Catching Up

As usual, I am behind on keeping my readers up-to-date on my continuing preparations. Last weekend I finally had the second of three yard sales. This one was not the biggest — that will come in August — but it went well despite the cold, overcast day. I sold nearly everything. Still amazes me what people will buy if you put a cheap enough price on it. After all the remainders were packed up for storage until the next sale or immediate transport to the thrift store, I counted the proceeds — about $250. Not bad for a lot of mostly junk. Later I listed on Craig's List a couple of the larger/better items that were still in the remainder pile. So far I've sold the old '70s Harmon-Kardon amp ($35) and the never-installed hanging lamp from IKEA (another $20). Meanwhile I listed the iSight camera (among other things) on amazon.com. It sold right away for $119, as did a software how-to book for another $12. All this is to finance the new, professional quality digital camera I want to take to Morocco with me. I'm about half-way now, and still have more stuff listed for sale. Progress on this fund-raising, stuff-divesting project will slow down for awhile I imagine, but I'm not in a hurry. I still have about 10 weeks (!) time left. Yikes! How quickly it flies!

I still have not heard anything more from the people who were putting together the news story about the Peace Corps. I've been told it MIGHT air this week, but that they would let me know when it was scheduled.

I am really behind on my Arabic self-study. It's not just the time. It's difficult to do something like this on one's own. But I have a goal, and am determined to at least get through the alphabet before I get to Philadelphia. This weekend I am flying to Minnesota for a family reunion and will take my book with me. While I plan to sleep through as much of my redeye flight as possible on the outbound leg of my trip, perhaps I will have some study time on the way back.

Breaking News!

Congresswoman Nita Lowey, chair of the appropriations committee that is handling the Peace Corps budget, announces that she will be increasing the Peace Corps budge to $450 Million, which will allow for an expansion of the program to 20 more countries! Watch the announcement on Chris Matthew's (RPCV of note) show here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#31393992
(Sorry, you'll have to highlight, copy and paste the link as I do not seem to be able to get the "insert link" command to work.)

My New, More Public Self, Part II

Yesterday evening a cameraman and producer from Fox News came to my house and interviewed me about my decision to join the Peace Corps, and my plans and expectations for my service. The local Peace Corps Public Information person came too.

I think the taping went pretty well. They wanted to tape me against a background that lent visual support to the theme of Peace Corps preparations, so we went out to my garage, which is the staging area for my packing. So my ugly garage will be on the TV too. The news segment that this interview will be a part of will be aired on Wednesday or Thursday, nationwide. Wow. My fifteen minutes of fame has arrived (and who knew ugly garages get 15 minutes too?).

After the interview, they shot a bit of footage of me practicing my Arabic calligraphy. When the Fox people left, the Peace Corps person hung around for a bit and we talked. This was deeply interesting, because we talked about a wide range of things, including what kinds of things can cause a volunteer "to E-T" (ET means they file for Early Termination of service), and what kinds of things make Peace Corps service more difficult for older volunteers (not the things you might expect). Older volunteers, she says, are more likely to chafe at the bureaucracy and authority of Peace Corps rules. This rings true for me; I've always been a bit of a rebel when it comes to dealing with authority. So it's good to be psychologically prepared for these realities. Older volunteers sometimes have difficulty befriending and bonding with their fellow volunteers, and can feel left out when younger volunteers "clique up" and may seem to be excluding them. I am glad that I've had so much experience working with young people through the University. That may help, but again, it's good to know in advance that I should bring a thick skin with me to the training. Every group is different, and you never know. Instead of being snubbed, maybe I'll be treated like a big sister. I'll have to go the extra mile to waive these difficulties and form my own special bond with my fellow trainees.

Another VERY interesting part of the conversation concerns my work assignment. When I was nominated, I was told by the recruiter that it was for a "special" assignment, about which I was told nothing except that such assignments were for people with very special backgrounds, and in this particular case, for someone with a background in visual arts. Then, when I was offered the invitation by the Placement person this April, she told me the assignment was for Small Business Development, which is a regular, not special, assignment. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that my assignment wasn't going to be "special," but I was quite content with the idea of doing SBD with women artisans in Morocco, which is what she told me about the assignment. When I received my Invitation in the mail, the Work Assignment booklet was a xeroxed copy of what appeared to be standard Small Business Development information.

Well, it turns out that the SBD designation on my Invitation is because these special assignments (she called them "one-ninety-nines") are so rare that it's not likely a country director would create a work assignment booklet just for the very occasional one that comes through in their region. In fact, she said, I WAS nominated for one of these 199 assignments; she told me she had seen this on her computer when she pulled up my file.

This part of the conversation came up in the context of another reason why older volunteers often feel frustrated, which is that their very richness of experience makes it difficult to accept the demands of entry-level training. I had told her that this wouldn't be the case for me, as I had ZERO experience with small business management. I would be a beginner like everyone else. She looked a bit puzzled, and then started talking about the special assignments. They're so rare, she said, that in her own three years as a recruiter, before she took the Public Information job, she had never had occasion to nominate anyone for a 199.

So, wow! Now I DO feel extra special and very very curious about what the assignment could be. She said they look for someone with a very particular background, but unfortunately she couldn't tell me any more than that. I guess I will just have to wait and see. As IF I needed anything more to be excited about!

New Post

Wow, it's been nearly two weeks since my last blog entry. Time is just flying by. Herewith an update on some things I've been working on:

Last weekend a friend came down to help me clean out the storage space in my garage. As you can imagine (just think about your own storage spaces) this was a big job. We got a lot done! This set the stage for a yard sale I am planning for next weekend. There is never enough time to prepare for such a sale, but with Mark's help, I have at least gotten the staging area ready to go. There's still a lot more to do, but the sale will happen and more STUFF will exit my life.

Any money I make on the sale will go to help pay for my new laptop. I've received it now, and have started to migrate my computing from my desktop machine to the laptop. I've been told that a laptop will be very helpful for the business development work I'll be doing, and so most SMD volunteers tend to be located close to Internet cafes. Many even have Internet in their homes. So far I've gotten all the applications moved to the new machine. Most of my documents will be stored online, which I haven't started yet. But this also feels like progress.

This weekend has been mostly eaten up by social obligations, errands, and the usual weekly chores that have more to do with keeping body and soul together in my present working life. I've also tried to tidy up the apartment a little. Tomorrow I'm going to be interviewed by Fox News. I never thought my face would appear on Fox, but it seems it's going to. The public relations officer told me they wanted to interview an older volunteer, and that I came very highly recommended by the local recruiter. My guess is that they didn't have a very deep bench of older volunteers, but the flattery helped, as I did consent to have the producer and her crew in my packing-box-littered home tomorrow. The piece will air on Wednesday night, so be sure to watch the news that evening. You may catch a glimpse of my face there.

My New, More Public Self

When you join the Peace Corps, two of the many forms they ask you to fill out come from the Press Office. They are the Release Authorization Form and the Hometown News Release Form. The former is a standard, brief legal waiver. It will take about 15 seconds to fill out. The second is basically a series of mini-essays; seven, to be exact.

I've procrastinated filling them out. Indeed, I've procrastinated making an official announcement to family and friends. Many know by now, but some of the dearest friends I have still do not know. Now I'm being asked to let the world know.

I've always been a rather private person. I am still adjusting to the realities of joining national service. Now I am going to become an individual who is part of a larger entity. I really believe in the mission of this entity, to the point where I'm ready to change; to become a more public, "out there" kind of person. I'm coming out.

I have an opportunity coming up to do some of my announcements in person, at a family reunion, for which I will travel back to St. Paul. This will occur in mid-June. That is also about the latest I can wait to release the news to the press there. Meanwhile I should release it here, where it is much more likely to be published. Even if it is published, however, I don't expect any real notoriety. Which is just fine. If I wanted a high profile, I'd create a profile on Facebook.

Once I am in the Peace Corps, I intend to continue blogging, as a form of communication with my family, but in the public sphere and therefore also as a form of citizen journalism. Part of the intention of this blog is to ease me into the public blogosphere. I'm coming out.

Goodbye, TiVo

Okay, I'm going to come clean about my most serious addiction.

I am a news junkie.

For the past decade, it has been building. It started with PBS: The News Hour, the year George Bush defeated Al Gore. An evening ritual for me was watching it when I returned from work. I'd relax, have a glass of fruit juice or sparkling water and maybe a snack, while I watched Lehrer and colleagues. When it was over I'd make dinner. After dinner, I watched The Daily Show if it was on. Yeah, I know it's not "news." Comedic commentary became part of the addiction equation early on. Another was the periodic scanning of Google News headlines, about four times a day.

As the Bush administration settled in, news seemed increasingly important. From the beginning, the new administration seemed a slow-motion train wreck. I couldn't peel my eyes away. After 9/11 I felt it important to broaden my perspective. I added the BBC World News to my nightly lineup.

The BBC came on early, though. Frequently I missed my fix. When, just as I took on a second job, a friend suggested getting digital recording capability, I went for it. I subscribed to TiVo. Evil TiVo. I do think it's evil.

"Time-shifting" was lovely, even if the TiVo is an inexact device. It misses its target nearly as often as it succeeds. Even so, that "on-demand" quality is seductive. I succumbed; slipped deeper into my addiction.

I started scanning other news services, briefly checking Fox to see if it was as bad as its reputation (it was) and, less briefly, CNN, to see if it lived up to its reputation (it did not) before settling, finally, on the VERY interesting MSNBC, just as Keith Olbermann started offering Countdown. That led me to Anderson Cooper and Chris Matthews and eventually, half-a-dozen more interesting points of view. I was taping the weekend shows, too: Tim Russert and George Stephanopoulos, The McLaughlin Group.

During my convalescence from surgery in the beginning of 2008, I started listening to talk radio. Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes; later Stephanie Miller, who has become a lasting staple since I returned to work. Eventually, I was watching more than four hours a day watching news, and countless more with the radio and the Internet, chasing news and commentary on news.

One of the attractions of the Peace Corps was the opportunity to radically alter the mediated experiences of my life. I hope to spend much more time face to face with people, and much less time face to screen. We'll see. Meanwhile, I am taking steps to reduce the screen time.

Or at least, I've been working towards thinking about the planning steps for eventually carrying that plan out. See the evasion in that sentence? Yeah. I'm still working on it.

But I'm hitting the wall of reality now. With all I have to do to get ready, I simply do not have the time to follow the news with this intensity. Lately, I've been realizing that the addiction is comprised more and more of habit, and less and less of any genuine passion. So it should be getting easier. As my service approaches, I find myself caring less and less about the minutia of current events. Now it is the force of habit that remains the only barrier.

So my latest goal is this: I am canceling the TiVo before the next billing cycle. I am cutting cable back at least to Basic, and if I can figure out how to get PBS without it, may cut it out entirely. Before the next billing cycle. A friend will take away the TiVo machine, gratis. I will return the cable box and be free of that expense. More importantly, I am going to reduce my viewing back to the one-half the original level: I will limit myself to The News Hour (forgoing The Daily Show).

Before June 9, I will have canceled the services, leaving a one-hour commitment to the screen, as much Stephanie Miller as I can hear before I leave for work in the morning, and the browsing of the Google News.

Step by step. Cold turkey is a nice, clean method, but I will ease myself out of this cloud of news slowly.

Spending more time with Arabic

Slowly, I am getting into this. LiveMocha is good, though I find tutorials on learning the script to be totally absent. I’ve sent away for some books on the script, because I’d like to know it before I get to Rabat. I’m not so concerned about Arabic itself, because I know I’ll be learning Darija. For those unfamiliar with these details, Darija is a variation of a dialect. The North African dialect is one of five major forms of colloquial Arabic.

To be truly literate, I must also learn some Classical written Arabic, but I’ve been told that French is used more than Arabic for business communications. My main reason to learn it would be to impress people, and I’m not sure that’s necessary for me to be successful in my work. Respect is more important than admiration.

So for now, I do the listening and speaking exercises and ignore the reading and writing exercises. I am using LiveMocha for French as well as Arabic.

So it’s a start. A toe in the water. shwiya b shwiya (little by little).

See more progress on: learn arabic