Category — Social Work

2008 has been an exciting year so far!

We are leaders in training for our Community Group. Which will be wonderful!

Bill has been excelling as a digital media public relations guru! At the end of February, he will be traveling for three days to North Carolina to help train 35 marketing and public relations experts at a multi-billion dollar business intelligence company. Bill is getting attention at his company for being a great Account Executive! Even the Executive Vice-President (EVP) has taken note of his work and his stylish wardrobe He was also given the “task” of picking out laptops for the digital media team and is now trying to convince the EVP that he needs a Mac.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was able to spend several days at the United Nations the past couple of weeks. I attended the Commission on Social Development which was about improving the lives of all people through concrete actions. In particular, I attended sessions that had to do with aging policy. The sessions were about the Madrid International Plan of Action on Action and how regions and countries had implemented the plan to make cities more aging friendly. I am now serving as a United Nations representative for the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG).

I also have the opportunity to be involved in several other international aging projects. I am a member of the NGO Committee on Aging and helping to plan and implement the 2008 International Day of Older Persons to be held in October at the United Nations. I am also the U.S. Student Representative for the 2008 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day that will be held in June in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

At my internship I get to do a poster presentation at the National Association of Social Workers conference in Albany, NY. The conference is at the end of March and I’m presenting on how social workers can use blogging as a means of communication with other professionals and as a tool to inspire communities to action.

So, how is everyone doing on their 2008 goals? It has been almost 2 months are you following through or have you forgotten all about them? One of our favorite things to do is dance (if you can call it that) on Friday nights! During one of our dances we found a “theme” song for our lives. It’s corny and juvenile but our “theme” song is “REACH” by S CLUB 7. (I’m sure only Dana will know who they are!) It’s our theme song because it is all about reaching for the stars, following your hearts desire and being an achiever. But, it’s also about having someone who will always be with you as you are achieving your dreams! And setting goals is one way to “reach!”

Does anybody else have a theme song?

Today I  submitted an idea to present at the National Association of Social Workers, New York State Chapter Conference in Albany. I don’t know how long it will take to find out whether or not I get to present – hopefully not too long! It would be a poster presentation at professional conference and it would look GREAT on my resume.

My presentation is titled: “Preserving the Profession through Thought Leadership: Bringing the Social Work Profession into the Digital Age.”It is about blogging as a way for social workers to recruit new professionals, connect with each other and inspire communities to take action. This is kind of an “out there” topic since social workers appear to be pretty technologically incompetent. But, if chosen, it might garner a lot of attention! That would be awesome! Good thing I have a lot of business cards!

I did a poster presentation in undergrad at the North American Association of Christians in Social Work Conference in 2005. That was a neat experience – showing off our work, making the poster, driving to Michigan.

My goal is that in 30-40 years field supervisors will be sending their MSW students to meet me saying “Google her before you go because this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!” Being involved in organizations like the National Association of Social Workers, North American Association of Christians in Social Work, and the State Society on Aging will help me become a social work leader.

Until I hear, keep your fingers crossed that I will get to present at this conference!

This afternoon Bill and I went to a V.I.P. screening of the movie HOLLY. This screening benefited a Christian non-profit organization – Restore NYC. If you click on the movie picture it will take you to Restore NYC’s website.

HOLLY is set in Cambodia and exposes the child sex trafficking business that is huge in Southeast Asia. It is the story of a 12 year old Vietnamese girl and a Western white man who tries to save her. If you don’t know much about the trafficking business then in is very shocking and eye opening. And while this movie is about trafficking in Asia it is estimated that in New York City there are over 12,000 victims of sexual trafficking.

After the screening the writer and producer of the movie, Guy Jacobson , gave us the background behind the movie and took questions. He took some major risks in investigating the movie- going under cover in Cambodian brothels to interview girls, filming in Cambodia where the brothels are run my mafia, there were hits out on his life, and he had to travel with security guards with AK -47’s. It was an amazing story and he hopes that the movie will bring awareness to the issue and inspire people to take action.

So, if you see this movie playing in a theater near you – go! It is not a movie that will necessarily be enjoyable but you will walk away with a broader perspective of the world we live in and the evil that is rampant.

Well, nothing too exciting has been happening this week. Just work, school and a lot of studying! The place where I am interning gave out free flu shots today. I decided to get one this year because I will be in such close contact with so many people. It has been about 15 years since my last flu shot so I had to sit in the room for 10 minutes to make sure I wasn’t allergic or anything. It was a little strange to sit in the room and watch other people get their shots!

I also ordered some business cards this week. They turned out pretty great! I wanted to get some business cards because during the course of the year I will be meeting lots of people who work in social work, policy and aging.

Not much else new! We’re going to a Halloween party tomorrow night – that will be interesting!

If you have been living in cave this week – you probably don’t know about the circus surrounding Columbia. Yesterday, the President of Iran spoke on Columbia’s campus. He was invited by the School of International and Public Affairs to speak at the World Leader’s forum.

Well, Columbia’s campus turned into a circus with protesters, for and against him speaking, and every media outlet imaginable. Bill was right in the middle of it! Catching all the action – see the new pictures. So, we have a guest blogger, Bill to tell his story…

Whether or not you believe he should have been allowed to speak it was most interesting to be in the middle of it all. I walked up to the main campus about 2 hours before he was scheduled to speak. I first walked around where the majority of the protesters were. They were mostly just yelling back and forth at each other… but it did remain peaceful. Of course security was very heavy. NYPD and Secret Service were all around. So I took a picture of 2 secret service agents. The picture didn’t look as good as I wanted, so I took another… bad idea. I then saw one agent mouth to the other “what is he taking a picture of?” Then they continued to watch me very closely, so I thought it was in my best interest to leave that area before I was taken in for questioning. I headed down the block and found “media row.” There were about 20 cameras setup all doing live coverage.

I decided to hang around where the cameras were because they usually know where the action is going to be. While I was waiting I called my dad because he was watching on TV and was able to keep me updated about when the president was headed my way. During one conversation with me, he says “I see you on TV right now.” I was in the background of an interview that was being done on MSNBC.

When he was about to arrive the police made me and several others move down the street… they made it so no one was even able to see the president getting out of his motorcade. However I knew he was getting close when a NYPD helicopter began circling the area, snipers appeared on several rooftops, and heavily armed officers took positions around the building where he was to speak.  All I was able to see when he arrived was the NYPD motorcycles that were at the very front of the motorcade.

While he was speaking I tried to figure out which way the motorcade when go when it left. I had to wait about 2 hours but I picked the perfect spot. He left very quickly, of course, but I was right on the corner of the street where he passed. I was literally 20 feet from his car.  That was the event from my perspective in a nutshell. Scroll down and you can see pictures from the day. They are NOT in order, but you can still get a good idea of what it was like here.

…of fall semester.

I have finished my first “real” week of graduate school. No sleepless nights or homework nightmares – yet. I am taking three classes – Economics, Policy Practice and Aging. Then I have a 3 day a week internship at the Social Work Leadership Institute at the New York Academy of Medicine. The internship doesn’t start until September 17 so the first two weeks are like “phase-in”. My classes seem like they are going to be very interesting and very challenging. My smallest class has 20 people and the largest class about 50.

Today was the last day of summer school! Yea – I am glad it is over. The classes were all review and I’m ready to move on to the new stuff! My final presentation went well and I’ll know my final grade in a couple of weeks. Today after class we went and found my internship. It’s on 5th avenue right next to Central Park. I’ll have to take a bus to get there and it takes about 30 minutes, but it’s not too bad of a commute.

Last night we decided to go on a little date. It was Bill’s responsibility to find the restaurant and we ended up at “Duke’s.” Duke’s was a restaurant that was a stereotype of the South. They had good food and the waitresses were dressed like “white trash.” It was fun!

Well, I got my first graded assignment back today and I made an “A”! I was excited! My Professor said that she like the way I made my points and laid out my paper. (Thank you Ms. Robbs – I really hate to say that!) I also made an “A” on the presentation part.

On another note our IKEA furniture is suppose to be delivered today. I can’t wait. It will be so nice to finally finish unpacking.

To have a picture appear beside your comments you have to be a registered user. Steps to become a registered user: 

1. Go to www.wordpress.com

2. Sign Up (Create a username and password, Check the box that says you only want a username – it’s the second option. If you would like to start your own blog you can pick the first one.)

3. Go to your “Dashboard” which is in the upper left corner. And pick profile. On this page you can upload a picture to appear beside your name.

I think for it to be beside your name you will have to log in before you write comments. Hope that helps and doesn’t sound too confusing. If it does – call Bill and he can help you! (Don’t tell him I said to call him!)