Post I wrote for TLCV

Below is a post I wrote for TLCV. There aren't any apostraphies because blogger kept messing them up.

Last week, the TLCV staff went to the Environmental Leadership Institute (ELI), a conference for nonprofit environmental workers which was held in Austin. ELI isnt always in Austin, so we considered ourselves very lucky to get the chance to stay close to home. I dont know about James, but I foolishly thought we might be able to go for scenic walks around town in our down-time. I was so wrong!

I think Im getting ahead of myself. The way ELI works is to take environmentalists from all over the country and put them in one of four groups working on mock campaigns. All of the campaigns are different. During the day, there are all kinds of presentations given by experts on various parts of a campaign and how to make them successful. At night hellish assignments are given to put the lessons dutifully learned into practice and to torture the members with lack of sleep and controversial tasks until they finally finish the assignments at 3, 4, 5 in the morning and fall into bed like so many dominos, to rise again before 8 to return to their lessons.

You can see what I mean about not having free time to explore. In some ways it was refreshing during this intense week to come out of the hotel where we spent every minute of every day and to realize that we were just down the street from the university, and our houses were close by. Im a mass transit kind of girl, and I would gaze down the street and picture all the buses that could have brought me home…

Part of the reason Im writing all of this is that this mock campaign was very realistic. The point of being overworked and under energized in some ways was to show just how much hard work goes into a campaign. Working with a group of people we didnt know was also realistic, in that this happens a lot in campaign projects, that people come together who have never worked together before. And theyre told to put together a complicated plan while learning each others quirks at the same time. Im sure under those circumstances the thought that ‘I could just go home and everything would be back to normal’ crosses everyones mind at least once, but theyre all there for a reason and if one leaves it hurts the morale and strength of the group.

Besides learning about the realities of working campaigns, though, there was another strong message we took away from this conference. Even while being torn between the haze of sleepiness and inner hum of productivity and raw, work driven energy, we began to appreciate each other. It was fascinating the first day to meet people from all over the country and have them all in one room (“I dont think Ive ever met someone from Alaska!”). By the end of the week, it became a far deeper admiration. It became, “Look at all of these people I didnt even know who care as much about the environment as I do.” It was the feeling that suddenly I wasnt one of the only ones fighting the battle against the corrupt, and working to conserve. It was a group effort, with invisible allies everywhere, and just a small fraction had just gone through the crazy experience I had.

We were better armed for the upcoming battles with everything we had learned, as well as each other there to make sure we make it through. The non profit world can be frustrating when every day is a struggle to convince people the environment is important so they will help the organization keep moving (a sure-fire way to feel like a lonely voice) and constantly battling for conservation. Its hard at times not to go home and decide not to come out until global warming is over. This conference armed us with the rejuvenating knowledge and a clearer grasp on what needs to be done to make a successful campaign, so we could go back to our world beyond the hotel with a firm grasp on our full binders and confidence for the road ahead.

Also, now we know who to call to hear someone talk about why they care about the environment. That kind of a reminder is even better than hiding under the covers.

Stolen from Juanita!:) It looked fun.

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names)
Elisabeth Reed (hmm...not too far off from now...)

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
John Aaron (or John Babe :) )

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name)
Sceliz

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Puffin

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live)
Allison Austin

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add "THE" to the beginning)
The Yellow White Russian (Hmmm....)

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Eltz

8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):
Peach Pie Oatmeal Raisin (Gangstaly DELICIOUS)

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet's name, current street name)
Trouble West 38th (Well, trouble was a good start)

10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
Ping Pong Cypress (Oh dear Lord.)



We just finished making holiday plans! Work is going well, we've been playing guitar hero a lot. I...guess...that's...it!

Life Update from Texas

My friend Pam (aka "awesome-and-sexy-Pam") reminds me that I haven't actually updated about my job or life in general. I'm taking a short break after a wonderfully successful (and lengthy) interview, so I will take a needed 5 minute break to update my friends (or those who read this, anyway).

My job is Director of Special Projects at the Texas League of Conservation Voters Educational Fund. It is a nonprofit, and I do have to say most of the name when I answer the phone. I'm currently working on the Telenovela Project (the name is currently fluid), a project to create a media mechanism to convince unregistered but eligible Latino voters of Texas to vote and to consider enviromental issues when voting. The project is going very well, though we are still in our initial stages. I'm also just starting to work on a new project involving environmental clubs in Travis county public schools.My boss is awesome, which is good because we work back to back in a tiny office.

In general, things are going really well. Matt and I are almost completely settled in, though we had a huge cleaning Sunday in preparation for our first game night (which went very well! I made a friend on the bus and she and her boyfriend came over and we had a blast.) and now the house looks alienly clean. It's a little creepy, after being used to the cozy mess we had been in. On the other hand, a big part of that was that we weren't completely unpacked, so I'm sure once we're used to it it'll be a good thing.

att is working at the University of Texas' English Department, and is doing very well there. He wrote about it in his blog. We've both been pretty tired after getting home each day, but we're gradually getting used to the working week.

Thank you, Pam, for reminding me to update, and I also just want to say that I do miss all of my friends, and I hope you're doing really well.Please call me whenever, though today I misplaced my phone so it may take me a while to get back to you but I'd always love to hear from you.

On a final note, I don't think it's a secret anymore that Mat and I are engaged (although it is still kinda secret! Just not particularly well kept. It's for real public facebook level around Christmastime) and so we've started reading wedding magazines and thinking about other preparations.

So...yia! Hopefully not too many people found out this way, but I guess it's slightly more personal than facebook. We're very excited.

And with that...back to work! :)

I GOT A JOB!

There's a project a couple politicians are working on, which is to create a telenovela (soap opera in spanish) to inspire hispanic residents of Texas to vote, and to care about environmental issues. Apparently I impressed one of the organizers of the project with the work I did in Peru, since it's basically the same idea. So not only do I have a job, but it'll be involving topics I love, and will be an educational experience. That said, I have no idea what I'll be doing. I have my first meeting Monday, so maybe I'll know then.


That said, of course I still miss all of you. I hope school has started out great.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how I'm going to do this last essay! It's driving me crazy and I just want to be done and I can't pack or do anything or focus and I'm SO STRESSED and AHHHH!!! I know I just have to write it anad then edit it and put in all my Jew references but I can't even work on it for too long or I go insane. Blahhhh.

AIM

I've recently noticed I really can't put up with aim anymore. Too much happens at once and it's so far removed from real life it just makes me nervous and feel fake now. So...I'm sorry if you've missed me because I'm not on ever. For whatever reason I just can't cope with things like that anymore. And, honestly, I think I'm a lot healthier for it. I just wish it didn't mean I had to cut down on opportunities to talk to my friends.

Stolen from Sarah

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible - Various Authors
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. 1984 - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (hated too much to finish...)
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (currently reading in spanish, except that I lost my bookmark grr)
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Only haven't read 56! Yayyy! Sorry the bold is hard to see...