have you seen Maggie Gyllenhaal?

I don’t know how much sense I can make of this past week’s experiences volunteering at the Clinton Global Initiative, not so much owing to their mind-boggling complexity as much as their overwhelmingly exhausting impact on my intellectual function.  Oh, and their surreal circumstances.

I actually had a dream last night in which I walked in on Bill Clinton and Christiane Amanpour having some sort of intense interview and spilled a cup of coffee on myself.  If you know me, you’re no doubt wondering, so I’ll spare you the suspense.  I dropped a ladle with gorgonzola sauce, a cup of water, and a few drops of salad dressing on my blouse over the course of last week, but no one was injured, seriously embarrassed, or even (so far as I know) all that aware of my reliable sometimes-klutziness.  Nor did I trip and fall off of my heels into any heads of state or supermodels.  So it’s all good.

I spent most of my time helping the other few hundred volunteers scan participants and attendees with these gun-shaped wands that looked like something out of Star Trek.   Reading the bar-code on people’s credentials ensured that…..well, lots of stuff which is not interesting, nefarious, or anything to be concerned about.  I promise.  Just tedious, boring, and yes, I’m still dreaming about scanning you AS WE SPEAK.  General Wesley Clark, that means you.

Some of the time, I monitored the comings and goings of people into more high-profile areas, or at least areas where more high-profile attendees congregated.  While standing in a doorway hoping my stomach growling wasn’t distracting anyone, a couple of people urgently asked me if I’d seen Maggie.  Maggie Gyllenhaal.  I have seen her, around New York, but not in that room on that day, and I told them so.  Then I went and mused on a what a strange turn my days took this week.   Strange, fun, silly, and yes, even a bit inspiring.  Women who are working to advocate for women in Afghanistan, from groups I first encountered back in the late 1990s and who have survived–and helped others do so–for this long, have me thoroughly humbled and quite aware of how comparatively ridiculous a thing celebrity spotting is.

Overall?  I think I should have not worked so many hours, but like many of the other volunteers, I mistook a question on the application about availability as desired actual hours and then was unsure What Would Happen if I changed them.  It was a little much in terms of amount of time out of my week, particularly since (and let me be clear, I totally KNEW and ACCEPTED this part of things ahead of time) the tasks involved weren’t going to be new, constantly engaging, etc. for me.  In point of fact, by the time this gig came about, I had already been hired to start (and have, thank you very much) one of my new jobs, so this week inadvertently became a little costlier than I had intended.

However, I did meet some people who have already helped shed light on some of what I may be doing in an upcoming fellowship, and the people-watching was admittedly fascinating.  I even got to meet some of my fellow “tweeps” (Twitter followers and/or groups I check out) which was equally terrific.

Honestly, the most thrilling moments in my week were probably seeing Mary Robinson striding into rooms several times.  Being an Irish woman, my initial thought was actually how much she resembles some of my aunts (or they her?!) followed by such excitement, as I so respect and admire her work.   In fact, there were so many inspiring women in attendance that I feel nothing but thrilled for my niece and the women coming after us.  We’re working as hard as we can to make it a better, healthier, safer world for you and your counterparts from Afghanistan to India to South Africa to New Orleans.  We all deserve it.

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a schedule which maximizes utility

This academic year, I am trying to Get The Most Out of Milano.  Or, Milano/GPIA.  GPIA/Milano?  A name would be great.  (I’m pretty sure some people are “on” that, but seriously, I’m seeing both versions as well as some other interesting formulations and I think we’ve dwelled in suspense long enough.)

As I was about to say, I have courses I find interesting and thought-provoking (check), a fellowship whose exact components I’m still awaiting word on but will be challenging and provide great professional development (check), a quite fulfilling student employment job wherein I can help people and use those trusty administrative skills for income (check), and….I won’t go on.   The kinds of stimulating people, readings, conversations, activities, and opportunities I’m engaging with this year will hopefully not only position me well for post-graduate employment, but also be just plain wonderful ways to spend my time in the present sense (check).

Amidst all of this anticipated activity, though, there was one other matter which I have found challenging to incorporate during my time at Milano so far, and that is participating in something which reminded me exactly why I am doing this.  Simply put, you really do need to dip your toe into something absolutely inspiring from time to time to remind you of why you are doing what you are.  If you are privileged enough to go to graduate school (and yes, though we have our daily financial struggles, we are privileged and certainly will be moreso in each of our futures), figuring out how to get the most out of your education in a personal sense is important, too.

Over the summer, all of us students (and, it seems, alumni) received an invitation to apply to volunteer at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.  At the time I was still unsure about many things in my schedule, but I always loved catching up on this Meeting’s past sessions via webcast, and I welcomed the chance to get a peek behind the curtain, as it were, of an event of this stature.

So, this coming week I’ll be deploying those administrative skills some more, but with the opportunity to watch some powerful players in international development, climate change, and human rights work come up with tangible, actionable plans to help our world.  Rather than just sit in a room and talk (not that many of us, former President Clinton publicly included, don’t quite enjoy such a thing) these meetings are supposed to yield concrete policies and solutions to intractable–and critical–problems facing us all.  I know this is going to be a very tiring week, but I’m so excited to watch this unfold in person, and perhaps even hatch a plan which results in participating directly myself someday.

If you are a student of international affairs and global politics, this is an exciting, incredibly BIG week in New York.  We have CGI, the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, and it is also Climate Week.  If so inclined, I bet you could have quite the schedule going on yourself.

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a kind of blue…

Last Saturday was the first (hopefully) annual Milano Cares Day, an event which dispatched teams, SWARMS, of us all over New York City in a volunteer effort to assist all sorts of nonprofit organizations with various needs.  There were projects working with seniors, local community development groups, and doing everything from talking to kids about career planning to gardening to a little data analysis here and there.  I hope you’ll forgive me, dear readers, for not doing justice to describing all of the different types of opportunities we had; suffice it to say there were an array of options, locations, and participants.  It was very well organized and clearly reflected a lot of care and attention, which allowed the rest of us to do the same in turn at each of our sites.

My group assembled at a community center which includes a day care in East New York (a neighborhood in Brooklyn) to do some painting.  After the inevitably long excursion from New Jersey, I arrived to find a bright, colorful and cheerful space that immediately made me wish we had Laura on hand for some excellent photography.  (I forgot my camera, but I’m not sure I would have done the place justice.) It is an award-winning facility on the basis of its design, and as I settled in with my tray of bright blue paint, I was also struck by the friendliness of the staff and the varied and interesting activities going on all day.  While we were painting, kids were coming and going to help work the farmer’s market outside, doing group activities, and in some cases dropping in just to see if they could pick up a paintbrush and chip in.  The day care where we focused our attention was filled with all sorts of miniature kiddie furniture and play areas, which are always kind of fascinating to me and even make me jealous.  Jealous? Yes. I was one of those precocious students who was skipped through kindergarten and never went to preschool, so I’m embarrassed to admit part of me wanted to go dig in to some of those toys to see what was what.  I resisted, because I’m an adult that would have been inappropriate.

We were very happy, at my site, to have been able to help a group in our community partly because the spirit behind this project does represent the best of Milano students, I think: we want to make the world a better place.  (I know the phrase “making a difference” has become ubiquitous during the last couple of years there, but I don’t want the phrase to become meaningless.)

The importance of places like this community center should not be underestimated: it is a group which emerged from within the neighborhood, offers interesting, environmentally positive (urban gardening!) programming, health education, and the day care center, part of which we helped to repaint.  Vibrant places which have safe, viable options for people to socialize and interact positively as a community are too rare in urban areas everywhere, and it was so gratifying to realize that we were helping to keep that going in some small way.  I want to find a way to help out there again at some point, which may be an indirect and great payoff for the day as well.  This is flirting with the topic of another potential post, so all I will mention here is that believe it or not, the ranks of the unemployed are so full in “the City” at the moment that I have gone to more than one volunteer orientation for a group only to be told, with my fellow (mostly unemployed) attendees, that “we’ll call you, but we don’t have any openings right now” for volunteer work.  Actually being able to really do something to help always feels good.

I know the day came amidst a busy part of our semester, but I have found that taking a “special day” like this once in awhile is a great reminder, really, about WHY you are spending the rest of your weekend working on memos, reading, and research.  Or, procrastinating, spending hours G-chatting, Facebooking, Skype-ing, catching up on Iron Chef, and then cleaning (you have to do that BEFORE homework, don’t you know?)  The point is, I’d highly recommend this to colleagues as a way to spend a Saturday.

Only one downside emerged, as I really did see blue spots everywhere on the way home–but then I put on some Miles Davis, added a glass of wine, and dozed off, having spent a very satisfying day.

-Kristen

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Get out there!

So I have this bracelet. It’s not one of those rubber yellow ones, or a white one, or one of the military ones that the candidates held up during the debates. It may sound a little silly, but I look at this bracelet every day. I guess to be more precise, I look at what is inscribed on the underside of the silver cuff that my mother gave me as a gift.

It reads, “Be the change you wish to see in the world. – Gandhi “

Every day before leaving my apartment I read this and slip on the small, shiny bracelet before I head off to classes in my Nonprofit Management program. Not only does it remind me of family and the support I have from my mom, (that’s important when you head back to school too!) but it reminds of why I am even here, pursuing a career in public service.

It’s easy for students to get caught up in midterms, 10 page papers, textbook readings, class registration, finals and lectures. That’s why we’re here after all! But we are also here to represent something bigger than ourselves. It is important for us to stay involved and active in the kinds of differences we want to make in the world. Whether you want to be a city manager, a school administrator, a campaign advisor or a social worker, it is not only important, but it is refreshing to BE that change.

Over the past few weeks I have had the chance to engage in some voter advocacy for the presidential election by canvassing and phonebanking for my chosen candidate. It was not only fun and moving, but I was able to meet and talk with the kinds of people whose lives I want to help make a difference in. Volunteering is a great way to embody the ideals that we are learning in the classroom, and I encourage everyone to get out there and do whatever it is that inspires you!

Tomorrow Americans will have a very simple (yet very crucial) chance to voice their opinion and to take action. VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! Be that change you wish to see in the world!

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