they came to take her back again, we wanted her to stay.

Was Kent involved in the decision to adopt a child?

I think we talked to him about getting a child, certainly. He wasn't involved in whether or not we would adopt Laura. We let him stay home from school on the day that she arrived.

How did adopting Laura affect your family?

Well, it's like having a second child any time you know it is the same as having a second baby.

You have somebody else to care for. In some ways, Kent was already it was fine there's five years difference so he was moving out of the family. Where Laura kind of moved into a slot. I would say very much like having any time whether the child is born to you or whether comes by adoption. I think Kent really welcomed her.

13. How would you describe your parenting style?

I’d say fairly firm. I'm do know that I had a tendency with the kids to kind of pick at them. And

Then I would say “If you do that one more time!” ne It Was The New Mom Had Finished She

Had Enough So I Don't Know What You Call That Style but Kind of Allowing To a Certain In

Did You See Your Relationship with The Children Change When They Were

Teens? STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 37

It Laura who was the tester, The strange thing was that Kent stayed right under the radar of what was acceptable and what wasn't. Where Laura didn't. When Kent Was 16 or 17 and Laura would've been 12, Robert and I really needed a night away. We had a meeting he had to go to in

Albany. We got a telephone call from my friend Fran. Fran said, “we were visiting the Edwards last night and came home about midnight and Laura was downtown on main street at age 12.”

Yeah, and her brother was supposedly watching her. He was home in bed. so what do we she sent suzanne and i had to see what time it was we walk we just walk down the street to look at the bank clock so we know what time it was Well the upshot of that is that Laura was put on restriction. She had to go directly to school. We took her to school, drove her to school. When she came she came home for lunch, we picked her up for lunch, and we’d take her back. And she was to be home but it's really she had just the short ways to walk the home. She was not allowed to go anywhere with anybody or to use the telephone. If i had choir to go with me if it would go it in with robert was in the home if we're both going to be out if i had to go someplace for a meeting she had and robert had to go to a meeting at the church she had to go sit in the meeting and wait.

I particularly like that they've grown to like each other, and they both like the other one's partner very much. I'm proud of the way they turned out prompted Kent is a good father and a good husband. Laura is still as independent. I like it that they still seem to like to be around me.

They have their own lives, but willing to share, and it makes my life satisfied. I know I have somebody to help me if I need help. I think we are in agreement about important things. We may not agree on bits and pieces involving the world. But if it's important, we generally agree.

Tell me about your role as a grandparent

STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 38

I love being a grandparent they go home you can do anything you practically bonded in well allow a lot of the way with grandchildren camp really along with children you're going to keep them all the time you have to be a little more strict perhaps so you can spoil them what is

14. Now I'd like to go back to thinking about your your upbringing. How do you think relationship with your parents affected your adult personality?

I think my parents gave me the freedom to be who I wanted to be without expectations that I would be something some way because if my mother my mother was a superduper housekeeper but she never imposed on the think she ever think either one of them ever put their expectations

There was one day I didn't meet expectations that person college graduation not that I it was my behavior not the fact that that I think I chose to ride home with her boyfriend rather than did not meet the expectations the special guide not worth the but I wouldn't know they one of their things that they only said from get golf from the one was in place was when you marry we do not expect you to live at home whatever ever you memory choose A because you live at home that expectation certainly was something that I knew to up to be careful on now

15. Going back to parenting, how were you affected by Laura coming out to you and telling you that she is a lesbian?

It was a big shock, being that she was married. Although, I suspected that that marriage wasn't all that grand. I didn't know until she let Donnie know. And finally she came to see us. I remember sitting in the living room, and she told us that she had fallen in love with Wendy. I took a very deep breath to really stop look at it. I never remember talk in the church about STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 39 homosexuality. I think I knew it wasn't was something I considered much one way or the other I had a neighbor Jack who went to school the one-room school and he would go to Jean's house and her grandmother's house and talk about all the fine dresses he had, and all of the lovely finery that he had found at garage sales and the church rummage sale. It never occurred to me that he was transvestite. Over time I came to think about homosexuality. Our chaplain friend brought us this book call Stranger at the Gate, which is about man, written by a person who had been an evangelical. It opened my eyes to homosexuality. I don’t remember exactly when I read it. But it was on my shelf for quite a while before I read it. And whether was before or after

Laura came out, I don't remember .

16. How has your memory changed, if at all, as you have aged?

Is it different? Okay as you the words disappear bothers me they disappear practice strategies go look about one of my strategies is to go look it up in try to implanted Dan I would say that's the she think that bugs me about aging well about memory helpful all to helper do this is history release getting sleepy last night and wondered maybe if I left on the words will come back to what on I do read I'm doing some research you heard me talking about this yesterday you actually will go into the next question all the next question is right so you print children

17. Why is writing important to you? And also, what are you working on now?

OK. I like writing. it's just like telling stories I'd like to get them published. Actually, I'm not good at sending things out, which is not a good way to be. What I'm working on now I'm working on I really do have to work at getting some of those stories out more than they are there

I think everything is out once some things last year. I did the novel this year. I have decided to edit it. So that's one of the things I'm working on. Another thing that I’m embarking on is STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 40

Robert's poetry. That is not writing -- that's more organization. And then the other thing I’m trying to research is timber rafting on the Delaware River.

Are you still working on the Mary Coulter book?

I was a very cold her book is finished okay unless editor one to the three what I'm done in related to that how does it feel to complete finishing the first draft is very gratifying what a great evening editing when you get to the end the breath right to that even if I do have to do it again stress a set it's satisfying in it when you're writing a story and you come to the end of what you want to say this kind of relief but I think your mind generally continues the story of a continuing what even though you and so the is your the thing that you want to work on the most right the timber story. I'm not ready to start writing. I’m just researching. I’m trying to find as much information as I can. I found a book about lumber and the sawmills by Louise Smith. I contacted her and sent her money for the book, and she sent it. I haven't had a chance to read it.

18. You were married to Robert for 58 years. You did traveling together. How did your relationship change over time? relationship was based on traditional 50s however think the mold when finally graduated from seminary in had a steady job angst are in Bloomington there the end of June I have I enjoyed some but by October board find something to do and that's when I took the famous writers course. So, I was never the homemaker -- the one that wanted to be home taking care of children. to take your children but necessary as you always wanted to something else of the first eight years that we were married second half the half being when Kent was a little baby in the not to keep to change it all sure our relationship changed on I don't think that I necessarily fulfill the desires of keep people in the church me thought I should stay take your. Robert always said,

"you're my wife. You're not the other minister." I felt free to participate or not participate as I STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 41 chose. Most the time I chose to participate. I always felt it was my choice. think I didn't want to something I sent because I heard something sent the in Bloomington Robert one to change jobs and am Warwick before the church was open you know have you ever been to Warwick gorgeous city town a lot of lot of money in the Warwick reformed churches of the Goldstone this we interviewed there and as part of the interview they had decided they had to use the Parsonage as a parsonage for the previous pastor going to with the new best and walking through Parsonage not that the project was and we were I remember one walking sterile since something not sure what he said I suspect he may have indicated yes you are the perfect pastor's wife great for entertaining seven and so today I will be here now I don't know what how I answered that whether I answered wrong and the guy but back to the subcommittee and said you don't want him or whether something set up but I determine I would fight that was not true any of the other moves you filthy stereotype there I will that I think that's what I was feeling you and that was just no way husband Lisa bought I will look look for a job that may be a I'm

How did your personalities complement one another?

We moderated one another. I think he taught me to relax more. And I taught him a little more financial care. I think we balanced one another that way. I probably was too uptight and maybe he was little looser than I would want to be, and I think maybe we balanced one another out through the years.

How did your relationship changed after the children moved out of the house?

Laura graduated and 83, but in 83 we also got Mark. so 80 for didn't have anybody in the house before as an older F since the change since personality changed tech in what way she she showed a stronger personality if you strange combination but have you ever had a young cat no when the STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 42 okay no 70 becomes chief what happen with Laura tentative and chief and when he told systems chief I guess that's what back to

How did your relationship change when Robert’s health declined?

He had much more dependence on me. I knew that I had to make the decisions -- decisions that normally we would have made together. But he was not capable of making decisions, particularly in the last couple of years.

Was it your practice to make decisions together?

Yes, especially major decisions was made major decisions together purchases are what were going to do where were going to be that kind of thing was always together having live friend is over the I I know he expected me to the head doing what I like to do on and basically do right I and joined the church participate I'm an elder what brainpower I have the it approve like to think of alleles the you know I have pictures and get on my screen sometimes I just sit and watch him.

When I see a picture of Caitlin and Robert, I think about their love-hate relationship was always loving relationship friendships the cure all you you Carol particularly understands she went through same kind of thing Robert actually apparently had it easier than she did I know I had it easier but Stan sometimes where I'm coming from whatever say and

How have you coped with Robert's death, and what has helped you to cope?

Well, I think partly he did, because he said to me several times in the last talked about let me talk partly about not wanting to nursing home not wanting to the slides got promise that you won't let STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 43 me just the event be a vegetable you'll be fine I can I put: you can He told me that more than once that "You're OK. You can do it." And so I think that I think that often actually he expects me to move ahead and do things and be active and involved. So in that way he had helped me to move ahead. One other thing that helped me immediately was that I was already involved in the writing group, and I had already joined the gym, so I had place to go for exercise. been there for a while now that job it was something I could do help myself And the writing group kept pushing me. Just going there every week – if was great for me to produce something and to be involved with them.

We had not been going to church for a couple of years after incident with the Niles'. But I really felt that I wanted to go back to church. I think if Robert had been able to he might've gone back to church with me. So Laura and I started going Fishkill Church. Obviously and that pushes me to move ahead keep active and to do something. I’m in the choir and on the committee for the

Memorial garden. I want to push the consistory towards doing something for the homeless. The church has a lot of money. It’s got about $1.4 million. It's a lot. At least it feels like a lot of money to me. The service of the church is encouraging those efforts. That’s what inspires me.

But I think that's basically what the church is about -- is helping. If you believe in Jesus as a teacher as save your however your Faith is expressed well it however you say your faith to express your faith thank you to something others can't just that it's not enough to say I believe in

Jesus I believe in the same that's not sufficient on if you believe in your being saved then you better go save somebody else. so I I find it satisfying the meeting this a long we get to do so we get it but it's getting back something I think that's that's what we have to do the church is not the give anyone that whole Scripture passage when was I hungry and I didn't feed you were naked I clothed you. That passage is the one that's what the church is about. So doing those things make STRONG ATTACHMENT TO DEAR ONES 44 me satisfied. It’s tiring sometimes, but still satisfying enough to make you want to do it. And I have more desire to do it than I have energy.

Lake 1

Jill Lake Philosophy 501/CCT 603 Metacognitive Assignment December 2, 2014

It has been rewarding and challenging to study Philosophy this semester. I did not take a

Philosophy course as part of my undergraduate curriculum. And, somehow, I moved through life without dipping into philosophical works by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and so many other thinkers. Much of what we’ve read, pondered, and discussed during this semester is new to me.

I am still trying to wrap my head around the notion of how one does Philosophy.

Aristotle said that it starts with wonder. Gareth Matthews says that we need to use a child's mind to engage in Philosophy. We need to have humility and the ability to suspend judgment.

And we need to be excited about everything -- the simplicity and the complexity of our world.

My sons help me to engage in a type of active, excited, and grateful observation. I have been fortunate to listen to and reflect upon their perspectives on the world as I've moved through the ideas we've grappled with in this course.

Sometimes, doing Philosophy comes easily to me, such as when we discussed terrorism and torture. At other times, I find doing Philosophy to be difficult. It took me a great deal of time to ponder and sort out my thoughts on abortion. In the end, I believe I wrote a very thoughtful essay based on new conclusions of my own about gender and the issue of abortion, and the need for individuals to engage in methodological belief to dwell in, take on, and begin to understand the beliefs of others. Lake 2

Some of the essays on Justice -- by Rawls, Mill, and Hobbes -- put me to sleep. So, I thought about my learning style and altered it. I tried to learn about Rawls', Mill's, and Hobbes' theories by watching professors' lectures on YouTube. I found some videos by Dr. Jason J.

Campbell, Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution and Philosophy at Nova Southeastern

University. Those helped. But a video lecture on Rawls by Dr. Joe Oppenheimer put me to sleep.

Earlier in the semester, I found that I understood and retained more information about Plato's

Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito by listening to Libravox recordings of the dialogues. So, I learned that I sometimes fare better as an auditory learner, than through reading.

I have found that the difficulty of some of the course material is OK. Doing Philosophy is a necessary mental practice, like the physical practice of yoga, which I think becomes easier and more fluid with repetition. I've found that Philosophy fills in what was a giant gap in my knowledge and my critical thinking. I see that an understanding of philosophical theories is essential for a person who hopes to move from non-critical thinking, to weak sense critical thinking, and to strong sense critical thinking. I also see how essential this course is to the CCT curriculum.

I have noted several instances during this class when I realized I had never thought deeply about issues, such as torture. I was profoundly swayed by Henry Shue's essay "Torture in

Dreamland: Disposing of the Ticking Bomb." Now, I see that advocates of torture base their reasoning on the assumption on ticking bomb scenarios involving having found the right man, prompt and accurate disclosure of critical information, and torture as a rare option used in isolated cases.

Upon reflection, I find it embarrassing that I had not thought critically about many issues Lake 3 that are essential to life. However, instead of wallowing in embarrassment, it's more productive to report that I've engaged in deep learning through the readings and discussions for this course. I've questioned what I think I know and why, in the spirit of Rene Descartes. And I've come to conclusions regarding what I really think about certain issues.

I have become enamored with Aristotle’s writing. I am especially taken with his discussion of anger, and how one may influence members of society by understanding what motivates them to feel shamed or like victims -- and how those feelings trigger anger.

Aristotle's tutorial, written perhaps in about 340 B.C. teaches one how to move the public to action through the use of emotion. I am filled with wonder -- like a child --upon reading "On

Anger," because I see that human emotion has not changed through the centuries. This essay is still useful to organizers of Occupy Wall Street, leaders of protests against the grand jury verdict in the Darren Wilson case, and politicians who hope to sway the public. Understanding the lasting usefulness of Philosophy is one of the great gifts I'll take from this course.

Through my work for this class, I have often engaged in research to learn more about a subject, and to read other perspectives on an issue. When reading and writing about terrorism and torture, I happened upon the work of Elaine Scarry, a professor at Harvard University and the author of The Body in Pain. Scarry asserts that permitting the infliction of physical pain through torture leads to destruction and the unmaking of the human world. Scarry also asks why we settle conflicts with the body. Why don't humans engage in some type of contest to settle disputes between countries instead of destroying the bodies of citizens in our wars?

Such brilliant questions were new to me. While pondering them, I felt profoundly new, and delighted -- like a child. Yet, the topic I was studying was decidedly serious and not suitable Lake 4 for a child. The task I will take with me beyond this class is how to get myself into the mindset of a child more often so that I may engage with Philosophy with wonder, and with joy. I learned a helpful lesson in my Dialogue Processes class that assists in doing Philosophy. In that course, in the midst of learning mindfulness practices, I realized that immersion in nature takes me to a state removed from adult worry and very close to the child I once was. I have found that long walks in the woods help to transport me to a state of wonder, which gives me the capacity to regard the world in a simpler, more open manner. And according to Gareth Matthews, this is the right frame of mind to engage in philosophical thought. Lake 1

Jill Lake

Jeremy Szteiter

CRCRTH 688

May 18, 2015

Transformative Time Management:

Appreciating Meaning in the Present as a

Base for Reflective Exploration of Future Opportunity

This paper chronicles the creation of a reflective practice, changes that I made to the practice during the spring term of 2015, and my plan to redefine and continue the practice into the future.

At the beginning of the spring term, I was faced with a situation concerning my career. I work for Parsons School of Design, which is a division of The New School in

New York City. A reorganization of academic advising staff is currently underway throughout the university. Advisors who work within each division of The New School will become part of a centralized Center for Student Success. I was told that I would be demoted. I will retain my salary, but the scope of my work will change. I will not supervise staff anymore, and I will not work with study abroad programming anymore.

I felt that this change was unsatisfactory, and decided to engage in a job search. I began looking for a new job in September 2014. I decided to create a reflective practice related to my job search. I wanted to work smarter and be more intentional and mindful regarding the way I spent my time. Specifically, I wanted to address the time I had outside of the 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. workday, Monday through Friday. I wanted to refrain from sabotaging my job search by procrastinating, second-guessing myself, and Lake 2 dwelling in a fearful state. I intended to limit my use of Facebook. I had been spending several hours on weekend mornings poring through Facebook to read about my friends' lives and to read news stories that they had posted.

In addition to limiting Facebook usage, my new practice initially involved weekly list making and time tracking. I made lists of the assignments I needed to do for school -- and I listed the jobs that I would like to apply for. Initially, I ranked both the assignments and the jobs by priority and due date. I used the Toggl time-tracking app to record how I used my time. Toggl allows a user to create different categories of activities to track. I created categories for exercise, family time, housekeeping, financial management, job search, course work, and Facebook. I added the following activities to the practice as it morphed, expanded, and evolved:

- Meditation

- Daily journaling for reflection

- Writing specific gratitude statements within my journaling

- Scheduling my time a week in advance

- Exercise

- Using the Unstuck.com App

- Re-reading the book The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal

Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

- A support group of critical friends/learning partners

- Attendance at a class called the Ultimate Self-Confidence Class for Women

Lake 3

I saw that during the semester, some initial components of my practice fell away, as they were no longer important:

- Time-tracking with Toggl

- The Smartsheet and Asana time-scheduling apps. I chose to create a weekly

schedule with a simple Excel document.

- The ranking of tasks by priority and due date. These became part of my

scheduling

- The importance of Facebook. It helped that I restricted access to it by deleting the

app from my phone.

CONFRONTATION OF SELF THROUGH REFLECTION

Confronting the self is one of the essential components of reflection. Through my journaling and conversations with critical friends and learning partners, I confronted my habits, recurring thoughts, and beliefs. I saw that my practice grew from a focus on my time outside the workday to encompass all of my time. Confrontation of myself regarding time management, health management, and my job search led to the following breakthroughs:

1. I fought wasting time by reframing how I view time. I now see it as a precious

resource.

2. I fought the urge to please others by offering to do things. Realized I was offering

to do things without thinking about how much time something would take, and

how the new unplanned commitment impacted things I had already committed to

do. Lake 4

3. I learned to say "no." This opened up time for what matters most to me -- my

family. And, it allowed me focus on what I had already committed to do.

4. I continually reminded myself of lessons I learned in the Ultimate Self

Confidence class for women, which I took during the semester.

5. I used the Unstuck.com app to work through fears. In doing so, I learned more

about the source of those fears.

By observing myself and reflecting upon my actions and thoughts in my journal, I learned the following about myself:

1. Multi-tasking doesn't work for me

2. Single-tasking does work for me

3. My job search slowed down with the demands of my current job, two classes, and

maintaining meaningful relationships with my husband and children.

4. Sometimes I take a very long time to reflect on whether I want to apply for an

opportunity. Then, I take a long time to contemplate the framing of the

application letter.

5. I found that I was fooling myself with activity. For instance, I found an interesting

job to apply for, yet I spent 90 minutes continuing to look at job listings posted on

LinkedIn or Indeed. I should have used those 90 minutes to write a letter for the

one interesting job I found.

6. I need to focus on completion. It's not useful to start five things. I need to focus on

and complete one thing -- then move on to the next thing.

7. I need to engage in activities that lead somewhere.

8. I took on things without thinking about the time commitment and the Lake 5

consequences.

9. Initiating is important. Once I take an action to get something started, I find that I

am in the process. It sounds very elementary, but I have to put one foot in front of

the other.

During my presentation, on May 5, I explained that through my practice, I learned during the semester that a transformational and important practice for me must include the following elements:

• Daily journaling for reflection, including specific gratitude statements

• Scheduling my time a week in advance and buffering time commitments

• Exercising

• Meditation

• Using the Unstuck App and reading blog posts on unstuck.com

• Relying on a support group of critical friends/learning partners

• Learning to say “no” – refraining from over-committing myself

• Learning to say “yes” and taking a risk

• Getting up and moving during the work day to replenish my energy

• Going outside during the work day

• Looking around and seeing something new

• Thanking people for things

• Reminding myself over and over to keep returning to my practice – and to keep

returning my focus to my breath

After my presentation, a member of the audience asked how I would keep up with so many new requirements of myself. I have pondered her question. I think that with too Lake 6 rigid a structure with too many requirements, my practice may gradually decline into disorder – or a lack of a practice. Because I have found the practice to be so helpful to me, I wanted to figure out how to sustain it into the future. I’ve realized that I need to simplify my practice. And, saw that I needed to define the practice differently.

Evolution of Plan for Practice

I have defined my future plan of practice with three elements: an ongoing core primary practice, an ongoing secondary practice, and a finite tertiary practice. The ongoing core primary practice involves time management and wellness. I plan to engage in this core practice for the foreseeable future. The core practice consists of the following elements:

• Daily journaling for reflection, including specific gratitude statements

• Scheduling my time a week in advance and buffering time commitments

• Exercising

• Meditation

• Weekly check-ins on Saturday morning to look back at the past week, assess how

I’ve done, and remind myself to return to my practice if I have strayed or fallen away

from it

After listening to my classmate Ray Symonds’ presentation, I realized that his weekly check-ins on Fridays make a lot of sense. I have incorporated Ray’s idea into my core primary practice. But, for me, Saturday morning is the best time for a reflective check-in looking back at the previous week.

My ongoing secondary practice provides as-needed support for the primary practice. I will call upon the activities, tools, and supports, as I find that I need to or want to engage with them: Lake 7

• Calling upon individual members of my support group of critical friends/learning

partners

• Using the Unstuck App and reading blog posts on unstuck.com

• Saying “no” to refrain from over-committing myself

• Saying “yes” and taking a risk

• Getting up and moving during the work day to replenish my energy

• Going outside during the work day

• Looking around and seeing something new

• Thanking people for things

My finite tertiary practice involves my job search. I will engage in a job search until I find a new job that meets my criteria. This practice involves the following elements:

• Viewing job listings on LinkedIn.com, Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, and individual

companies’ websites

• Applying for one job at a time that interests me. Working on each application in a

focused manner through completion and submission

• Accepting offers of assistance from friends and colleagues

• Reflecting upon interviews that did not lead to job offers and trying to learn from the

experience

• Asking myself the following three questions when applying for positions, preparing

for interviews, and when evaluating job offers

o Does the opportunity align with my values?

o Will I have a chance to learn, grow, and stretch professionally? Lake 8

o Am I equipped to make a difference in the role at the company or

organization?

Those three questions were recommended by Marillyn Hewson, Chairman, President and

CEO of Lockheed Martin, in a post she wrote for LinkedIn Pulse (Hewson). They make a lot of sense to me.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Truthfully, I fell out of my practice from time to time during the semester. I expected this to happen. What I really wanted to observe was the methods I used to return to the practice. My key questions were whether I would acknowledge my slip, and whether I had the perseverance to re-enter the practice. The structure of the course provided incentive for me to return to the practice. But, I also found discovered a more significant incentive for the future without the course structure to rely on. I observed that when I am following and engaged in my practice, I am focused, calm, and productive.

This leads to a feeling of well-being. When I was engaged in the time management and wellness portion of the practice, I found that I was able to produce very good job applications quickly. This was a profound change. I saw an interesting opportunity at

Barnard College one day. I wrote a strong letter and submitted it the next day. And then, the following day, I applied for a Senior Strategist position with SY Partners. I see that creating a schedule a week ahead of time works for me. It helps me to prioritize my "to do" list and to actually complete projects and tasks by tackling one task at a time.

To continue with my practice, I must continue to confront myself. I see that for the primary core practice, I will need to:

• Be truthful with myself. Lake 9

• Be gentle with myself. I need to recognize that my “best is never going to be the

same from one moment to the next.” When I “wake up refreshed and energized in

the morning, [my] best will be better than when [I] am tired at night” (Ruiz 75-

76).

• Read my former journal entries and reflect on weeks and periods when I was

following the practice, and weeks when I fell out of practice. Note what I did or

did not do that made the difference in the outcomes.

• Be impeccable with my word. I have told myself that I will follow the practice I

created for myself. So, I will do it.

For the job search segment of my practice, I will confront myself by making sure that I am:

• Moving toward a job that will add meaning to my life

• Not making assumptions. Last week I assumed that I had been passed over for a

job I applied for at The New School. The hiring manager contacted me on

Thursday and apologized for taking so long to contact me. She said that she

would like to meet with me. It is not fruitful for me to assume the worst. Rather, it

is best to hold up the opportunity in a cloud and try not to make judgments or

assumptions about it. While it is difficult, it is best to be patient, and wait to see

what the outcome will be.

• Living in the present, and letting go of the past. It is not useful or healthy to hold

grudges about difficult things that have happened in the past at The New School.

It is much better to let those memories go, and to immerse myself in the present.

Perhaps there is another opportunity at the University for me that will meet my Lake 10

criteria. I am currently a candidate for three positions there. I choose to be

optimistic and hopeful regarding the positions.

CONCLUSION

As I have been working on this plan for practice paper, an unexpected life event

occurred that served as a test for my practice. My husband became gravely ill and had to

be hospitalized. I found that my practice helped me to cope with this event, and to remain

calm. I focused on the present, and the most important things to do in the present as we

went through this health issue. It was clear that my first responsibility was to help my

husband receive care, and to listen to his caregivers and make decisions. My second

responsibility was to make sure my children were taken care of. My mother-in-law

helped to take care of my sons, which was a real gift. And, my third responsibility was to

finish my work for the Reflective Practice class in an honorable manner. All other

activities and options became unimportant. Even while ill, my husband, who is my chief

critical friend and learning partner, encouraged me to leave the hospital to finish my

work.

While exercise and journaling have fallen by the wayside for the past few days, I

have made conscious choices to live in the present, focus on completing one thing at a

time, remain optimistic, and to engage in making verbal gratitude statements. I believe I

am fully capable of re-entering my full practice once my husband returns home and life

normalizes. I am glad to have created this practice, as the scheduling of my week a week

in advance, meditation, journaling, and mindfulness have served me well. I look forward

to seeing how the practice evolves further with time. And, I look forward to finding an Lake 11 interesting job opportunity that aligns with my values and provides the opportunity to continue growing and learning while making a significant contribution. Lake 12

Works Cited

Hewson, Marillyn. “3 Questions to Ask Before You Accept Your Next Job.” Linkedin

Pulse. Linkedin, 13 May 2015. Web. 15 May 2015.

your-next-job-hewson>.

Marsh, Jason, et al. “The Top 10 Insights from the ‘Science of a Meaningful Life’ in

2013.” Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life. University of California,

Berkeley, 2 Jan. 2014. Web. 17 April 2015.

Ruiz, Miguel. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. San

Rafael: Amber-Allen Publishing, 1997. Print. Jill Lake

Philosophy 501/CCT 603

October 5, 2014

Paper on Torture

After engaging with the readings this week, I found that I wanted to write about whether torture is ever permissible. Before this week, I had not thought terribly deeply about whether torture is morally permissible. I had concluded that Sen. John McCain proposed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 because of his own experiences as a prisoner of war for five years in North Vietnam. But, I didn’t connect the various reasons why torture cannot be justified – even in cases of terrorism.

Charles Krauthammer found torture of a terrorist justifiable in the case of a ticking time bomb, or a “slower fuse high-level terrorist.” He recommended that torture by all military personnel everywhere be banned. He wrote that the ability to torture should be reserved for highly specialized agents who are experts and experienced in interrogation.

I find that I agree with Henry Shue, who argues that all torture is inexcusable. He dissembled Krauthammer’s arguments in explaining how hypothetical cases of catastrophe are idealized. Such cases always rely on the “right man” having been identified, and that the people conducting torture use enough restraint not to kill the suspect, and further, that torture will lead the suspect to divulge the location of the “ticking bomb.” Claudia Card’s essay is very helpful, because she examines definitions surrounding terrorism. Card asks, “what must one’s relationship to acts of terrorism be in order for one to count as a terrorist?” So, this leads to the slipperiness and difficulty in identifying the “right” suspect, the “right man” in cases of terrorism. The scary thing is that a person can be accused of being a terrorist because of his appearance and ethnicity – and that person can be detained, tortured – and even “disappeared” before a trial even takes place.

Shue also explains how abstraction is used to describe torture, making it seem rather dreamy or hazy, and removing dirt, blood, and the body from discussions. His thoughts on abstraction led me to Elaine Scarry, a professor at Harvard University and the author of The Body in Pain. Scarry asserts that permitting the infliction of physical pain through torture leads to destruction and the unmaking of the human world. Shue shares the same thesis as Scarry. He says that when we ban all torture, the catastrophe we avoid may not be a car bomb. Rather, the catastrophe we avoid is brutalizing civilization.

I fear that torture, a practice that the U.S. military and special operations teams engage in, is more commonplace than we know. The practice demeans the U.S. as a world leader. I fear that the practice also creeps into local law enforcement in the U.S. in the form of police brutality against arrested suspects. I recognize, as Shue wrote, that we may have to pay a price for our conviction that torture is never, never OK. But, by banning torture, we will preserve moral civilization for generations to come. Lake 1

Jill Lake

Professor Arthur Millman

Philosophy 501/CRCRTH 603

December 16, 2014

#BLACKLIVESMATTER: Philosophy and Policing in the United States

The United States stands at the threshold of what Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer call an emerging future. Important, lasting change is possible for the country if citizens and government officials engage in dialogue, listen to one another, reflect, and act on what they have learned.

In cities throughout the country, citizens have protested to express outrage and to call for change following the grand jury decisions regarding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric

Garner at the hands of police officers. President Obama has announced creation of a Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The Department of Justice is releasing new guidelines that prohibit some federal agents from using such factors as race, religion or sexual orientation to profile individuals (Neuman). The Department of Justice has also released a report on the Cleveland,

Ohio Division of Police, finding "that officers in Cleveland routinely use unjustifiable force against not only criminals and suspects, but also innocent victims of crimes” (Liebelson).

Congress has just reauthorized the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which expired in 2006. It requires “states to report the number of people killed during an arrest or while in police custody”

(Schwarz). And, United Nations officials have expressed deep concern about human rights violations of people of color perpetrated by police officers in the United States (Legitimate

Concerns).

This paper analyzes police brutality against people of color through a philosophical lens.

And, it uses philosophy as a source of ideas to spur change, open up conversation, and create dialogue and understanding between police officers, policing leadership, and citizens. Lake 2

Throughout this paper, I will discuss philosophical theories on personhood and identity, race, justice, fairness, liberty, moral development, knowledge, truth, and emotions.

Analysis

Philosophy informed the creation of the United States, its system of government, and its laws. As white land owners, the founding fathers were selfish egoists, who sought to preserve rights for themselves and people like them – upper class white men. Blacks were viewed as “the other” and were not equal to whites.

In Racist America, Joe Feagin

suggests that many of our country’s founders, including Thomas Jefferson,

Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison, were greatly influenced by assumptions in

Europe about the inherent inferiority of African Americans to Caucasians. Thus,

African Americans would specifically to be counted only as three-fifths of a man

according to the Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. (Robinson)

The Constitution, “was created to maintain separation and oppression at the time and for the foreseeable future. The framers reinforced and legitimated a system of racist oppression that they thought would ensure that whites, especially white men of means, would rule for centuries to come. (Feagin 14)”

Following the Civil War, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The Supreme

Court found the Act to be unconstitutional in 1883.

From 1890 to 1908, the white Democratic legislatures in every Southern state

enacted new constitutions or amendments with provisions to disenfranchise most

blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites. Provisions required complicated

processes for poll taxes, residency, literacy tests, and other requirements which

were subjectively applied against blacks. (Southern Strategy) Lake 3

While John Stuart Mill’s thoughts on dialogue and conversation are very important to this day, his theory on Utilitarianism was spun in a manner in the United States in the 19th century that encouraged and supported racism. The greatest good for the greatest number did not include blacks. “The utility principle became the basis for democratic racism. Its goal became the greatest good of the greatest number of people like me, with habits, manners, attitudes and characteristics like mine,” writes Thomas Powell in The Persistence of Racism in America (118).

Civil rights legislation was not enacted at a national level in the United States until the

Civil Rights Act of 1964. That was 16 years after the United Nations adopted the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which granted human rights “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,” and which stated that “all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law” (Universal Declaration).

This Declaration helped me to conclude that it is an absolute that all human beings have equal rights. Also, I base this idea on historical events – the genocide of Native Americans, slavery in the United States and other countries, the Holocaust, the U.S. Civil Rights Act of

1964, and the end of Apartheid in South Africa, to name a few. In terms of human rights, I reject the view of relativism, “the view that there are no objective or ‘absolute’ values that hold for all persons and all times. (Kane)” A belief in equal rights for all human beings creates the foundation for a moral and just society.

Just after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Malcolm X pondered how to progress in the goal of provision of justice and equality for African Americans. He realized that it was critical to reframe the struggle of African Americans as a quest for human rights. In a 1965 speech at Militant Labor Reform on “Prospects for Freedom in 1965,” Malcolm X said, “when we label it human rights, it internationalizes the problem and puts it at a level that makes it Lake 4 possible for any nation or any people anywhere on this earth to speak out in behalf of our human rights struggle” (716). He noted “we really can’t get meaningful redress for our grievances when we are depending upon these grievances being redressed just within the jurisdiction of the United

States government.”

Forty-nine years later, international attention is focused on U.S. police officers’ treatment of people of color. The UN’s Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák, issued this statement regarding the grand jury decisions regarding Michael Brown and Eric Garner:

I am concerned by the grand juries’ decisions and the apparent conflicting

evidence that exists relating to both incidents. . . . A trial process would ensure

that all the evidence is considered in detail and that justice can take its proper

course. The decisions leave many with legitimate concerns relating to a pattern of

impunity when the victims of excessive use of force come from African-

American or other minority communities. (Legitimate Concerns)

Virulent hatred has been directed at African Americans for centuries. “There is an unbroken line of police violence in the United States that takes us all the way back to the days of slavery, the aftermath of slavery and the development of the Ku Klux Klan,” said Angela Davis, professor emerita at the University of California Santa Cruz and former member of the Black

Panthers (Jeffries). In “What Can the White Man Say to the Black Woman,” Alice Walker discusses how white men have controlled black women’s reproduction for centuries, and how white men have killed, drugged, incarcerated, pushed into homelessness, and conscripted into wars the children of black women. “From the beginning, you have treated all dark children with absolute hatred,” Walker writes (436). Unfortunately, the hatred continues. The Southern

Poverty Law Center (SPLC) notes that “currently, there are 939 known hate groups operating across the country, including neo-Nazis, Klansmen, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist Lake 5 skinheads, black separatists, border vigilantes and others” (Hate and Extremism). The SPLC reports that

since 2000, the number of hate groups has increased by 56 percent. This surge has

been fueled by anger and fear over the nation’s ailing economy, an influx of non-

white immigrants, and the diminishing white majority, as symbolized by the

election of the nation’s first African-American president. (Hate and Extremism)

It’s not just members of hate groups who oppress African Americans. Our institutions and government officials play roles in maintaining structural racism, which is irrational and very adaptable. “Institutional racism is not the proverbial grit in the machine that conventional programmes of race awareness training can remove. Rather, it is organic in nature and function and grows in cunning and resilience with each challenge it successfully overcomes,” explain Ian

Law, Deborah Phillips and Laura Turney in Institutional Racism in Higher Education (Davis).

Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy at New York University, understands racism as a form of profound irrationality that “results in a violation of Kant’s imperative that moral judgment be based only on morally relevant grounds” (Bowie 467)

The sad truth of our times is that because of racial stereotypes, black men must comport themselves in certain ways to avoid confrontation with police officers. Parents give their young black sons heartbreaking talks about how black men and teens are perceived by others solely on the basis of their skin color. They instruct their children how behave while going about the normal rituals of life to avoid being harmed. In "Identity and Identities," Sir Bernard Williams wrote, "A stereotype deployed against me by others impinges on my self, and if it gets into it, it is an obstacle to my living freely or effectively or in a convinced way" (360) Bernard J. Tyson,

Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, who is black, explained this obstacle to his liberty in a recent essay: Lake 6

Years ago, my father taught me explicitly how to behave myself if ever

confronted by a police officer and I experienced being disrespected in my early

twenties by someone who was supposed to protect my rights. I hold to this day

that the biggest battle within me was the rage at how I was being treated while

having to do what my father told me and respond appropriately. If I acted out how

I was feeling at the time, I might not be here today. (Tyson)

Elizabeth Wolgast, professor emerita at California State University at Hayward, has discussed the many criteria that identify a person, and the tension between a person’s outward characteristics and the inner self. Her contemporary, Sir Bernard Williams, also wrote about philosophy on identity. "The difference between an identity which is mine and which I eagerly recognize as mine, and an identity as what someone else simply assumes me to be, is in one sense all the difference in the world." notes Sir Bernard Williams.

Actor and comedian Chris Rock recently spoke with Frank Rich about race:

We treat racism in this country like it’s a style that America went through. Like

flared legs and lava lamps. Oh, that crazy thing we did. We were hanging black

people. We treat it like a fad instead of a disease that eradicates millions of people.

You’ve got to get it at a lab, and study it, and see its origins, and see what it’s

immune to and what breaks it down. (Rich)

Former Alabama Governor George Wallace could be studied in such a lab. Wallace knew how to fuel racism in his effort to resist integration and advancement of rights for blacks. He understood, as Aristotle explained in On Anger how to use feelings of victimhood and anger to appeal to white residents of Alabama to encourage them to feel generally superior to blacks.

Further, he knew how to make whites feel distress – worry that blacks would receive something they saw as theirs. Lake 7

To learn more about how John Rawls’ theories on justice actually work or don’t work in our society, I turned to “Assessing Criminal Justice Practice Using Social Justice Theory,” by

Matthew Robinson, who uses John Rawls’ theory of “justice as fairness” to determine if any institution, process or outcome in society is not consistent with social justice. Robinson finds many examples that are inconsistent with Rawls’ theory. He notes that the law permits differential access to voting and lobbying. It doesn’t define crimes based on harm. It criminalizes need, and includes biased laws. Robinson finds that police enforce biased laws, abuse discretion, practice differential arrest and use of force, and engage in racial profiling. The courts also enforce biased laws. They provide unequal access to the defense. They offer plea bargaining, and they issue determinate, mandatory sentencing. Additionally, Robinson explains that the corrections system is not consistent with social justice because it, too, enforces biased laws. It applies sanctions and punishments unequally, and it provides limited access to satisfy prisoners’ needs. (Robinson 17)

One might say that I am similar to the escaped prisoner that Socrates describes in Plato's parable "The Myth of the Cave." The study of philosophy has impacted me immensely.

Philosophy has shown me that the U.S. criminal justice system of the 21st century does not meet the social justice goals of John Rawls. It has also shown me that John Stuart Mill was correct in his assertion that to advance and to learn, we must engage in discussion with others, followed by humble metacognition. Philosophical education has turned my soul around, to use Plato's words.

It has given me the capacity to see injustice more clearly and comprehensively. This greater insight compels me to work for change.

Philosophy-Based Solutions

One way I may work for change as an individual is to submit suggestions to the new Task

Force on 21st Century Policing. To lead the Task Force, President Obama has appointed Lake 8

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and Laurie Robinson, professor at George

Mason University and former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Task Force has been asked to produce a report by March 1,

2015 on how to promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. Simultaneously, the President proposed

a three-year $263 million investment package that will increase use of body-worn

cameras, expand training for law enforcement agencies (LEAs), add more

resources for police department reform, and multiply the number of cities where

the Department of Justice facilitates community and local LEA engagement."

(Fact Sheet)

Body cameras alone will not create the change in policing that the U.S.needs. The solution also involves John Stuart Mills' recommendations regarding conversation. In communities throughout the United States, police officers and private citizens must listen to others' experiences, points of view and frames of reference; suspend judgment; weigh what has been said; and challenge their own assumptions. This must be done with a spirit of humility in a process of facilitated dialogue. Man "is capable of rectifying his mistakes, by discussion and experience. Not by experience alone. There must be discussion, to show how experience is to be interpreted," Mill wrote (36). "Wrong opinions and practices gradually yield to fact and argument: but facts and arguments, to produce any effect on the mind, must be brought before it."

To effect change, the Task Force on 21st Century Policing must incorporate Carol

Gilligan’s Ethics of Care theory on moral development and decision-making. The Task Force must recommend: 1. Demilitarization of police forces and review of state terrorism by police against citizens; 2. Review of citation and arrest quotas enforced by police departments; 3. Lake 9

Training for police officers in conflict resolution, threat de-escalation, mindfulness and empathy to challenge racial stereotypes and reduce fear of "the other;" and 4. Restorative justice dialogues in communities between police officers, citizens, and facilitators.

First, the Organization for Black Struggle recommends that we demilitarize all police forces, withdraw from the Department of Defense 1033 program, and end the use of the

Forfeiture/Seizure Program to buy military grade gear for police forces (Enough is Enough).

Additionally, we must have public conversations about terrorism waged by the state against its citizens. Alison M. Jaggar, of the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote in 2005 about the

“increasing resistance to acknowledging the possibility of state terrorism" after 9/11. Such resistance “makes it difficult to raise such questions as whether police violence against suspects or military violence against political demonstrators might sometimes be terrorist . . . .” (Jaggar)

Now, such questions are easier to ask, because it is apparent that police officers have engaged in terrorism since Michael Brown's death in August. Their actions were intended to “use terror and violence to intimidate and subjugate, especially as a political weapon or policy.” Those words comprise a portion of the Webster’s Dictionary definition of terrorism. Robin D.G. Kelley, professor of history at UCLA, agrees with my assessment:

...[L]eaving Brown’s bullet-riddled, lifeless body, on the street for four and a half

hours, bleeding, cold, stiff from rigor mortis, constituted a war crime in violation

of the Fourth Geneva Convention. It was, after all, an act of collective punishment

– the public display of the tortured corpse was intended to terrorize the entire

community, to punish everyone into submission, to remind others of their fate if

they step out of line. We used to call this “lynching." (Kelley)

As Socrates explained to Thrasymachus, the state is not right and just merely because it is strong and has authority (and has military grade weapons in 2014). Ideally, as Socrates explained in Lake 10

Plato's "Does Might Make Right?" the state needs to consider the welfare of its citizens in everything it says and does.

Second, stop the use of police as collection agents. “Remove ticket quotas and fees and fines as primary mechanisms to fund municipal governments” (Enough is Enough). Examine police departments such as the New York City police department, which claims it does not require officers to meet quotas. Tapes made by NYPD Officer Adrian Schoolcraft revealed “that precinct bosses threaten street cops if they don't make their quotas of arrests and stop-and-frisks, but also tell them not to take certain robbery reports in order to manipulate crime statistics”

(Rayman).

Third, the Task Force must recommend conflict resolution, threat de-escalation, mindfulness and empathy training for police officers -- both new recruits and veteran officers. It must work with Sue Rahr, Executive Director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training

Commission to learn about the state police academy’s new program which trains police officers to be community guardians. The curriculum emphasizes expressing empathy, following constitutional requirements, treating citizens with respect and dignity, and using communication and behavioral psychology as tools to gain control and compliance (Miletich). Officers need to engage in methodological belief exercises to dwell in others and understand their points of view and frames of reference. This is a crucial exercise, says Tim Wise. “The inability of white people to hear black reality—to not even know that there is one and that it differs from our own—makes it nearly impossible to move forward” (Wise).

Training must also address the strange misconception by whites that that blacks experience less physical pain than others (Trawalter). Jason Silverstein, a Ph.D. student in

Anthropology at Harvard, reviewed a 2012 study by Sophie Trawalter and Kelly M. Hoffman of the University of Virginia's Department of Psychology and Adam Waytz of the Kellogg School Lake 11 of Management research at Northwestern University, which found that white nursing students and others believed that blacks experience less physical pain than others.

This gives us some insight into how racial disparities are created—and how they

are sustained. First, there is an underlying belief that there is a single black

experience of the world. Because this belief assumes blacks are already hardened

by racism, people believe black people are less sensitive to pain. Because they are

believed to be less sensitive to pain, black people are forced to endure more pain.

(Silverstein)

Training must also include anger management. "Expressions of anger in an environment filled with guns has, all else being equal, more dangerous and more deadly a potential than in a world in which the standard expressions can only go so far as fists and sticks." (Flanagan)

What we must affect is the point between stimulus and a police officer's response. The following quotation, often incorrectly attributed to Viktor Frankl, underscores the importance of this point: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, explains that such training may be very difficult for individuals. "When our identities are at stake, oppression is hard to face. Beneficiaries face guilt issues and are liable to defensiveness”

(Card).

Fourth, the Task Force must recommend convening restorative justice meetings in communities throughout the country involving citizens, police officers, and facilitators. These meetings should be held on an ongoing basis. They are not to be one-time events. After a Seattle police officer shot and killed John T. Williams, a First Nations wood carver, in August 2010, there was great community unrest. Civil rights attorney Andrea Brenneke offered to facilitate a Lake 12

“Restorative Circle consistent with a restorative justice practice developed in Brazil by Dominic

Barter” (Brenneke). The Restorative Circle included members of Williams’ family, their attorney, and representatives of Seattle’s police department.

On September 13, 2010, we held the Restorative Circle for over three hours at the

Chief Seattle Club in a sacred space designed for traditional Native American

healing circles. The Restorative Circle process provided a safe container for the

participants to openly express and seek to understand what mattered deeply to

them and to connect meaningfully with others linked through this shared tragedy,

shared conflict. Everyone had the opportunity to express where they were in

relation to the incident and what they were seeking at the time they chose to act or

reacted to the incident. Everyone had the opportunity to contribute to the solution

and develop an action plan together. (Brenneke)

Restorative Circles such as this should be held in Ferguson, New York City, and Cleveland to discuss the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and Tamir Rice. And such dialogues should be held in every community in which a person of color was killed by a police officer. The Task Force should consult with Andrea Brenneke; Otto Scharmer of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who created the Theory U system of dialogue and organizational growth; Peter Senge of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Adam Kahane,

Chairman of Reos North America, who in 1991 and 1992 facilitated the Mont Fleur Scenario

Exercise, in which a diverse group of South Africans worked together to effect the transition to democracy; the Public Conversations Project of Watertown, Massachusetts; and the Garrison

Institute of Garrison, New York. All of these groups and individuals can help the Task Force to craft dialogues that permit individuals and police officers to share their voices, to be heard, and to work together to improve policing in the United States. Lake 13

There is potential to improve policing in this country, and in turn, to improve the lives of people of color who have been targeted for far too long by the police. To engage in this work, we must look to the theories of John Rawls and Carol Gilligan. Their visions of justice and morality, with John Stuart Mill’s thoughts on the importance of dialogue and metacognition, reveal the path we must follow.

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Lake 1

Recommendations for the Task Force on 21st Century Policing

Jill Corson Lake

January 8, 2015

The United States stands at the threshold of what Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior lecturers Peter Senge and C. Otto Scharmer call an emerging future. Positive, lasting change in the relationship between police officers and the public is possible in this country if citizens and government officials engage in dialogue, listen to one another, reflect, and act upon what they have learned. “We must find the common ground so that all parties understand the concerns of others,” said Bill Bratton, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, after the recent funeral of NYPD police officer Rafael Ramos. “Seeing each other, to understand

– that means not look past each other, but to really see what is motivating the other” (Pilkington).

The following recommendations for the Task Force on 21st Century Policing address four of the agenda topics identified for the Task Force’s first listening session on Building Trust and

Legitimacy:

• Community engagement and dialogue

• Racial reconciliation

• Police leadership development

• Defining the role of the police in a democratic society

The recommendations below will be useful to implement in the five pilot communities identified by the Collaborative for Justice Policy and Innovation, which is led by Task Force member Tracey L. Meares and fellow Yale Law School professor Tom Tyler. They will also be useful to implement in New York City, Cleveland, Oakland, Ferguson, Missouri, and other cities Lake 2 throughout the United States. Contact information for all individuals and organizations identified in the recommendations is listed in the “Resources” section below.

Community Engagement and Dialogue

The Task Force must recommend convening restorative justice meetings in communities throughout the country involving citizens, police officers, and facilitators. After a Seattle police officer shot and killed John T. Williams, a First Nations wood carver, in August 2010, there was great community unrest. Civil rights attorney Andrea Brenneke offered to facilitate a

“Restorative Circle consistent with a restorative justice practice developed in Brazil by Dominic

Barter” (Brenneke). The Restorative Circle included members of Williams’ family, their attorney, and representatives of Seattle’s police department. Such dialogues must be held in every community in which a police officer has killed person of color; a person who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex; or a person from another marginalized group, including disabled, poor, and homeless individuals.

Please contact and consult with the following individuals who specialize in facilitating dialogue that leads to lasting change in communities:

Adam Kahane, Chairman of Reos North America, who in 1991 and 1992 facilitated the

Mont Fleur Scenario Exercise, in which a diverse group of South Africans worked together to effect the transition to democracy. He is the author Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of

Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities, about which Nelson Mandela said: “This breakthrough book addresses the central challenge of our time: finding a way to work together to solve the problems we have created.”

The Public Conversations Project of Watertown, Massachusetts, which fosters constructive conversation where there is conflict driven by differences in identity, beliefs, and values. The organization works locally, nationally, and globally to provide dialogue facilitation, Lake 3 training, consultation, and coaching. It helps groups reduce stereotyping and polarization while deepening trust and collaboration and strengthening communities.

Otto Scharmer, senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan

School of Management. He is founding chair of the Presencing Institute, a research community dedicated to social innovation, He devised the Theory U system of dialogue and organizational growth, and wrote Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges.

Peter Senge, senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. He is the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning, a global community of corporations, researchers, and consultants dedicated to the “interdependent development of people and their institutions.” He has written several books and is the co-author of Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future.

These groups and individuals can help the Task Force to craft dialogues that permit members of the public and police officers to share their voices, to be seen and heard, to engage in racial reconciliation, and to work together to improve policing in the United States.

Police Leadership Development

Task Force member Sue Rahr, Executive Director of the Washington State Criminal

Justice Training Commission, has shared information about the Washington state police academy’s new program, which trains police officers to be community guardians. The curriculum emphasizes expressing empathy, following constitutional requirements, treating citizens with respect and dignity, and using communication and behavioral psychology as tools to gain control and compliance (Miletich). This program provides a laudable definition of the role of policing in a democratic society. It may be replicated by other police academies, and it must include instruction on how to examine and challenge one’s assumptions and biases (Kies), how to recognize one’s own frame of reference, how to engage in the practice of methodological Lake 4 belief (Elbow), and how to examine one’s own thinking through the process of metacognition

(Presseisen).

Trainees and veteran police officers must engage in methodological belief exercises to temporarily stand in another person’s shoes and to understand the world through that person’s point of view and frames of reference. This is a crucial exercise, says writer Tim Wise. “The inability of white people to hear black reality—to not even know that there is one and that it differs from our own—makes it nearly impossible to move forward” (Wise).

Further, anger management training is a critical requirement. "Expressions of anger in an environment filled with guns has, all else being equal, more dangerous and more deadly a potential than in a world in which the standard expressions can only go so far as fists and sticks"

(Flanagan).

Training must also address the strange misconception by some whites that that blacks experience less physical pain than others (Trawalter). Jason Silverstein, a Ph.D. student in

Anthropology at Harvard, reviewed a 2012 study by Sophie Trawalter and Kelly M. Hoffman of the University of Virginia's Department of Psychology and Adam Waytz of the Kellogg School of Management research at Northwestern University, which found that white nursing students and others believed that blacks experience less physical pain than others.

Police officer training must address the underlying belief that there is a single black experience of the world. Because this belief assumes blacks are already hardened by racism, some people believe blacks are less sensitive to pain. Because they are believed to be less sensitive to pain, black people are forced to endure more pain (Silverstein).

Training must include African-American history, U.S. civil rights history, histories of other marginalized groups in the U.S. Please contact and consult with Tricia Rose, Ph.D.,

Director, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, at Brown University, and Doug Lake 5

Shipman, Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Civil and Human Rights. And, training must include information about the LGBTQI community (LGBTQ Center).

Claudia Card, professor of philosophy, University of Wisconsin at Madison, explains that such training may be very difficult for individuals. "When our identities are at stake, oppression is hard to face. Beneficiaries face guilt issues and are liable to defensiveness” (Card).

Police officers must be offered the opportunity and encouraged to engage in ongoing dialogue-based support for trauma and PTSD to help them deal with job-related traumatic incidents or trauma endured during military service, if they are veterans.

Please contact and consult with the following individuals who specialize in engaging in dialogue with aid workers, police officers, and veterans who deal with trauma and PTSD:

Bob Doppelt, Executive Director of the Resource Innovation Group, a non-profit affiliated with Willamette University, who leads the Leadership for Resilience Workshop at the

Garrison Institute, which teaches mindfulness, calming techniques, and coping skills.

The Garrison Institute, which leads Contemplative-Based Resilience Training, a proactive psychosocial intervention that fosters resilience and thriving for individuals who work in stressful and traumatic environments, such as humanitarian relief and development workers.

Michael C. Johns, Director, Veterans Services Department, Foxborough, MA, who leads

“Mutual Mondays” dialogue support group for veterans. His thesis for the M.A. in Critical and

Creative Thinking at University of Massachusetts Boston describes this work (Johns).

Thank you for considering these recommendations.

Jill Corson Lake works as Director of Global Advising at Parsons The New School for Design in

New York. She is a student in the M.A. program in Critical and Creative Thinking offered by the

University of Massachusetts Boston. She may be contacted at [email protected]. Lake 6

Works Cited

Brenneke, Andrea. “A Restorative Circle in the Wake of a Police Shooting.” Tikkun. Tikkun.org.

1 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. < http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/a-restorative-circle-in-

the-wake-of-a-police-shooting>

Card, Claudia. "One Feminist View of Ethics." Twenty Questions: An Introduction to

Philosophy. G. Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels, Robert C. Solomon. 7th ed. Boston:

Wadsworth, 2011. 606-608. Print.

Costa, Arthur L.. "Habits of Mind." Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching

Thinking. Ed. Arthur L. Costa. 3rd ed. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and

Curriculum Development, 2001. 82. Print.

Elbow, Peter. "The Believing Game and How to Make Conflicting Opinions More Fruitful."

Nurturing the Peacemakers in Our Students: A Guide to Teaching Peace, Empathy, and

Understanding. Ed. Chris Weber. Alexandria, VA: Heinemann, 2006. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.

Flanagan, Owen. “Destructive Emotions.” Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. G.

Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels, Robert C. Solomon. 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth,

2011. 391-398. Print.

Johns, Michael, "Mutual Mondays, PTSD and Dialogue Process with Veterans of Armed

Conflict: Becoming a Facilitator, and Healing Along with Participants" (2011). Critical

and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection. Paper 158.

Kahane, Adam. Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change. San Francisco:

Berrett-Koehler, 2010. Print. Lake 7

Kahane, Adam. Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating

New Realities. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2004. Print.

Kies, Daniel. "Underlying Assumptions." HyperText Books. (2013): n. page. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.

LGBTQ Center, Brown University. A Guide for Brown University Safe Zone Program

Participants 2012-2013. Providence: Brown U LGBTQ Center, 2012. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.

< http://brown.edu/campus-life/support/lgbtq/sites/brown.edu.campus-

life.support.lgbtq/files/uploads/SafeZoneManual%2012-13.pdf>

Miletich, Steve. “Police Academy 2.0: Less Military Training, More Empathy.” The Seattle

Times. 14 July 2013. Web. 8 Jan. 2015.

Moraff, Christopher. "Can Different Training Make Police Officers Guardians, Not Warriors?"

Next City. nextcity.org. 4 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Pilkington, Ed. “NYPD Chief Defends Mayor de Blasio and Criticises Police Funeral Protest.”

The Guardian. 28 Dec. 2014. Web. 7 Jan. 2015. < http://www.theguardian.com/us-

news/2014/dec/28/nypd-bratton-defends-de-blasio-criticises-officers-funeral-protest>

Presseisen, Barbara Z. "Thinking Skills: Meanings and Models Revisited." Developing Minds: A

Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. Ed. Arthur L. Costa. 3rd ed. Alexandria, VA:

Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001. 51. Print.

Scharmer, Claus Otto. Theory U Learning from the Future as It Emerges : The Social

Technology of Presencing. San Francisco, Calif.: Berrett-Koehler, 2009. Print.

Senge, Peter, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. Presence: Human

Purpose and the Field of the Future. New York: Crown Business, 2004. Print. Lake 8

Silverstein, Jason. "I Don't Feel Your Pain: A Failure of Empathy Perpetuates Racial

Disparities." Slate. slate.com. 27 June 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

_people_don_t_perceive_pain_in_other_races.html>

Trawalter S, Hoffman KM, Waytz A (2012) Racial Bias in Perceptions of Others’ Pain. PLoS

ONE 7(11): e48546. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048546.

Wise, Tim. “Repetitive Motion Disorder: Black Reality and White Denial in America.” Tim

Wise. timwise.org. 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.

denial-in-america/>

Lake 9

Resources

Robyn Brentano Executive Director The Garrison Institute www.garrisoninstitute.org http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/transforming-trauma/contemplative-based-resilience-training (845) 424-4800 ext. 102

Bob Doppelt Executive Director The Resource Innovation Group www.theresourceinnovationgroup.org http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/component/civicrm/?task=civicrm/event/info&reset=1&id=536 &Itemid=534 [email protected] (541) 654-4054

Katie Hyten Program Manager The Public Conversations Project www.publicconversations.org [email protected] (617) 923-1216 ext. 27

Michael C. Johns Director Veterans Services Department Town of Foxborough, Massachusetts http://www.foxboroughma.gov/Pages/FoxboroughMA_Veteran/index [email protected] (508) 543-1204

Adam Kahane Chairman Reos North America www.reospartners.com [email protected] (617) 401-2650

Tricia Rose, Ph.D. Director Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America Brown University http://www.brown.edu/academics/race-ethnicity/about [email protected] (401) 863-5775 Lake 10

C. Otto Scharmer, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer MIT Sloan School of Management www.ottoscharmer.com [email protected] (617) 253-0486

Peter Senge, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer MIT Sloan School of Management www.solonline.org Diane Nakashian, Assistant, [email protected] (617) 253-1575

Doug Shipman Chief Executive Officer National Center for Civil and Human Rights www.civilandhumanrights.org [email protected] (678) 999-8990

Lake – Week 6 – Word Play

Your true core – is it inflexible, like bull? Is there no rhyme?

In there, is the child, with gentle green eyes, drawing with chalk.

Aren’t you glad about the spilled juice, crashing cymbals, and the junk covering the floor of the living room?

Oh, you love the chaos, the contrast to the serious black of the architects.

Home is your kind, cushy center. There, your art emerges from the oatmeal.

The crumple becomes a ruffle.

It's good that we're talking remotely this evening. If we were together, in the same space, I would hurt you. I would attack your bones. You wouldn’t feel anything initially. See, I’m unstable. I have great power, and no conscience. And, I have a half-life of 1,620 years. I am a small cylinder of luminous radium chloride that my champion kept beside her pillow as she slept. She loved me. Still, I hurt her. I caused her death. And I have caused the deaths of countless others. I’ve also saved lives.

My heroine was born in Warsaw in 1867. She spent her early life in Russian-ruled Poland. She dreamed of studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. Abandoned by a lover at 24, she fled heartbreak in Poland and boarded a train to Paris. She enrolled at the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne and completed degrees in mathematics and physics. She was introduced to a handsome scientist, and began working in his lab. He saw her as collaborator, muse, and guide. They fell in love and married in July 1895. Two years later, their daughter Irene was born.

For her doctoral thesis, my heroine advanced the work of physicist Henri Becquerel on the fluorescence of uranium salts. She saw that rays were an atomic property of uranium. Her results raised tantalizing new questions and launched a new science. “I coined the word radioactivity,” she wrote. Realizing that radioactivity could be used to search for new elements, she tested all 80 of the known elements of the periodic table, then began to sample metals, minerals, salts, and oxides. Pitchblende, a byproduct of mining uranium, copper, and cobalt, yielded startling results. Using her husband's instruments, my heroine determined that pitchblende’s radioactivity was more powerful than any known substance. Through lots of experimentation, she found that there was a microscopic, nameless, and extraordinarily radioactive ingredient in the natural pitchblende. She and her husband identified it. My heroine named it “polonium” in honor of Poland. She and her husband discovered radium that year, too.

Chemists wanted to see and touch polonium and radium, so my heroine and her husband tried to extract measurable amounts of them from seven tons of pitchblende in a ramshackle shed at the Sorbonne. In 1902, after four years of physically taxing work, they extracted one tenth of a gram of me, radium chloride, from 400 tons of water and 40 tons of corrosive pitchblende.

Their love deepened. During 11 years, they were scarcely ever separated. On June 25, 1903 my heroine defended her thesis “Researches on Radioactive Substances.” She was the first woman in France to receive a doctorate. That year, she, her husband, and Henri Becquerel received the Nobel Prize. My champion was too ill to accept the award, because I was corroding her bones, straining her breathing, and burning her skin. I did the same to her husband.

After a summer holiday away from their toxic lab, my heroine gave birth to a second daughter, Eve, in December 1904. In April 1906, her husband was killed when he was struck by a horse- drawn carriage in Paris. The Sorbonne offered her husband’s professorship to my champion. She was the first woman professor in the University’s 650-year history.

My heroine and the brilliant physicist Paul Langevin, became lovers in 1910. Paul was her husband's former student. It was lovely. But, there was a problem. Paul was married. Meanwhile, my heroine determined a decay series for extremely radioactive polonium. By electrolyzing me, she isolated radium in its metallic state. In November, 1911, Mme. Langevin revealed to the press that her husband and my dear scientist were having an affair. Three days later, my heroine received word that she had won a second Nobel Prize in 1911 for chemistry for her discoveries of radium and polonium. The affair ended.

In 1914, my heroine and her daughter Irene created 18 mobile hospital X-ray units and 200 stationary X-ray units to bring radiation technology to the battlefield of World War I. My champion was slipping away due to years of exposure to me and to polonium. Ever the scientist, she chronicled her deterioration as lab data. She died on July 4, 1934 from aplastic pernicious anemia, due to prolonged radiation exposure.

I live on in my champion's notebooks, which are too radioactive to handle. They are locked up in an Institute in Paris. CREATIVE INFLUENCES

EXHIBITION CURATORS: SARA KAPLAN & JILL LAKE

April 28, 2014 CREATIVE INFLUENCES

Welcome to the Exhibition Biology

The Creative Influences exhibition examines six factors that influence, support, and contribute to creativity. In six galleries, one may explore the lives and Environment Nature work of six individuals whose creativity derives from those influences.

Nurture Socio- Play Economic

April 28 Creative Influences 2 CREATIVE INFLUENCES

Biology Environment Nature

April 28 Creative Influences 3 CREATIVE INFLUENCES

Nurture Play Socio-Economic

April 28 Creative Influences 4 Gallery No. 1

BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS

April 28 Creative Influences 5 CREATIVITY, AUTISM & ASPERGER’S SYNDROME

“Asperger’s syndrome and high-functioning autism are highly genetic disorders. There appears to be an overlap between the constellation of genes for Asperger’s syndrome/high-functioning autism and artistic creativity.” – Michael Fitzgerald, The Genesis of Artistic Creativity, 2005

April 28 Creative Influences 6 BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS

Temple Grandin, Ph.D. (1947 - )

A professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University, she is one of the world’s most accomplished adults with autism. Dr. Grandin has used insights gained from her autism to understand animal behavior. She created innovations in livestock handling that have revolutionized food-animal welfare. TIME Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.

April 28 Creative Influences 7 DR. GRANDIN’S INNOVATIONS

Squeeze Machine Ranch Cattle Handling Feedyard System Slaughter Plants

April 28 Creative Influences 8 DR. GRANDIN’S INNOVATIONS

The Squeeze Machine Livestock Handling Designs

As a hypersensitive person, Dr. Grandin craved Grandin Livestock Handling Systems, Inc., the sensation of being hugged as a child. But, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, is an she always pulled away, finding actual hugging international design and consulting company to be overwhelming. At age 18, she created the specializing in handling system design and Squeeze Machine for herself. As a researcher, animal behavior consulting. The company she tested later versions of the machine on combines construction engineering and human and animal subjects. principles discovered by animal behavior research to ensure the humane treatment of all livestock, wildlife, and zoo species.

April 28 Creative Influences 9 THE WORLD NEEDS ALL KINDS OF MINDS

Temple Grandin

TED2010

February 2010 http://www.ted.com/talks/temple_gran din_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_m inds

April 28 Creative Influences No. 10 DR. GRANDIN SAYS:

“Genetic traits that “ “Every design I'm a visual can cause severe “Who do you think thinker, not a problem I've disabilities also made the first stone language- ever solved provide the spears? The started with my giftedness and Asperger guy. If you based thinker. ability to genius that has were to get rid of all produced some of My brain is like visualize and the autism genetics, Google the world’s greatest there would be no see the world in art and scientific more Silicon Valley.” Images.” pictures.” discoveries.”

How Her Brain Works How She Creates On Genetics & Creativity On Innovation

April 28 Creative Influences 11 DR. GRANDIN SAYS

“People feed, shelter, and breed cattle and hogs, and in return the animals provide food and clothing. We must never abuse them, because that would break an ancient contract. We owe it to animals to give them decent living conditions and a painless death.” – Temple Grandin,Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism

April 28 Creative Influences 12 Gallery No. 2

ENVIRONMENT

April 28 Creative Influences 13 ENVIRONMENT: Definitions & Perceptions

What construes an “environment?”

 The physical setting  The culture

 The family −learned and socially transmitted

 The school or workplace −often identified at the societal level

 The field of endeavor −follows geopolitical boundaries

April 28 Creative Influences 14 ENVIRONMENT: Cultural Perceptions

Western Conceptions of Creativity Eastern Conceptions of Creativity

-Defined as the ability to produce work that -Less focused on Innovative Products. is novel and appropriate (Stein, 1953). -Involves a state of personal fulfillment, a -Has a relationship to an observable connection to a primordial realm, or the product (Hughes & Drew, 1984). expression of an inner essence or ultimate reality (Lubart, 1990). -Can be assessed by an appropriate group of judges, either peers or experts (Lubart, -Connected more to the idea of self- 1990). actualization.

April 28 Creative Influences 15 ENVIRONMENT

Yasmina Johnston (1987 - )

Yasmina Johnston is an Islamic fashion designer whose work is directly influenced by the cultural environment in which she grew up.

“The Abaya is a garment commonly worn to preserve modesty for religious purposes. The Abaya to me is visually very beautiful and has a deep, powerful, and emotional representation. The Abayas that I design remain classic, yet at the same time, fashion forward.”

April 28 Creative Influences 16 YASMINA’S DESIGNS

April 28 Creative Influences 17 Gallery No. 3

NATURE

April 28 Creative Influences 18 NATURE

On the dichotomy between our technological world and our natural world:

“There is a cognitive advantage to be realized if we spend time immersed in a natural setting. We anticipate that this advantage comes from an increase in exposure to natural stimuli that are both emotionally positive and low-arousing and a corresponding decrease in exposure to attention demanding technology, which regularly requires that we attend to sudden events, switch amongst tasks, maintain task goals, and inhibit irrelevant actions.”

Atchley RA, Strayer DL, Atchley P (2012) Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings. PLoS ONE 7(12): e51474. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051474

April 28 Creative Influences 19 NATURE: Our World Inspires Us

The Wilderness

Weather

Geology

Space

Water

Ecosystems

April 28 Creative Influences 20 NATURE

John Luther Adams (1953 - )

From His Official Biography:

John Luther Adams is an American composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska where he has lived since 1978. His orchestral work “Become Ocean” was honored with the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

April 28 Creative Influences 21 NATURE

John Luther Adams on Nature and Links to John Luther Adams’ Music: Creativity: “Curiosity. Wonder. It’s that energy that moves around. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhTusoemAdI Early in my life, it might be in bird songs, and then I start listening to the habitats in which the birds are singing, and - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpj9tGjKVLY that becomes an obsession with landscape. Then I’m exploring the landscapes of the Arctic and starting to understand a little bit of the history and to feel a little bit of - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3X_WdtLx-E the presence of the people who have lived in the Arctic for countless centuries. It becomes sonic geography, a piece - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViyldrW7ag4 like Earth and the Great Weather. Then somehow I’m listening and making field recordings in the Arctic and my - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoOfyNZQsU ear, which has been tuned to animal calls or bird songs— E the more poetic dimensions of the soundscape—becomes fascinated with the noisier, more complex elements: wind, waterfalls, ice sounds, thunder.”

April 28 Creative Influences 22 Gallery No. 4

NURTURE

April 28 Creative Influences 23 NURTURE

Benjamin S. Bloom and for nurturing early interests experts in the domain. The Lauren A. Sosniak examined and helping develop the children essentially could not the home environment and child’s skills. Typically, one resist exploring and early training of or both parents were participating in the particular accomplished pianists, interested in the area, and talent area – it was expected sculptors, swimmers, tennis usually were skilled and and accepted as proper players, mathematicians, experienced themselves. (Davis, 106). and research neurologists. The parents usually served They discovered that the as role models; they were person’s parents were living illustrations of the almost entirely responsible personality and lifestyle of

April 28 Creative Influences 24 NURTURE

Rufus Wainwright (1973 - )

Son of Canadian songstress Kate McGarrigle and prolific folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, Wainwright is a vocalist, songwriter, and composer of two operas. His sister Martha Wainwright, half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche, and his aunt Anna McGarrigle are folk singers. He began playing the piano at age six. As a teen, he performed with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family."

April 28 Creative Influences 25 NURTURE

Albums Garland Tribute Concert Films Operas

April 28 Creative Influences 26 SELECTED PERFORMANCES

 Rufus Wainwright, Martha  Video for “Out of the Game,” created Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright III, with Instagram photos submitted by and Lucy Wainwright Roche perform fans to link to words in the song’s lyrics. “One Man Guy.”  Rufus Wainwright performs Leonard  Rufus Wainwright, Martha Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” at The Wainwright, and cousins perform Fillmore in San Francisco. “Tosca” as children in home videos.

April 28 Creative Influences No. 27 THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY

WAINWRIGHT DISCUSSES HIS MOTHER’S LEGACY “My mother's songs are really turning out to be masterpieces. I have inherited this incredible legacy and am so fortunate to bathe in her sensibilities. It is tinged with tragedy. I'd much rather she was here in person, but there is still a positive force to come out of her death and that is having the gift of music that she gave.”

Right: The McGarrigle-Wainwright clan at the Newport Folk Festival.

April 28 Creative Influences 28 THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY

WAINWRIGHT’S DAUGHTER

Wainwright is the father of Viva Wainwright Cohen, born in 2011. Viva’s mother is Lorca Cohen, daughter of legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen. In this video, Wainwright performs, “Montauk,” a song written for Viva. The song imagines Viva as an adult, visiting her fathers in Montauk, New York in the future.

Right: Jörn Weisbrodt, Rufus Wainwright, Viva Wainwright Cohen, and Lorca Cohen, on Weisbrodt’s and Wainwright’s wedding day in August 2012.

April 28 Creative Influences 29 Gallery No. 5

PLAY

April 28 Creative Influences 30 PLAYFULNESS & CURIOSITY

Intellectual playfulness – considerable amount of of relativity in part to the finding pleasure in playing toying with ideas and fact that he kept asking with ideas – appears often fantasizing – imagining himself questions about to be a characteristic of oneself, for example, space and time that only creative adults . . . . There riding on a photon at the children wonder about is a great deal of whimsy head of a beam of light (Holton, 1973). and play, for example in (Nickerson, 1999). much of the thinking that scientists do – a Einstein attributed his formulation of the theory

April 28 Creative Influences 31 MASTER OF PLAY

Richard Feynman, Ph.D. (1918-1988)

A physicist, extraordinary teacher, showman, master safecracker, musician, artist, and Nobel Laureate. He was known for his unbridled curiosity and humor. He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb, expanded the understanding of quantum electrodynamics, translated Mayan hieroglyphics, and cut to the heart of the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

April 28 Creative Influences 32 PLAY

Feynman’s Diagrams

Feynman is renowned for The Feynman Lectures on Physics, given at the California Institute of Technology, where he taught for 30 years. He conceived of diagrams to illustrate what was really happening to particles in the quantum- mechanical world. This diagram illustrates what might happen when one electron approaches from bottom left, and the other from bottom right.

April 28 Creative Influences 33 PLAYING WITH A WOBBLING PLATE LEADS TO DISCOVERY

From Feynman Written by Jim Ottaviani Art by Leland Myrick

April 28 Creative Influences 27 THE PRIZE IS THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT

“I went on to work out effortless. It was easy to and the whole business equations of wobbles. play with these things. It that I got the Nobel Prize Before I knew it, I was was like uncorking a for came from that “playing” – working, really bottle. Everything flowed piddling around with the – with the same old out effortlessly. I almost wobbling plate.” problem that I loved so tried to resist it! There was – Richard Feynman much. I had stopped no importance in what I working on it when I went was doing, but ultimately to Los Alamos. It was there was. The diagrams

April 28 Creative Influences 35 THE PRIZE IS THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT

Feynman was one of the something of the beauty at the mysterious forces most remarkable and and order of the universe that make ordinary things gifted theoretical as he saw it. His happen. He explains why physicists of any insatiable curiosity and rubber bands are stretchy, generation. He was also humor are captured in the why tennis balls can’t known as the “Great BBC Horizon film “No bounce forever, and what Explainer” because of his Ordinary Genius.” In the you’re really seeing when passion for helping non- BBC series “Fun to you look in a mirror. scientists to imagine Imagine,” Feynman looks

April 28 Creative Influences 36 Gallery No. 6

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

April 28 Creative Influences 37 SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Creativity is Context-Dependent The Systems Model

- Socio-Economic determinants such as race, class, and gender have great bearings on the construct of creativity in individuals.

- Change and globalization provide a constant impetus for innovation and creativity.

April 28 Creative Influences 38 SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)

An American Singer-Songwriter and Folk musician whose work was directly inspired by his experiences during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Vietnam War. His politically-charged lyrics combined an incredible creative talent with a passion for democracy and equality that have had a lasting impact.

April 28 Creative Influences 39 SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Woody Guthrie on his politically charged music and lyrics: "There's several ways of saying what's on your mind. And in states and counties where it ain't any too healthy to talk too loud, speak your mind, or even to vote like you want to, folks have found other ways of getting the word around.

One of the mainest ways is by singing. Drop the word 'folk' and just call it real old honest to god American singing. No matter who makes it up, no matter who sings it and who don't, if it talks the lingo of the people, it's a cinch to catch on, and will be sung here and yonder for a long time after you've cashed in your chips.”

April 28 Creative Influences 40 SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS: Click the image to hear the song

April 28 Creative Influences 41 MULTIPLE INFLUENCES

The individuals at the center of this exhibition are each spurred by more than just one creative influence. For example: •Dr. Temple Grandin’s creativity was nurtured by her mother, teachers, professors, and a talented draftsman named David who taught her how to make perspective drawings. •Dr. Richard Feynman’s creativity was nurtured by his father, who taught Feynman observe the natural world with curiosity and wonder. •Rufus Wainwright was nurtured as a singer and songwriter by his musical family. His creative work is also influenced by fairy tales, operas, past and current relationships, and social issues.

April 28 Creative Influences 42 MULTIPLE INFLUENCES

The individuals at the center of this exhibition are each spurred by more than just one creative influence. For example: • Yasmina Johnston was not only influenced by her culture, but also the fashion designers of Dubai whose work greatly influenced her own through their designs of intricacy and beauty. • John Luther Adams, in addition to being inspired by the Alaskan wilderness, also moved around a lot as a youth and found that his environment had a huge impact on his appreciation of the land. • Woody Guthrie was always a keen observer of the world around him and grew up listening and musically nurtured by his parents when they’d perform Western songs, Indian songs, and Scottish Folk songs.

April 28 Creative Influences 43 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 JOHN LUTHER ADAMS www.woodyguthrie.org www.johnlutheradams.com  YASMINA JOHNSTON  RICHARD FEYNMAN, PH.D. http://lamodedallas.com/tag/yasmi http://www.richard- na-johnston/ feynman.net/videos.htm  RUFUS WAINWRIGHT  TEMPLE GRANDIN, PH.D. www.rufuswainwright.com www.templegrandin.com

 WOODY GUTHRIE

April 28 Creative Influences 44