Juxtaposed Mondays

My brain usually feels like it's going to explode on Mondays by the time I am finished with class at 9:30 pm. I feel SO drained - like I can't possibly utter another intelligent phrase. Totally tapped out. I do have two 3-hour classes on Mondays, but the sheer time spent in class isn't the factor causing my brain drain, as I see it.

You see, it's the completely opposite ways of thinking that my brain has to shift gears into during the one-hour break between said classes. I start out my afternoon with a class about social policy and social change. Taught by a professor who completely challenges the world view that I hold. Who challenges everything I think I have learned during the past 3 semesters. Who thinks that we, as a country and society, are headed for self-destruction if we keep up living the way we are living. I tend to agree with him. But, his extremeness is refreshing. He challenges me to think outside the confines of capitalism that pervades everything we do on a daily basis. That dictates the work available to people in our country, that dictates how resources are allocated and who has power and privilege. Can I even articulate how overwhelmed by the thought of all of the progress our society needs to make in order to survive after I leave this class? GOSH. Do we have some work to do!

From this class, I head to class about corporate governance. That's a good thing. But the feel of the class is completely different. Instead of challenging currently held beliefs, we talk about ways to live within the system that exists and how to make sure that people aren't getting duped by Corporate America. Man oh man.

From a socialism to capitalism, all within the span of an afternoon. This is why my brain feels like it has been sucked dry on Mondays. It's awesome and really challenging, all at the same time. I see it as being the beauty of being in grad school. I spend my days thinking about ways to make the world a better place. I get a taste of so many of the viewpoints that are out there. My beliefs are constantly challenged. What better preparation for a life of creating social change is there?

Three Cups of Tea

I just finished reading "Three Cups of Tea" written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and it was truly one of the best books I've read in a while. The book basically details Mortenson's quest to build schools to educate girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is a mountaineer who nearly dies on an attempt to summit K2 and subsequently has a change of heart about what he wants to make important in his life from then on. He becomes what I consider to be one of our greatest social entrepreneurs as he works to fulfill his mission to bring peace through education.

Some of the pieces of his story that I found most remarkable were:

• the determination he showed to complete his goals and keep his promises despite MANY obstacles
• the relationships he formed with his "second family" of Pakistanis thousands of miles from his home
• the way that he integrated himself into a completely foreign culture and came to love it
• his efforts to share his personal story and knowledge of Muslim people post-9/11 in an attempt to diffuse the hatred that was seeping into Americans' culture for this "enemy"

We discussed the book in a book club gathering last night (accompanied by a delicious Pakistani meal!), and one of the questions/comments that arose was a general admiration for Mortenson's complete faith in his mission and his choice to give up most material possessions in order to achieve this mission. I think it's a very real tension that is becoming more apparent as we face the deterioration of our economy and a serious reduction in opportunities for people to "get rich" in the ways that have worked for the past 15 years or so. What is the price of doing humanitarian work? Does the benefit outweigh the cost? Is there a happy medium? Where does idealism meet reality in our financially-based society?

I have some thoughts on this trade-off, which I'll share in a subsequent post because it's a topic that I'm pretty interested in and passionate about ... and I could ramble on, making this the longest post ever! But, for now, read the book! I hope you will love it and be inspired.

Backtrack: BCCJ & Harvard Social Enterprise Conference

Let's back it up a week or two - a little late is better than never, right? I had the opportunity to participate in two great events in the past few weeks: a networking breakfast with BCCJ and the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference. Combining them into one week made for a fabulous reminder of all of the exciting, high-impact stuff going on out there and the reason that I'm studying in grad school right now.

Starting with BCCJ - it stands for the Boston Center for Community and Justice. Their mission is to develop a diverse community of socially responsible leaders that advances social justice throughout Greater Boston. The speaker for this particular networking breakfast talked about "Business Strategies for the Age of Conscious Capitalism". He was a marketing professor from Bentley College and did a great job of explaining why this is the time to change things to make business more sustainable. One particular statement that resonated with me was that profits should be the outcome of doing the right thing, not the driver. This seems like a highly plausible strategy, given the recent statistics that I've seen where the companies who are part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index have consistently outperformed companies who are not. So, maybe we should be thinking about how to be a good, conscious business generating positive returns for society and then our profits will follow? No more of this profit vs. social responsibility talk.

Another great piece of the BCCJ breakfast was the networking component. We had a chance for a good deal of discussion around our table before and after the presenter. I met some wonderfully intelligent people who are working for social justice and responsible business in their daily lives, and it was great to connect with this community. BCCJ does several interesting events and programs throughout the year - they are definitely a group of people that I want to stay connected with.

Reinforcing the fire that was ignited at the BCCJ breakfast, the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference fell just a few days later. Hosted by students at HBS and Harvard's Kennedy School, this conference was one of the best $40 purchases of my entire graduate school career (and I'm not just saying that because the goodie bag was fabulous, though it really was - an entire box of Newman's Own cereal and a bag of Dancing Deer cookies?! Yes, please.) The format of the breakout sessions was all panels so that there was a great deal of audience participation and time for questions. It was fun to get a chance to interact with the great minds on the panels in this way.

I attended a session on human capital in education where we heard from panelists from the New Teacher Project, a start-up charter school in NYC and two other education organizations. I've been reminded of my interest in education and year of service programs this semester and think this is a field that I may be interested in working in someday. There are so many innovative education-focused social enterprises out there to study and create change through.

I also attended sessions on social investing and food & social change. Food issues are another of my interests that have recently been reignited. We make choices everyday about the food that we will consume, and those choices pack so much punch. Behind every bite of food there is a story about how it was created - how were the workers treated who picked or packaged it, how many pesticides were used that potentially may damage the earth, what sorts of artificial and unhealthy chemicals are we being exposed to? I think food is another area where it is possible to create great change and I was inspired by the panelists that I heard - particularly, the Executive Director of Slowfood USA and an exec from Newman's Own.

Overall, the past few weeks have been exciting and formative as I continue to learn about what's already going on to create social change, what new problems and challenges are continually popping up and ways that I might want to work in these fields upon graduation. Here's to learning a little something new every single day!