Week 13

My thought process is very complex and creative. I tend to over think things and come up with multiple ways to play out my ideas. For example deciding on what time of shoes to wear for work can be something simple but I make so complex. I start by reflecting on the previous days of work and the task I did at work to figure out what shoes to wear. I than begin to think of comfort and style of the shoes to wear. It becomes really hard I have narrowed down my top five choices. I believe my thought process at times can be very beneficial because I am very detail oriented. I like to sort out all my thoughts and have reasoning behind all the decisions I make for myself.  I think at times I might become lost because I tend to forget my main focus/ idea. It’s really hard. An example about my shoes would be I made the cut from 5 to 3 but, I noticed that 1 pair of shoes that made the cut were not work shoes. I would totally forget that I should be wearing the appropriate pair of shoes to wok and decide to wear non work shoes.

I believe at times it becomes difficult to always use my same thinking process because I don’t always have a lot of time to sort out my ideas. It becomes a challenge of making decisions when being under pressure. I believe that when I do actually have enough time to reflect on the decision I would like to make it easier with more time to sort out my ideas.  When I come across people who aren’t familiar with my thinking process it’s a bit easier to sort out my ideas because they aren’t familiar with the way I sort out ideas. I sometimes find myself learning how to become more confident with the first choices I make.When sorting out my ideas I always have this really confusing face expression that many people tend to question. In many cultural my face expression is is a form of disrespect because my eye brows are sucked in so i have been trying to work on it. Overall i love my thinking process!!!

Week 11

I believe that depending on the time I love both traits that my brain provides. The left side of my brain is the more serious Chasidy, while the right side of my brain is the young, wild and free Chasidy. I figure that I like to think things over before making decisions. I sometime find myself thinking things over way too much.  I have a list posted up in my room with daily reminders that I add as often as two times a week. Just so I don’t forget things I plan to accomplish. I love having facts and details that can help support my reasoning behind the choices I decided to make. On my left side of the brain would be the ability to have good grammar skills and spelling. That’s why I try to not depend on my smart for some much during texting and actually sound words out to help improve my spelling

The right side of my brain is more active during the weekend, holidays with family and spending time with my boyfriend.  I feel that I have more feeling involved in my right side of my brain and emotions. I try to picture in my head how things would actually be when painting the picture. It sometimes becomes difficult because so many of my emotions take over. 

I love this picture because it clearly describes how are brains operate 

Week 8

While drawing my obstacles my main picture was a tree planted so deeply in the ground. The tree was a symbol of my everyday life experience. The tree is planted deeply because it’s strong and continues to make branches and produces leaves despite the different seasons it faces. The tree even turned colors during seasons. I figure being outside watching just how much trees grow and change has been my reasons to think of all my life obstacles as branches of a really strong tree. I figure a tree might need to be watered, have a little sun and some trimming to be maintained but a tree can last for many years to come.

I think one of my main obstacles I face in life is not being positive enough about my outlook on life, decisions I choose to make and my progress thus far in life. I beat myself up daily because of comparing my lifestyle to what family, friends, and media expect from me. I figure that if I keep focusing on others expectations my tree would stop creating branches. I figure seeing tree’s daily are a reminder of all the obstacles I face. I am a firm believer that If I think it, I believe it, I dream it and see it no matter the obstacles I face I can always overcome them because of being a tree planted so deeply.  

Week 7

`Whenever I get a chance to write for enjoyment outside of requirements for school I tend to write about my goals in life that I would like to accomplish and the things that I have already accomplished. At times it’s really beneficial because its helps improve my lifestyle and choices I make.  While at other times it can be overwhelming because I tend to beat myself up about not accomplishing my goals I have made.  I sometime have experiences that I face that make it a challenge to push forward. Yes, I have learned to use my experience/ obstacles as motivation it doesn’t always work out. So I figured that I must have a daily reminder/ goal list up as a reminder of just how great of a person I am.

`My list can consist of things like being a loving daughter, sister, girl friend, and friend. I also make sure to include things like being a college student, working and being independent. I point out the community service projects I participate in. I try to remind myself of all the small things I do that leads up to contributing to the women I am today. I tend to come up with thing I would like to accomplish by months because I don’t believe in waiting a whole year to get things done because time waits on no one. This month I plan to start my personal statements for grad school.  I plan to set aside more time to focus on God. I plan to prioritize my time more. I do have bigger goals of things like purchasing a house, traveling and creating my own family. I figure being 22 years old it’s time to enjoy life and figure myself out and continue to live life to the fullest. I hope to keep my eyes on the prize and accomplish any and everything that I put my heart into because I am an opportunity magnet. I live by faith! Not by sight. I attract blessings into my life. I am blessed and highly favored :) that’s the start of my daily affirmation that I read.  

Week 6!

In my culture silence has always been negative. When receiving the silent treatment a high percentage of the time it’s because of some action that was taken that ended in a negative outcome. Also in my cultural when you are silent many people start building negative perceptions about you because it’s unusual it be silent. One of my past professors did mediation for two weeks and there wasn’t any verbal communications. She explained how she enjoyed this activity because it provided her with the time to clear her head and relax. I couldn’t figure out how she was able to accomplish being relaxed with the pressure of being silent for two weeks.

Early on in the semester I shared a story about my goal of attending graduate school but needing more experiencing before applying. Within these last couple of week at Kaiser I have had the opportunity to review case studies for children who experience child abuse. I haven’t yet decided on the area of study I would like to focus on. Watching the film last week Aging out, reading these case studies and interning at the Boys&Girls Club house has me questioning if my emphasizes should be in the child welfare direction. I was wondering for the Grad students how were you able to identify which direction to take. The only population I have experience with is children. It’s scary because applications are coming out October 1^st and I haven’t even decided on a focus. I was also wondering if you have a idea of what direction you would like to take in the field could that be acceptable for the 1^st year of grad school. I was thinking that the first year would provide me with an internship and help decided on what to focus. 

Week 4

Week 4
I must admit writing has never been my strongest areas. I have struggled with writing for many years. I feel that many mainstream Americans aren’t able to express themselves properly therefore they are not comfortable sharing it publicly. I wish that I could break out of my shell to have my ideas shared because I feel that many other people have similar ideas. I feel like it’s just a struggle of being accepted.  I feel that my writing these last four years of college has improved a great deal. This whole idea of a blog is wonderful but I must admit it was a hard pill to swallow when starting this class.
A topic I would like to discuss this week in my blog is the Democratic Convention. By chance was any one able to watch Michelle Obama speak?? When I say that our first lady is such a phenomenal woman that I truly admire. I was so impressed at Mrs. Obama! I loved how she was able to share from her own experience of what it is to suffer due to your economic status. I feel that her overall message was really powerful. She explained how republicans can never understand the struggle of lower and middle class people because they are born into wealth. So they couldn't understand what a high percentage of Americans are experiencing. I must say I love the idea of being informed about what’s going on in the country! 

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Week 2

What are the things that you know are going to get you down along the way to getting your degree?
I have actually finished all the requirements for the Social Work Program. My freshmen and sophomore year I was so involved. The Legacy is a community services based group for girls on campus which I love. The Legacy introduced me to so many people in the community. I also did community service through the Yes House which offers Youth Educational Services. Networking is one of my major setbacks that I missed my junior and senior year of college. I feel that because Humboldt County is relatively small there is no way I shouldn’t have had the opportunity to be more involved. I believe that during my junior year I was taking 22 units which prevented me from volunteering more in the community. I didn’t have a social work related job so I was only active in the community for around ten hours weekly. There was no one or nothing that prevent me from finishing my requirement for the social work degree.
How are you going to deal with these things when they come up?
I feel that as a professional Social Worker I will have to learn how to manage my time and stay involved. Also be able to reference to the social work code of ethics. Since I have I completed the requirements I have actually taken it upon myself to get involved. I have been home for three months. I had an internship this summer at Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling and Learning Center. I had the chance to co-facilitate a mentoring program called project AIM. I was also the lead representative for the learning center at the Watts Gang Task Force. The tasks force meeting could randomly have any visitors ranging from Antonio Villaraigose which is the mayor of Los Angeles, Sheriff Lee Baca which is the head sheriff department. These meeting were super intense especially when I was held responsible for reporting back to the learning center with the updates. This experience this past summer at the learning center helped me figure out how to work in a professional setting, how to have confidence when dealing with people who have more authority over you. I have also learned how to dress professionally which was a major challenge in Humboldt County. I kept my binder from my senior internship close so that I can reference to. I also make sure to take good notes so I can reflect on them later.  
What is your role in your educational journey? Are you along for the ride or do you intend to take the wheel? How will you contribute to the process and experience?
I plan to take the wheel. Can’t stop won’t stop! That’s my motto. I just applied to another internship at the Learning center with the clinical social worker. My interview went well. I was able to explain to the social worker my hopes of working with teens or families. She explained that by the end of my internship I will have the experience with both fields. I am super eager to start this internship especially since I haven’t actually worked with a social worker before in the field. I plan to apply to grad school fall 2012 so I can attend in fall 2013. In between time I plan to continue building my resume along with experience.
How will you contribute, with intention and purpose, to the culture of learning for this DL community?
I feel that I will contribute by providing my experiences along voicing my concerns. I will also take others experiences to reflect upon.