Week 4-The Crash!

We were coming home from my son's basketball game last night when we were struck by a drunk driver. Thankfully no one had any major injuries. The woman who hit may family has prior DUI'S! My emotions are all over the map. The social worker in me knows that she must be an alcoholic and clearly needs help. The mother in me is furious that she harmed my children and could have killed them.

After we were hit, I immediately checked on my children and then I went to check on the other car. I asked the women if she was ok. She said she was and then asked if there was anyway to keep the police out of this. As she spoke that sentence I could see she and hear that she was intoxicated. This furthers my anger as my first thought was to make sure everyone was ok and hers was to not involve the police. She never even asked if my children were ok!!!! As we waited for the police she started to complain about the damage to her car. My goodness I had to walk away as I never wanted to hit someone so bad in my life. (I know that is very un-social worker of me, but at least I did walk away!!) I do not understand how she could think so clearly about the consequences of her actions after being hit by an air bag but could not think of it prior to starting up her car. Her immediate thoughts after the accident was not wanting to get into trouble..Why didn't she think of this before she went to the bar when she knew she did have a safe way home? Why have the previous DUI'S not made an impact on her? What will it take for her to change her ways? I do not feel her illness or bad choices should absolve her from her responsibility to society.

When I asked her why she would put my family at risk? Why she felt she had the right to drive drunk and risk killing someone? She said she was just really mad about something. Yes so am I!!!

This accident has also re-enforced my love of my community as before I was even able to get my children out of the car there was a host of bystanders there to help us. I am so thankful to live in a community full of wonderful people willing to help without ever being asked.

 

Week 3 of Semester two..on our way!

I am excited to start my second semester at HSU and feel great to have one semester under my belt. The first few weeks I have had a few challenges with the updated system but am finding my way. I am nervous and overwhelmed with the thought of the work load for the semester. It feels like an avalanche of work but I will continue to dig my way out one paper or one post at a time.

I found this weeks reading Chapter 3 of Why I Write to mimic my feelings. I really enjoyed Timothy Patrick McCarthy's writing about the struggles and accomplishments in his life. I found it interesting he still experienced feelings of "intellectual inadequacy" at his level of academia(p.31). I love that he was so honest in his self-reflection and allowed us to view him through his words. I found Mr. McCarthy's to be inspirational when he wrote he would "replace insecurity with courage"(p.38). I think I shall strive for the same. I also think this is a central message I will be trying to empower my clients with. If we are able to let go of our insecurities and proceed with courage it seem the possibilities would be limitless.

I wish you all a great week!

McCarthy, Timothy Patrick (2006). Why I Write. In J. Downs (Ed.), Why We Write(pp. 27-38) New York:Routledge.

Writing Style

This weeks reading was very interesting and I am sure it will be helpful to me in the future. I have never given much thought to my style of writing before. I think it depends on what I am writing and who I am writing for. I think writing in a setting like this blog is extremely difficult as your audience is unknown in size and preferences. I try to look on the positive side of events and think that comes out in my writing in almost every    setting.

I wish you all a wonderful Holiday!

Left Brain

I am more of a left brain person. I like things to be sequential and structured. I like to keep to do lists and complete them step by step one at a time. I have to make a pro and con list for big decisions in life. I find these things to be helpful for me to keep up with all of the responsibilities of being a full time parent and student as well as substituting at our local school. However, I do not have a strength in the grammar and spelling area like some left brain people do which is to bad.

The traits I see from the right brain include connecting with emotions, feelings, visions and dreams. I try to make my decisions of the facts but sometime the emotions of the situation win out. I also like to have a visual image during instruction as I find it helps me to remember more details.

I found a great survey at The Art Institute of Vancouver Website at: http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm.

It will give you a complete break down of your right-left brain tendencies which was kind of fun to read about. Have a great week everyone!

Road Blocks to Writing

 I have never really sat and thought about why it is hard for me to complete writing assignments prior to this project. I know I usually get a pit in my stomach when I read about an upcoming easy and it grows larger with every additional page requirement. I found this project helpful in determining why I have this reaction. I found time, energy and lack of knowledge on subject matter were all factors in the growth of the pit. Although I think the biggest factor was low self-esteem. I have a fear that what I write will not be good enough. I hate letting anyone read my rough drafts as I know they will see my imperfections and may think I am stupid.

Of course, my rational brain knows you have to set aside time to make sure you have the energy to find the knowledge, in order to write a successful paper. I know I have written at least a hundred papers over the last few years and yet I can't seem to shake the negative feeling I have about my writing abilities. I find this to be especially challenging going to school on-line with our weekly post requirements. I think the post requirements have been a really helpful tool for me. The posts forces me to publish a writing for all to see several times a week in multiple classes. The combination of my school work load and other obligations and responsibilities does not allow the time for me to criticize every work I type.

This was an interesting and helpful assignment.  

Free Writing

I must say free writing has some challenges to it. It is strange to just let your fingers write what they wanted with no rules. I found that was the focus on my free write. I really enjoyed not worrying about spelling or work cited. Ah, work cited puts a deep fear in me. I am always so concerned about not completing that part of writing correctly. I imagine with all of the papers due for this program, I will master that skill in no time. I also found it really difficult to clear my mind and not control what I was writing. This exercise reminded me of the first few times I did yoga and how hard it was to clear my mind. Writer's yoga seems like a good name for this exercise.   

I would also like to say congratulations to my fellow students. We are almost to the half way point in the semester. I would say, it is all down hill from here, but that seems wrong. Happy Mid-Semester! Looking forward to getting to know more about all of you.

Silence

This weeks reading reminds us of the importance of silence. I find great knowledge in silence. I find if I am able to really listen to what people are saying it brings me a greater understanding. This allow me to see the vision of their experiences. I enjoy listen to people speak of their life so I can gain different perspectives on issues. I think listening is a skill we need to continue to practice.

I enjoyed what Paulo Freire's statement of "Emphasize our own voice so much that we impose silence on our students". I see how applicable this is to the field of social work. It is extremely important as a social worker we learn to be silent and not impose our voice on our clients. This would allow for them to express their circumstances, work through their feelings and come to a resolution which will best fit them. Then we will be able to see what direction the client wants to take their life and we can offer guidance.

Reference: 
Dunlap, L. (2007). Undoing the Silence: Six Tools for Social Change Writing. Oakland: New Village Press.