May 10, 2009 (Week 7)

This week I spent a lot of time preparing, watching, and helping clean up after Philip's show. It was a great educational experience to see the life behind a comedy show. The mentality need to put on such a performance is definitely a skill I lack. Seeing 3 of Philip's shows gave a great insight into how comedy works, such as just how important timing of jokes is, and that the size/atmosphere of an audience can make all the difference for a show.

 
 

I spent time this week promoting Philip's show by posting flyers, sending e-mails to students in my program, and by mailing flyers to other suppliers in Wellington. I spent more time researching the peer support program and we had a LONG meeting on Thursday to talk about it. It was interesting to see how sometimes the entrepreneur, though ambitious in his ideas, can not always put on everyone's perspective. Philip has some great ideas for the program. He wants to create a peer network of support for individuals from an array of cultures and diverse populations who have a disability of some kind. For Philip, the network is supposed to work as an alternative source of support outside of the "system." Janette on the other hand sees the group as a group of support, in any form it may be need. For example, it may be advice on how to use the "system" to get what they need, rather than avoiding the system all together. Red too felt that some people, like himself, prefer to use the "system" for some things, while operating independently in other ways. I agreed with Janette and Red in thinking the customers, or the members, of the group would likely determine the type of support and it may not necessarily be a good idea to impose views, such as Philip's intentions, on the program. It was a tense meeting at times because communication was not always clear. IN the end, Philip and Janette talked it out, but it was the firs instance where I actually questioned Philip's position and essentially disagreed with him.

 
 

On Friday I went to possibly my favorite meeting I've been to so far. Philip's friend ____ is starting an elite group at a near by high school which is intended to act as a forum for students to discuss topics and debates on diversity- what it is, issues around it, etc. The students in the room were hand picked either by teachers or by peers who had already been selected. Therefore this group was very impressive. The students in the room were energetic, excited, curious, and confident. I saw a lot of potential in the group. I found it absolutely fascinating that you could just create a culture by sticking people in a room together. I could already see the special bond forming between the students and knew that the group had great potential to help develop and mold their minds. So many of them were just at the point in their lives that you could tell they wanted to be leaders, but were not sure how. I think the group they were in definitely was structured in a way that they could begin to learn these skills. It was inspiring.

 
 

It also made me think. I really got excited and decided that probably meant something. It strengthened my belief that social work might be the right path for me, and being a school counselor may even be an option. I would be pleased if I could someday conduct a group towards learning like I predict _____ will. I'd love to see how and where those kids all end up.

 
 

 
 

Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
7	4/5- 10/5	29	39	0	204
Date		Hours	Description
4/5/2009		1	reading
5/5/2009		7	reading, show, research and planning
6/5/2009		9	research, team meeting, meeting with sl interpreters, guy building theater
7/5/2009		11	content meeting, peer support meeting, show
8/5/2009		10	student diversity group, show, reading and research, e-mails

 
 

 
 

April 30, 2009 (Week 6)

This week I felt as if I was actually doing a few things that were practical and helpful for the company. I did a lot of research on examples of peer support and summarized information in notes. I did a lot of work with the website too, making links to connect blog entries and creating invitation links to start discussions in the "café" and to "contact us" if you would like to report a comment.

 
 

I also got to go with Philip to some more meetings and to a television interview. I like to think I have gotten a lot better at wheeling Philip around, but this meeting was a new challenge with tight squeezes between cars, narrow ramps, and ominous pool just feet away from where we were rolling. I felt nervous, and it must have been apparent because one of the video people commented on it while we were passing the pool. Great. Anyway, I still feel more confident than I did originally and I've also gotten better at knowing which tasks Philip is able to do on his own vs. ones that would be just more practical for me to do (i.e. putting the keys in the ignition, snapping his seatbelt).

 
 

We also met with someone who works with residential homes and she came to talk with Philip about his recent trip to rotorua, where he and Amy visited several homes. Philip made many interesting comments on the dress, treatment, and layout of the facilities that he thought could use improvement.

 
 

I have really enjoyed reading "Getting to Maybe." The book is both inspiring and informative. I also smiled a bit when I started reading Drucker's "Managing a Non-Profit Organization" because I thought it was quite appropriate to be reading another book by Drucker for my Entrepreneurship Internship.

I hope to get going a bit more on my proposal soon. Unfortunately that project has taken a back seat to research and web content lately, but I think I will be able to do reading and research for my project at home and start doing interviews in the next two weeks.

 
 

I think I may have hit something good in "Organizational Identity and Self-Transformation." The chapter on Organizational Identity breaks down the identity of an organization into three types- corporate identity, substantive identity, and reflective identities. It defines corporate identity
as the presentation of the organization to other observers is not directly related to organizational operations. For example, how the organization markets itself. I will be looking into this for my proposal by looking at how Diversityworks presents itself. Substantive identity is defined as shared rules, values and world views is realized in the organizational structures and as such influences all organizational operations. I will use my own observations of how the company operates for this section. My interviewing will likely be most important for the company's reflective identities. Reflective identities
are 'claims' or 'narratives' about the organization and are not directly inbuilt in the operations but are reflections on operations.

 
 

 
 

 Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
6	27/4- 2/5	23	20.5	-10	165

 
 

Date		Hours	Description
27/4/2009		3.5	reading
29/4/2009		8	CM meeting, website links and research
30/4/2009		9	team meeting, project research, tv interview, client meeting about residential homes

 
 

 
 

April 9, 2009 (Week 5)

I'd like to start off this week's blog with an interesting quote from one of the books Philip recommended to me called Getting to Maybe. I really felt personally inspired by this quote:

 
 

"Our Deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyone measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?...Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure areound you. We are all meant to shine, as children do…It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light sine, we uncounsiously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. "
-Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

 
 

 
 

The start of this week involved forming and pitching my project proposal to Philip and Jeanette. We also discussed the business plan and direction for Creative momentum. It was nice to hear that Jeanette had some of the same concerns I had about the project in terms of marketing and generating community involvement in the website.

 
 

I believe we came up with some good ideas in our CM development meeting, with phases for generating involvement and tailoring our content so that we best serve out audience. Stating our position as a "bridge" between "diverse creatives" and the "mainstream" was a big point I am glad we settled.

 
 

I was happy that Philip seemed pleased with my proposal and he said he would send it on to trustees to gain their support in the project. I hope to get rolling on it as soon as I get back from break. I plan on using break to do some more reading from Philip's books, and I should be able to catch up on few hours that way.

 
 

On Friday I did some research for the peer support group and found some interesting comparisons with an article on social support interventions with migration groups. In the article, the author referred to Berry's acculturation model (1997), and said that immigrants may use four strategies to deal with the changes that take place as a result of migration: assimilation, separation or segregation, integration and marginalization. "The strategies are related to two independent dimensions: cultural maintenance

(to what extent are cultural identity and characteristics considered to be important, and their maintenance strived for), and contact and participation (to what extent should they become involved in other cultural groups, or remain primarily among themselves). "

 
 

It is interesting to me how these terms could easily be used for any "diverse" group that finds itself as a minority.

 
 

The article defines the terms as follows:

• Immigrants who are interested in having contact with the settlement society, seek daily interaction with natives, avoid interaction with their own ethnic community and do not maintain the cultural values of their origin society use the 'assimilation' strategy.
  

   
   

• Those who emphasize their own values and culture, and avoid contact with the host society, use the 'separation' or 'segregation' strategy.
  

   
   

• The 'integration' strategy is used when immigrants are interested in both maintaining their own culture and having contact with other groups in the settlement context.
  

   
   

• And finally, the 'marginalization' strategy is used when immigrants have little possibility or interest in both maintaining their original culture and having relations with the host society.
  

 
 

The article also talked about barriers which prevented many immigrants from receiving the formal services they need. Many of these were similar to what Philip has said are barriers to people with disabilities getting the services they need from "the system."

 

Other barriers that may explain the underutilization of the formal support

system in migrant populations are:

(i) problems of accessibility, as a result ofphysical segregation and isolation, when programmes are implemented outside immigrants' living areas;

(ii) insufficient knowledge about available programmes and services;

(iii) incompatibility with immigrants' working hours;

(iv) language differences, given the difficulty of communicating adequately with professionals;

(v) low perceived efficacy of programmes;

(vi) perceptions of ethnic prejudice in social intervention professionals; and

(vii) lack of culturally appropriate programmes and services

 
 

Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
5	6/4- 12/4	23	17	-3.5	144.5

 
 

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Date	Hours	Description
7/4/2009	1	reading and research, proposal
8/4/2009	8	finish proposal and agenda, CM meeting, write exam questions for Philip's sister's class
9/4/2009	8	research, reading, emails

 
 

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April 2, 2009 (Week 4)

Reflection on Internship up to this point:

 Things I am learning:

• Running Meetings
  
  • I am learning a great deal about how to run meetings effectively: setting productive agendas, focusing on the most important things, while checking up on the overall mission.
    
• Sociological/Psychological aspects of meetings and partnerships
  
  • Recognizing what each party needs from a partnership, and how meetings can facilitate opportunities to cater to those.
    
  • Using clear thinking that I currently have as an outside observer to see how I can apply new thinking to my own projects back home.
    
• Discerning what tasks are important and more importantly , which aren't
  
• Recently, working on getting out the "box" perspective I have been approaching work with
  
  • Separating work and passions/big ideas, where they should be one and the same
    
• Importance of not over committing
  
  • Avoid underperforming
    
  • Others will pick it up if it needs to be done
    

 
 

Things Going Well:

• Meetings are very interesting
  
  • Like having a leadership model for meetings, an area I would like to improve
    
  • Problem solving
    
  • General structure of organizations and industry/disability sector
    
• Enjoying the PR involvement
  
  • Helping plan event, working on news release- some tangible activities
    
• Research
  
  • Enjoying the stuff on developmental evaluation
    
  • Looking forward to research on peer support
    

 
 

What I think I/We can do better:

• Ask more questions
  
• Communicate schedule better- what meetings coming up, so can do more research beforehand- that way able to participate more in meetings
  
• More personal challenges could be something to look at
  
  • PR stuff has been good, enjoying that
    
  • Maybe more work with Jeanette?
    

     
     

Other Business/Concerns/Ideas:

• CM website concerns
  
  • Gaps, like CP Society meeting
    
    • Marketing- probably going to need more methods for interactive participation generation (Though not too familiar myself with the virtual community as an effective model- beyond facebook)
      
    • Any Partners we could look into?
      
• Also, something I would like to work on is a Visual Representation of Diversityworks, Diversityworks trust, and all the people, orgs, etc involved in current initiatives
  
  • I think could really benefit understanding organization and with defining a bit more if the organizations identity in the end- make things smoother- (mag example).
    
  • Also could tie into developmental evaluation in that the MISSION needs to be clear, and visually, the relationships may be a key way to measure effectiveness of new programs.
    

     
     

Break:

• Reading
  
• Wellington Promotion?
  
• Applying learning to start planning my activities back home
  
  • Coming up with game plans
    
  • Defining my role and tasks a bit to plan for next year
    

   
   

 
 

Meeting with Philip, 3 April 2009:

Try running some meetings- throw into deep end (with a life raft)

 
 

Go to Philip for 5 min catch up meetings for daily tasks etc

Planning target and objectives- AGENDA

Mailing list- next communication- give feedback - survey?…objectives…why doing it...working towards…do you think we have it? …what do you think we should add...

Half responding to opportunity- need and demand

Half creating opportunity and demand

Kind of what momentum 09 doing…peer support

Lecture could have business aspect…people come and talk

WISE species model

Be more assertive in what doing….say by the end do this …..interview everyone about what want for company

 
 

Mapping out company- wants- needs-

Making Mission ….Framework to keep thinking about

Not stepping on anyone's toes

Practice having idea as good as others….good idea, what about this

Mission

About thinking, the way we think about things….changing that

Highlighting "stupidity" sometimes in thinking

Thinking can create the problems rather than fix it or finding way to fix it.

Some sub conscious psychological need to have problems

 
 

Allison Tasks for the week

Media Release (Fri 2nd)

Make Agenda For Meeting (For Wed 8th)

-my project and CM discussion

-brainstorming for marketing and CM

Proposal for Organizational Design Project (Wed 8th)

-what could ask each person, and about each project

Research for Peer Support (Thur 9th)

E-mail Red about Tags (Thur 9th)

 
 

Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
4	30/3- 5/4	29	33	2.5	127.5

 
 

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Date	Hours	Description
1/4/2009	10	lecture, web research, PR planning meeting
2/4/2009	9	DW team meeting, blogging/brainstorming, research, PR writing
3/4/2009	8	reflection with philip, media release
4/4/2009	6	web research for structure proposal and draft proposal

 
 

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March 26, 2009 (Week 3)

 
 

• This Week I learned a lot about organizational structures and how organizations handle "big decisions."
  
• The ADL leadership meeting talked about the difference between a trust and an incorporated society. Link: ADL Meeting
  
• The meeting with Claire taught me a lot about crisis management and the media. With the bad publicity her work had gotten, she needed advice from Philip on how to handle the release of the report that basically cleared her name and said she had been defamed. She had to re-evaluate what she wanted to do with it and how to handle the PR- should she continue? Modify? Or completely leave line of work? Philip also helped her with some PR stuff, such as a media release w/ Diversitywork's support.
  
• The meeting with the CP Society confirmed some of my concerns with the whole CM project. As a grant funder, Harvey talked about the things he would need to pitch continued funding to the board. Marketing of the CM website was a major concern of his, and I agree with him. I think it will be difficult for CM to pick up and generate returning traffic in this medium, without spending a ton money on publicity and advertising. Link: CP Society Meeting
  

   
   

 
 

 
 

 
 

Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
3	23/3- 29/3	23	26	-1.5	94.5

 
 

Date	Hours	Description
20/3/2009	7	meeting (ADL leadership), discussions, research
23/3/2009	4	meeting (Claire), planning, questions etc
24/3/2009	3	website, research
25/3/2009	8	website, research, meetings (CP Society)
26/3/2009	11	website, meetings (exec director of british council- event planning)

 
 

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March 18, 2009 (Week 2)

What is Diversity?

So, as I have been working with the new Creative Momentum website, I have been trying to answer the question "What is Creative Diversity?" The concept is the heart and soul of Creative Momentum, Diversityworks Trust's newest project. In a google search of "Creative Diversity," Philip and his projects took up nearly all of the results. Thus, I imagine he has pretty much coined the term.

 
 

I take creative diversity and creative momentum to be a virtual community of different populations of race, sexuality, and ability, which come together to celebrate creativity and the arts. Philip says "Creative Momentum is a dedicated virtual space for discussion and debate range of issues and topics, relating to disability, sexual and gender diversity, cultural diversity, mental health and cultural Deafness." So then, it is more than just a focus on creativity, "diversity" is just as important. But, what exactly does "diversity" mean? And in reflection, has my definition of it changed since I have been working at Diversityworks?

 
 

At a meeting I had this afternoon, Philip talked about the way the general public views, and fears, people with disability. He gave an example where he said "Imagine you wake up one day to find you are Maori, or you wake up gay, how would you feel? what about if you woke up disabled?" He explained that those who said they would be afraid for either of the first two could be called racist, or homophobic, but that it would be accepted for non disabled people to be scared of a disability. To Philip, it is fact that people would adjust to a disability, and that the fear people feel is unfounded. He says that it is the mindset of those who are not disabled, rather than those who are that must change. People must see the world as if they could one day be disabled, the same as if he/she was to take on the view of another ethnicity or sexual orientation.

 
 

From my own experience being behind the chair with Philip, I can see what he means. It is one thing to go through your day not even taking notice as to whether the world is made for people with differing abilities, another if you stop and notice when areas may be well or badly designed for those with disabilities. It is yet another level to actually go through all the steps with someone who is in a wheelchair or has mobility limitations. The time, consideration, and planning that goes into simply getting around your daily routine is exhausting for anyone. A lot has to be done simply to prepare for Philip's comedy show in May. As he said, it is frustrating to have to figure out how he is going to get on stage before he even thinks about planning his routine.

 
 

 
 

 
 

When I think about diversity, my mind immediately jumps to programs or businesses who are trying to make a better image for themselves, or who are promoting an immense and daunting cause. Maybe The fact that I am an upper-middle class female from the suburbs of Charlotte certainly seperates me from the image of "diversity," especially at Carolina. But does that really mean I am the same as every person who fits that same description? Isn't "diversity" supposed to be color blind in the sense that the diversity comes from the person, not the color of his/her skin or the way he/she looks and acts? Or am I wrong? Perhaps I am being too critical.

 
 

Honestly, I think "diversity" comes back to what I have been talking about since I started working with Diversityworks: it all comes back to building relationships. Knowing people who are different from you makes you aware of the bigger picture and builds your commitment to developing and supporting your community. For example, my relationship with Philip. It is about embracing commonalities and celebrating differences.

 
 

The arguments, theories, and discussions span wayy out from here. Affirmative action, equal opportunity, "diversity," they all have the same goals, but sometimes I feel like we can get lost in the language so much that the people we talk about become labled as races and categories rather than unique individuals...which is the whole point of "diversity." Am I right?

 
 

Pasted from <http://kinetickiwi.blogspot.com/>

 
 

 
 

Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
2	16/3-22/3	29	26	-4.5	73

 
 

Date	Hours	Description
16/3/2009	2	emails, reading
17/3/2009	2	show, reading
18/3/2009	7	meetings (website), research, powerpoint
19/3/2009	8	meetings (DW team meeting, CM content, Dr Peter Gibilisco), blog, google research
20/3/2009	7	meeting (ADL leadership), discussions, research

 
 

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March 14, 2009 (Week 1)

Meetings Attended: promotional planning for philip's comedy show, mentoring session for fellow comedian, ADL (Auckland Disability Law), Diversityworks Trust project meeting, TBI website meeting, meeting with disability council rep

Projects worked on: reading and research on creative thinking, research for web content, some website building/designing, brainstorming for promotional teasers for Philip's show, reading project proposals and communications between Philip and key relations

Tangible learning experiences: experience with planning a comedy show, exposure to project proposals which include project objectives, structure and timelines, need analysis, benefits/risk/and impact, and financial models

Intangible lessons learned: understanding the intricacy of population politics and programs, greater coalition thinking- wider than just population specific thinking (bonding groups together through common experience rather than focusing on unique experience), philosophical thinking on creativity, for example thinking about how there are two worlds: one that exists with or with out you, and the world that exists in your interpretation, or thinking about the relationship between individual creativity and the environment which generates it, which speaks to the importance of maintaining a teaching environment which allows for and generates creativity not only in schools, but in working with different populations

 
 

Cool Quotes on creativity from Ken Robinson's book Out of our Minds:

 
 

"Thinking and feeling are not simply about seeing the world as it is, but of having ideas about it, of interpreting experience to give it meaning"...essentially, we create the worlds we live in

 
 

"Creative insights often occur by making connections between ideas or experiences that were previously unconnected" ...could be a way of looking about how the disabled sector can work together with Maori and other populations to achieve common goals...coalition thinking!

 
 

More of Ken Robinson's thoughts on creativity and schools: click here

 
 

Pasted from <http://kinetickiwi.blogspot.com/>

 
 

 
 

Hours:

Week	Dates	Goal	Hours	Net	Total
1	9/3- 15/3	29	27	-1.5	42.5

 
 

Date	Hours	Description
9/3/2009	3	work, reading, discuss tasks
10/3/2009	3	meeting (DW team), reading
11/3/2009	8	work, meetings (publicity), video research and learning
12/3/2009	2	meeting (Philip, ADL, and Minnie- disability and council)
13/3/2009	6	meetings, web stuff
15/3/2009	5	project reading and research, blog

 
 

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