In which I grumble and ramble
May. 17th, 2012 12:26 amI work midnight shifts during the summer and during the school year, they're not my favorites but they're part of what I do. Now Ann Arbor is a fairly safe place and I can never decide which walk I like better; the cold one where there's no one around and it feels terribly empty or the warmer walks where the town feels more alive. Both of these have benefits and drawbacks, the empty makes me feel a little safer but oh its cold and the warmer has more people and I get aware. Today nearing one of the emptier streets, a man ended up walking behind me, I let him pass me and asked if he needed anything just to be safe. He'd been getting a cigarette lighted when I passed the corner and seemed to notice me. He said no and then asked me if I was fearful which while the phrasing made me go huh, I said yes and then tried to move on as he went oh don't worry about me, sweet and what's your name. Gah, I get that he thought he was being helpful and going I'm fine, but seriously my safety comes first and once I know you're not going to do anything I move on. Me being polite doesn't mean me being friendly just that I want to get home. I wasn't even that nervous just being safe. I've had nights where I felt nervous and walked a little faster, this was just me checking things. End of grumble.
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sardonicynic just posted an online version of a Lothari square which it took me a moment to realize where I knew about it from which was a place called Longacre Farm and later Longacre Leadership. This was a summer program I attended for five years from when I was twelve to seventeen. It was started as a sort of hippie experiment, a working farm where kids came and worked and learned about community. It also had another branch that did trips like Habitat for Humanity. By the time I attended it had been going on for almost twenty years and was still changing and getting more of a focus on community service. Longacre was amazing, in some ways it was a traditional sleep away camp, platform tents, five to seven weeks, counselors, horses, fun activities but in other ways not so much. It was in the middle of rural central Pennsylvania, north of Harrisburg, beautiful farm country. Some of my favorite fourth of July's happened there at these tiny carnivals and fireworks shows full of wonderful people who welcomed this strange sort of camp.
There was no staff to do clean up or anything like instead we as campers were in work crews to care for the animals, cook for everyone, clean the toilets, everything and in my fifth year I helped a counselor/Big Kid lead one of these crews. Four nights a week we had group where we became a community and grew as people. The basis of most of the exercises was the Lothari square-how do you see yourself and how do others see you and how do you bridge those gaps. Longacre taught me how to hear hard feedback about myself, the importance I statements and the dangers of should. Its also where I learned I was a storyteller when I told stories to a local day camp, helped with dramatics in a barn, learned to drive a tractor and how to lead a group of five people. So much of who I am came from Longacre and defines how I interact with the world. Now after this long ramble to go and do the square.
Here's my online one and I'd love to see what everyone chooses.
Now
sardonicynic just posted an online version of a Lothari square which it took me a moment to realize where I knew about it from which was a place called Longacre Farm and later Longacre Leadership. This was a summer program I attended for five years from when I was twelve to seventeen. It was started as a sort of hippie experiment, a working farm where kids came and worked and learned about community. It also had another branch that did trips like Habitat for Humanity. By the time I attended it had been going on for almost twenty years and was still changing and getting more of a focus on community service. Longacre was amazing, in some ways it was a traditional sleep away camp, platform tents, five to seven weeks, counselors, horses, fun activities but in other ways not so much. It was in the middle of rural central Pennsylvania, north of Harrisburg, beautiful farm country. Some of my favorite fourth of July's happened there at these tiny carnivals and fireworks shows full of wonderful people who welcomed this strange sort of camp. There was no staff to do clean up or anything like instead we as campers were in work crews to care for the animals, cook for everyone, clean the toilets, everything and in my fifth year I helped a counselor/Big Kid lead one of these crews. Four nights a week we had group where we became a community and grew as people. The basis of most of the exercises was the Lothari square-how do you see yourself and how do others see you and how do you bridge those gaps. Longacre taught me how to hear hard feedback about myself, the importance I statements and the dangers of should. Its also where I learned I was a storyteller when I told stories to a local day camp, helped with dramatics in a barn, learned to drive a tractor and how to lead a group of five people. So much of who I am came from Longacre and defines how I interact with the world. Now after this long ramble to go and do the square.
Here's my online one and I'd love to see what everyone chooses.
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