Pictures

*This picture is from my Uncle Paul, from a morning run in LA

"It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed" 
-the Five people you meet in Heaven

"I always wondered why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth...then I asked myself the same question" -Unknown

I am a planner!

I am a planner! I always have been alway will be. I want to fix things when something unexpected comes up but I think I need to learn to let it ride.

Matthew 6:26

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable then they?" 

Are you not much more valuable then they? 

I’m beginning to think about what a friend told me years ago. We were talking about over analyzing things. What if the reason we over analyze things is not because we’re planning for something but because we can’t let go of something else? She said we plan because our thoughts and plans are the only company we have because friends and families are unreliable.

I disagree.

I think we plan because we want to control our futures, but our futures are already planned for us. The paths are they we just have to decide to choose the right one. Our friends and families are what keeps us company and help us through out paths.

We are more valuable then the birds, God lays down our paths and we are but humble servants to his will. If you told me a year ago that I would be in Detroit, Michigan I would have thought you were out of your mind, but I guess God had other plans for me! So I will continue to push through the not so good days because this is where God planned for me to be!

A title

Disclaimer: this post is less about my current work as a volunteer. This post is more of a reflection in general

I became a stage manager for the first time by accident. My high school had a new theatre teacher and I was the only one who approached him at the beginning of the new school year, thus began my fall into the rabbit hole of theatre.

For those of you who do not know a much about theatre Wikipedia defines a stage manager as "practice of organizing and coordinating a theatrical production. It encompasses a variety of activities, including organizing the production and coordinating communications between various personnel (e.g., between director and backstage crew, or actors and production management)."

The first time I was placed in a management role at UNCA was when I was selected to be the Assistant Stage Manager for Urinetown, under Lisa. Lisa was my inspiration with continuing in management and without her guidance in the beginning I do believe I would not have been half the stage manager that people say I am. I owe many thanks to her!

A title does not earn you respect, you do!

The title “Stage Manager” does not automatically earn you respects. The title does nothing define your job. Although any respectable actor or crew member will give a certain amount of respect to the person who is the stage manager out of professionalism but the rest must be earned. A person is defined by their actions not their title. I may call myself a stage manager but how can I expect respect from an actor if I am continuously late, don’t know the answer to any of their questions, or simple to not follow through on things I will say I do. This may all see to be common sense but what I have learned is that many people expect respect because of the title they wear.

This does not just pertain to theatre, but to anywhere. A director of an organization does not receive full respect because of the title, but of the actions while under that title. Now I am not saying that in a position of authority means having to be liked by everyone. I have worked with many people did not like me, or that I did not like but that did not mean I did no give or receive the respect earned.

Just because you have a title that implies leadership, it does not in fact make you a leader.

The thin line between professional and peer!

Another thing I learned while being a stage manager is that the hardest thing is to work in a position that has authority over your peers. I understand fully that being a stage manager in a university theatre is vastly different from that of a professional theatre. One of those main differences being that I have classes with the same people in the show, I am friends with them, I go out with them, and we know personal things about each other. So one of the hardest things is walking that thin line between professional stage manager and friend. Now I have been told my professors and bosses that I do a pretty good job of walking that line. However, I am my biggest critic and in hindsight I see how I could have handled situations differently.

The invisible line is also different with every person. For instance, my friend Cassidy, we have worked in many different areas together and I know that I can say something to her in a professional since (even if it may be a criticism or correction) and she will not take in personally. In fact she was one of the many people that I could also go to professionally and personally and ask, “how can I improve?” because she would tell me the truth and knew that I would accept the criticism with openness to improve.

To many times in theatre and in life do we take someone’s criticisms personally, could it not be that person’s comments were to help and not hurt? I understand that it may be in our human nature to defend our actions but sometimes the best way to improve ourselves is simply by listing to criticism with an open mind.

This I believe

NPR has a serious called "This I Believe," it is a series of essays describing core values that guide people all over the world through their daily lives. To here some of them you can check out

http://thisibelieve.org/

I bring this up because one of the returning Academic Success Corp Volunteers (the title of my volunteer job, however she is from a different affiliate) brought these essays to our attention during orientation. She challenged us to write up our own and at the end of the week we shared them as a group. As I was driving home I began to think of one that I wanted to share.

I Believe in the 13 hour day...

I believe in the 13 hour day, you know those days where you wake up and hit the ground running! The days where you do not stop until you hit the bed again that night. I believe in those 13 hour days.

I believe that at the end of my 13 hour day I may be upset or even a little angry, but when I lay in my bed surrounded by the silence those emotions will fade and I will remember why I am doing this. I am dedicating my 13 hour days to these teenagers so that one day they will have a future that they would not have had otherwise.

I believe that one day the scholars will appreciate how many people dedicated multiple 13 hour days to them. As teenagers they do not appreciate it today and they will not appreciate it tomorrow or even next week, but one day they will. I believe one day when these teenagers are older they will dedicate a 13 hour day to someone they care for, someone they are fighting for, someone that they are dedicated to and they will appreciate the 13 hour days that people dedicated to them.

I realize now that many people dedicated their 13 hour days to me and those people may have never been properly thanked. So I thank you Teachers, Professors, Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Directors, Techies, Actors, Friends, Colleagues, Ministers, Youth Workers, and everyone else who has ever dedicated a 13 hour day to me and who ever does in the future.

I believe in the 13 hour day!

Moving away from Home

Moving out of North Carolina was a very large step for me. I had never lived out of the state before and I had never 

lived so far away from my family. Now don't get me wrong I have lived far away from them before, I went to college 4-6 hours away from them (it was dependent on the parent). However, I have never lived 10 hours away from them. So from living in North Carolina all my life to living in Detroit, Michigan is a very big change.

I have been here for about 2 and a half months and after many challenges I have faced within the organization, with the scholars, and with the administration I began to doubt if this is really where I was supposed to be. I began to miss the constant presence of my family and friends, I am in now way lacking support, but their presence is what I am missing. Not to mention that Detroit is a hard city, it is going through a lot of economic issues and for lack of a better work it is not pretty. I was beginning to become more homesick then I have ever been in my entire life. I began to nonchalantly look at other opportunities.

I began to struggle more and more with if this is where God wanted me to be? Is this where I wanted to be? So after speaking with both my parents and my best friend I took my Father's advice, he is a Reverend. He told me to pray for either another door to open or for a sign, and if a sign were to appear to give me strength. So I prayed, and a sign is what I got today. A sign in the mail from my best friends Mother Beth. It was a necklace and a note, but I was immediately given the calming sensation that this is where I am supposed to be.

Oh how God works in mysterious ways!

Chicago

So I went to Chicago for the first time to visit the Chicago Affiliate and to also be a tourist.

Understanding the difference between affiliates in Boys Hope Girls Hope was an eye opening experience.