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 | |||