Having read over my last few entries, I'm beginning to feel like an angsty teenager. Not in the "my life stinks" kind of way, but more in the "I'm still figuring out what to do with myself" frame of mind. The most recent development in this "what do I do" phase is figuring out my budget for my summer campaign internship. Each Cole Scholar was required to write up a budget with an educated guess as to what our monthly apartment rent would be, what our food per diem would be as well as daily travel expenses. I have never felt more grown up than when I scoured the internet looking for furnished, short-term lease apartments for rent. Well, that is until Tracy Tucker in the Politics Department handed me my Cole Scholar business cards. I'm old. Dude.
One of the best things about the Cole Scholar program is that they finance your living expenses while you're on the campaign trail. In order to ensure that they are paying only for our work expenses, it's crucial that we track our expenses over the two months of our internship. It's both an exercise in discipline and living in the Real World. So while I feel old, I also feel a little more experienced and little better prepared for non-Oberlin life.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Chicken or the egg, does it really matter?
As the end of the semester rolls around, I can't help but think what a strange experience the transition from spring semester to summer is. Unlike the summer vacations of my youth, I am now expected to work all summer, to pump up that resume, to attain "real-life" experience. Oy vey. I'm not really sure what a real break looks like, since we're always supposed to be looking out for our future by taking extra courses, finding jobs to finance our education and getting internships in fields of work we're interested in. On top of that, a good college student should always be keeping their eyes open for a good networking opportunity.
Community service often becomes another tactic in the effort to improve one's resume. At my fancy schmancy college prep high school, we were required to complete ten hours of community service per year since it would look great on our college resumes. While I admit that I began volunteering for an urban improvement organization in the summers to fulfill this requirement, I ended up completing much more than ten hours of service per year. It was just so much fun! The ulterior motives involved in students committing themselves to community service work beg the question: does intent matter? As long as good work is getting done, as long as parks are clean, kids are read to and families fed, does it matter why those volunteers are there to improve the lives of others?
This is not to say that all who volunteer are only interested in their resume. There are many students who simply love to immerse themselves in the surrounding community and to help that community any way they can. Furthermore, who is to blame when community service is used to make a person look good; is it the system or the students?
Community service often becomes another tactic in the effort to improve one's resume. At my fancy schmancy college prep high school, we were required to complete ten hours of community service per year since it would look great on our college resumes. While I admit that I began volunteering for an urban improvement organization in the summers to fulfill this requirement, I ended up completing much more than ten hours of service per year. It was just so much fun! The ulterior motives involved in students committing themselves to community service work beg the question: does intent matter? As long as good work is getting done, as long as parks are clean, kids are read to and families fed, does it matter why those volunteers are there to improve the lives of others?
This is not to say that all who volunteer are only interested in their resume. There are many students who simply love to immerse themselves in the surrounding community and to help that community any way they can. Furthermore, who is to blame when community service is used to make a person look good; is it the system or the students?
Monday, May 3, 2010
How to Help?
I mentioned in my last blog entry that what attracts me most to politics is the ability to connect with members of a community while having the power to change their lives for the better. Working in the Bonner Center for Service and Learning, I have seen the great work that volunteers do here in the greater Oberlin community. America Reads tutors teach children how to read, Bonner Scholars organize events such as the Day of Service to motivate the entire campus into community service, and students work with Lorain County residents for free tax filing and to find affordable, equitable housing. Of course, those are just a few of the things that Obies do that the Bonner Center has either initiated or facilitated. These projects change the lives of those in the community they reach for the better without the pomp and circumstance of a political office in control of the operation. This contrast prompts me to pose a question that I have yet to find the answer to: What are the benefits of working in the community through a political framework rather than through a non-profit organization or other local resources for financial, educational and health assistance? Why, besides ego, would you choose one over the other?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Public Speaking: Just like the flu shot, it's good for you
In my first blog, I mentioned the array of activities that we do in my Studies in Electoral Politics class. A couple weeks ago, our assigned activity was to give a five minute stump speech. In other words, we had to speak in public. Eek!
It did not exactly come as a surprise that my professor would ask us to practice our public speaking abilities in a class focused on training us to work in politics. After all, image is everything in American politics. Knowing the utility of the exercise, however, did not make the execution any easier.
A stump speech is meant to be a candidate's brief presentation of their main goals for the future and a display of their personal character. There is a formula for this getting-to-know-you speech. Start off with a joke, a friendly jab at your competition. Use howdahells, which from what I can tell means speak in the lingo of your audience. Discuss the successes of the community as well as what needs to be improved, and fit your past experience into how you will solve problems in the future. Inspire hope and encourage people to work together. In other words, be Barack Obama. It's a little easier said than done, especially when you don't have a staff of speechwriters to take care of the content for you.
I wrote my stump speech as a candidate for the Detroit Board of Education. Ever since I made the switch from public to private school in high school because I was simply bored in the classroom, I have been interested in education policy. Within the Detroit city limits in particular, the school system is so bad that students annually rank at the very bottom nationally on reading, writing and math assessments. Because of my affection for my hometown and my passion for learning about what makes kids learn best, I chose to write my speech on the changes needed in the Detroit public school system. As I wrote the speech one Saturday afternoon in my beloved study carrel in mudd, the words flowed so naturally out of my excitement that the entire speech preparation process was practically painless. Even practicing my speech in the mirror and in front of friends seemed so natural to me because I cared so much.
When it came time to give my stump speech in front of the class the next week, I felt confident - a rarity for me when it comes to being the center of attention. Of course my presentation was not perfect, but the experience of speaking on a subject that I so dearly believe in gave me a wonderful taste of what I could do in politics.
Although my interest in politics has grown over the past few years, I have often wondered where exactly I fit in amongst all the hard-headed, no-nonsense politicos who live for political games. My attraction to politics has always been connecting with the community and having the ability to change communities for the better. It's as simple as that. Working on a stump speech that (unintentionally) was more about policy than a politician reminded me why I'm in this program and why the study of politics is important to me. As usual, it's great to be a Cole Scholar.
It did not exactly come as a surprise that my professor would ask us to practice our public speaking abilities in a class focused on training us to work in politics. After all, image is everything in American politics. Knowing the utility of the exercise, however, did not make the execution any easier.
A stump speech is meant to be a candidate's brief presentation of their main goals for the future and a display of their personal character. There is a formula for this getting-to-know-you speech. Start off with a joke, a friendly jab at your competition. Use howdahells, which from what I can tell means speak in the lingo of your audience. Discuss the successes of the community as well as what needs to be improved, and fit your past experience into how you will solve problems in the future. Inspire hope and encourage people to work together. In other words, be Barack Obama. It's a little easier said than done, especially when you don't have a staff of speechwriters to take care of the content for you.
I wrote my stump speech as a candidate for the Detroit Board of Education. Ever since I made the switch from public to private school in high school because I was simply bored in the classroom, I have been interested in education policy. Within the Detroit city limits in particular, the school system is so bad that students annually rank at the very bottom nationally on reading, writing and math assessments. Because of my affection for my hometown and my passion for learning about what makes kids learn best, I chose to write my speech on the changes needed in the Detroit public school system. As I wrote the speech one Saturday afternoon in my beloved study carrel in mudd, the words flowed so naturally out of my excitement that the entire speech preparation process was practically painless. Even practicing my speech in the mirror and in front of friends seemed so natural to me because I cared so much.
When it came time to give my stump speech in front of the class the next week, I felt confident - a rarity for me when it comes to being the center of attention. Of course my presentation was not perfect, but the experience of speaking on a subject that I so dearly believe in gave me a wonderful taste of what I could do in politics.
Although my interest in politics has grown over the past few years, I have often wondered where exactly I fit in amongst all the hard-headed, no-nonsense politicos who live for political games. My attraction to politics has always been connecting with the community and having the ability to change communities for the better. It's as simple as that. Working on a stump speech that (unintentionally) was more about policy than a politician reminded me why I'm in this program and why the study of politics is important to me. As usual, it's great to be a Cole Scholar.
Cole Scholars: serving the [political] community
This summer, I will be knocking on hundreds of people's doors, calling thousands of people I have never met, eating too much junk food and living out of my car. That's right, I will be working on a political campaign this summer. Although this may sound like a less-than-appealing experience, life on the campaign trail is incredibly rewarding. Knocking on the doors of strangers and making phone calls to ask citizens about their voting habits is uncomfortable at first, but it is one of the best ways to get in touch with the community that you live and work in.
After the 2008 election cycle, my first time ever volunteering on a political campaign, I noticed a big change in my community at home in Royal Oak, Michigan. The expanse of my community broadened before my eyes. For the first time that I can recall, my parents volunteered to knock on doors and participate in phone banks for local candidates. All of my friends, some of whom were politically apathetic, some only accustomed to their family's voting habits made it a priority to educate themselves on the issues and on the candidates. I met high school students, new parents, young couples and senior citizens that I had never seen around my city before all inside my local county's democratic party headquarters.
When there is not an environment for political dialogue, it is easy to get sucked in to the belief that your personal views are right, and reflect those of all citizens. So. Wrong. Speaking with every resident on a city block, you will get a different set of priorities and a different need to be addressed.
This past fall, I went canvassing for a local ballot issue in Cleveland concerning legal protections for transgender people in the area. When we first set out on the canvass, I was nervous about the response to the topic of transgender rights in the middle-class, typical midwestern neighborhood that we would be walking in. Although each family I visited had a different home life and background, almost every person I talked to had the same basic reasoning for supporting the proposal: why not? To these residents, the issue was not a question of partisan politics, but merely a way of ensuring that all citizens were equal under the law. After that, how they lived their lives was up to them. Thus reaching out to members of your community highlights the differences from one family to a next but also brings to light the commonalities that bring us together.
This summer, I will be moving beyond the community I am most at home in to another community just a couple hours away in the middle portion of Michigan. Despite my current lack of familiarity with this region, I am looking forward to two months of knocking on doors all over the district and saying "Hi, I'm Robin. I want to know what matters to you and how my candidate can help."
After the 2008 election cycle, my first time ever volunteering on a political campaign, I noticed a big change in my community at home in Royal Oak, Michigan. The expanse of my community broadened before my eyes. For the first time that I can recall, my parents volunteered to knock on doors and participate in phone banks for local candidates. All of my friends, some of whom were politically apathetic, some only accustomed to their family's voting habits made it a priority to educate themselves on the issues and on the candidates. I met high school students, new parents, young couples and senior citizens that I had never seen around my city before all inside my local county's democratic party headquarters.
When there is not an environment for political dialogue, it is easy to get sucked in to the belief that your personal views are right, and reflect those of all citizens. So. Wrong. Speaking with every resident on a city block, you will get a different set of priorities and a different need to be addressed.
This past fall, I went canvassing for a local ballot issue in Cleveland concerning legal protections for transgender people in the area. When we first set out on the canvass, I was nervous about the response to the topic of transgender rights in the middle-class, typical midwestern neighborhood that we would be walking in. Although each family I visited had a different home life and background, almost every person I talked to had the same basic reasoning for supporting the proposal: why not? To these residents, the issue was not a question of partisan politics, but merely a way of ensuring that all citizens were equal under the law. After that, how they lived their lives was up to them. Thus reaching out to members of your community highlights the differences from one family to a next but also brings to light the commonalities that bring us together.
This summer, I will be moving beyond the community I am most at home in to another community just a couple hours away in the middle portion of Michigan. Despite my current lack of familiarity with this region, I am looking forward to two months of knocking on doors all over the district and saying "Hi, I'm Robin. I want to know what matters to you and how my candidate can help."
Oberlin Initiative in Electoral Politics: Cole Scholars
Hello Bonner community! My name is Robin and I'm writing to you as an office assistant in the Bonner Center for Service and Learning. Amongst my other activities on campus, I am also a 2010 Cole Scholar as part of the Oberlin Initiative in Electoral Politics. Through this program, I along with 12 other Scholars take a class this spring entitled Studies in Electoral Politics which helps train us for a summer internship of our choosing on the campaign trail. In class, we have discussed campaign ethics, field and polling operations, public speaking, what makes a good candidate, new media, and how citizens vote. Just to name a few topics. After much deliberation, I have finally chosen and luckily been accepted to work on Congressman Mark Schauer's (MI-7) reelection campaign in central Michigan.
As a Michigan native, I am excited to be working in a region in which I understand the concerns of voters well and have a deep understanding of the regional culture. At the same time, it is a fairly rural area two hours away from the suburban Detroit neighborhood I am from, allowing me to test out a new political environment within the same general issue areas I am familiar with. The great thing about this internship is that I come in to work on day one with an enormous amount of background knowledge on campaign strategy and theory thanks to the class, and am able to put this in practice in my daily work. We are promised to work for two months, 24/7 so that we are able to gain the greatest experience possible as well as to prove ourselves as valuable workers. The reward for all this hard work is the experience of organizing events, managing volunteers and (hopefully) helping a candidate that we truly believe in win a tough election. In the fall, we write a research paper about our experience so that we are fully able to digest the lessons learned over the summer.
Regardless of one's political ambitions, the Cole Scholar program is an amazing opportunity to learn about politics and gain experience in community organizing, research and communications. With the financial burden of an unpaid internship lifted by the program's summer stipend and coverage of housing, travel and food expenses, this program allows students without any political connections or other resources to gain access to the political world to break through into an area where they can truly make a difference.
If you couldn't tell, I'm really excited about being a Cole Scholar. I see it as an opportunity to see what I can do, to see what I enjoy working on and to see what I'm good at. I plan to work harder than I ever have in my life so that I can have the greatest work experience of my life and use this experience to guide my future career choices into politics, community organizing or policy research. Who knows; with this internship, the world is my oyster. And that's not even being (too) dramatic.
As a Michigan native, I am excited to be working in a region in which I understand the concerns of voters well and have a deep understanding of the regional culture. At the same time, it is a fairly rural area two hours away from the suburban Detroit neighborhood I am from, allowing me to test out a new political environment within the same general issue areas I am familiar with. The great thing about this internship is that I come in to work on day one with an enormous amount of background knowledge on campaign strategy and theory thanks to the class, and am able to put this in practice in my daily work. We are promised to work for two months, 24/7 so that we are able to gain the greatest experience possible as well as to prove ourselves as valuable workers. The reward for all this hard work is the experience of organizing events, managing volunteers and (hopefully) helping a candidate that we truly believe in win a tough election. In the fall, we write a research paper about our experience so that we are fully able to digest the lessons learned over the summer.
Regardless of one's political ambitions, the Cole Scholar program is an amazing opportunity to learn about politics and gain experience in community organizing, research and communications. With the financial burden of an unpaid internship lifted by the program's summer stipend and coverage of housing, travel and food expenses, this program allows students without any political connections or other resources to gain access to the political world to break through into an area where they can truly make a difference.
If you couldn't tell, I'm really excited about being a Cole Scholar. I see it as an opportunity to see what I can do, to see what I enjoy working on and to see what I'm good at. I plan to work harder than I ever have in my life so that I can have the greatest work experience of my life and use this experience to guide my future career choices into politics, community organizing or policy research. Who knows; with this internship, the world is my oyster. And that's not even being (too) dramatic.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Oberlin Serves Wiki
Hey everyone! So we had that lovely meeting about expanding the OC Bonner wiki to become a campus wide hub and now we actually need to do that! I added you all as editors for the wiki, so when you have time you can create pages and post information about your programs. You all are far more adept to talk about your own programs than I am! Just post on here if you will be unable to make your own page (i.e. no one in your program can do it, not just you!) and the Bonner Reflection Committee and I will make your page, though we have a lot to do just with the Bonner part of the site! Look at the links on the Bonner part of the site to get an idea of what we have already done and jump right in with your own page! Happy wikiing and blogging! Blog about your experience creating your page so that we can all share ideas and make this wiki the best that it can be! Thanks for your committment to the project!
- ChiChi
- ChiChi
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