Thoughts on Module 9

I love my cell phone and I hate it too. When I go for a run or to the grocery store, I feel obliged to bring the phone with me. I'm rarely without it and that again is good and bad. It's good to have a phone if you fall and sprain your ankle on a trail, but how can you really enjoy the beauty of nature and get the most of a workout if you are texting or responding to phone calls? It's convenient to have the phone to call home to check "do I need to buy bread?"  But then again, it seems so rude to be talking on the phone in a public place instead of interacting with the people around you. It's so easy to miss what's going on when you are preoccupied with a phone.

Often the cell phone feels like a leash -- one that I often want to be rid of. I think this my "introvert thing" coming out again. Sometimes I just want to be ALONE and when I'm constantly in reach with a cell phone how can I be?  I can ignore the calls, but that just makes my family and friends call more because they were worried when I didn't respond. Yes, I think I media is too often intrusive.

Relay for Life Enters the Social Media World

This is a critique of the social media campaign of Relay for Life, an organization I have been involved with in varying degrees for about 15 years. When I participated in my first relay, the great majority of their efforts were via printed media – mailings, billboards, and mass distribution of flyers.  They have come a long way in their online presence, but have a ways to go in making that presence truly interactive and successful.

The site is nicely done, but needs to be crawled more often as some of the links did not work. That’s a major turn-off for me. The site is simple and colorful with easy-to-follow navigation and lots of photos of smiling people and cute kids. It has tabs for different audiences:  committee members, team captains, survivors and community, as well as links to cancer prevention info, toolkits and guidebooks, advice podcasts, and tips for fundraising.  There are also links for local organizations and an offshoot site for college-based relay events. From what I could see there was not a lot of participation in either of those areas. Local organizations have sites, but they don’t seem to be updated very regularly and seem to be more like bulletin boards of event times and locations. The site seems a bit clinical, but since it is affiliated with the American Cancer Society and based on fundraising for a medical need, that is to be expected. The blog link is mostly a collection of businesses offering products  for teams to buy for fundraising.  There was not much there worth reading unless you want to find a source for cheap junk to sell.  

The link to the Cancer Survivor Network, however, was excellent. Here there are chat rooms for most every type of cancer and every subject you might think of from where to buy wigs to the much needed venting forum. The chat rooms are very popular and I was happy to see that although there were lots of posts, there were very few without more than 3 or 4 replies – that tells me that readers are there for each other and are looking for ways to interact with others in like situations. 

There’s a link to their new mobile app which helps calculate fundraising totals, but the app is only for the iPhone and the reviews are pretty poor. I think they need to take it down and provide the needed patches to keep it from crashing before they market it. It will only tick people off.

The Relay for Life Facebook page looks much like the web site.  I like some of the posts which reiterate “comments overheard at relays” and then readers’ replies to them.  I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of Facebook and their page was like many others --people having private conversations with two or three people in a very public way.

Their foray into the world of Twitter is better. Their posts are actually interesting. They tweet event times and locations, cancer prevention tips, thanks to corporate sponsors, and fundraising achievements. The odd thing is that there is only a total of 454 tweets although the first one was posted in August of 08. With the popularity of the Relay for Life program, they could do much more with their Twitter page. They have 9470 followers – they need to promote submission of ideas and more involvement.

The RFL YouTube channel is in sore need of interactivity. There are over 60 uploads, but I didn’t see any that looked like they had been done by relay participants. I think the draw of YouTube is seeing what real people are doing, not just TV commercials over and over. It would be a big improvement if they would allow teams to upload videos of their events and even encourage funny amateur commercials for their fundraisers.

   

My blog was to be about myself with cultural and individual character studies and my reaction to them. Yikes!  Although I’ve enjoyed working on the assignments so far, I need to work on finding a more interesting topic for future courses if I want to pursue gaining popularity on a blog. Since at this point, blogging for me would be for class projects and fun, I‘d more enjoy writing about something entertaining – both for me and for the readers  I hope to attract.

But, since this is the topic I committed to, I’ll offer my thoughts on how I would incorporate social media. I can’t think of any reason for any type of app and I’m not interested in pursuing Facebook “friends,” so my interactivity would be mostly limited to tweeting when I post something new and relying on comments to my blog. I think that it might be interesting to pose questions to readers or provide a scenario where it might be easy to judge others and ask them how they would respond to the situation or people involved.  

Mimi Plays Devil's Advocate -- Take 2

What was she thinking when she decided to write about herself in a blog?

She’s an introvert. Now if you ever took the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator, you know that the word introversion doesn’t necessarily imply shyness. As based on the theories of Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, introversion simply means you are inward-turning. Interacting with people and being around noise and activity draw on an introvert’s energy so that they need to retreat to a quiet place to reflect and regroup, while extraverts get energy FROM the commotions of everyday life and crave that outward stimulation. Life is all about interactions with other people. How could the life of someone who would rather be alone in a room be interesting? It would be tedious for the writer and mind-numbing for the reader.

Mimi spends her work day in a cube on a floor with more than 100 cubes and teams rooms in a building with nearly 600 people who work on the same monotonous IT program. She wears headphones to block out the world, but they don’t keep out the noise, the ringing phones, the flashing instant messages, or the inbox full of emails waiting to be read and acted upon. At the end of the day chained in a cube, she still has to get into her car alone instead of finding someplace where she can laugh and talk and let it all out.

She says she thinks people see her as bashful, but she doesn’t prove that she is not afraid to speak. She doesn’t join in the debates about how the latest reality show will end the season or harangue her coworkers with complaints about the boss. How does anyone know where she stands? Often it seems like she is tuning people out. She is obviously a listener and an observer, not a storyteller.

The unedited bank of photos from her recent trip to Italy was just plain weird. Most people take photos of themselves in front of the Learning Tower or the Vatican, but her photos were mainly of marble floors and rock gardens, of people she didn’t even know sipping wine in cafes, or of drawings or mosaics –- but she cuts the heads off most of the statues and gets so close to the mosaics that you can only see a small portion. A note pad of some sort is her constant companion, but it’s full of weird doodles and lists. The pages may mean something to her, but not to an audience. There’s hardly a line that could be considered revolutionary or newsworthy. 

According to a 2010 article in the US News and World Report, more than 50% of Internet users are under the age of 45. Since she is firmly planted at the very top of that demographic, it’s doubtful that the mostly much younger Internet user would be interested in the musings of an old woman. She is definitely no longer young and cool.

Writing a blog is about readership and a blog about an aging Midwestern introvert is unlikely to attract an eager audience. If I were her, I would reconsider and find a topic that she can research and learn from while providing some entertainment to her readers.

Thoughts on Module 7

This was an informative module. I had no idea that Wikipedia had so many restrictions in place to try and keep the site pure. If they actually enforce their processes, they have come a long way from how they started – with the “anything goes” mentality. Even so, I think they have some rebranding to do in order to reinforce their reputation as a credible source.

Unfortunately, I have not hit upon a topic for my Capstone project yet, but I’m really enjoying seeing how everyone else is honing their presence on the web. Everyone is so different – cooking, MS, politics, pregnancy, martial arts – it’s amazing the diversity in our class. I'm hoping that my project will become as clear as some of my classmates ... soon!

Wikipedia Entry

Kairos is a perfect forum for my topic of observation with and without judgement. I learned a lot from my experience on a team and I think it has further shaped me as a person.




Kairos Prison Ministry

Kairos is a Christian ministry that addresses the spiritual needs of incarcerated men, women, and youths, as well as their families outside the prison walls. The primary objective of the 3-day retreat based on the Cursillo movement ¹ is to prepare selected residents for life in an ongoing Christian community. A key part of the Kairos experience is to encourage residents to form a Christian community behind bars and to discourage dependence on the volunteers who run the program.

Before a Kairos weekend, volunteers complete a highly structured eight-week team formation period to build Christian community, practice group dynamics techniques, and learn about working in a prison environment including institution rules, local taboos, and how to handle potential problems. The ministry is governed by the national board of Kairos Prison Ministry, Inc. ² and is conducted in cooperation with the chaplains of correctional institutions. Teams are generally comprised of 50 lay persons with 5-6 clergy members.

The program follows a very strict protocol in order to assure the predictability and security necessary for the prison setting. A manual³ is given to each team member and they are expected to follow the guidelines to the letter to keep the weekend orderly and avoid unwanted confrontations.

Through the structured program, the residents of correctional institutions are given the opportunity to experience God’s healing love, spiritual renewal, and the tools to share their experience with others and become a Christian witness while they are incarcerated and after they may be released. Several studies including one from the University of Alabama Birmingham “Religion Helps Reduce Negative Prison Behaviors”  have indicated that prison ministries can reduce incidences of violence in institutions as well the number of repeat offenders.⁴

The program is supported by Christian volunteers including those from the Cursillo movement and other related renewal ministries such as Emmaus⁴, Chrysalis⁵, and Epiphany⁶. Although Christian in nature, the program is open to any faith and it is not unusual to see find participants who consider themselves to be Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or even Atheist. More than 170,000 men and women have been through the Kairos experience. Volunteers number more than 20,000 per year.

The Process

Prison chaplains identify individuals who they feel have the potential to benefit from the program. They are then invited to a three day “short course” on Christianity. The weekend consists of a series of talks by volunteers which are built from an outline. The speakers are encouraged to supplement the outline with personal witness and examples from their own lives on the ways in which support, love, encouragement and prayer from other members of their own small group has brought healing. The attraction of Christian community is made abundantly clear by one speaker after another.

The participants sit as “families” at tables. Three team members and six residents at each table are carefully chosen to be ethnically diverse. Through talking and listening, music, and food the family becomes comfortable enough with one another over the course of the weekend to become vulnerable. On the final day, they are led into sharing their personal histories and thereby learn they have much more in common than they had ever imagined. They begin to feel like family.

At the end of the weekend, residents graduate and are accepted into the Kairos community. The Team returns to the institution within three weeks for an Instructional Reunion which offers continuing support and teaches the newest members of the Inside Community how to form small groups

All Kairos graduates are encouraged to continue to participate in weekly small group sessions called “Prayer and Shares” where they share their lives on a deep spiritual level. They pray for each other, for other residents and staff, and are accountable to each other for their actions.

The Kairos monthly reunion is a two-three hour gathering of the institution’s resident Prayer and Share Groups with Kairos volunteers. There they participate in community worship, share in small groups, and hear witness talks.  It is open to all residents of the institution who have attended a Kairos short course and may be open to their guests, if the institution allows.

History

The Kairos Prison Ministry grew out of early attempts to launch movements in prisons similar to the three-day movements in the sacramental churches of the free-world. A Cursillo movement event was held in Union Correctional Institution, a maximum security institution, at Raiford, Florida in 1976. Though successful, the event did not grow until the retreat became ecumenical rather than purely Catholic.  As in the Cursillo, the general foundation is a program where lay persons can learn to minister to each other and become spiritual leaders. The retreat is based on Biblical reference found in the Gospel of Luke 24:13-35, especially verse 31, “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”

There are two Greek words for time.  Kronos pertains to linear time such as hours, days, and weeks. The Oxford Online Dictionary⁷ defines the other word, “kairos” as “a propitious moment for decision or action” or opportunity. It is often used in religious sense as time set by God for a particular occurrence. The word kairos was also found to carry special significance in correctional institutions where the word time carries so many different connotations. The Kairos weekend gives the inmates an opportunity to experience God’s healing love and the tools to share their experience with others.

Today chapters are located in 31 states in the U.S. and eight additional countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and Canada. Each state has its own board of directions and governing regulations⁸ based on the international organization.

Biblical reference

Luke 24:13-35 – details the story of the afternoon three days after the crucifixion when the risen Christ appears to two disciples walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Blinded by their grief and hopelessness, they do not recognize him. As he walked, Jesus explained the meaning of the scripture and when they arrived he held communion with them and then they recognized him.

Matthew 25:36 “I was in prison and you visited me.”

John 13:34-35  "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples."

References

1.       http://www.cursillo.org/whatis.html

2.       http://www.kairosprisonministry.org/

3.       UAB Study Finds Religion Helps Reduce Negative Prison Behaviors - Gail Short, UAB.edu, citing: Kent R. Kerley, Todd L. Matthews and Troy C.Blanchard. (2005) "Religiosity, Religious Participation, and Negative Prison Behaviors." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 44(4):443–457; Prison Religion: Faith-based Reform and the Constitution – Winnifred Faller-Sullivan (2009); Prison Ministry: Understanding Prison Culture Inside and Out, Lennie Spitale (2002)

4.       http://www.upperroom.org/emmaus/

5.       http://www.upperroom.org/chrysalis/

6.       http://www.epiphanyministry.com/

7.       http://oxforddictionaries.com/

8.       Guidebook for Kairos Inside Team Members (2006)

Proposal

This assignment was hard for me. I tend to sway with the ebb and flow -- this forced me to pin myself down.

Summary:

Is it possible to observe and not judge? Is it possible to express yourself without drawing on your own encounters and your own history? I intend to do character studies of cultures and of individuals around me and in public life. My commitment was to write about myself and I intend to do that by examining how I interact with people, and how my past experiences and relationships influence my opinions.  I’ll attempt to map my current interactions to my past experiences.

I have mentioned before that my first impressions are quite often wrong. Many of my closest friends now are people who I had deemed too loud, too humorless, or too arrogant. I still form bonds very slowly, but I have become more impartial in scrutiny and more thorough in my reasoning.  That thorough analysis is what I will explore.

Problem statement:

I want to write about my experiences and opinions, but am at a loss for where to begin. In past posts, reviewers have pointed out that I end up talking about other people instead of myself. Instead of fighting that urge, I’ll use it to my advantage to show why I see people the way I do. In examining other people, I’ll examine myself.

Research and background:

Many studies have been done on observation and experience. Jury selection, for example, has become almost an art form. Sometimes controversial, the selection process can employ background checks as well as intensive interviewing techniques to uncover potential biases. Building the optimum jury pool can bring benefits to both sides. Jurors are often meticulously chosen to give the defense a better chance of winning sympathy for their client. At the same time, advocates contend that jury selection methods give both sides more confidence in the verdict.

Psychologists also have examined the unreliability of eye witness accounts and how people’s past experiences influence what they see or think they saw. The term “mind’s eye” describes how humans are able to visualize what they want to see which does not always mirror reality.

About me:  I grew up in a small Midwestern town with an alcoholic father and financial hardships. I married into the military and since moves are frequent, I had the opportunity to encounter other cultures and philosophies that vary greatly from what I knew growing up. The wide variety of experiences and people I’ve met coupled with my naturally vigilant behavior gives me a unique perspective on many aspects of life.  

Musings on Module 6

One of the last paragraphs in the research lecture hit home with me. So often I have a very weak thesis and write and write and write and write. Finally when I get to the end, I figure out what my thesis SHOULD have been in first place and have to start all over.

I’ve always hated research as I thought of it in terms of the old research papers we all had to do in school … the ones where the teacher assigns the topic and you had to have ten references from different sources … blah, blah, blah. It’s a bit more exciting to think of researching to make myself sound more credible in either non-fiction or fictional writing. It’s kind of like the detective shows I love to watch on TV. Like an investigator, you never know what clues you might encounter and where they will lead you.