the summer of greatness…

One of the perks of Facebook, Twitter, etc. is that while you, faithful part-time Milano student, are ensconced with your Economics textbook, notebook, calculator, and are schlepping everywhere to TRY to keep up with your work is that you get to see your full-time students adventures’ in what has been coined “The Summer of Greatness”.   This is the best exercise in vicarious living, to sit at home studying, imagining what my econ books would look like in more exotic, fabulous locales, sporting Havanaias, sipping  mojitos, the much-admired hottie on the beach.

Do you see what all of this homework has done, people?  Warped my brain.

Cheers,

KD

a heartbreaking work of no genius…

TWO MONTHS since my last post, internets.  TWO MONTHS.  I am not going to apologize for my dereliction of duty because a) let’s be honest, couldn’t we all tell where my next few posts were going to go (policy lab) and b) Tushar and Laura were such a breath of fresh air around here.  I mean, how many times can you say “I got up, I went to work, I went to school, I met with my group, I finally got home, I did more research, and I napped a couple of hours”??  It sounds unbelievable to me and that pretty well sums up my life from January through June.

Wait?! That’s now!  Yes, yes, it is, and as my full-time colleagues Tushar and Laura are off working for their summer, I am proceeding with other mostly-part time students into another course.  In my case: Economics for Management and Policy.  I asked friends for snack recommendations, as I am trying to avoid plying myself with even more rice pudding, and one vet of this course advised “chocolates filled with vodka”, which was just about the most encouraging pep talk you could ask for.  Spot on, too, because the logistical challenge of this course isn’t coordinating five people’s schedules and snagging meeting rooms (to say nothing of coming up with quality work that is actually useful to your client), it is concentrating intently for four hours one night weekly, plus another two hours on another evening, making notes on economic policy and how to find the slope of a line.

It is not a total shock that I actually find this quite interesting–while I pride myself on being an outside of the box thinker, the beauty of a class like this following policy lab is that it feels so eminently logical that I am finding much to engage me in marathon reading sessions.  Also, this will be over rather quickly, and so the one-month-until-completion of my first year countdown is ON, people.

A good thing, too, because one painful bit of evidence as to how exhausted I am can be found reading through my posts this year, and seeing writing errors and cliche usage that makes me very, very sad.  Case and point: “I am an outside of the box thinker!”

Right.  I am also a creative dresser who shops at the Gap.  What a weak way to make a point, and I am trying to eke out the homeworks and assignments left this term so that I can join my colleagues who have embarked on The Summer of Greatness.

Just as soon as I graph these curves…

-kd

My School My Lab

TNS- A Real-time Change Laboratory

I am writing a lab report. Its something that I have not done since my sophomore year geology class.  This lab experiment however is not about chemicals or rocks. Its not even about economics or policy (common labs at Milano). In this lab my subject/victims are people and the topic of my research is CHANGE.

Concurrent to my Ms in Nonprofit Management I am also pursuing a post-graduate certificate in Organizational Development. OD, as it is often referred to, is a rapidly growing field in the public, private and nonprofit sector. Mark Lipton, the previous Chair of the Management Program at Milano is globally known for his work with the Vision’s Model of change -A key selling point for the school. But I digress…..

This semester I took a course title Foundations in Organizational Change. The title is fairly self-explanatory. The class focuses on the basics of how to effectively create change in an organization. For my final assignment, I had to seek out a ‘lab’ in which I can initiate and/or monitor a change process over duration of 4 weeks. The project was/is not so much about the change itself, but rather learning to plan and create a process that leads to a desired outcome.

This is exciting stuff….well at least I think it is.
My friend and fellow blogger Laura mentioned a few post’s ago, that I was recently elected to the New School University Student Senate (USS). Subsequent to that I was also elected to the position of President of the USS. In the last few months I have also been involved in organizing a trip to India for student of TNS. This winter about a dozen of us will spend 3 weeks backpacking across the world’s largest democracy, visiting and volunteering with various NGOs/Nonprofit organizations. Since Fall last year, I have been coordinating and organizing social events for Milano students. A student need that until my arrival had essentially been ignored.

My point is that, when it came to choosing a ‘change laboratory’ I was spoilt for choice. Instead of finding external labs, I had the option of writing my report on any of several great initiatives taking place right here at The New School. It feels good to do a paper without all the researching, footnoting and referencing. However, my finals in econ and quantitative analysis are more than making up for the slack I got from this one paper.

In the end, I chose the India Trip. Getting this trip off the ground has been a great experience and I promise to post more about it in the coming weeks. For now I must take your leave,  school work… I mean lab work beckons.

What I Did in School Today

Like most students during this time of year, we are in the midst of final classes and projects and many final tests will be taken next week. This semester I took a class called Education and International Development. Throughout the semester we discussed issues such as teacher incentives, bilingualism, enrollment, financing, comparative measures of educational systems, equal access and many other issues that developing countries deal with in their quest for quality education. This was my first exposure to education policies and I found it fascinating.

Anyway, yesterday was our last formal class and we presented our final project concepts to the rest of the class. We each picked a developing country’s education policies and system to research and had to write a paper on our findings. (The same assignment as all of our other classes…nothing new) But we also had to create a “poster” to illustrate the “story” of our country complemented by graphs and other visuals. I was not the only one in class for whom the term “poster” conjured up 8th grade  memories of bubble letters, markers and glue sticks. As much as I do love to craft and feel like a kid again, I was perplexed as to how I should proceed. Luckily our professor supplied us with examples and ideas for professional conference posters.

In the end, it was fun to see how my other classmates interpreted the assignment. The posters were displayed around the room and we were able to ask questions about others’ projects. I thought that it was a great way for each of us to engage in dialogue with our classmates about our research, without having the traditional presentation standing in front of the class pointing out notes on a powerpoint. While it was somewhat reminiscent of a middle school science fair, it was fun and different. (It probably helped that our professor supplied us with food and beverages. Grad students love free food, especially yours truly…) All in all, it was a memorable end to a challenging course. And for posterity sake, here is a rough photo of my final poster. Don’t laugh.

A Week to Remember

Recap of a good week:-

Monday, April 27th, 2009:
Reception with Abdul Kalam, former President of India at the Indian Consulate in New York City. Dr. Kalam mentioned that the India of the future needs to be powered by alternative energies such as Solar/Wind, Bio-fuels and Nuclear. I agree about Solar and wind, but need more evidence to be convinced about bio-fuels and nuclear power.

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
I won the New School University Student Senate elections. I am now one of the two officially elected representatives for the Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy. I am very very excited about the opportunity to set up a new student government in the 90 years old/New School.

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Attended a round-table discussion about Climate Change in the Himalayas hosted by the India China Institute of the New School. Nepal’s minister for Forestry and Soil Conservation was present and spoke at the discussion. Did you know that the Himalayas are considered the 3rd pole?

Thursday, April 30th, 2009
Celebrated the completion of Policy lab with the peeps from the Urban Policy Program. Also got a chance to strategize and discuss vision for the newly elected student government with fellow Senator, Rachel Scharf.
Oddly enough this happy hour was also the first time all the three writers of this blog were out at a bar together.

Friday,  May 1st, 2009
Internship and job search… not exactly a highlight but I think I cranked out a couple of decent cover letters.

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
Volunteered at the Echoing Green Fellowship selection session. This awesome 21 year-old, NYC-based organization helps social entrepreneurs from across the globe turn their innovative ideas about social change into a reality. Milano was selected to host this year’s final judging weekend. Nearly a 1000 projects were submitted, 22 ideas were selected, based on their performance this weekend  15 of who will receive fellowships to seed their actions of change. I got the chance to interact with some this years finalists. Based on what I heard lets just say the future of the  world is looking pretty bright people!

Senator Blogger

Hey everyone, I just want to quickly announce that our own Milano Grad School Blogger, Tushar Gogia, has been elected to The New School student senate. It will be great to have one of our own fighting for our interests! Here is what Tushar promised during his campaign, so let’s hold him to it:

1)    To build a student government that is reflective of student choices/opinions,
2)    Ensuring that administration takes into account the viewpoints of students before making decisions that impact student life, and
3)    To facilitate better communication between students, faculty and administration across all 8 schools

Congratulations Tushar!!

My Return

I really wish I could attribute my recent absence from this blog due to an adventure in an exotic foreign land but alas reality is that I just had a head on collision with second semester of graduate school.

In Fall 2008 when the time came to register for spring classes I valiantly signed up for 5 course. During my undergraduate years I usually took between 5-7 classes a semester. I thought- how bad could 5 grad school courses really be? (Especially since one of those was a language audit). A lesson I learned the hard way – if a graduate level course has the word ‘LAB’ associated with it, then approach with caution.

Two weeks ago, registration for Fall classes started at Milano. Experience has taught me to get as much advice from as many people as possible. Being in small school professors, administrators and students are fairly accessible. Hence getting  different perspectives about classes/professors is easy. Before registering for classes I not only spoke to my faculty advisor but also to other students who have taken the classes I was interested in. This I believe gave me a much more holistic perspective on choosing classes.

Having said that I hope to have an easier, more manageable course load in the fall, which hopefully means more time for blogging (and looking for that dream job post-graduation).

A Spring Update from Laura

It’s definitely spring, finally… but it is rainy and COLD today. Which I suppose is a good thing, since  bad weather motivates me to stay inside and study. Only 3 more weeks until finals, here at Milano, and today I made an inventory of every project, paper, test, poster, etc. etc. that I have yet to finish. This semester has been a lot less hectic for me than Fall semester in terms of schoolwork, but I’ve been working more at my internship which will become a full-time gig for the summer. I’m relieved to have something lined up already for the summer, so I can simply concentrate on finishing my work over the next few weeks.

One of the most important things I have been realizing is that I need to take good care of myself so that I can work at my best ability. It may seem simple, but it’s funny how it has taken me THIS long to realize the things that keep me at my happiest. First of all, I believe that exercise is essential to any sane person’s schedule- at least it keeps me sane (sort of… lol). I’ve been working out at the McBurney YMCA on 14th St. (thanks to our New School discount) which allows me to de-stress, relax and get fit! It also gives me a chance to spend time at yoga with a school friend or in the weight room with my boyfriend. Workout buddies are definitely a motivtion! My health is also something that used to suffer in undergrad, since I would stay up all night writing papers and then go to work or class. I was sick at least twice a month, I swear. Maybe it’s just my body getting older or my maturity kicking in, but I have been trying to follow a (more) regular sleep schedule. It seems to be helping even though I have been getting sick more often than I’d like to… (I blame germs from the subway). But overall, I’m forcing myself to focus on school and myself, because I won’t be able to get anywhere in this crazy world unless everything is in sync.

Happy Spring Everyone!

The Excel Spreadsheet of Doom

Well, internet, you may have heard there was some ruckus going on at the New School lately, and I can report this: most of us were honestly so crazed about Lab that after our question “OK, but CAN WE USE THE MEETING SPACE?” was answered, my compadres and I really didn’t have time to raise our heads from computers long enough to get a read on that situation.  I will just say that I am an advocate of nonviolent protest and am likewise concerned whenever I see what appears to be a very aggressive physical law enforcement response.   It is really not affect to say that the Lab people have been too busy to notice much else.

So I’ve been mighty quiet lately but that is owing to a few things.  First off, um, LAB.  Secondly, I’m really trying to take better care of myself during this round, so doing things like going to yoga, Carnegie Hall, Central Park, watching movies, reading poetry, and meditating amidst the sorry scene of my living room have somewhat taken precedence over writing.  Not to mention the fact that this time I’m in a new place which is this: I just don’t know what to say.  There.

Saturday, as on most days this term, I schlepped Bagzilla, my beloved (est.) 47-pound bag bearing my laptop, chargers, water bottle (which is always empty by the time I get to Milano after a day at the office), Advil, some notes, a deteriorating calendar, and assorted daily effluvia to campus and our group met.  Yadda yadda yadda, I realized I had to grapple with Excel to come up with some numbers for this project.

Now here is the thing.  I have NEVER claimed to be any sort of economist.  This isn’t owing so much to math anxiety as much as, well, more of an interest in and natural affinity for WORDS.  (Please, economists, don’t hate, congratulate, and we’ll all be just fine.)

So I spent Sunday trying to figure out how to generate numbers that were actually meaningful to our project, and then realized I was doing it wrong, and then saw my colleagues’ work, and sort of tweaked some things, but frankly?  I’m still not sure on this math. 

So what has been lovingly christened The Excel Spreadsheet of Doom is out there in google group land, and better numeric minds than mine shall hopefully make more sense of it.  In the meantime, I am trying to muster the strength physically, emotionally, and mentally to push through to the end of the term.  I’ve had some rather sad moments over all of this lately, even wondering what I could have to look forward to other than lab, and then someone reminded me, this ends SOON.

It is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend, so after a Friday of work and lab, spending a spectacular Saturday enjoying, somehow, some part of this weather is really eagerly anticipated.  Another?  I realized I should start trolling for a really amazing, cheap summer vacation destination so I have some great incentive.  So far, hanging out with the sea turtles and monkeys in the Costa Rica rainforest is sounding fabulous.  We’ll see.  Also?  FROGS!!!  (I love frogs.)

-Kristen

second verse, same as the first

I don’t want to further jinx us but I think after another round of revisions, that our Round 1 brief is finally completed.  Today my new group met with our client (also new to Round 2) and, frankly, I still don’t know exactly what day it is owing to how crazy this week has been.

One thing about transitioning to the second round: if your team was an uncomfortable group for you for some reason, this is your shot to have a good experience and that is a great thing.  However, for those of us whose teams worked really well together and had truly bonded over this intense experience, finding out where we were going on Monday night was a kind of difficult moment.  There was actual sadness, which doesn’t have to do with the new people we’re working with, just realizing that you’re really moving into a new round with all that entails.  A colleague remarked she was actually going through some grief over this and she is not alone!

Still, my new group is coming together nicely and I am excited to have a couple of people with whom I’ve worked before on this team.  It makes for a less stressful experience at the beginning, to be sure, when you’re not as worried about whether people are reliable, decent, or good at their work.  I feel as though I’ve lucked out again–not to say that I was TOO worried about that, but, yes, I was worried about that.  I can now attest that Lab is rough enough without adding a mess of interpersonal issues to mess things up.

The one sort of odd thing about this round, though, is that in terms of the topics to which we were assigned, some of us are working on issues eerily close to those from the first round.  I have no idea if this was deliberate or not, but it has been kind of upsetting for some people.  After all, when you’ve been working so intensely on something for weeks feeling that there is an “end” in sight, to open a new mandate and see familiar language, people, and context can make you feel even more burned out than you might really be!  I mean, do I HAVE anything else to offer on this kind of issue?  I am grappling with that right now and while I can say I will do the best I can, it has made my transition to Round 2 very challenging in terms of excitement and motivation.

Here’s hoping for a saner trip through Labville this time, with less sickness, more yoga, and more sleep!  Ahh, a girl can dream, right?  (Although the yoga part MUST happen.  MUST.)

-Kristen