Recently my husband asked me to describe my dream job. It was surprisingly hard for me to do. I had to write it down, when I was done, I was even more depressed than ever because I realized its not even flippin' possible!! Yeah, it was an interested exercise, because I've been vacillating over what to do with my life,-- funny how my undergraduate education didnt point me in the infinate direction... life, sheesh, anyway this was my dream job fantasy conclusion/delusion:
I'm here to example tolerance, help heal bodies, society, and Earth, tell under-told stories, do no harm, learn at every age, and acknowledge beauty in everything.
I am a community organizer with a passion for social activism. The city of Chicago pays me to plan and host free events for the community year-round. I enlist help from local artists, small business owners, and volunteers. Focus and importance is placed on involving the community in enriching their environment whilst evoking a feeling of ownership and pride. Youth and families are encouraged to get involved.
I own a large south-side duplex. I’m one of a team of physicians working out of its first floor clinic that is devoted to holistic naturopathic treatments. This need-based clinic is open to everyone. Fees are determined by financial need, though free to some, and accepts donations. Upstairs, this duplex houses a distribution center where my husband distributes films that he writes and we both produce and direct. Towards the back of the first floor and leading out to the backyard is a blackbox theatre where performances, classes, drama therapy and playwriting workshops are held. Artists work with special needs children and abuse victims to collectively write and produce plays for the blackbox. A small cafe in the duplex serves concessions during the performances and cocktails in the evenings and early morning hours when the blackbox hosts a burlesque/cabaret show.
The Healthy ‘Hood Clinic, Move The Crowd Printing Co., O. Micheaux Distribution Co., Mark Mai Words Concession Stand, and Elemental Performance Arts Ensemble Blackbox all sponsor individual scholarships open to any student showing financial need.
I want to be an example, I want to be a role model. I am here to be a wife and I hope to be a mother, I am here to teach and to learn. I am here to let everyone know that you need never stop learning. There is beauty in everything. I want to promote tolerance and convince everyone that God works in mysterious ways and that no one should judge anyone because we don’t know how God is working with anyone. My purpose is to heal the world and heal the bodies of people I am here to tell people’s stories that are not told.




I wanted to know what exactly a "community organizer " is and figured this would be the best place to ask. Is the entire paragraph the starts as "I am a community organizer..." what this organizer does?
You are from Chicago? Know anyone way famus from their?
There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.~- Anais Nin
It's interesting to me that some things seem obvious to some people and baffle others, (my husband cant wrap his head around fractions and decimals while i can do them in my head) "community organizer" seems as easy to understand as "baseball player" or "social studies teacher" but its clear (from all the fun poked at Obama by Palin during this campaigning season) that some people dont get it, i genuinely wonder if people who've lived in metropolises inherently understand the concept better than others... sounds like a blog? maybe... (but pls lets focus on the question and not this comment... moving on)
no I'm not from Chicago, i did go to undergrad, get married, and live there for 4 years, and plan on moving back eventually when i mature enuff to settle down into a more "normal life" (I am from another beautiful Midwestern place tho, care to guess? hint: i say "y'all" and "pop")
I'm going to resist my urge to go to Google, or my dictionary to get a trite definition and speak from the heart
(the short)
Someone who unites a group of citizens around a particular issue that serves the environment positively.
(the expanded)
Someone making sure health codes are being met, or making sure that libraries are abundant and sufficiently funded, or gets THE COMMUNITY TO BE INVOLVED IN ITS OWN SUCCESS, or who works for the betterment of their community (place they live, environment, neighborhood) either financially, artistically, socially, or in any other way. Maybe they form a local performance ensemble, or a youths sports team, they must be a leader, and a positive roll model. Maybe they work on getting the community to circulate money within the community. They must be devoted and not abandon projects they start. They must realize the community depends on them. That is a community organizer. Perhaps they own a business, or work to get people healthcare. There are so many ways to be a community organizer that it may be easier to explain what they are not.
They are not a total tool. They are not scheming and conniving. They are not devoted to scamming the community.
No i dont personally know, nor was i slyly trying to make an illusion to your President :) but to further help you understand, yes, Obama = community organizer, Blagoaviech, for example, does not
have a nice day, peace, and blessings
mai
I do have google as well as internet access. I did try to web search it before but the internet really does hate me and would only give me vague answers and the now President-elect Obama biasing crap....That is why I asked. Also I understood the term to be pretty broad and I wanted to know what it meant to you.
I think all people should be community organizers.
There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.~- Anais Nin
Also I understood the term to be pretty broad and I wanted to know what it meant to you.
I think all people should be community organizers.
I stand by "Someone who unites a group of citizens around a particular issue that serves the environment positively." As a good, concise description of the job. However, the term community organizer WOULD HAVE TO BE pretty broad to encompass and serve the spectrum of a community, another broad term. :) So since you think all people should be community organizers, was this question to me a test of some sort? Thanks for the question, but what does a community organizer mean to you? How are you striving to be one?
peace and light
mai
PS there were some excellent responses to this question of community organizers on my myspace blog
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4632537...
I'd prefer to copy and paste them to this site but I'm not sure if that's against the progressU rules or not, i dont want to have to write 200 words of nothing just to post it... (scary) so pls check it out when you get a chance
just not as expected. I am living my dream. I still have other dreams, and maybe I will get to live them too.
I am living things I never dreamed of. I love this life of mine. I never knew I wanted to be a mother or a wife, and I am surprised at how much these things mean to me. By my history I am supposed to be a neurotic, drugged, self-obsessed, miserable, lonely person.
I am learning and gathering the tools and resources I need to materialize my dream of running a group home for teens who are pregnant or are mothers. I am learning about grants and non-profit organization, the department of social services and community licensing.
Thanks to ProU I am learning that I can write, and that people care to read what I write. I thought I chose a stable career as a nurse over creativity.
I have walked into every possibility in the human experience, and have made informed choices most of the way.
I love people, i help people, I heal people. What else could I possibly want? Some world traveling would be nice.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude