“That is SO You!!”

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So, I can’t actually remember how many times it’s happened this summer that I’ve mentioned to someone back home that I live 2 doors down from a sports bar…. and they’ve said “That is SO you!! You go to Cambodia and still manage to hang out at a sports bar!”  In fact, I think one of my sons asked me if I’d found the sports bar first and picked my apartment based on that 😝

It’s been a nice place to drop in, hang out and refresh my foosball skills from college.  Chhut, the bartender has helped me with that by beating me about 38 times — and letting me win once!

The only issue I have is that, when you hang out with the international crowd, it turns out that “sports” is a bit of a relative term.  I have seen exactly zero baseball games at the bar — and learned more than one could ever have wanted to know about cricket (The Ashes cricket series of five 5-day test matches between England and Australia just about killed me!), soccer and rugby.  But the people are great, the beer is cold, the food is good — and, hey, sports is sports!!

I’ll be bringing a couple of souvenirs with me to my eventual new home in Mexico!

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The Magic of JWOC

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This year, the Journeys Within Tour Company won the ETC 2016 Responsible Tourism award for the active philanthropy program and experience that it provides to its travelers through JWOC.  

If you ever wonder why I do this, take a quick look at the video that was part of their winning application submission: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZdIUQwgmT4

International Youth Day & More

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I’ve had a terrific summer at JWOC and thought I would (finally!) share some highlights that have really inspired me during the last 3 months!

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International Youth Day

On August 12, JWOC joined not only with 11 other civic-minded, youth-oriented organizations in Siem Reap, but with thousands (maybe millions!) around the world to celebrate International Youth Day 2015.

This year’s theme was “Youth Civic Engagement.” In Siem Reap, more than 150 of us got up at the crack of dawn to start our day together with a balloon release and bike ride. Tied to each balloon was a message from one of us celebrating and encouraging youth and all of their potential to shape the world in positive ways.

We rode together to one of the rural primary schools where the youth in our group taught the children games, did art projects and gave speeches about what “civic engagement” means to them. The speakers included our very own Eng Kea!

For me, the best part of the day was every time Vantha pointed out another JWOC alumni/a who was part of the event. One of our Free Classes graduates works with the NGO that was the lead organizer, and she was the MC for the entire day! One of our Scholarship program graduates started an NGO that teaches students traditional dance, using the proceeds from performances to pay for scholarships for their educations – they were remarkable, especially one dance where each member was an interconnected section of a very green centipede. It feels kind of like each of our students is a rock that we are able to drop in a pond and watch the ripples spread outward into the community – very cool!

Vantha, Kimchhay & Kea
The JWOC crew, bright and early
“Centipede” dance – incredible athleticism!
Go, Kea!
More than 150 total riders!
Messages to celebrate our youth and their impact!

 

A few of our sister NGOs who participated in the event:

 

“Our View Our Story” Photo Exhibit

An exhibit of some of our students’ work at a local arts café made for another very special evening.

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In partnership with PhotoForward, an international media arts program, JWOC scholarship students participated in a two-week photography workshop where they learned skills in digital photography, editing and visual storytelling. The result was a catalog of captivating images of the world around us, seen through the eyes of our scholars.

Each image embodied a different aspect of Cambodia… the determination of working villagers, the serenity of the countryside, the hustle-and-bustle of daily life.

And each of our students both brought and took away a different perspective on their photography experience. In their own words:

PF JWOC EX PANEL LARGE MASTER 91 cm x 130 cm (1)

For more on the photos, the students and the evening, check out JWOC’s blog or PhotoForward’s website.

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At JWOC, we get a number of volunteers who come for a day, a week, three months and more. All have made wonderful contributions to JWOC ranging from teaching art class, to curriculum development, to a total computer lab overhaul, to developing a strategic plan for our Microfinance program.

But this summer, one of them has inspired and energized me – and reminded me about how I want to look at life.

Tracy Stayton

Tracy Stayton has spent the last couple of weeks with us, working with our scholarship students on their career plans, CV development and job search skills. But we are only one small part of Tracy’s incredible journey this year. She has decided to spend her 34th year doing 34 service projects around the globe. We have been lucky enough to be one of those and to gain an incredible new member of the JWOC family….

You can follow Tracy’s journey on the 34tunate Community Facebook page.

JWOC’s New Crew

My last highlight is the new team members that we have brought on this summer to help carry forward with the mission of JWOC. All of our team members are amazing, but I just wanted to do a quick shout-out and welcome to the newbies who have just come on board – I am so looking forward to working with you all!

Kneath Heard, Managing Director

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Liz Offner, Fundraising & Communications Manager

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David Cunningham, Education & Volunteer Manager

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Lita Vuth, Microfinance Program Manager

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New Digs in Siem Reap

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Well, I’m just over a week back in Cambodia and getting settled back into JWOC and the general rhythm of things. It has been really great to see everyone and be back with old friends here again!

As I did last year, on 4th of July, I headed over to Belmiro’s Pizza. It’s owned by Tyler, a great guy from Boston and big Red Sox fan 🙂 ⚾️. They were serving red/white/blue shots and playing a lot of America-themed music for the occasion. (Sorry – I’m out of practice and forgot to take pictures!  I’ll get better.)

This year I’m renting an apartment instead of staying at the guesthouse. I toyed with doing “before”, “during” and “after” move-in pictures like I did when I moved into the Cambridge apartment last fall. But then I realized you might have a hard time telling the difference!!

Anyway, these are my digs. The apartment came with the furniture. Victoria, my friend from JWOC, helped out with sheets, and the suitcases are doing duty as extra storage space. I’ve bought a handful of other things this week and am still just looking for a mirror besides the tiny one in the bathroom. (Fortunately, I’m not looking to be a fashion plate while I’m here and my hair is back in a ponytail every day anyway!!) It’s quite comfortable with fan and open windows and A/C when I need it.

The study
The closet
The courtyard
Other extra stuff storage
My street
Extra clothing storage
The kitchen
The parking lot
The kitchen close-up
The bedroom
The bathroom

Just like last year, I am totally loving the simplicity – everything I need and almost nothing to take care of!!

For those of you who might want to send me some mail…. yeah, you might want to just forget it! Mail delivery to Siem Reap is pretty sketchy even when you have a postbox. I don’t have a postbox and my address here is below. Yes, that is literally my address. I even put it on my health insurance application for Aetna and they accepted it 😉

Big Red House

Intersection of Irina and La Pax Road

Wat Polanka, Siem Reap

Kingdom of Cambodia

Lovely Last Day in Cambridge

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I had left an extra day after the movers just in case any problems came up – but they didn’t! So I spent a really nice day wandering around Harvard and Cambridge, kind of saying good-bye for now. The weather was perfect – about 70 degrees F (21 for my Celsius friends) and not much humidity (so no frizzy, cotton-ball hair!). Couldn’t have been better! A few highlights:

Harvard Graduate School of Education haunts…

Where I lived 30 years ago….

Where I worked 30 years ago (note the job progression!)…

Just some classic Harvard spots worth remembering….

Move-out day…

Since it’s the last weekend in June, I passed LOTS of fellow students moving out all along the way, and (while empathizing), was really happy that my many trips carting things up and down to my fourth-floor walk-up were done!

I even got to stay in a really nice bed & breakfast right in the heart of Harvard as I had won a free night’s stay as part of a graduation raffle….

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Wonderful ending to a wonderful year — hasta la vista to one of my favorite places in the world 🙂 !

Here We Go Again!

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The movers have cleared everything out and it’s down to me, two suitcases and a backpack once again… 🙂

As most of you know, I will be returning to Mexico to work in programs that provide low-income, at-risk youth with the education and other support they need to make a successful transition to adulthood and a higher quality of life for themselves, their families and their communities. That’s still the plan(!!) but I will be delaying my move to the south a bit to head back to Cambodia to help out at Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC) for a couple/three months. Our Managing Director at JWOC took ill and had to return to the U.S., so I’ll be filling in for a bit, hiring a new MD, and working to ensure a smooth transition.

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I expect to return to the U.S. in September when my first grandchild arrives…

Baby Shoes

… and then be on my way to Mexico in October!

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Note:  My cell phone won’t be connected while I’m in Cambodia, but I will be reachable by all channels WiFi: email, iMessages, FaceTime, Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp…. :-). Please stay in touch!

What I’ve Learned From My Son

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I just got to spend two days watching a professional baseball team that my son now plays for… Matt was drafted two weeks ago by the Cleveland Indians. A week later, they flew him out to Cleveland where he joined up with their single-A team, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Niles, Ohio). Thursday he had his physical, signed his contract, participated in media day with the local press, and moved in with his host family. Friday, he was on a bus for three games in West Virginia (Black Bears; Pirates affiliate) – and back on the bus Sunday night for three games in Batavia, NY (Muckdogs; Marlins affiliate) where I was able to meet up with him.

To be honest, I truly never thought this day would happen. Of course, through all of the 18+ years of the boys playing baseball, I have encouraged them, supported them, tried to help them figure out how to get to the next level – and (almost*) always smiled and made enthusiastic noises when Matt talked about his driving aspiration to get drafted some day and play professionally.

Every kid who plays at some point says “I want to be a baseball player when I grow up.” But I never in a million years believed it could happen. I mean, really, how could you look at a kid going into his freshman year in high school at 5’5”, maybe 140 lbs, with braces on his teeth and believe that he had a snowball’s chance of becoming this?

But he did. And I’ve been thinking about that a lot in the last two weeks as we’ve been walking around in an elated daze with Matt setting off on this new adventure. I’ve realized that there is something I need to learn from this. I don’t think I’ve ever in my life chosen a direction that had a low probability of coming true. Throughout my life, I have been nothing if not pragmatic in my decision-making. Certainly I have taken risks, but they were always carefully evaluated risks that I had every reason to believe I could overcome…

There are a ton of things I’ve learned over the days, weeks, months and years of baseball seasons with my boys:

  • The only restaurant in Brecksville, Ohio (Go Bees!! and Go Gators!!) with a kitchen open after 10pm when you get back from an away game is Sakura Sushi; in Green Bay, Wisconsin (Go Bullfrogs!!) it’s Old Chicago
  • How to find a Subway sandwich place in almost any small town in Ohio and surrounding states where travel baseball is played
  • How to keep 15 sets of uniforms sorted out properly when doing team laundry overnight in hotels and laundromats (Sharpie markings on the waistbands are a must!)
  • The parents in the stands with opaque water bottles or coffee thermoses may not be drinking what you think they are
  • There is actually a large and thriving medical specialty in the field of pediatric orthopedic sports medicine
  • One can survive 4 straight years of watching T-ball, but barely!!
  • You can actually eat Chipotle more than 3 nights in a week without turning into a burrito
  • The best place in the world to be is in the stands on a summer evening with the sun going down and my scorebook in hand watching the boys (men!) warm up
  • Baseball families are an amazing and supportive network to be a part of
  • If a kid gets hit in the thigh with a fastball, it makes a bruise where you can actually count the stitches from the ball that hit him
  • And many more….

But it is just this last week that I learned the most important thing from my son:  If there is something you truly care about, maybe it shouldn’t matter that there’s only a tiny chance of making it. Maybe you should let yourself care about it and work for it and see what happens… take the risk and go. Even the journey and the striving can be pretty cool! In the last few years as Matt’s baseball path kept going and going well beyond what I ever expected, I’ve said many times – “Wow, what an amazing day! Even if this ends tomorrow, how COOL was that!” I said it again today 🙂   And I hope to do a better job of living it in my own life as I continue on my own next adventures…

He had some growing to do
The contract
Muckdogs’ stadium
Go Tribe!
Monday evening at the ballpark…
Mahoning Valley Media Day 2015 — Matt is #33 on the right
Tuesday evening at the ballpark…
Very cool to have “players’ tickets” waiting for you at the gate
Muckdog!!
And he thought THIS was the absolute best day of his life (age 4)

* As many of you know, we did have some extremely heated debates about academic quality and future career options when he decided to forego a baseball scholarship to Holy Cross in favor of the University of Tennessee. Since I was sure he was never actually going to become a professional baseball player, I really did not want to see him walk away from the broader Holy Cross experience…. I was wrong!!

Class of 1985… and 2015

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Anything worth doing is worth doing twice — even if it is 30 years apart!  And a Harvard Graduation is a celebration not to be missed.  A few highlight pictures with captions….

All graduates process through the streets of Cambridge from their school to Harvard Yard in the morning
Hamming it up in the streets of Cambridge
Acres of graduates in Harvard Yard
More acres of graduates in Harvard Yard
Ed.M in International Education Policy
Kyle & Matt made it in spirit — dog tags tucked under my robe
The IEP gang before….
….the IEP gang after
We made it!!
Woo hoo!

On the morning of graduation day, ALL the graduates from the entire university come together in Harvard Yard and are pronounced to have earned their degrees, school by school.  One of the really fun traditions is that each of the graduate schools cheers and waves something symbolic in the air when it is their turn — check out the Harvard Commencement video at about minute 49 for the Ed School and our children’s books 🙂  [In full honesty, I have to admit that I actually thought the Design School had the coolest symbol as they had built structures made out of Duplos and stuck them to their mortar boards!!]

In the afternoon, each graduate school heads back to their own campus for the awarding of the diplomas.  Dean Jim Ryan gave a speech that has really stuck with us all on the topic of sins of omission — “you should see what needs doing and do it without being told.”  You can read or listen to the speech here.  He’s a terrific speaker and funny, so listening is better and it IS absolutely worth 24 minutes and 29 seconds of your life to do so 😉

And then Dean Ryan shook hands with 701 graduates, including this one….

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Latin America Learns

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Invitation Option 2 You may recall that last August, I joined a group of about 50 fellow newbie Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) students at an intensive pre-program for the International Education Policy (IEP) group.  During those couple of weeks, I not only got my legs under me to start the Master’s degree program — but I met a small group of people with whom I got to do amazing things in the following 9 months. As we introduced ourselves (repeatedly!) during those first days, we kept hearing one another’s voices:

  • “I want to work in Latin America and focus on teacher motivation and development….”
  • “I want to work in Latin American and find ways to support vulnerable youth…” [that one was me 🙂 ]
  • “I want to work in Latin America in early childhood education and development…”
  • “I want to work in Latin America and find ways to use education to address violence and conflict…”

The specific countries we came from and the areas of focus differed a bit, but what was the same — what we could hear in one another’s voices — was that we care deeply about the region and believe that education is the fundamental engine that will enable Latin America and its people reach their full potential. So we came together to form the Latin America Education Forum (LAEF) with the goal of creating a larger community that — together — could spark the change, the innovation, the action to make that happen.

Fernando Reimers, our advisor for both IEP and LAEF, is fond of quoting John Amos Comenius – a scholar from the early 1600’s who is generally viewed as “the father of modern education.”  Comenius said “Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity; and let us put aside all selfishness in consideration of language, nationality or religion.”  For Comenius, for Fernando, and for us, that is the ultimate goal of education.  To establish, maintain and strengthen the capacities and social cohesion that allow all members of society to participate and engage in building and shaping the world we live in together.

And so Latin America Learns was born, with the theme of Building Participation & Engagement for the 21st Century.  As the first-ever conference on Latin American Education to be held at Harvard, we were really starting from ground zero!  It wasn’t exactly like “hey, you’ve got a story and I’ve got a box of old clothes, let’s go out behind my grandpa’s barn and put on a show!!”  But it was darn close. In retrospect, we had NO idea how much work it was going to be and how crazy we were to try it while we were also fulfilling the requirements for our Master’s program — but sometimes ignorance is bliss… and we did it!

We picked areas we felt were central to our theme: peace, inclusiveness, teaching, a vision for the 21st century.  And for each topic we invited a group of people who are actors in those spaces for Latin America. Speakers included current Ministers of Education, the Dean of HGSE and an array of educators, policymakers, innovators and researchers — we were a bit awed by them all to be honest(!) and were honored that they made the trip to be present.

The Role of Education in the Peace Process
The Role of Education in Fostering an Inclusive Society
The Future of Teaching
Vision for Latin American Education in the 21st Century

Our keynote speaker, founder of the Rodrigo Mendes Institute, started us off in the morning with some of the most moving moments of the day.  Following an accident that made him a quadriplegic, Rodrigo created an organization committed to building an inclusive society through education and art — focused on advocacy, research, experience exchange, and training — making huge strides in Brazil, Latin America and beyond. Rodrigo The day was filled with discussion, debate, challenge — and non-stop talking in Spanish, in Portuguese, in English.  The Ministers came away with input and ideas to help shape their visions and policies upon their return, and everyone came away as part of a new network for action.

By the end of the day, we were ready for a fiesta — and a fiesta was had!  One of our classmates from the Arts in Education program pulled out all the stops and we celebrated our 8 months of hard work together and an incredible day.  Performances, desserts, drinks, dancing… Salud!

ONE HAPPY TEAM!  I loved what we were able to do together in just a few short months — and I can’t wait to see the difference this group will make in the world in the years ahead.  Honored to be one of them and looking forward to working with them all again and again and again! LAEFTeam Oh — and then there was the day after!  We had the pleasure of spending the day wandering Boston with Minister Cynthia del Aguila of Guatemala and Alejandra Garza from Universidad Carolina in Saltillo, Mexico.  We found ourselves at the Public Garden and I happened to have just bought a copy of Make Way for Ducklings (a Boston classic kids book that just happens to be set in the Public Garden).  So, being Ed School students, we had story hour…. of course!! Story Hour in the Public Garden

Peter, the What??

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Meet Peter, the Anteater…  And why, you ask, am I featuring Peter?  For some crazy reason, back in 1965, the students of UC Irvine elected him the school mascot, and the rest is history!

Oh – and UC Irvine is where Matt is playing baseball this year.  After leaving Tennessee, he had a strong season at Cypress College last spring where UCI saw him and signed him on.  UCI went to the College World Series last year and finished 6th in the nation.  Also, Matt now gets to live in Newport Beach while he goes to school.  Tough life!  (This coming from his mother who is going to school in a place that has had well over 8 feet of snow this winter — hmmmmmm, at least I raised a kid who is smarter than I am!)

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The ‘Eaters have started out a bit rough at 3-8 so far, but had a strong outing this last weekend against…. you guessed it, the University of Tennessee!  Matt pitched a complete game win against his former buddies and looked great — gave up only 4 hits and 1 run.  For the baseball fans and Matt fans, you can check out more in this article that includes a post-game video interview with Matt.

I’m still not sure about this whole mascot thing, but I’m going with it for now.  Rip’em ‘Eaters!

Snow

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noun
1. Meteorology. a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.  Compare ice crystals, snow grains, snow pellets.
2. these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.
3. the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall.
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From Jan 27 through Feb 23, 99.9 inches of snow has fallen in Boston (2.5 meters).  According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, this has “shattered” the 5- 10- 20- 30- and 40-day snow records.  Harvard, which historically has never shut down has been closed 3 days already this semester — when public transportation shuts down and the state prohibits all but emergency vehicles from being on the roads, not much you can do but stay in and watch it fall outside!
Weather.com says it will start again around 1am tomorrow morning… because we need more!
Out my front door…
Up my street…
Up my street the other way…
After the first storm (or maybe the second)
During the fourth? or fifth? or sixth? storm
Frontloaders out and about all night and early mornings – shoveling snow into dumptrucks that take it to get melted or dump it in the Bay
A balmy evening walk home (1)
A balmy evening walk home (2)
A balmy evening walk home (3)

Some photos from friends below — and a perspective from the Harvard Graduate School of Education here 😉

Yo extraño DF!

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As I sit here this evening watching the Boston temperatures plummet down through the single digits headed for a low of -5 or -10 Farenheit (-20 to -23 Celsius), I find my thoughts floating back to January in sunny Mexico….

I started browsing through the pics of some of our adventures there and started feeling warmer already.  Even those who know no Spanish could probably figure out that the title of the post means “I miss Mexico City!”.  DF is short for distrito federal (federal district), which is how most people refer to Mexico City when you are there.  Pretty much like we refer to Washington as “DC”.

For those of you in cold places tonight, I hope these warm you up a bit as well.  And for those of you in Mexico — espero verte pronto!

Castillo Chapultepec – our first evening in DF, the whole gang of interns went to Chapultepec Castle at sunset for a performance by Ballet Folklórico de México.  Incredible place, incredible views of Mexico City, incredible performances!

Ballet Folklórico de México

Teotihuacan – on one of our weekends, a few of us headed to Teotihuacan to climb the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.  More amazing views… and a bit of exercise!

Xochimilco – our next excursion was to Xochimilco, which some people described as the canals of Mexico City, sort of like Venice….  But seriously — a sunny afternoon, a group of good friends, a bucket of beers, brightly painted boats with fun “gondoliers” and mariachi boats floating by playing music — it was a floating party!  Lovely, relaxing afternoon 🙂

Museums – It wasn’t time to eat again… yet! (see below for a very small assortment of our culinary adventures).  So we headed to check out some modern art at Museo Jumex and Museo Soumaya back in DF.  Mexico City is huge, with dozens of neighborhoods, all with different architecture – some traditional, some grand, some quaint, some hip, some imposing, and some just fun!  Soumaya was one of my favorites.

Vamos a comer! – I knew my foodie friends wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t take a few shots of the cuisine along the way.  Unfortunately, I was enjoying drinking and eating way too much and mostly forgot to take pictures(!), but here are a few.

¡Abrazos! 

Warm & Sunny…. sort of

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As we head into the second week of our internship stint, we are elated that we have started getting the warm weather we’d been hoping for. Watching the headlines about the crazy frigid cold snap in Boston and the rest of the Northeast U.S., it’s a bit out of place for us to complain, I suppose… but we have been just the same!

The average high temp in Mexico City during January is supposed to be about 70 degrees (21 for the Celsius crowd), and our first week ranged from high-50’s to mid-60’s (13 to 18 Celsius). In general, that doesn’t seem like a big deal – but because it is rarely that cold here, there is no central heating in most Mexico City houses or offices. So, everyone bundles up and keeps working!

The office at Venture Institute is particularly cold – we can’t tell if it’s just because it’s on the bottom floor and shaded by trees – or if there is really cold air coming out of the vents in addition!! In case you think I’m kidding, my co-workers generously allowed me to take pictures of them attired in coats, scarves, multiple layers of sweaters and even fingerless gloves while typing, talking and writing away.

One positive side benefit is that it helped with my Spanish and my independence as I had to locate a department store, navigate my way there and purchase a warmer jacket, a couple new scarves and sweaters, and a pair of gloves (from which I cut the fingers off for typing!). I am now bundled up and toasty warm(-ish!) like everyone else.

I’m really enjoying learning Venture Institute’s business. I am working with Isabel Gil who manages several social entrepreneurship programs on behalf of a variety of sponsors. The POSiBLE program, sponsored by Fundación Televisa and Nacional Monte de Piedad does an annual search for social entrepreneurs across Mexico, goes through a rigorous eval process to winnow down from >14K projects to 100 – and provides those with training, mentorship, support and entrée into a community of fellow entrepreneurs, investors and subject matter experts to help them clearly define their value propositions, determine market opportunity and develop business/economic models, as well as helping them with team formation and leadership skills. Components include an Entrepreneur Bootcamp and an Investor Simulation. With other partners, they provide more extensive business incubation programs. One, working with Village Capital, identifies and accelerates business models that increase access to financial services for the poor – and another proposal is in the works for a bank that wants to offer a program to develop, incubate and accelerate projects headed by women entrepreneurs.

As for my Spanish(!) – I’m reading the business stuff pretty fluently at this point, am able to write a few usable things (with the help of Google translate here and there), and am still pretty lame at speaking. But, I haven’t gone hungry or gotten lost yet, so all is good!

Next Up – Mexico

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Toasty warm in the Denver airport after the drive from Fort Carson/Colorado Springs – through another snowstorm! This time I got to my destination just as the snow started to stick and the plows started to emerge in force — whew!

I think the suitcases are as happy as I am this last week to be on the go again. Shots here of them finally escaping the back of the closet after 5 months, packed and ready to go, and chilling in the snow!  And, by the way, anyone who is laughing at me for bringing 2 full-size suitcases for the trip, YOU try packing everything for a trip to sub-zero Denver weather and 3 weeks working and playing in sunny Mexico.  The shoes and boots alone took up nearly a full bag!

We’re freeee! It sure was dark in there….
On the move again…
OK, about this cold white stuff…

I’ll arrive in Mexico City tonight to start a 3-week internship with the Venture Institute.  Not sure exactly what projects I’ll be working on, but VI’s focus is on helping entrepreneurs create, incubate and grow high impact businesses — many with a social impact component — across Mexico.  One of their current programs is targeted at increasing access to financial services for the poor.  They have already completed a call for ideas across Mexico. selected a small group of the most promising entrepreneurs, and started working with them on refining their value propositions, business plans, economic models and pitches for investors. Really cool stuff!

I am being generously hosted by a woman in Mexico City,  We have already discovered via email that we have a lot in common with economics degrees, business backgrounds, a preference for living in the middles of cities… and no cats. Really looking forward to meeting her!

Happy New Year!

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Matt, Kyle, Bow and I all flew into Denver to celebrate New Year’s Eve.  We arrived on a frigid cold night!!!  When I landed, it was -9 Farenheit (that’s -23 for my Celsius friends) — and a couple hours later, it was -12 (-24) when Matt shivered in.

Thank goodness it warmed up to the mid-20’s (around -5 Celsius) for our New Year’s Eve of wandering to a sports bar, watching football all day and then heading off to a Colorado Avalanche hockey game.  Awesome game — with the Avalanche poking one in in the last seconds of sudden death OT for the win!  Than back out into the brisk evening to celebrate midnight.

All football games – all day long
Colorado Avalanche clinch in sudden death OT
Way warmer in here than it is outside!!
Happy New Year! (wine glasses as the bar ran out of champagne flutes….)

Matt had to head back to California later on New Year’s Day to make it back in time for baseball practice.  (Good thing, too, since both his teams got taken out of the National Championship Game and I can’t imagine he was much fun to be around after that!)

Kyle and Bow and I then headed for Fort Carson, about 1.5 hours from Denver — when there’s no snowstorm….  About 3 hours later, through dark and snow(!) we were there and safe.  On Friday, i got a tour of the base, including the PX (Post Exchange) which is the equivalent of an on-base shopping mall that has pretty much everything, including our afternoon Starbuck’s fix!

Touring around the base
The Post Exchange – with an amazing Colorado Rockies backdrop!
The Post Exchange
Great diner in Colorado Springs

Then we hung out for more football and some amazing home-made enchiladas and salsa (thanks, Chef Bow!).

Great…. wonderful…. relaxing week with the people I love most 🙂

Haley House

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One of the things I’ve done this semester to feed my soul is to work with an amazing group of fellow HGSE students and an amazing group of guys from Haley House on a pilot program to develop Work Readiness skills.

The program is the brainchild of Jeremy Thompson, manager both of the Haley House Bakery Cafe and of their Transitional Employment Program (TEP), and Tracie Jones, head of HGSE’s G.I.V.E.S. student volunteer programs.

The Haley House TEP program provides assistance to those recently released from incarceration as they re-enter the world independently — through work experience in an environment designed to ensure safety and stability. TEP employees produce a range of baked goods and catering items including wholesale cookies, pizza dough, pie, and tea loaves. In addition to employment, participants are required to pursue education and can take advantage of additional tutoring and transitional support.  Our Work Readiness workshops are designed to supplement the core program by helping the guys to develop personal narratives, resume-writing skills, and communication in the workplace, as well as teach them how to utilize social media and other tips for job searching.

We met every other Friday afternoon this fall, and I can’t say there was anything I looked forward to more this semester than those afternoons — sharing, teaching, learning, laughing and crying.  And always hugs at the beginning and end!

I’m now working on becoming a “regular” at the Cafe – loving the terrific, giant chocolate chip cookies that they supply to outlets all over Boston and (my new downfall) the incredible Jerk Chicken items on the weekend brunch menu. At the Haley House Christmas Party, Jeremy tricked me into participating in a pie-eating contest.  And while there will be NO pictures shared of my face and hair covered in whipped cream and sweet potato pie filling, it did taste phenomenal!

On my trip over for brunch this last Saturday, Luis Contreras from the Work Readiness program gave me a tour of his kitchen domain. He also tried to buck up my confidence about speaking Spanish as I head off to Mexico next week, saying “you just have to try… and don’t be nervous!”   Thanks, Luis – I promise I will try 🙂

If you want to read more, HGSE published a nice article about the pilot program here.

 

 

 

Winter Break

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Fall Semester 2014 — Done!

I made it! I would apologize for not writing recently, except that I feel like all I’ve been doing for the past several weeks is writing… and then reading… and then writing some more! But we finished up last Friday so I’ve had a few days to breathe (and NOT write!), so here I am. And may I say it’s a pleasure to be writing without worrying about citing – in APA 6th Edition, or Chicago 16th Edition, or any other generally accepted academic style!

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about exactly what I’m studying, so – some of my “greatest hits” highlights from the semester, arranged by course include:

  • History of Higher Education in the US: The Rise of For-Profit Higher Education in Mexico: Policy Issues & Lessons from U.S. Experience, and The Evolution of U.S. Higher Education Institutions
  • Adolescent Development: Barrios Unidos – Juvenile Hall Transition Program, and Helping Latino Youth Avoid Self-Destructive Gang Involvement
  • Education Policy Analysis & Research in Comparative Perspective: UNICEF & USAID Education Strategy in Comparative Perspective, and Addressing Issues of Absenteeism & Teaching Capacity in Rural Cambodia, and Journeys Within Our Community: A Case Study of 21st Century Skills Development
  • Education Sector Nonprofits: Global Scaling of Education Nonprofit Organizations, and Persistence & Agility: The Rodel Foundation of Delaware’s Efforts to Transform Delaware’s Education System

I’ve really enjoyed the experience and learned a ton that is helping me make progress on the path I’d hoped for toward finding a way to support and work with youth/adolescents as they learn and grow and make the decisions that will shape their lives – somewhere in the world!

Like any good college student after the whirlwind first semester, there are new ideas and opportunities swirling in my head – so while I continue to pursue my strong interest in Latin America, a return to Cambodia is still a possibility, and I’m just starting to explore some things that would keep me home in the U.S. Stay tuned!

Thank for all the wine and goodies!!

Thanks for all the wine and goodies!!

But for now, I’m having a really nice break enjoying social time with friends, relaxing, reading things just for fun(!) and getting to watch sports and silly, sappy Christmas movies 🙂

I’m looking forward to spending New Year’s in Denver with the boys. Kyle finished up his initial training at Ft. Benning, so he and Bow have moved to his new post with the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson. Matt and I will both fly in so we can spend New Year’s Eve together at a Colorado Avalanche hockey game and New Year’s Day watching every college bowl game that’s on! After that, Kyle has talked me into climbing Pike’s Peak before I go – apparently it’s “supposed to be like one of the things to do in the world before you die.”

If I make it up (and down!) without freezing, I’ll be able to warm up in Mexico City as I’ll be heading there next for an internship in January. I’ll be working with the Venture Institute on one or more of their programs to identify, coach and invest in social entrepreneurs. (I’d amend the subtitle to the blog to add more locations, but I think at this point, I’ll just leave it at “and beyond…”)

2nd Lieutenant Esparza

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Whenever I’m lucky enough to catch up with friends and family, they always ask, “So! How’re the boys??”   So!  Here’s Kyle’s update on his own “Next Chapter!”

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LEADERS FORGE IS BRO FORGE

Hi, my name is Kyle, Erin’s other son that goes on long walks in the Georgia woods and traded a baseball for smoke grenades. Currently I’m at the Infantry Basic Officers Leaders Course (IBOLC) at Ft. Benning, GA, learning about small unit tactics and how to lead a platoon of infantrymen into close combat. For those of you who don’t know what infantry is, Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Black Hawk Down… pretty much the job your mom tells you to not go for because you go for months without a real bed, weeks without real food and a shower, days without sleep, and on top of that you have to be trained and forged in the most austere conditions in order to even be qualified to then take all of this training and get sent to a third world country to save the day. So Mom, sorry that I picked this instead of the Logistics or Pilot job the Army had lined up for me!

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Here at Infantry School we go to the field (essentially camping without a tent) for 9 of the 17 weeks we are here. This last week I completed the final field problem, which is 9 days of missions culminating with a 16-mile ruck march with an average of 2 hours of sleep (on and off each night). As a platoon-sized element, the main missions we ran by ourselves were raids on small outposts or ambushing small units. As the week goes on, you begin to work as a much larger company sized unit (4 platoons, roughly 150 soldiers), and set up defenses where we dig holes for 48 hours — and fill sand bags in order to build bunkers to fight off incoming attackers. Throughout this whole process, you’re only getting 1-2 hours of sleep and not a lot of time to eat your MREs. Now, all of the stuff that I’ve explained up until this point is very surface and all stuff you could learn about watching the history channel or military channel.  What I’m going to describe from here is the stuff that is so much deeper than that.

THE BALLAD OF THE SEXY SIX

As you can see in some of the pictures, there are several with 6 of us on a hill covered in dirt, our skin 3 shades darker than normal and hair that is anything but regulated. IBOLC is a very intensive course to the point that it is one of the only Army initial entry trainings that actually “recycles” individuals to the beginning of the course for failing to meet the standards. My squad was hit the hardest with recycles to the point that after 17 weeks, out of an original 10-man squad, there were 6 more recycles inserted over the course of IBOLC and only 6 of US remained. Because there were only 6 of us that were consistent, we called ourselves the Sexy 6.

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In order to give some of the best friends their fair due, I will give them brief overviews. The Bald guy on the left is Zach “Old Bones” Trevathan, an avid snow boarder from Mexico who began to experience balding at the age of 10. Probably the most dependable person in the squad, he completely controlled Bravo Team through the entirety of the course. Second from the left is Kyle “Corbino” Corbin, a kid who worked at an organic food magazine and can man a machine gun better than anybody in my platoon. Next to Corbin (on the right) is Jack Wilson, a former Special Teams player for the Washington State Cougars. By far the best 2Lt in our squad, he led us a bunch through warrior forge — and he loves his hometown of Spokane and a good cup of coffee (“Spokane…now that’s God’s Country,” is one of Jack’s favorite phrases). Fourth from the left is Robert E. Lee, a kid from DC raised by two Senior Enlisted Marines, this idiot turned down a ride to Stanford Law in order to lead Paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne.  Watch out for this kid — one day he will be running the Army. Second from the right is myself.  All the way on the right is Raychev, our international officer, a veteran from Bulgaria with a penchant for Marlboro Golds who could literally carry anything for days if asked. We were the originals, and after 17 weeks together in the most intimate of settings, we know each other better than anybody we know back home.

VEHICLES ARE FOR ARMOR, COLD WATER IS FOR POGs, and the 6th Principle of Patrolling

As you can see in the picture that my mom started the post with, I’m on a road in full kit without my ACH (Army Combat Helmet) looking like a straight G. This was during our 16-mile road march as I was placing my team during a resupply point (where we get more water).  Most of the time, the water that we get is warm at best from sitting in a tank all day.  This resupply point, however, was from the Armor (tanks) Basic Course and was Ice Cold!  All the comforts the tankers get that we don’t — so we ended up calling it POG (Personnel other than Grunt) Water because it was too nice to be consumed. Also, most of us were rocking some wicked flow (great hair)!  At Ranger School there are 5 principles of Patrolling, but as hard chargers we added a 6th:  Always look cool on the battlefield, it “instills confidence in your soldiers and scares terrorists.”

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The last point made is that gross trash ‘stache some of us had going. Well, when you’re in the field, you can get away with some stuff, so some of us grew mustaches to establish dominance as great infantry officers.

And a last closing note contributed by Kyle’s wife, Bow, on their homecoming:

They are finally home from being in the field for 9 days and all they wanted was a hot cup of coffee and to play with their new Legos!

Kyle Home From Field

 

Laundry Day

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One of the few times I honestly ask myself “WHAT were you thinking???” about my new life is when it’s time to do laundry…

Step 1:  Transfer laundry from attractive, grown-up hamper into college dorm pop-up laundry bag with a strap that allows me to carry it down….

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Step 2:  ….3 flights of stairs…

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Step 3: …0ut the door and back in to the basement on the other side of the building

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Step 4:  Quarters, quarters and more quarters

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Step 5: Go back up 3 flights and twiddle my thumbs (or read!) until wash is done

Step 6: Repeat Steps #2-5 to transfer into dryer

Step 7: Repeat all but the Quarters part to go retrieve and be done with it

 

And, oh, by the way — the trash room and bike room are in the same place as the laundry.

WHAT was I thinking???

Bold Ideas

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Today is one of those days that I am truly savoring in my new life.  HGSE held an all-day event, “Critical Conversations & Bold Ideas,” keynoted by Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, and Geoffrey Canada, Founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone.  As both are grads of the school, the talks were interspersed not only with interesting and inspiring and academic parts — but also familiar and funny and personal parts.

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Classes were canceled so that we could all attend, and it was capped with a block party featuring a couple more Harvard grads:  Yo-Yo Ma (a world-famous classical cellist) and Janelle Bechdol (a former American Idol contestant who graduated with her Masters from HGSE last spring).

I do love the crazy, eclectic blend of things and people that come together here!

If you have time, Geoffrey Canada’s talk is definitely worth watching — they did live streaming, so hopefully they’ll post it afterward on the site.   As I’m sure many of you know, he’s incredibly articulate, passionate and high-impact.  And personable too, as seen in a pic with some of my gang from IEP!

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