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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