Leadership in the wilderness | Faith & Leadership
Favorite paragraph:
"Olson explains that the manna story is not about what they were eating but rather about “God’s trustworthy generosity, the need for equity in the distribution of resources related to basic human needs such as food, and reassurance in the face of common human urges to hoard out of fear and anxiety for the future.”
The manna principle of leadership recognizes that even in times of wilderness and chaos, “the sabbath economy of manna, grace, gift, equality, and trust will have the final say over the economy of Egypt and the Pharaohs of the world,” Olson writes.
And I’m guessing many faculty and staff of today’s colleges think of others as the agents of manna leadership, especially looking to their presidents, vice presidents and trustees.
But in the broadest and most important sense -- and especially in faith-based institutions -- all are called to be manna leaders. The journey to a new place is a shared responsibility, a collective project that derives its authority from a cooperative attachment to mutually defined commitments, values, and smart visions and strategies.
One person cannot do it all when in the wilderness. There are too many moving parts when trying to find solutions to complex problems."
A Manna Leader: WOW! Being a leader who cultivates an environment of peace, planning, and prodding to get to the promise and prosperity!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Social Construct Gone Bad- A response to Thandie Newton's speech
"...The thing that was a source of shame was actually a source of enlightenment. And when I realized and really understood that my self is a projection and that it has a function, a funny thing happened. I stopped giving it so much authority. I give it its due. I take it to therapy. I've become very familiar with its dysfunctional behavior. But I'm not ashamed of myself. In fact, I respect my self and its function. And over time and with practice, I've tried to live more and more from my essence. And if you can do that, incredible things happen. “-Thandie Newton: Embracing otherness, embracing myself
A few people in my life have described me as pro Black, an Angela Davis type, you know, Afrocentric. And for some, actually that is a bad thing and for others it’s a pride thing. But for me, it's reality. I am a Black American, and no one will let me forget it.
Race is a social construct. It was created to help identify and classify people. A technicality gone bad. Now many people profit from race or as some call the race card. Black movies, Black music, Black restaurants, Black malls, Black schools, Black churches, you get where I am going. In some twisted way, race is sometimes used as being unique, special, and a style... different. Now, it's labeled as acting Black or having swag. Although being Black is called a different name each decade, it’s the same to most, being non-White.
Blacks, which include Africans and West Indies, and Latinos, have race classes; you have to check specifically who you are, African American/Black, unlike Asians or Europeans, they are classed and socially considered White Americans. There are different arguments as to why this is and some simply say it’s only for the census- public records. I understand its more consequences to a classification because I have experienced the difference being Black can make.
So if race is only a social construct, and culture and nationality are true identifiers of persons, why study and debate civil rights, especially for minorities (yet another label), specifically Black Americans? Understanding oneself, and the oneness we have with the world is a higher level of consciousness. A concept not easily attained in such a race laden world. I am not applying enlightenment is only attainable for an elite few, yet it is difficult to grasp. Once you give up your race, or gender, or cla$$, school affiliation and religious denomination... then, who are you? Self-discovery can be a painful process. Peeling back layers takes emotional and intelligence maturity and sheer will. And if one has an epiphany, because seeing oneself as authentic and not as a stereotype is true revelation, others may not understand and disconnect because they can’t see their image in you.
Thandie Newton has caught my eye and ear lately. I can relate to her process of self-discovery, her conflict with self and being "other". I don't know if the world will ever make it an easy process. Polarizing race is profitable. The love of money is warring with the love of oneness, connection, human and social capital. Nevertheless, it's divine to live free and true, as one. And it’s a journey worth taking, even with Black being my que card.
Thandie Newton: Embracing otherness, embracing myself | Video on TED.com
Friday, August 5, 2011
Poor Dads: A “Perfect Storm” of Adverse Events Works against Young Families
Poor Dads: A “Perfect Storm” of Adverse Events Works against Young Families
MADISON — In the beginning of the 21st century economy, almost half of all kids are being raised by at least one parent with a low educational background (high school degree or less by age 30) and a poor expected economic future. More than 40 percent of all births are out of wedlock (28 percent for non-Hispanic whites; 72 percent for non-Hispanic blacks; and 51 percent for Hispanics). And the chances that an unmarried biological father and mother will have a child with different partners are 55 to 65 percent (using conservative estimates).
A new book—as much an accessible examination of a major social challenge as a monograph by some of America’s top social science thinkers—explores these growing problems and possible policy remedies. “Young Disadvantaged Men: Fathers, Family, Poverty, and Policy,” a special issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, combines a researcher’s perspective with reality checks from the worlds of policymakers and social service practitioners.
First, the numbers: By age 30, between 68 and 75 percent of young men with a high school degree or less are fathers. Only 52 percent of all fathers (21 percent of African American fathers) under age 25 are married at the birth of their first child. Older fathers are more likely to be married by age 30. Sixty-five percent of all first-time fathers are married when their first child is born, but only 31 percent of all black men under 30 who are first-time fathers are married at the time of the first birth.
To make matters worse, far fewer young fathers go on to education post high school (29 percent of fathers age 30 and under compared to 41 percent of all men age 30 and under). Finally, 62 percent of fathers with a high school degree or less earned less than $20,000 in 2002, suggesting that most young men with little education, low skills, and poor employment records have acquired family responsibilities that they will find difficult to meet.
The economist Timothy Smeeding, a volume co-editor with Irwin Garfinkel and Ronald B. Mincy, calls the situation a “perfect storm of adverse events” that is affecting younger undereducated men, their children, and the mothers of their children. So Smeeding and his colleagues convened a national conference at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where economists, sociologists, and public policy experts presented their latest work to describe the problem; provided cross-cutting commentary on culture, race, and family functioning and longer-term relationships; and examined child support policy, school-to-work transitions, dropout, incarceration, and fatherhood-strengthening policies.
“Young Disadvantaged Men” presents the best thinking of national experts on the issues of immediate concern to those working through research, policy, and practice to reconnect disconnected dads to their children and thereby improve child and family economic and emotional well-being.
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/newsevents/whatsnew/2011/fathers-May2011.htm
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