I’ll be running a diversity, equity, and inclusion podcast, magazine, and quarterly conference for a large consulting firm :)
I’m with Peer Support, those two little offices across from People Ops and Cart Repair. Part conflict resolution, part psychological first-aid, part traffic control, directing people to Rangers, Zendo, etc. Didn’t have to handle much, but the people involved were amazing! I’d definitely do it again.
Aw shit, if I'd known you were there, I would have passed along my unused shower tickets (not even sure if the Wet Spot is still functional)! I hope the ride back is quick!
SAME! Hey, if you might be open for it, I'd love to have a buddy in a similar situation as I navigate my new financial reality as a means of processing and checking myself. No pressure, of course!
A guy from back home got really into making doors and today he makes a living on instagram/renting out the tiny homes and cabins he builds (featuring cool doors!). Anyway, my friends from back home that got into woodworking when we were kids are all still at it and having a blast doing it. Give it a whirl, no need to go any deeper than it being fun!
So, I couldn't believe that you'd add a M.A.S.K. video that wasn't the theme song, so of course I had to go listen to the theme song, which of course auto-played into a cover where the original singer drops in to comment. Anyway, I don't want to be cool enough for GoBots at this point in life. Like, did they even have Orson Welles playing Unicron, the Lord of Chaos, the Chaos Bringer, the Planet Eater? Maybe, maybe not. From the Transformers Wiki: George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), actor and director, was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin and lived a fairly eventful life, in case you hadn't heard. For starters, in 1938 he convinced a bunch of rubes that Martians were invading the Earth with his The War of the Worlds radio show. On screen, Welles had a highly memorable role in The Muppet Movie, where he gave Kermit the Frog his big break in Hollywood. Oh yeah, he also made some movie about some guy who wants a sled (spoiler alert). It wasn't until 1985 that Mr. Welles finally fulfilled his true destiny by playing the planet-gobbling world Unicron, although, sadly, Mr. Welles died before the movie was released in 1986. "You know what I did this morning? I played the voice of a toy. Some terrible robot toys from Japan that changed from one thing to another. The Japanese have funded a full-length animated cartoon about the doings of these toys, which is all bad outer-space stuff. I play a planet. I menace somebody called Something-or-other. Then I'm destroyed. My plan to destroy Whoever-it-is is thwarted and I tear myself apart on the screen." —Orson Welles, on his final film performance. "The irony of [Welles] playing a planet-sized eating machine wasn't lost on anyone." —Michael McConnohie
Great seeing you too!
Unfortunately, at the individual level there are no boilerplate solutions (or at the team/unit/org level). Generally speaking, businesses who have high employee turnover spend shitloads on recruiting and training to replace, not to mention time lost and opportunity costs, the blow to morale, etc. Rationally speaking, these losses would be expected to curb behaviors that result in turnover, but they tend not to, at least not in the US. The work culture here is so focused on "efficiency" and minimizing costs that it tends to create tunnel vision, but since most other successful businesses also have tunnel vision, people tend not to see it as a problem. Essentially, if you are in a conflict averse work environment, which is most organizations, then being heard is not as in the cards as one might hope. Part of the issue on that front is that people don't have the resilience or training to engage in conflict productively. That said, when conflict is engaged in productively, it's almost never recognized as conflict at all. People often voice the need for greater training in conflict management but rarely engage in it, at least in part because many people are uncomfortable with it, which makes practice tough. Lack of practice leads to a lack of skill and—oh look! Here we are, back at square 1. Where this knowledge can be useful for the lay-person, is in determining whether or not an organization might be a good fit to work in. To answer your question explicitly, you can't make yourself be heard unless the other party is willing to listen. When that occurs at work, it kind of depends on what you value.
This is some wild shit. I love it! I notice that there's eggs in the meatloaf recipe, but no mention of breadcrumbs, or milk, which I am used to seeing as part of the binder when combined with the eggs. Any issues with it being too crumbly/not really holding together?
Ugh, sorry about not making it! I’m glad this exists though!
As a conflict management guy, I am so curious about these kinds of situations. When you find yourself in a position like this (assuming that this may not be the first time) is there a way that things tend to unfold?
Are you familiar with the concept of Everyday Resistance?
Dude, NPR is even in on it
Cheers! Many companies survived the last recession that shouldn’t have due to special interests. Who knows? Maybe you’re right, maybe it will be the same, maybe the next recession is just around the bend. Hopefully, I’ll get no empirical data on that front!
It's good to be around! I'd love to get your perspectives, particularly as I know that both you and I have had some strong opinions of various changes that have been implemented over the years :)
Hey pal, so sorry to hear about this. It's clear from the link that your Oma did her share to create the kind of community that anyone would be proud to live in. What an example to set!
Oh, I thought you were going to bust out into that song from Rent
Things are chugging along. Looking for a new job, trying to tie up loose ends; adult life maintenance shit-- you know how it goes. Well, I don't blame you for feeling guilty for not suffering. That's kind of a weird space to be in. But hey, lucky you for finding this other person, I hope it works out.
No one has asked me to board a handbasket just yet, but maybe I'll get an early check-in email closer to the date . . .
Cheers KB. Will try to come back here more regularly!
It was kind of unwilling, but at this point it's a good 4 months. It's been inconvenient and has kind of messed with my projected timelines, but it's tough to write a thesis on equity and inclusion when studying led to me excluding myself from my own life and my own relationships. Hardly a great place to write from, you know? As for how long, I don't know. I just have to write the damn thing. Man, that is a huge deal to set yourself on a path where you are helping people on less than great days in their lives. It's even bigger to realistically look at how much time it will take to earn the competence it takes to deal with that capably. Positive self-perception is huge in contributing to feelings of belonging in general and if you're really serious about being a nurse, then finding places where you can get acknowledgement will be crucial to the concretization of that identity. Build those relationships where you can, and if building those relationships is difficult, that's not necessarily all on you. There's a lot of research on mentorship being done these days in employee success. Are there opportunities for mentorship in your professional context? Anyway, I hope it gets better man, sorry it was a hairy one today.
Is this on?
Why yes, I will be around and I would love to see you!
Last month I left my apartment and found this on the sidewalk. Whippets kill and there are zombies in Boston, I guess. 
Not exactly a steak . . .
I think it's very common for people to try to create something with an expectation of how it will come out. That's not a bad thing necessarily but I feel like often people are limited by their own expectations and end up abandoning or throwing something away because it doesn't turn out how they thought it should. Anyway, one writer who influenced me deeply gave me two pieces of advice. One was just before graduating undergrad. He said, "write a screenplay ". The second piece of advice was given to me when he wrote me a letter of recommendation to law school (which I did not end up going to): "lawyers can write poems too."
Hey, swing for the fences! Trump is the hero that many asked for . . . and got.
Hi I'm in the Bronx until August and was just in Ecuador for all of June. I'm helping to run an English language summer camp (apparently). How are things?
Yo bfx, been a while. It's interesting that I'm finding your shoutout now-- I'm doing a masters in conflict resolution and one of my courses this semester is on violence, which includes violence directed at the self. In fact, right now I'm supposed to be writing up a definition of one of the types of violence we've read about and the one that's been rattling around in my brain is "structural violence". Structural violence is described as "embedded" rather than direct. So, for example a punch in the face would be direct, but not necessarily structural (though it could be). To define structural violence we need to look at institutions such as culture or law. Structural violence is not attributable to a single person or organization and in fact, is often difficult to identify because it operates invisibly (or almost invisibly). Paul Farmer describes structural violence as: We also have to pin down what "violence" is. One of the scholars whose work we've been referring to the most is a guy named Johan Galtung, who wrote a paper called Violence, Peace, and Peace Research which you can find here. Essentially, there are many distinctions we have to make in defining violence, but one facet of violence is depriving others of potential or opportunity. Galtung gives the example of tuberculosis in the 18th century, stating that death by tuberculosis at the time was unavoidable and so not violence, whereas because death by tuberculosis (with the exception of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis) today is avoidable due to the availability of advanced medicine, is violence. The fact that medical care to prevent tuberculosis today is not available to everyone, is structural violence. Back to suicide. The gist of it is, a guy named Durkheim came up with social-causation theories of suicide which are as follows: very low social integration-> egoistic suicide, very high social integration-> altruistic suicide, very low social regulation-> anomic suicide, very high social regulation-> fatalistic suicide. Of course, Durkheim came up with those theories in 1897 and was thinking of Western countries, but may still be useful in this case. Also this: Anyway, from what little I've read, it seems like understanding structural violence is vital. If direct violence were the only form of violence we needed to worry about, then the Cold War should have "worked" and the threat of mutual annihilation should have been enough to create "peace" but as we can see, that hasn't happened. As for my experience with higher education, well . . . higher education is political. As in politics, the issue of money places people in a zero-sum mindset, as does the delineation of discrete departments and fields of study. I'm really not sure what can be done about that, but then again, learning how to better manage systemic change is what I'm back in school for. It's wicked hard, so I hope it pays well. Not to be flip, but thanks for this. I know it sounds trite, but I was having trouble doing my homework and I think I have a better handle on it now. Cheers.Structural violence is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way… The arrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause injury to people … neither culture nor pure individual will is at fault; rather, historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces conspire to constrain individual agency. Structural violence is visited upon all those whose social status denies them access to the fruits of scientific and social progress.
Survivors of suicide (i.e., relatives and friends of suicide victims) are among the at-risk subpopulations due to the possible identification with the deceased, punishment for perceived self-blame, social modeling within the family, and/or genetic transmission of psychiatric disorders and impulsivity. Also, media reports on suicide may lead to the occurrence of imitative suicides (i.e., the ‘copycat’ suicides, ‘suicide contagion’, and ‘Werther effect’), and a high incidence of suicide using a particular method (e.g., burning, asphyxiation, and herbicides) within a short period of time and use of special locations (e.g., bridges, cliffs) may be related to social transmission of suicidal behavior, including media messages.
No worries. In grad school. It's crunch time from now until the end of the semester, but you know how that goes. Still in Boston,. I am loving it (except for the stress . . . the melted brains that leak on to my pillow).