Time enough

Made a comment on this article in the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday (May 26, 2010) - as Cee Dubya. Even at this time of writing, things are still tense. But, there will come better days.

"Someone described yesterday’s sitting of Parliament - apparently one of unusual civility. No raucous spat-filled behaviour? What gives?
.
Perhaps the understanding, (which was already held by … almost everybody else, really) that this war on crime is not about Party but rather what’s best for Jamaica, is finally sinking in?
.
Could it be that persons are now feeling a bit anxious or sopm, what with PMBG reportedly being referred to as a “criminal affiliate” by the US gov? I imagine that, after all is said and done, a lot more will be said - one way or another. And who would be prepared to go down alone?
.
What’s that saying again? “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”
.
Whatever the deal, let it sink in. Good must come of this. It won’t be overnight, but even time takes time.
.
(Btw, more responsible journalism at work here than that ABC report: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/world/americas/26jamaica.html?scp=2&sq=jamaica&st=cse)"

###


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

Outlook: Sunshine!

My favourite flower is the sunflower. I decided that sometime after seeing the movie, "Calendar Girls". For one, the poem was lovely. For two, it represents and totally reminds me of my favourite color - yellow - as well as my general outlook: Bright!

Recently, I've taken to the colour purple and, on many occasions, red. But, yellow has been at the top since early childhood.

So, I got a few artificial sunflowers the other day. And they do look lovely sitting there on my dining table.

They also remind me, now, of my very apt pet name for my niece: Sunshine. 'Cause she's just that.

In just a few days she will be here - joined by her parents, of course! I'm about to grow from one to four.

Sign of an abundance of rain and things to come!!! TYG!


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

This Means War!

Yesterday had me at a very enlightening all-day governance seminar. Got in pooped and totally missed the 8th. Hmm.

Wrote a letter to the Editor of one of Jamaica's newspapers on Friday. Haven't seen it in their publication yet. Well, here it is:

"We are drowning, drowning, drowning in our own blood! We are choking on it; slipping and sliding in it; washing it off our streets and houses and the writing is on the wall in it. When I think of Jamaica, I see red. I’m not even getting into blaming. I’m just looking at where we are and we are in a sad state.

Neither the Minister, nor the Prime Minister, has a clue about how to solve this problem – not one single solitary clue! You can tell from their silence and from their baffled countenances and by how much they are MIA. We have new committees and plans being created to address the problem, even before former committees and plans have a chance to come out from under the dust and chi chi.

It has reached a stage now where the news is not really news. It’s just a matter of who and where. Every time we think it can’t get any worse, the next newscast proves us wrong. We are sick and tired of it and sick and tired of being sick and tired of it man! What is this round-the-clock killing machine that seems to be impenetrable and unstoppable? And while it has its tentacles all over the island, stabbing our people and shooting our people and strangling our people to death, the rest of us are left wondering who is in charge? Who is in charge, Mr. Editor? And what in God’s name are they waiting on to do something?!

Here’s a suggestion. It may smack of simplicity, and may even be repetitive but, just in case the government is sleeping, please nudge them awake to the fact that WE ARE AT WAR! Where else but in a war-torn country do we have so many hundreds of murders in such a short time? People are being shot and stabbed and slashed to death - the real count must now be close to 700 – and the army hasn’t yet been called out? What if we were under attack from another country and our country’s murder toll stood at 600? A so we woulda jus siddung an watch we fellow Jamaicans a drop like flies and nuh call out the army? Mr. Minister and Prime Minister and whosoever else is in charge? We are at war!!! 600 in four months? This means war!!!

There are those who have the power to do something but they are not doing what needs to be done. No one wants to bell the cat. What is this? We are praying for God to intervene, but did He not give us wisdom and ability? We must do our part. “Trust in God but lock your car.” Remember that declaration that the Prime Minister made in Parliament in the first week of March this year? “If I have to pay a political price for it I will.” He was talking about something else but wouldn’t it be wonderful if he and the other ministers held that resolve for all aspects of their jobs? Especially for this aspect of the job?

Part of the government’s duty is to protect its citizens, is it not? For crying out loud, isn’t it for situations like this that our soldiers have been trained? It is the situation necessitates it; the difference might be that no overseas travel is required. PM? Minister? What, exactly, are you waiting for? I just don’t get it. Do you have a target murder toll in mind? Each person is one too many and sometimes it’s four or five at a time.

Some might say it’s a knee-jerk reaction. I say it’s bound to be a more effective move than placing more police officers and an additional police post or two in certain areas. Let the gunmen and other criminals see and know that we mean business. Get the army marksmen/women on the roofs; get the soldiers out into the nitty gritty of the communities all over the country (for the criminals might want to run to another area when things get hot in one location). They are not Bin Laden. This must help to weed out at least some of them. I don’t know what the intricacies of this plan would be but, I am pretty convinced that it would make the law abiding citizens of the country feel safer; feel as if somebody gives a hoot. Mr. Editor? I submit that we have been invaded by another country! It’s a ‘parallel country’ of criminals who are under their own governance and whose ‘insecurity forces’ are bent on securing their own rotten interests by the use of advanced weaponry and by terrorizing our country. It’s time we call out our security forces before the murder toll exceeds an already-unbearable number. Worst case, even if it is a knee-jerk, at least it’s something while the government works on a longer-term strategy.

On a related note, my sister threw a dash of reality on the matter the other day when she said that even if the government says yes to Capital Punishment, who are they going to execute? The police not catching the criminals! They commit these crimes in broad daylight sometimes and, after the weeping and wailing and officials appearing on the scene to offer condolences – nothing! How many times do we hear of the criminals being caught, much less brought to justice? How many?

Maybe it’s just me but I am beginning to get the sense that when crimes like the recent Glendevon or Backlands killings happen, and the police (as sadly expected) don’t get any information from the community, that is where it stops. It’s as if the police throw their hands up and chalk it up to the community being tight-lipped. Where does it go from there? What happens in terms of investigation and follow-through? Is that really where it ends? Do they close that file and then just wait on the call to the next crime scene?

It is constantly repeated, people are afraid of informing the police. But, like someone said the other day, withholding information doesn’t guarantee anything. It is no insurance against the criminals coming for you. They’re just not coming for you today. So, we the people need to start talking to trustworthy police (that’s another issue altogether) and the police definitely need to start following through. Government, army, police, communities – this is not a one-sided thing, but the leaders need to show up and lead.

Let’s not kid ourselves, we are at war!"

###


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

Mother

I'm writing this entry for my mother. I shall be sending the link to my blog to her - the first recipient. There's a country song by someone whom I don't recall just now. Anyway, the line I like is: "And my mom is still my biggest fan."

Celebrated my birthday on the 16th of this month. Spent a few days with family in Ja. Ah! Life. Gotta love it!

Mommy, enjoy!


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

I love birthdays!

I really do.


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

Of joy and sadness

My sis sent me her 'old' BlackBerry yesterday. It's in excellent condition and I really appreciated getting it - and told her so. Mine, an older version, was quite literally falling apart.

So, once I got some help figuring out where to put the chip - yes, I'm pretty tech savvy but it WAS that hidden - I was on my way!

I learnt this morning that three of Xena's puppies passed between yesterday and this morning. Drat. I...It just makes me a bit sad when I hear such news about the pups. But, I take heart in knowing that, even though I am not there to add my bit of care, my dad and mom are taking great care of them.

Stuff happens.


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

Here am I

The University wrote. I got the letter - last Friday.

I thank God for the times when He says, "No, my love."

He knows the plans He has for me, and, I gotta recognize when something I desire is not a part of them. And that's OK.

He knows where He wants me to get to and the way He wants me to get there. (Sometimes it's not necessarily the route I'd had in mind.) My energy is redirected for the journey that continues.

I am about the Abrahamic "Here am I" obedience.

Btw, here are excerpts from what I had written:



STATEMENT OF INTENT


written by

(me)

for the

Program Admissions Committee

The Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology
Adult Education and Community Development program
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

in partial fulfillment of the application for candidacy in the Ph.D. program:

“Workplace Learning and Social Change”

November 2009




INTRODUCTION
“The last word on anything hasn’t been said,” a former professor of mine, Dr. Donna Kowal, once stated during one of our spirited seminar discussions. Here I am, desirous of adding to the conversation about Workplace Learning and Social Change, convinced that I, too, can make a meaningful contribution. It is my intention, if given this opportunity, to examine the concept of the learning organization as I try to appropriate it within the broader social trend of globalization and organizational restructuring.

Whither the organization in the sea of social change and the inevitable impact on workplace learning? My very first thought on this was that the organization has to learn a few things itself. How can the organization learn to identify, value and maximise the contributions made by internationally-qualified newcomers to Canada?

Before I go further, however, kindly permit me to introduce myself. My name is Claudia ____. I am Jamaican by birth and recently adopted Canada as my new home. Over the past few years, I have been thinking seriously about pursuing a degree at the doctoral level. The time has come. In engaging in research for the Ph.D., I would have achieved one of my main personal academic goals. In addition, making this move – and completing the journey in an excellent way – would also serve to inspire, not only my immediate family, but also onlookers who may be on a similar path, though several steps behind.


WHY OISE/UT AND WORKPLACE LEARNING AND SOCIAL CHANGE?
... The decision to commit to a Ph.D. program at the University of Toronto, and, specifically, OISE, was not a difficult one. It was influenced by factors such as location and flexibility (I intend to maintain a work schedule).... The most influential factor, however, was the breadth and frankness of faculty members’ contribution to this conversation. I desire, very much, to be a part of that conversation! I believe this unique program at the OISE/UT will build on my strong university foundation — B.A. in English and M.A. in Communication — and be critical in helping me achieve my objective, through stirring academic exchange.


A BIT MORE ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ORGANIZATIONS LEARNING
“The path of least resistance makes men and rivers crooked,” the saying goes. The journey to this decision has been fraught with challenging, albeit, productive and rewarding learning experiences. It has become clear, (hindsight is always 20/20), that those experiences will certainly inform this particular area of study. I have gleaned much from working in several capacities in Jamaica, the United States of America and Canada; working while studying (and graduating with honours); working in both the public and private sectors and, as well, being unemployed.

I believe that there are differing perspectives about the concept of workplace learning. Sure, there is the almost spontaneous response of examining training within the workplace/organization. Consider, too, the effects of the dynamics of social change as they are brought to bear on organizational policies and programs regarding learning in the workplace. However, I imagine that the organization, as a living organism, needs to successfully play the role of learner as well.

In 1993, Watkins and Marsick observed that “Organizations are part of social complex systems,” and the relationships with “their direct customers and suppliers have an immediate impact on when, how, and what organizations learn” (p.11). They are also impacted by societies’ imposed regulations and economic challenges as well as employees’ “family and sociocultural systems of which they are a part … the people and institutions with whom they are joined, and the values that have influenced their development. Learning at each level is increasingly collective and interdependent.” In order for the organization to thrive and remain competitive within such a system, (to coin a phrase): “Every organization can learn; every organization must learn.”

At present, I work with _____ . The Ministries’ Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan is designed to, among other things, “embed diversity objectives and outcomes in OPS policies, programs and services” and “respond to the needs of a diverse population.” At the very least, “responding to the needs of a diverse population”, requires organizations — not only within the public sector — to assume the role of learner. In many ways, this (not so new) paradigm shift is heavily impacted by “waves of social change”. By that I mean the simultaneous movements of the collective thought and modus operandi of people across the globe; across all disciplines, with increased connectivity via the ubiquitous worldwide web and other technologies. Several years ago I overheard someone say: “Geography is now history.” How true. This means that societies — individuals, family structures and organizations — have had to do much rethinking in assessing their own values against those of “others” that come to be thrust upon them.

Does creativity and value pass the organization by, just because it hasn’t yet learned how to appropriate and maximize the contribution made by others? How does the organization become a true learning organization, and to what end?

...

IN THE END?
It is my intention, upon completion of this program, to continue to serve in Public Sector management. However, I intend to speak from a far more influential position, in helping to shape organizational policies toward valuing and maximizing the experience and input of “others”.

I look forward to continuing this conversation as a Ph.D. candidate in the program Workplace Learning and Social Change at OISE/UT. Kindly permit me to thank you for your time in reviewing my application. I do appreciate the enormity of the task in which you are now engaged.

Sincerely,

(Me)

***


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro