"You do the things that the rest of us only dream of, Anne."

The Poehler lecture this year was conducted by Dr. Herman K. Wentzel. He spoke of the process of Christian education. I found it very interesting because, since having read about Leonardo Da Vinci, I have been trying to put the 7 principles of Leonardo at a more prominent place in my life. The last principle: Connessione is about how everything is connected in one way or another. We also talked about this in class on Monday night with the concept of systems thinking.

Tonight's lecture really caught my attention because his main point was that "Learning is a process of change." And indeed it is. Both the teacher and the student change as they begin to learn more about the topic and about each other's viewpoints. He said that teaching is about "training the mind to think" or what he likes to call "the habits of thought" (connected to habits of the heart? Possibly!). Even looking at the entire mission statement of Concordia you see how everything is integrated. CSP is here to integrate faith, service, reason, and freedom all of which is centered in the cross.

Connessione at its best.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finished by on-site hours this week. I did some extended hours because I wanted to make sure I had enough hours and because that was the original date agreed upon with KCS. Things finished up nicely, and now all I have left is to get some timesheets, the final evaluation, and the final editing of my project done. I didn't learn much because it was a finishing up week. I did decide that I enjoy volunteering, but I wouldn't want to work in a food shelf on a daily basis.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I spent time finishing up my last chapter and appendices and my last few days working on site. Not much really happened this week. I was really happy when I got to the Rice street site on Tuesday this week and found out that I was really needed there (more so than usual) because the site supervisor had sliced her hand open earlier that week and had stitches. My help was needed to stock more and help more customers than usual. I was happy that I had showed up and not skipped/slept in as I had considered when my alarm went off.

I didn't really learn any new information this week because my project is drawing to a close. Although, it was reiterated to me that doing the right thing at the moment you don't want to do is probably the time you're needed the most.

I would say that I have been wrapping up the project rather nicely. Mostly due to the fact that at this point I don't have much drive to finish. I think in the next 2 weeks I will see the light at the end of the tunnel and pull through to finish strong.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I worked a bit on my chapters this week, and I have been working at the food shelves. I am mostly spending my time working on getting ready for the mid-term on Monday, but I have been continuing to observe and see if there are any changes/edits I can make to my recently uploaded chapters 3-6. I met the absolutely most adorable child this week at the Rice Street food shelf. He had the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen and he just couldn't take his eyes off me. What a great moment in my week.

I have learned a few things about the food shelves through observations. For example, I have seen that it would be very helpful to have signs up that looked more official than the simple computer print outs which people seem to ignore. Even having directional signs as to where to begin shopping would be helpful to the volunteers.

I would say that I have done my required hours for the week, and I have turned in my chapters on time...therefore, I would give myself an A for the week. My personal objectives are to work to get chapter 7 and the appendix(s) written and in on time. Then I will spend some time editing and re-writing my chapters for the final project.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I worked a lot of hours on my chapters and did not go to the site to work over break. I have learned a lot about how outlining really helps in figuring out headings, and I learned a new thing in MS Word - how to have more than one type of header in a document. Pretty exciting. I would say that I have learned that I am so excited for this project to be over with...oh dear will I be happy when it's done...I think I have done a pretty good job in figuring out how to lay out these chapters, but that of course remains to be seen...it's the grade that will tell.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I have spent some time conducting interviews, on-site hours, and writing the outlines for my chapters. I have to say that the webct postings have been very helpful for the writing of my chapters because they have generated some thoughts (which, I suppose, was the point of them).

I think I have done much better this week than the last couple of weeks. Thankfully, spring break is coming and I will have some time so sit, think, and conduct a few more interviews. It has been difficult to interview because of my schedule. Hopefully, everything will fall into place in the next couple of weeks. My personal goal for next week is to get some interviews done and start writing my chapters.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I believe it was earlier this week, but a lady needed help at the University Ave. shelf and I was there to assist her. After she was done shopping she was so thankful that she gave me a hug. This is the first physical contact I've had between customers and myself. Up to now things have been very "business like" and the customers have come through with very little interaction with me as far as personal stories and such.

I don't know what I've learned. I guess I've learned that when personal things come up I tend to shut down and this project is one of the first things to go to the back of my mind. I also found that when I go to the site things become more of a "I have to do this now so focus and get things done" verses "I am here to serve others for the good of my neighbors". I haven't been a good neighbor lately which is what the project is about. The wonderful thing is that God can make good happen even out of my bad attitude and uncaring desire to serve others--that is apparent in my story earlier.

I have not been very focused on my project this week other than on-site hours and thinking about where I want to go next. There have been some other things in my life that have taken priority in the last couple of weeks (especially this week). I am going to step it up this week and try to put some of the personal things on the backburner because I need to focus on this project and I'm sick of dealing with them. I would not give myself a good grade.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I only worked at the University Avenue Food Shelf because it was extremely cold on Tuesday and from previous observances: nobody comes to the food shelf when it's extremely cold. So I stayed in bed and rested up because I wasn't feeling well. Basically, I have learned that the food shelf is now only allowing people to come once every two months instead of once a month due to a budget deficit. There just aren't enough funds, donations, or volunteers to keep the organization running at the rate that it was. Also, they told me that all over the nation demands at food banks are on the rise...no one has figured out exactly why yet.

Cute story: So a boy of about the age of 8, I think, came in with his family to the food shelf. They weren't customers. They came with donations. The coolest part was that the kid had collected the donations as his birthday party presents from his friends. They had a whole shopping cart of donations from little boys and girls who gave them as birthday "presents". How cool is that?

Posted by Greta Schulz at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're finally back at school, and it's project time again! I did not go to my site the first week because I wanted to calm down and get myself situated with my new schedule and such. And then I couldn't go in because it was Martin Luther King Jr. day...so the shelf was closed. Therefore, I've only been to my sites a grand total of: two times. At the Rice Street location, I was reintroduced to how it is to work with people who don't speak any English at all...yea...it was interesting (as well as being the only volunteer there that day).

I haven't really learned much of anything these two weeks. I am planning to do a lot of research at my sites in the next two weeks to start on chapters 3 and 4. I did learn that it's very easy to slip out of a cross-cultural context and forget how to interact with people who don't speak English. It's easy to forget how difficult it can be to help them.

I don't think I've worked very hard these two weeks. School has been very busy just trying to get back into the swing of things. I will be picking up the pace next week in order to keep my head above the water. I would give myself a very poor grade for this week...maybe a C...maybe not even...Haven't really accomplished anything, actually.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've learned a lot about poverty in the last week because I did a ton of research on it for chapter 2. I have also discovered that many of my initial thoughts and concerns were correct. Poverty is normally seen in America as the individual's thought - not necessarily the fault of the system. I have to figure out what my thoughts are now. I think that it's a little bit of both. There are individuals who are lazy and don't work, but there are people who do work and no matter what they do they can't make ends meet because the system runs them over. Of course, there are always excuses like: "You didn't have to work that job. You could have found another job." (maybe that's the only person who would higher them???) Or "You could live in a cheaper place" (maybe the "cheaper place" is filthy...extremely unsafe...out of the way...or has no heat and it's in the middle of winter???) or here's one: "You didn't have to have a kid" (Well, maybe it was an accident and abortion is murder?) It's easy to blame the individual because it's not you, but in fact we are all responsible for the poverty of others.

I believe I have worked very hard early in the week to get things done and in on time, and then I took a nice "break" from things in order to have some sanity. So I would give myself an A for effort. As far as objectives go: I have turned in chapter 2 on time and I am still alive at the end of the semester (so far anyways). The rest of this week was much less stressful, since I'm taking a bit of a mental break.

Posted by Greta Schulz at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)