OCTOBER 2003 - Ms. Rashida Jolley

This is a very special entry! I had the true honor and privilege to meet an incredible and inspiring young woman who has been and is truly going places. Rashida Jolley - I am so appreciative for the time we shared over dinner and afterwards. As promised, I am saying a few words about you in this log. Your spirit is one of giving and humility, without ego and with only warmth. Generosity and genuineness flow from your soul and you leave everyone you meet with a deeper sense of purpose and self-esteem. Indeed, I am taking your words and urgence to heart and will begin writing that book. When I see you in February,(for sure!) I will share a few pages with you.

I applaud you for spreading the message of abstinence, self-respect and belief in self and in dreams. Your audiences, after hearing your message, can only leave your presence with a knowing that tells them they can do and be whatever they choose. The children you speak and share with have a renewed spirit just through your presence. You are doing so many positive things - former Miss D.C.,harpists, national speaker, songstress, board member, lobbyist (I give Bush credit for appointing you!) and so much more. Please know, it's not what you are doing, as much as who you are in your soul that is what makes you a remarkable person!

Saint Joseph College. Tamara, thank you so much for inviting me back to Saint Joseph to spend the day sharing with you and your colleagues! You have certainly earned a long standing place as the "Best Host Ever." You and Dave are the most gracious host and made my stay very comfortable and memorable! Dave - thanks for the souveniers - awesome! I will wear the hats and shirt with pride!

Nicole - thank you for reminding everyone that there is much work to be continued. Jen - I applaud you for naming the fact that there was a very big "elephant" in the room that no one wanted to recognize or own. Melissa -hang in there - and know that I appreciate and understand. It's not easy at all being you on your campus each day. Sister Beth - you have my vote as president and appreciate your insights - Happy Birthday too! Shauna - welcome to Saint Joseph. You are very astute and observant - this will serve you well. All of you are in my thoughts and prayers

SEPTEMBER 2003

Randi and Dave - thank you so much for inviting Joy and I to present at the Adirondack Solutions Users Group Meeting - we are both honored and very appreciative. We're also sorry that Joy could not be present - at least physically - and deliver what is truly a powerful learning and play experience. However, you and the participants were very supportive and truly made me feel welcome and sent very positive and warm regards to Joy. I am so excited for all the growth your business has experienced over the years and the wonderful staff you have added. Please share our heartfelt gratitude with them and we would be honored to speak again next year!

I wish all of the participants much success - especially my former colleagues from Gettysburg College and Shippensburg University. Michele, Sharon, Sue and Lisa - it was awesome seeing the four of you and I hope we can keep in touch! You make me miss the good old days! Not a day goes by when I'm not reminded about all the good things I learned while working with you. Tony and Marie - it was such a treat to see the two of you and I still carry the nuggets of wisdom I've gained from you over the years. Tony for sure, you've been sharing your wisdom with new professionals for many years - I will always hold you in the highest regard! I was expecting to receive a see me note from you!

Many thanks to the ASUG participants - you are a lively bunch and gave as much to me as I hope I shared with you. Speaking with you is an honor and a privilege and I wish all of you well as you work with Adirondack's software on your campuses. Change can be about creation and not calamity - it's your choice - choose well! Let's be patient with those "Village Idiots" and work with them through their fears and apprehensions.

AUGUST 2003

San Jose State University -Debra-thank you so much for putting me in touch with your colleagues - you made my visit possible! Thank you for picking me up at the airport and giving me such royal treatment during my visit - you are a true friend and trusted colleague! Jessika-thank you for coordinating my visit and Deanna-thank you for following up after Jessika and making the day so smooth. What an amazing res life staff! You realized quite quickly how privilege and power can intersect in dangerous ways. Never forget the power you have to make a difference - either as a community builder or breaker. The diversity on your campus is amazing - I hope you continue making the connections with one another! Diana - seeing you and meeting Michael was an added bonus - thank you for taking me to dinner on my first night in town!

York College - Melissa, you rock! Thanks for inviting me to spend the morning with your staff! You are well on your way to having an ethical staff with character! Damien - it was so good to see you! I had no idea you were at York! Glad to see you have made the transition to student affairs. To the group - you will not always have the answers written down for you, it's up to you to determine what to do when you are not given explicit guideline. I know you will all choose well.

Cabrini College - Quickel! What can I say, you are an incredible host! I had a great time during my second Cabrini visit and I am so appreciative of you and the work you are doing there - you are making a difference! George - it was a pleasure to meet you and as the new director you are making quite a difference in your short time there! I hope we can meet again soon. Claudia-thanks for being such a good sport. Steph - keep on volunteering-you got a glimpse of oppression for a very short time-remember for some folks it's a way of life. Quickel - your RAs are awesome - keep doing what you are doing!

Neumann College - Debra, thank you for inviting Joy and I to present to your resident assistants, orientation leaders and peer leaders. We had a great time and appreciate the energy and enthusiasm of your group! Reese - thank you for being you brother! Brian - try to watch the Ravens when you can! Mary Ann-thanks for speaking out against inequality - don't ever stop! The communities you all built in sand can be the same communities you live in everyday - it's up to you to make it happen!

Joy-thank you for the Well and for so much more!!! The day is coming - soon!

Shepherd RLO - There's nothing like presenting to your home crowd! Many thanks to those who have heard me several times and you still keep coming back and participating for more!

Penn State Lehigh Valley - Brian, thank you for having me on your campus again! You have a great group of students - please share my appreciation with your orientation leaders for all of their assistance too! Diane - thank you for being such a great participant! Chris - thanks for helping me get set up and giving me a cool place for a little respite.

Penn State Mont Alto - Visiting Mont Alto is almost like speaking in my own living room. Brynn and Erica - thank you for recommending me to speak during your orienation. I had a great time as always! Your kind words will not be forgotten, for sure! Mike - what a great surpirse to see you working at Mont Alto! I hope your Gettysburg experiences are serving you well at Mont Alto - they are lucky to have you.

JUNE- JULY 2003

Lehigh University - Tom D, thank you for allowing me to spend a day in the woods with the Res Life professional staff of Lehigh University. You have an incredible team and as always, it's an honor to spend time with such a fantastic group! Gene, Jess and Susan-welcome to Lehigh! Doug, Chris, Kaycee and Laura - thank you for taking another summer day to allow me to share and learn with you.

Shepherd College A-Team: You all make me so proud to work on the same campus as you. There is much work to be done and never forget that you are the ambassadors to change for our incoming students!

Amnesty International-Human Rights Education Summit - First, and foremost, thank you Dr. Helen Bond for putting me in touch with the great folks at Amnesty! Your faith and encouragement mean a great deal to me! I wish you well at the University of Maryland University College and I know you will be appreciated for your immense experience and knowledge. Pinar Araz - thank you for working with me and making the logistics happen so smoothly! Karen Robinson - thank you for your kindness and great leadership at Amnesty! Dr. Niaz Kasravi - thank you for being such an adept and gracious panel moderator! Tanya Odom - I appreciate your words and the work you are doing for New York City and the world as an educational consultant. Chinh Quang Le - the NAACP Legal Defense fund is fortunate to have such a skillful and knowledgeable attorney. Brooke Matschek-you put Human Rights Education into action - I was moved by the story you shared about the Rochester family and about the work you are doing in Philadelphia.

Dr. Cynthia Tyson - what an honor to meet you! With deep respect and reverence-Sister-Doctor-Scholar! I really hope our paths cross again soon! You inspire me in this work and your words! You made the panel! In such a short time you taught me some valuable lessons - including some tech tips! Dr. Mary Lee Webeck - I enjoyed our conversations and panel your comments. Best wishes at UT Austin, and with the letters to the editor efforts. Dr. Adelaide Sanford - your keynote words were so key to the summit - thank you for staying with us all morning. I enjoyed our lunch conversation and I am forever blessed and changed for the better by your very presence. To the brother from Bowie - I wish I could remember your name, but please know I remember you and enjoyed talking to you. I hope our paths cross again too - especially since you may be relocating to this area - know that you will not be alone! To everyone I met - I wish you well in your work and thank you for adding your threads to my life tapestry.

APRIL 2003

Let me take some time to give many thanks to the Shepherd Multicultural Student Affairs Office - my wonderful colleagues and the most incredible Multicultural Leadership Team ever! You give me a daily reminder of why social justice work is much needed at our institution and in our world!

Let me also say this - J, we're about to create something really big - bigger than both of us and a service that is much needed on many college campuses! Thank yo for being who you are!!!

ACPA 2003 - MARCH 28- APRIL 2

First - to all my friends and colleagues, what a delight to see you! There are many of you whom I only see once a year! To all of my University of Maryland undergrad special people - those of you who knew me "way back then" - thank you for your continued support of me - you know who you are! Even though we are all at different places now, your presence at UMCP during my time there has forever changed my life! I am truly thankful for you and love getting connecting with you at ACPA! Susan - what a surprise to see you in the field! We have come a long way since Easton! Now, to all of my current University of Maryland colleagues - those of you I met long after my time there - I am thankful for the connection I have to each of you - and you definitely know who you are! Seeing you at ACPA keeps me connected to the valuable experience I had as an undergrad there and makes me proud to be an alum!

To all of my Shippensburg University people - Ship Is It! To my very special classmates, I think it's ok to put your names here (recently I have been selective about listing names out of respect for privacy) - Christa - JG - Sandelier, Raukar, Danielle, Tara - it was so great to see each of you! JG, I'm sad that our visit was so short, but I am just as glad to see you for any bit of time! Raukar - awesome to see you after such a long time! To all of my other Ship connections, especially Donna and Barry - you two mean a great deal and I so much to thank you for in who I am today. Donna - I wish I saw more of you, but you are often in my thoughts! To the two "good doctors" from Ship - brothers you know who you are - you inspire me! That's all I need to say about that! To all the Ship alum over the years - it's just a delight to continue seeing you each year and reminiscing about the good old days - they seem to get better with time.

Dr. Arminio - thank you for everything - good conversation and dinner! So many Ship alum are much better people and professionals thanks to your positive influence and commitment to our field! You are the "It" in "Ship Is It!"

To my Gettysburg connections - you all know who you are too! Natalie - I could dedicate a web site just to you alone! You are always looking out for me and taking such good care of me - thank you very much!!!! Sylvia - wow! I cannot believe you will be done at Ship in such a short time. Gettysburg is blessed to have you and I am blessed to know you! Quickel - what can I say - you're just the man! Dallas- what a shock! I am so glad that you are in the field and you have the best assistantship supervisor ever! Mark - it was great running into and I hope to see you again next year!

To everyone who attended one or both of the ACPA sessions I presented/co-presented - thank you for your participation and teaching us as much as I hope we taught you! Your presence in our sessions means a great deal!

To those who sessions I attended - thank you! A special thanks to Craig, Jamie, Chris, Kathy and Vernon- you made the pre-convention experience the most worthwhile ever! Craig - I'm glad I got a chance to meet you after seeing your name on emails for so long - thanks for helping me get off the shuttle at BWI! That bag sure was heavy! Jamie - you are beautiful Kathy - you are such an ally! Vernon - you are so real - thanks for hosting the SJTI alum social and for sending me that training resource - I have now have my own chime! Chris - I love you! Man, what can I say about you - you just inspire me and keep me doing the work that needs to be done!

To those special ACPA colleagues who I have met over the years - I delight in seeing you each year and connecting with you! To my fellow brothers and sisters in the field - and you know who you are too - thank you for your encouragement and support!

To my SJTI Alum - especially December 2002 - I felt like we were back in Tucson when I saw you! Debra, Tricia, Chris, Craig, Ray, Jeff, Joseph, Renique, Erin, Diana, Daniel, Walter- it was such a treat to see you! To those SJTI alum from previous years - it was great to meet you for I know can understand where you were when I went to my first SJTI alum social at last years ACPA.

To Lee Cotton - "we did good!" Our session was great and I thank you for approaching me about doing this! I appreciate the connection we have and the fact that I can always pick up the phone when I need another brother's supportive and listening ear! You know I am here for you too!

To the members of the Committee for Multicultural Affairs and the Pan African Network - thank you for making this year's ACPA the most special one for me in over seven years!

To all of you ACPA'ers - I'll see you in Philadelphia in 2004!

MARCH 2003

I just love the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia! Many, many, many thanks to Tim Rupe for suggesting me as a presenter for the January2003 Leadership retreat and being a speaker during Multicultural Week this past March! Many thanks to the Multicultural Week Planning Committee too! What an incredible, dedicated and talented group of students! Please continue to delight in the sharing of the rich diversity you have on your campus! Be ally's for each other and explore the rich opportunities you have within your grasp. Embracing and enriching others is not only a good thing to do, but a core competency for your work as healers! Warm wishes to USP!

Penn State! I do love Penn State! Brian Mauro, thank you again for inviting me to present at Penn State Lehigh Valley! You have such beautiful students and on such a beautiful campus! To my "band" of participants - thank you for sharing so much of yourselves during our time together! We will forever think differently about the things our parent's taught us as children - even the value of chocolate milk! I hope to see many of you again early this fall! Your campus is just gorgeous and you have such community within your small institution! Brian - once again, your kindness is much appreciated - what a great host you are!

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2003

Quickel - thank you so much!!! You are incredible and I'm so amazed at the Quickel I know now and the Quickel I interviewed as a first year student applying to be a resident assistant. Thanks for such a great "night before" and taking me to the King of Prussia Mall for the first time. Thank you for just allowing me to spend time with your group!

I really enjoyed my time at Cabrini College and loved meeting the Residence Hall Association. Jana, Meg (my Columbia connection - Baltimore for everyone else!), Derrick and Kevin - you made dinner even more entertaining than the food itself! Jana - February 16, 2004 - I would love to celebrate your birthday if Quickel invites me back! All of you totally amaze me and even though I was scared, I did show up the next day to present.

Megz - thanks for being the Potato Head assembler and a good sport. Jacquelyn - your laugh is such a treat! Roy - you're a good sport! Kelly, Krista, Jen, Jimmy, Kym, Heather, Soaf and Krista and everyone else - I appreciate all of your energy in our time together and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and learned just as much from you as I hope you learned from me! I know with all of my hear that Cabrini's RHA is ready to go to the next level. Know for sure that all of you are pioneers and are still laying the foundation that future residents will build upon. Stay with the process and know that all you are doing is making a difference at Cabrini College.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2003

Amy - thank you again for inviting me to PSU Mont Alto and trusting me to facilitate your campus' two day diversity retreat. Spending time with your students and colleagues was truly an honor and I know we made an impact and a difference. I know the process will continue and I wish you well.

Thank you Amanda, Candacey, and Hannah for your assistance during our time together and for making the retreat happen. I will forever appreciate and remember the conversations I had with the group, individually and collectively. I think this is the first time I facilitated a session with an adult mother and daughter in the audience.

Lindsay - I applaud you for who you are! Mike - it's always good seeing you and I challenge you to challenge your staff.

Shannon - you have amazed me with your comments and insights.

Ovidio - keep your passion and thank you for your heart! Yurick - "keep doing you and I'll be sure to do me," I like the pay you stated that. Thank you!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7- SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2003

Len, thank you for inviting me to spend some time with your student leaders at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. You are blessed with such a talented and insightful group. I really appreciate all that you did to put together such a great day and for making my first bed and breakfast stay a very memorable one. Tim - what can I say! I am very thankful to you for suggesting me to Len and for yet again giving me another opportunity four years later at a different institution. Your introduction of me was really touching and meant so much more because I can say you "really know me."

To the student leaders - thank you so much for your hard work, your honesty and understanding! I am confident you will begin taking teamwork and collaboration to new heights. Your comments were amazing and I hope you hold onto what you learned from our experience together. I applaud your focus and dedication as both students and leaders balancing multiple roles and wish you well.

This is a huge thank you to Tamara Stevens of Saint Joseph College for inviting me to her campus for two days and for earning a space in the "Best Host" hall of fame. First, let me thank Tamara for being such an incredibly awesome and gracious host for two whole days! Also, let me thank her wonderful husband Dave for giving me such a wonderful experience by telling and showing me so much about "where he works." I can't say more than that, but let's just say that I now know why he earned an Emmy Award and I know will watch that cable network with a whole new appreciation. Thanks for letting me hold your Emmy too!

I want to thank the diversity session participants for their presence and work during our time together. Our day together was simply "page one" and of a large volume of work yet to be completed. I also want to thank the RAs for our time together and for their commitment to our process and for the insights they shared. I am confident that you will do well at Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process [really work on this one!], Enabling Others to Act and Encouraging the Heart. In fact, Kouzes and Posner would be very proud of you and your understanding of their book

Jen - thank you for your comments to me right before I left - I will always remember and forever honored by your words!

Many thanks to the Res Life staff at Shepherd College! Thank you Scott for inviting me to spend a day with the RA staff and being a part of Archie Bunker's neighborhood. Our work together is forever continuing as our time together was just the beginning of the process. I appreciate those of you who shared and became real. During our time together we learned that the injustices that happened during the exercise reflect the injustices in our society. Bam, Tavis, Dwight, Zack, Bethany, Jayme, Stephanie, Leslie (my hero always!), Einna (keeping it real!), Amanda, Pam, and Murph - and many more whose names I cannot remember, I thank you!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11 - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2002 -
Tribute to the Social Justice Training Institute, Tucson, Arizona

The Social Justice Training Institute marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life and my way of being and showing up on this planet. I want to forever give tribute and honor to my fellow classmates and faculty for how each of you have touched my life and melded with the deepest part of my soul. In your own way, each of you have embraced me and contributed to the very vital self-work each of us must do as effective Social Justice Educators. I love all of you for who you are becoming and for the journey we all will be continuing. If at anytime along the way you need support, I’m always here! The work we are all charged to do is so important as our entire world needs healing and we have the calling to do so! This link is to my last SJTI personal journal entry.

I thank Christa and Amy for having previously participated in SJTI and for encouraging me to attend. Your words about your experiences mean so much more now that I too have shared in SJTI. We will always share this which is very special to me and I believe takes our friendship to a different level!

Let this also serve notice for how my work and how I show up as a trainer and consultant. Any organization that seeks my services must realize that I will not simply provide training to fit your schedule's requirement for diversity training. I will challenge you and your staff/participants and expect you to be very serious about this work of diversity and social justice. No longer am I doing simply “diversity awareness and appreciation” programs. Everything I do will have the spirit and body of Social Justice. That means if you hire me to do leadership, community development or character training, the spirit of social justice and inclusion will be with me. I will demand action from participants and follow up from anyone inviting me to their organization. Understand that simply placating and assuaging will never be a part of my workshops. If you have hired me in the past, and many have, you can expect a dramatic shift in my workshops from this point forward.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2002

Much of this log entry is dedicated to Dr. Jan Arminio. I had the honor in joining her in doing a diversity training session for the new teachers of the Carlisle School District. What an honor to share the room and the experience with such an incredible person - both for who she is and what she does.

Jan - after being out of your "classroom" for almost four years now, I am still continually learning from you - both in who you are in what you do! Thank you so much!

I also want to thank Mary Kay Durham, Assistant Superintendent of the Carlisle School District, for inviting Dr. Arminio to facilitate the session. For our session participants - I encourage you to continue your journey of growth and understanding around diversity so that you and the students you serve benefit from your exploration.

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