Alright!!!

Well, the end of the semester has come, and while I can't say I'm certain of the fate of this blog, I can say I was very excited to see all of the blogs and videos in our last class session, and even though I have to be honest about how happy I am to be just about done with this semester (one more assignment... so close), I will say that it was one heck of a ride and I can't wait to see what happens next semester. Adios until then.

One More Reason to Love Them...

          So, this is something I never really got to blogging about, but it's one of the reasons I believe groups like Humboldt Roller Derby and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence can be so effective. The other day we did a community needs assessment in class, and we talked about things like assets in the community and motivation for change. But what really got me thinking was how many of us were able to identify assets that were not directly in support of our change, and perhaps even acted as an obstacle, but that could be harnessed to our advantage. I mean, it's not exactly a great thing that a lot of people don't care about helping the homeless because they don't want to "waste" money on them, but that can be harnessed to one's benefit, for instance when writing a grant for a program that shows how spending money to prevent homelessness can cost far less, in the end, then paying for the consequences of homelessness, (I personally believe this is a large part of why California received such an amazing amount of HPRP funds for homelessness prevention).
          I believe this is something that the Sisters and HRD both take advantage of. I mean, I really do believe many people in the community choose to support these groups because of the good work they do, and in fact there must be these sorts of people around or these groups never would've made it off the ground, but what I also know is that many people love and attend derby events without even knowing that local agencies are benefiting from the proceeds, and the same goes for many of the Sister events. These groups are raising money by getting people to attend events they probably would've gone to anyway, and they are taking advantage, not just of the groups of people interested in giving to a good cause, but also the large amounts of students with some financial aid money to spend on having a good time, amongst others. I think this is not only effective, but also offers people an opportunity to experience the Joy and Fun involved in helping others, and to remember that it doesn't have to be some dour, problem-focused, guilt-ridden event, and that, in the end, encourages people to give all the more.

Harrumph...

          The idea of America being a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" sort of country is not new, in fact I believe that it has long contributed to many things, from a lack of funding for the homeless and mentally ill, to a desire to have African Americans, Native Americans and other groups to just "get over" the numerous wrongs committed against them in our country. I think it still effects us to this day, and the hardest part is that it seems many of our arguments to get help for folks who are struggling may also be contributing to the myth of the "worthy poor". It seems I never see an agency, grant, or foundation that does not in some way "excuse" the need for help that their clients have. I've really started to realize the difficulty with this in trying to help someone close to me seek help for an anxiety disorder. I've found that you can't get TANF unless you have children, you can't get into programs if you don't have children or a serious AOD problem, and you can't get other free or low-income mental health services unless you are considered to be very much in need, which basically means trying to tell the government "no, I'm really crazy, So crazy that you need to help me", which can be detrimental to a citizen's personal freedoms. It seems like the classic ethical dilemma for social workers...Do you try to be strengths-based, and possibly lose access to services, or do you play up the problems, and get services at the risk of stigma and the restriction of freedoms? I just know that, as much as I can see the nobility in trying to do the whole "women and children to the lifeboats first" thing, I can't help but wonder... Can't we just get some more frickin' lifeboats?

And now nobody gets a lifeboat, see?

Getting Involved

           So, as many people know I have recently gotten involved in a couple of local groups that donate to various local agencies and causes. The first is Humboldt Roller Derby, and here is a video from HRD giving some background and encouragement to get involved:



          I've been to a few practice thus far, following a trip to the last home game of the season with some pals from the social work program, and these girls are Amazing. Girls do not make money doing roller derby, in fact they pay dues to rent the practice space and cover minimal bout insurance, and they are on the way to becoming a registered non-profit in the next year or so. Until then, they continue to benefit various organizations in the community with each home game and they work to keep their events family friendly, including a budding Saplings junior league  for young girls to feel empowered and learn teamwork while studying basic derby skills.

          I have also been increasingly involved as a volunteer at events for the Eureka chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (our chapter is the Abbey of the Big Red Wood). This is a chapter of a San-Francisco based non-profit group which plans and runs fundraisers to benefit local agencies, including The Emma Center this past October and Arcata House at an upcoming event.

          I believe both of these groups are a great example of what our text, Community Practice, would call "Individual Leadership Assets", and ones that led to the building of even greater assets. As the text states, "Sparkplug individuals, "even idiosyncratic ones," are more likely than plans or ideologies to yield change". Both HRD and the Eureka Sisters began with a handful of dedicated individuals, who attracted more of the same, dedicated to a goal that, to others, would have likely seemed impossible, starting from the ground up organizations that manage to constantly give while still growing stronger. To me it is the very essence of synergy, that these groups can manage to do so much for other community agencies and still stay afloat, and I can't wait to continue to involve myself as much as possible with these amazing groups.
    

Woohoo! YouTube video..

          So, I've been ruminating on this YouTube video since the beginning of the semester, and I've always known the topic I wanted to do, but I finally found a decent way to organize it and cover as much info as I could in the short time available, so here it is, my video on BDSM Discrimination:



          I really became interested in this issue way back when I started reading a UK magazine called Bizarre. I think this magazine is a great example of community organizing in unexpected places. Bizarre has long been an advocate of personal and sexual freedom, and has been covering developments in the Spanner trials since the very beginning. These trials occurred when a police raid turned up a violent sexual video originally believed to possibly be a snuff film. When all of the participants stepped forward to state that the video was, in fact, depicting consensual sex acts between adults who all remained alive and well, they were arrested none-the-less. In a landmark ruling it was declared that BDSM is not legal, and all "tops" were arrested for assault while "bottoms" were arrested for aiding and abetting their own assaults, (nevermind that activities such as boxing can utilize consent to bypass assault laws). Additionally, the UK has passed an extreme pornography ban, also reported on multiple times by Bizarre magazine, which outlaws images of a sexual nature depicting (either real or fake) activities that could cause death or grave damage to the genitals, anus or breasts. The only exception would be those immediately involved in image production, (the photographer and the model specifically). In addition to speaking out about the discrimination involved in these laws, Bizzare magazine has also launched the Proud to Be Different campaign in response to the brutal beating death of Sophy Lancaster, who was attacked and kicked to death due to the gothic appearance of herself and her partner in early 2008. The campaign offers a place for community members to share stories, ideas, and a sense of solidarity, and can be accessed through Bizarre's article on the campaign.

Well That Didn't Last Long...

          So, it looks like the City finally decided to dismantle the homeless encampment at Eureka City Hall. So yeah, they made sure there were shelter beds standing by, and they gave people some warning that they would be arresting anyone left soon, but when someone is there as a form of activism, like Kim Starr form the People's Project, this is less a sign of trying to compromise, and more a last ditch effort at intimidation and convincing someone to settle for less than what they are fighting for before just plain strong-arming them into stopping their protest. I'm disappointed that this happened this way, and particularly that, as I've heard many times before, valuable camping supplies belonging to destitute campers were destroyed when the site was vacated, (this has happened many times behind the MAC/Target, without even warning to those camping there). Between anti-homeless laws, the expense of eating without a kitchen, the wear and tear on clothes and shoes, the destruction of camping equipment, and much, much more, I'm starting to think even I, when working full-time at an entry level position, could have afforded to be homeless. I'm just going to keep repeating to myself, in the hopes of stirring continued optimism: Baby steps...baby steps... it's all baby steps...

Joining with a Community

          I have to say something I really appreciate seeing in one of our texts, and something we have discussed in multiple courses, is the idea of "joining" with others, and how to understand and work with a community from a social work standout, which may be quite different than a more distant, objective or anthropological approach. I believe this is one of the hardest skills to impart verbally, how to work with the community in this way while maintaining ethical boundaries, and it is one that has come up in my work at the MAC, (the Multiple Assistance Center, a transitional living program for homeless families), quite often. It can be particularly difficult in a situation such as the MAC, where you aren't simply studying or joining with the community, but are also responsible for enforcing certain rules and standards. I think what is most valuable in this text is the idea of treatment community members as "valued human beings". The idea of doing what you would do with any other member of community, like accepting a glass of water, or learning the names of their children, goes a long way to making people feel valued as people, not just demographics or clients. This is a phenomenon I experienced when I first shared dinner with participants at the MAC, sitting at their table and asking how there day was going, not just asking how there program was going, or housing, or MAC requirements, but just what I would ask any other person I might be having a meal with. I started realizing that the more I tried to balance my tense interactions, (enforcing rules, broaching uncomfortable topics), with these genuine attempts at joining with the community, the more effective I was, and so long as I was being truly genuine, there was no need for this to negatively effect my ability to enforce rules. There is a difference between attempting to gain entry into a community to make one's job easier, perhaps to even manipulate community members into helping achieve your own goals, and to truly seek to do so in order to join with the community, better understand it's needs, and be as efficacious as possible in supporting those needs being met.