sábado, 28 de septiembre de 2013
domingo, 22 de septiembre de 2013
Right place, right time: A Saturday of solo adventuring and urban novelties downtown
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| Seconds until stamper time September 2013 |
So after plans changed, I decided to volunteer at Indianapolis' FIESTA Latino festival. Where I was placed in the Argentina tent with a bunch of tango dancers from around Indy. I was the "stamper," dutifully stamping little kids' "Passport to the Americas" once they'd tried dancing. I even tried teaching someone to dance tango when all of the actual dancers were busy (I've never danced tango, but he didn't know any better.)
Strangely, this was my second time being a volunteer "stamper" in the past 6 months. Last time was at a dance event in Steamboat Springs. I'm thinking of going into it professionally.
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| Backside of a Food Tent September 2013 |
I learned about a new Flash Mob group in town that's just starting up (I've been wanting to get involved in a Flash Mob for at least 4 years now), got some coupons for a free group lesson and open dance at a dance studio downtown that I've been wanting to see for years, and met some people who are involved in some really interesting programs related to refugee and recent immigrant resources, community arts initiatives, mentoring and pre-college programs, language resources and training programs, etc. etc. etc.
I learned about a new Flash Mob group in town that's just starting up (I've been wanting to get involved in a Flash Mob for at least 4 years now), got some coupons for a free group lesson and open dance at a dance studio downtown that I've been wanting to see for years, and met some people who are involved in some really interesting programs related to refugee and recent immigrant resources, community arts initiatives, mentoring and pre-college programs, language resources and training programs, etc. etc. etc.
I talked with people from all over the place (including Madrid and Sevilla-the first two Spaniards I've met since returning to the US), officially have my first celebrity crush, grilled someone working the McDonalds "Free Samples" booth about what's in it for McDonalds and where my contact information would go if I chose to give it to him, got a free pair of McDonalds "me encanta" shades, saw a remarkably catchy bilingual phonics rapper on stage during kiddie hour, got some excellent semi-legal free downtown parking tips from a security guard at a cathedral, wandered over to the Chinese festival where I tried a Filipino desert called turon made of jackfruit and plantains, talked witha
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| Late night concert before an even later night salsa event Hombres sin Nombes - Septemeber 2013 |
woman from Bloomington about Flagship language programs in Chinese and Turkish and nearly changed my life's linguistic plan again, saw several men writing names in the most beautiful calligraphy I'd ever seen, and listened to a man play the erhu better than I'd ever heard it played before as I ate underneath a tree.
Happened to wander past the door to the dance studio where all the tango dancers take classes, so I popped in to see what the space was like. Walked in right as the current world salsa champions were rehearsing for their performance that night. Literally breathtaking. Talked with the founders of Latin Expressions Dance Company. Turned out they were hosting a social that evening, including a few different performances including Uriel and Vera's. I walked to my car and tried to catch a quick nap before heading back to FIESTA for their final concert of the night, Hombres sin Nombres. Then headed over to the dance studio for a night of salsa. Ran into several different salseros I've met in town both at the festival and at the social.
After over 14 hours straight downtown, it's been a good day of seeing and exploring and learning some of the different ways it could look like to be a longer-term Indianapolis resident.
jueves, 5 de septiembre de 2013
Removing Dance Barriers -- A night of salsa
After a few years considering taking formal salsa lessons, I'm finally in an urban setting permanently enough to get involved.
Yesterday was my first of four intermediate salsa lessons in Indianapolis. While I've latin danced dozens of times before in clubs both here and abroad, I am not a technical dancer, so this class was definitely outside of my comfort zone.
In addition to the dancing itself, there are always a few major questions about a night out dancing that sometimes keep me from "just going for it." Tonight worked itself out in a way that I have a lot of questions answered, new tricks, and less barriers to feeling comfortable salsa-ing the night away.
Here are a few of the major road blocks I've come across in the past, and the corresponding solutions that presented themselves yesterday
Road Block #1: Shoes
A lot of experienced dancers wear heels. Since I have flat feet, heels hurt. Some flats work, but a lot have a too much traction to spin well. In the past, a lot of times I've resorted to wearing boots, but especially for summer dancing, they're so hot. Sandals would be okay if people didn't step on my feet so much....
Solution: I met a sweet woman named Linda yesterday. I introduced myself because I noticed she was wearing ballet flats. I had slipped a pair of ballet flats that I bought for Irish Step Dance in college into my purse on the way out the door because I wasn't convinced that the heels I had on wouldn't ruin my evening. She convinced me completely, I switched into the dance shoes out of uncomfortable shoes, and am now on my way to becoming a zero-drop salsa shoe enthusiast.
Road Block #2: Purse or no purse, that is the question.
Salsa people, generally speaking, are very good people. I would feel more comfortable leaving my purse unattended at a salsa club than almost any other club. That said, I don't feel comfortable leaving it sitting out.
On the positive side of the situation, trying to go purse-less in dance clothes leads to some creative alternatives for storing car keys, ID, and a credit card. On the less positive side, this leads to some awkward interactions involving pulling a sweaty credit card out of a boot to pay for a beer, tucking a car key back inside of your leggings after a quick turn, etc. etc. So I finally decided to talk with the bartender, a nice hipster boy, about my situation. He said it was no problem to keep my purse and extra shoes in a cupboard behind the bar.
Brilliant.
Road Block #3: Urban parking
Normal people don't worry about this one as much as I do, but being a person who, because of various life choices, hasn't driven a car consistently for 8 years, parking tends to turn itself into a major source of anxiety in my head.
Especially in Broad Ripple, the part of town where I'm now taking dance classes.
I could just learn to parallel park or go through some deep breathing exercises, but in the meantime, the problem remains of finding a parkable spot that definitely doesn't tow, without meters, and close enough to the salsa bar that it's not completely crazy to walk back after dark.
After going around in circles for 10 minutes, I ended up parked further away than I preferred, but I decided to deal with it rather than waste half a tank of gas looking for the "perfect" spot.
3 blocks into the walk, I passed a funny vintage store that I know in town just as two employees (or maybe owners) were closing up shop. I noticed a perfectly empty lot right behind the store and asked if it would be okay to park there.
They said absolutely, but that I should think about parking in front of the store instead because they don't tow, are never open at night, and there is a parking slot right under a street light. Furthermore, I should park there any time.
And it's about 3 blocks from dance class. No parallel parking or annoying loops around Broadripple looking for a place to park during the dinner rush in the foreseeable future.
Road Block #4: What to wear that's both cute and non-risky while spinning
I've been wearing jeans and dresses with unseasonably warm leggings to dance for ages. Unlike other times in life, in a salsa club you never know when you might be dipped, spun, picked up, or flipped over in some capacity. Especially if you're a 5'3", 115 lb girl.
Hello, bike shorts.
It's so nice to have found a way to safely wear dresses, especially with muggy Indiana summer weather.
Road Block #5: How to not seem creepy, pathetic, or both when showing up to a dance venue alone
My general approaches to this one have been pretending like I know exactly what's going on, making sure to dance as many songs as possible to cut down on standing-along-down-time while maximizing cardio, reading the label on my beer bottle as thoroughly as possible up to 5 times, talking with the bartender, or befriending nice old women.
Turns out going to a dance class ahead of time is a natural time to meet other people, gain some familiarity, and have at least 2 or 3 guaranteed dance partner options later in the evening.
Yesterday turned out to be even more of a windfall. My friend Katie came with me to the lesson! Real friends are less creepy than random bar friends any day.
And, to make things even more sustainable, I ended up meeting some really great people who are quickly becoming my dance friends. Going out with two of them again tonight.
I figure if I can get "in" with a few salseros in Indianapolis during my funemployed month, I'll be able to show up on a more hit-or-miss basis and be almost guaranteed to know someone once my job does start and I can't dedicate all my evenings to dancing, self-education, and "personal development" projects.
Road Block #6: How to get back to your car without thinking about getting jumped the whole time
Best technique I've found for this so far is making new friends and asking them to walk me to my car.
Doesn't matter what part of town I'm in, if it's dark, I've been socially conditioned to assume that being in a city walking by myself means that getting mugged, jumped, or otherwise pestered is not a risk but a certainty (or at least to have corisol levels reflecting it, for as much as I can try to talk myself out of it.)
As previously mentioned, salsa people are generally very good people, and in the past 2 years of going out salsa dancing about a dozen times, I've only had to walk myself to my car twice.
Having dance friends at the club already only makes this process easier. Plus it's nice to only make a judgment of character once or twice and have your go-to car walkers rather than looking for a new one every week.
And with that, I'm off to the Jazz Kitchen.
A BAILAR!
Yesterday was my first of four intermediate salsa lessons in Indianapolis. While I've latin danced dozens of times before in clubs both here and abroad, I am not a technical dancer, so this class was definitely outside of my comfort zone.
In addition to the dancing itself, there are always a few major questions about a night out dancing that sometimes keep me from "just going for it." Tonight worked itself out in a way that I have a lot of questions answered, new tricks, and less barriers to feeling comfortable salsa-ing the night away.
Here are a few of the major road blocks I've come across in the past, and the corresponding solutions that presented themselves yesterday
Road Block #1: Shoes
A lot of experienced dancers wear heels. Since I have flat feet, heels hurt. Some flats work, but a lot have a too much traction to spin well. In the past, a lot of times I've resorted to wearing boots, but especially for summer dancing, they're so hot. Sandals would be okay if people didn't step on my feet so much....
Solution: I met a sweet woman named Linda yesterday. I introduced myself because I noticed she was wearing ballet flats. I had slipped a pair of ballet flats that I bought for Irish Step Dance in college into my purse on the way out the door because I wasn't convinced that the heels I had on wouldn't ruin my evening. She convinced me completely, I switched into the dance shoes out of uncomfortable shoes, and am now on my way to becoming a zero-drop salsa shoe enthusiast.
Road Block #2: Purse or no purse, that is the question.
Salsa people, generally speaking, are very good people. I would feel more comfortable leaving my purse unattended at a salsa club than almost any other club. That said, I don't feel comfortable leaving it sitting out.
On the positive side of the situation, trying to go purse-less in dance clothes leads to some creative alternatives for storing car keys, ID, and a credit card. On the less positive side, this leads to some awkward interactions involving pulling a sweaty credit card out of a boot to pay for a beer, tucking a car key back inside of your leggings after a quick turn, etc. etc. So I finally decided to talk with the bartender, a nice hipster boy, about my situation. He said it was no problem to keep my purse and extra shoes in a cupboard behind the bar.
Brilliant.
Road Block #3: Urban parking
Normal people don't worry about this one as much as I do, but being a person who, because of various life choices, hasn't driven a car consistently for 8 years, parking tends to turn itself into a major source of anxiety in my head.
Especially in Broad Ripple, the part of town where I'm now taking dance classes.
I could just learn to parallel park or go through some deep breathing exercises, but in the meantime, the problem remains of finding a parkable spot that definitely doesn't tow, without meters, and close enough to the salsa bar that it's not completely crazy to walk back after dark.
After going around in circles for 10 minutes, I ended up parked further away than I preferred, but I decided to deal with it rather than waste half a tank of gas looking for the "perfect" spot.
3 blocks into the walk, I passed a funny vintage store that I know in town just as two employees (or maybe owners) were closing up shop. I noticed a perfectly empty lot right behind the store and asked if it would be okay to park there.
They said absolutely, but that I should think about parking in front of the store instead because they don't tow, are never open at night, and there is a parking slot right under a street light. Furthermore, I should park there any time.
And it's about 3 blocks from dance class. No parallel parking or annoying loops around Broadripple looking for a place to park during the dinner rush in the foreseeable future.
Road Block #4: What to wear that's both cute and non-risky while spinning
I've been wearing jeans and dresses with unseasonably warm leggings to dance for ages. Unlike other times in life, in a salsa club you never know when you might be dipped, spun, picked up, or flipped over in some capacity. Especially if you're a 5'3", 115 lb girl.
Hello, bike shorts.
It's so nice to have found a way to safely wear dresses, especially with muggy Indiana summer weather.
Road Block #5: How to not seem creepy, pathetic, or both when showing up to a dance venue alone
My general approaches to this one have been pretending like I know exactly what's going on, making sure to dance as many songs as possible to cut down on standing-along-down-time while maximizing cardio, reading the label on my beer bottle as thoroughly as possible up to 5 times, talking with the bartender, or befriending nice old women.
Turns out going to a dance class ahead of time is a natural time to meet other people, gain some familiarity, and have at least 2 or 3 guaranteed dance partner options later in the evening.
Yesterday turned out to be even more of a windfall. My friend Katie came with me to the lesson! Real friends are less creepy than random bar friends any day.
And, to make things even more sustainable, I ended up meeting some really great people who are quickly becoming my dance friends. Going out with two of them again tonight.
I figure if I can get "in" with a few salseros in Indianapolis during my funemployed month, I'll be able to show up on a more hit-or-miss basis and be almost guaranteed to know someone once my job does start and I can't dedicate all my evenings to dancing, self-education, and "personal development" projects.
Road Block #6: How to get back to your car without thinking about getting jumped the whole time
Best technique I've found for this so far is making new friends and asking them to walk me to my car.
Doesn't matter what part of town I'm in, if it's dark, I've been socially conditioned to assume that being in a city walking by myself means that getting mugged, jumped, or otherwise pestered is not a risk but a certainty (or at least to have corisol levels reflecting it, for as much as I can try to talk myself out of it.)
As previously mentioned, salsa people are generally very good people, and in the past 2 years of going out salsa dancing about a dozen times, I've only had to walk myself to my car twice.
Having dance friends at the club already only makes this process easier. Plus it's nice to only make a judgment of character once or twice and have your go-to car walkers rather than looking for a new one every week.
And with that, I'm off to the Jazz Kitchen.
A BAILAR!
lunes, 2 de septiembre de 2013
Developing a job description
Employment News
As much as I would like to believe that people grow, develop, change, and learn, there's also a heavy element of sameness within a person's experience (whether you attribute that to disposition, genetics, history repeating itself, or any number of other factors.)
I accepted a job offer a week ago after about 2 months spent being "funemployed." I will begin training for a position as a Bilingual Health Educator in Indianapolis at the end of this month.
So in light of that news, I'd like to share two pieces of writing from my past -- one from a job application this May responding to the prompt to describe my ideal job in under 200 words, and the other a list I made for myself my senior year of college (five years ago) about things I would look for in a job. The ideas I had about what I might like and dislike in a job have largely been the exact things I've liked and disliked about the jobs I've had since then.
I just came across the list yesterday, and I'm struck by how similar they are and how, despite having changed countries, career plans, hobbies, and homes at least half a dozen times, I seem to be very much the same person I've always been.
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As much as I would like to believe that people grow, develop, change, and learn, there's also a heavy element of sameness within a person's experience (whether you attribute that to disposition, genetics, history repeating itself, or any number of other factors.)
I accepted a job offer a week ago after about 2 months spent being "funemployed." I will begin training for a position as a Bilingual Health Educator in Indianapolis at the end of this month.
So in light of that news, I'd like to share two pieces of writing from my past -- one from a job application this May responding to the prompt to describe my ideal job in under 200 words, and the other a list I made for myself my senior year of college (five years ago) about things I would look for in a job. The ideas I had about what I might like and dislike in a job have largely been the exact things I've liked and disliked about the jobs I've had since then.
I just came across the list yesterday, and I'm struck by how similar they are and how, despite having changed countries, career plans, hobbies, and homes at least half a dozen times, I seem to be very much the same person I've always been.
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Values, Interests, Skills, Etc. - A series of lists I made in December 2008
Things I think I might like in a job:
-Travel
-Continued
education
-Working
with intelligent people
-Variety
of tasks and people to work with
-Moving
around
-Combination
of individual and group work (ex: math study group)
-Intermittent
(and fairly regular) reinforcement
-Fun
work environment
-Using
data and technical work to come up with reasonable ideas, plans, strategies for
the future
-Being
a part of a “think tank” as part of my job
-Opportunity
to work with people from a variety of different fields and skill sets
What I wouldn’t like:
-Sitting
behind a computer all day by myself
-A
highly critical boss and/or not feeling like my skills and work are appreciated
-No
chance to learn new thing
-Never
seeing any tangible results of my work
-Annoying,
lazy, unmotivated, or arrogant coworkers
-Being
evaluated and paid only for how “good” my creativity is or my ability to
communicate
-Trying to change other people’s
behavior and ideas all the time -Feeling overly emotionally tied
up in my job
-Rigidity,
very competitive feel to workplace
Values
-Efficiency
-Peacemaking
-Community
-Logic
-Diligence
-Kindness
-Education
-Openness to new ideas
-Flexibility
Ideal Job Prompt - May 2013
In imagining my ideal job, the most important aspect is the ability to continually learn and grown while helping others to do the same. To have this continual growth, individuals must have the trust and autonomy to share their ideas freely and work in their strengths. At the same time, there must be a shared commitment to an end goal, high levels of personal accountability, a striving for excellence, and the desire to work as a team and set one another up for success.
The exact title of my ideal job is less important to me than the ability to work with a diverse group of creative and intelligent colleagues, to continue developing new skills while refining the ones I already have, and to participate in a healthy work community. Throughout my life, I have always preferred jobs that involve a balance technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. Seeing great ideas become reality makes me come alive. I have always loved to be a part of creating a truly excellent experience or product, and I would like that product to play a role in making the world a more positive place to live.
The exact title of my ideal job is less important to me than the ability to work with a diverse group of creative and intelligent colleagues, to continue developing new skills while refining the ones I already have, and to participate in a healthy work community. Throughout my life, I have always preferred jobs that involve a balance technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. Seeing great ideas become reality makes me come alive. I have always loved to be a part of creating a truly excellent experience or product, and I would like that product to play a role in making the world a more positive place to live.
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