What up VISTAS-



Danielle Martin kindly asked me to be a 'guest blogger' to write a
little bit about my experience as a CTC VISTA and/or my experiences
post-VISTA. I guess I'll start with an introduction and what my
background is with the Project...




I am a media artist and community organizer living in San Diego. I like
to figure out creative ways to use my skills to organize communities
online.
In 2006, while completing my year of service with AmeriCorps, I
developed the capacity of two community technology programs in San
Diego.
One project I worked on was with the San
Diego LGBT Center. While there, I developed extensive
'train-the-trainer' curriculum to assist with the Center's Digital Storytelling Project.
This included rewriting their manual, developing an innovative
do-it-yourself cd-rom 'toolkit' for trainers and community activists,
and providing ongoing curriculum and technology assesment to the
Center's IT Manager.




My work with the San Diego Community Technology Coalition
included a complete overhaul of the organization's community web
portal. This included installation and configuration of their
administrative CRM (constituent relationship management) system (using
the EXCELLENT CivicSpace platform based on Drupal
- the same 'content management system' used for this site) consultation
and implementation of appropriate site features, as well as research,
development and staff training on use of the portal.
I am still closely involved with the SDCTC and currently wear many hats
for the them including Web Content Manager, Online Outreach
Coordinator, and general Technical Question Answerer.




I also work for the Media Arts Center of San Diego at
their Digital Storytelling Station
helping people tell their stories. It's an awesome organization that
has many projects in community-based media and coordinates the annual
San Diego Latino Film Festival.




I also co-founded and help organize a node of Share,
a global network of artists that provides infrastructure and support
for new media communities worldwide.  I'm currently talking
with the director of MACSD to see if we can combine the efforts of the San
Diego node of Share with those of MACSD into a 'New Media
Coordinator'. I don't
think I would have the confidence or knowledge to pursue this (my
dream) had I NOT been a VISTA - negotiating the creation
of a new position with the director of a prestigious media arts org?
 Sweet.






When not regularly contributing content to the SDCTC, I can be found
performing interesting electronic music in cafes, galleries and bars in
and around San Diego. You can read also more about me here.




Anyway, that's all from me for now. How are YOUR VISTA years going?






Signing off,

Morgan





*******Morgan's Tip of
the Week:
BLOG YOUR VISTA EXPERIENCES!



Why is this cool? Because:



a) keeping track of the important work you do is good for the
betterment of humanity - no joke, I'm a storycollector for a living.
Stories are have a curious tendency to elicit authentic connection to
each other like that - important for the kind of work COMMUNITY
technology center VISTAs are doing



b) you get highly ranked in search engines.  This is just
simply nice for your ego - they even call self-searches 'ego
searches':)



and c) something the CTC VISTA orientation doesn't really mention, but
you can think of your blog as a RESUME for future work. I didn't find
this out until later, but timely record of all your accomplishments,
failures and things you learned looks GREAT to employers (and you can
always edit it to put your ‘best’ face forward).

This past week I took some time off and went to visit my friends, Darrin and Courtney in Cincinnati Ohio. Before I left I let Lauren Bratslavsky at Media Bridges know that I'd be in town., so that we could possibly get together.

After a few emails and phone calls Lauren and I decided to meet Friday at Media Bridges at 12:30. I walked in and really liked the building. It's one of these refurbished old buildings and just has a neat look. Lauren met me and showed me around. 

They recently got new iMacs for their edit suites and such. They were smart enough to make sure they had DVD burners. Unlike the new mini editing lab here at the CMC. Over all I was impressed by the facility and the people I met.

It turned out that they have a second VISTA, Kathy Dumas, there as well. The three of us walked to a Deli for lunch. We had a spirit discussion about being a VISTA, problems facing Community Media, patriarchy, lax direction, and other stuff. It seems that VISTA's at Media Bridges do not get made to feel like they are part of the staff, as I do here in Grand Rapids.

After lunch we returned to Media Bridges. One thing we talked about was the program Garageband. I had put together a tutorial on it and they had some questions about it. So we went upstairs and I gave them an overview of how the program works. We made a little VISTA music piece. It is rather odd. lol.

Lauren gave me some assitance with the program Livetype, which we've had trouble with here at the CMC. 

It was a great visit. Both relaxing and  productive. VISTA's communicating and working together. I hope I get the chance to show them around the Community Media Center here sometime. I just emailed them my tutorial for Garageband and I will probably hear back from them with more info on Livetype and a program for ripping DVD's.

Peace,

Rich 

Comment from danielle martin on January 8, 2007 - 3:01pm

Oh yeah! That's my lovely Digital Media VISTA love babies. Make sure to share the final version of that tutorial.

-Danielle

Comment from Richard T. Anderson on January 8, 2007 - 3:48pm

VISTA love babies?!

Whoa. It really wasn't that kind of party.

lol.

Peace,

Rich

Comment from gariet cowin on January 9, 2007 - 4:29pm

Sounds hot. How come I wasn't invited?

Comment from lauren bratslavsky on January 9, 2007 - 6:02pm

alright alright... simmer down.  It was a fine business meeting. 

i'll post a livetype tutorial when I get it together. I figure it'll be easy for kids and can be great to get them to make lilttle 15 sec transitions between our videos for tv and anything else.

And I have to clarify the workplace. It's a great place. We, the VISTAs are welcomed as staff, but sorta left out on some large scale things. we're working on it. I do get delegated to the front desk during staff meetings, but who wants to hear about the phone chain for snow day procedures? And I guess we were a bit steaming that day due to another meeting of sorts. I'll blog fully about these things later.

 

It has truly been a while since I wrote a blog. Anyone who reads Laura's blogs, however, pretty much knows what I'm doing. My friends here in San Diego call Laura my "life partner" because we spend so much time together - living, commuting, working. Thankfully, we get along and haven’t killed each other yet :). I feel like recently most of my time has been spent in trying to overcome a lot of bureaucracy.

Issue #1: Ed Award. I recently discovered that my loan doesn't necessarily fall into the "qualified" definition of a loan for which an Ed Award can be applied. Apparently, for a loan to be “qualified” it has to be given by the state/federal government. Why then, don’t they say “qualified state/federal loan?” I received a special loan through my school’s alumni association that is interest free so it is considered private. To transfer a loan to a federal one, you have to be currently enrolled in school. Well, had these “qualifications” been explicitly written on the website when I was first looking into AmeriCorps (I was still in school) I might have been able to change it. Instead, however, I joined up and even completed orientation without the slightest inkling that my loan would not be accepted. Thankfully, after a lot of conversations and some letter writing I have been able to get my loan approved. Yae!

Issue #2: Healthcare. For details on these shenanigans, you should read Laura’s blog. The basic gist – it is pretty much impossible to find a clinic in San Diego. The one clinic listed within 30 miles on Seven Corner’s website is only for children. Believe me, it’s true, we went there twice. How many juveniles are AmeriCorps members? Probably not many. I did look into finding a doctor when I first signed up but never followed through. My bad. Honestly, though, that wouldn’t have helped in Laura’s situation unless they had after-hours, same day appointments available. It is important to be able to go to some sort of 24-hour emergency center and in San Diego, that doesn’t seem to be a possibility with AmeriCorps benefits (not insurance). By the way, downtown inner-city emergency rooms = not so fun. Thank goodness for the Purell dispenser on the wall. I read Danielle’s reply to Laura’s blog and I was absolutely shocked by the advice Danielle had been given, “…show up at the ER and declare you have no insurance - depending on the state, you sometimes get better coverage that way than if you tell them about Seven Corners.” That is so sad. I told Mike Denegal what Danielle said about asking him for advice, he just laughed and said, “I love Danielle :).”

Now that I’m pretty much done ranting and raving I can tell you all about the things I’ve been up to at Pangea. Pangea is a non-profit software development company that specializes in web-based resident data management tools (I know it’s a mouthful). Our current systems include: AASC Online, AASC Families, Abilities4RSC, and Mercy Families. Here’s a little rundown on what these actually do: The systems are designed for service coordinators (like social workers who live on-site at an elderly home, low-income family housing project, etc). These service coordinators have daily contact with their residents in which they sort of act like a concierge would at a hotel – they provide services for their residents, whatever those might be. These services are provided in hopes that residents can improve their livelihoods and/or become self-sufficient. For example, say Mr. Johnston is living with his family in government-funded, low-income housing and needs to get a job but doesn’t have many skills. The service coordinator could invite him to a computer class that he/she is putting on, set him up to attend someone else’s, or possibly even help him get involved in a degree- or certificate-earning program. Anything she does for him she inputs into one of the systems. Two months later, after finishing his classes, Mr. Johnston lands a great networking assistant job at a local company and is able to move he and his family into an independent apartment building (that is, he no longer requires financial assistance to pay his rent). Well, this outcome is also recorded into the system. So, in the end, the system has recorded the steps the service coordinator took to assist Mr. Johnston in becoming independent. Having it in an electronic format allows the service coordinators to run reports and have tangible proof of the good they are doing. This translates into more government grants and funding for their residences and, therefore, more people helped. To try to keep track of all of this by hand would be mind boggling, whereas the systems can do it in about 5 seconds.

So that’s the basic idea, and now you may be wondering, “So what do you do AmeriCorey?” Laura and I have been working on the design of two main information systems: Abilities 4 Mentoring and Abilities 4 Education. Basically we get to design all of the forms and reports from the front-end perspective. The Mentoring system tracks mentoring relationships and their outcomes: Did the mentee’s grades improve? Did he/she stay out of trouble? The Education system is specific to San Diego City Schools and is being built in coordination with a grant given to track AP testing and its effects. The schools want to see if students who take part in programs like AVID or AP classes are more likely to go to college. In addition to these new systems, all of the older systems are constantly being upgraded so we end up doing lots of testing to find the bugs and quirks as well as field tech-support calls. Additionally, we’ve been working on updating training materials for all of the systems.

By the way, we got a little gift from our buddies at Microsoft. Apparently, this is what half a million dollars looks like:

Enough about work. One thing I am very excited about is the change from CNET to the NTEN conference. I went to college in LA and I am totally over that city (No offense to true Los Angelens, I just want a change of scenery). I am definitely excited to have some Washington DC adventures: new maps, subways, dead presidents, dollar theaters, the possibilities abound! Oh yeah, and learning at the conference too I guess.

This blog has become freakishly long. I’m making up for lost time I guess. Anyhow, I hope you all had amazing holidays and are refreshed and ready to get back to saving the world!

Corey

Comment from gariet cowin on January 9, 2007 - 4:24pm

You know what also would have been nice? Somebody explaining that there is a BIG difference in the amount of food stamps you get if you sign up BEFORE the PSO, rather than after.

But cheer up! At least you have a super sweet life partner. I have to settle for my imaginary co-worker. And he's an asshole.

 

Comment from danielle martin on January 9, 2007 - 7:00pm

You would have gotten more in food stamps if you signed up before the PSO? I only ask because we've got a new crew starting next week so I want to give them the right story...

-Danielle

Comment from danielle martin on January 9, 2007 - 7:13pm

Hey Corey,

My mom has this little saying I say to myself very often in my VISTA service: "Nobody said life is fair." [I know, it used to piss me off when she said it, but I'm old enough to be ok with the fact that at some point you turn into your parents.] I know for myself, I try to remind myself that the challenges of doing a year of full-time volunteer service are only marginally comparable to the experiences of the people I'm trying to ultimately serve. Unfortunately we live in a country that doesn't have a national healthcare system and where only a quarter of the population even get a chance to get a 4 year college degree. I'm not trying to be unsympathetic - I'm admittedly idealist enough to think NOBODY should have to jump through ridiculous hoops to not be sick and get an education. So the system stinks, let's change it. Let's write some letters. Or help us make it clearer for the next set of VISTAs.

That being said, I'm impressed with all the amazing stuff your doing at Pangea. I'd love to keep hearing more often about the great things you're accomplishing this year (and hope you share some of the lessons learned and resourced you developed) and hope you let us know when we can help.

-Danielle

PS Tell Mike D. that I love him right back...him and his positive attitude ;)

I thought I’d share the final results of my adventures in case anyone was interested.  It helps to know what happened first before reading this Part II, so click here to get caught up before continuing. Ready?  Okay…

From work, we (we being Corey & I) left to go back to the first place that we tried in hopes of finding the new location of the clinic.  Upon approaching the door to the place, Corey noticed that the suite number was 150.  Hmmm…150 is supposed to be the suite number for the place I’m looking for.  105 is the suite number for the children’s clinic.  So we think maybe the numbers got swapped and search unsuccessfully for suite 105.  Seven Corners needs to update their search tool.  I ask the receptionist (a different one this time) about it again, who also asks me how old I am, and later recommends that I try the place I was sent the previous day (stop #2).  What to do, what to do… 

I try calling the number that I have for this mystery clinic and finally get through to someone to ask where exactly they are located.  I find out that the clinic we’ve been searching for the whole time is the children’s clinic…the two clinics that I thought were separate are the same place! 

Since I’m not willing to drive almost 30 miles one-way, I decide that it’s time for my last resort.  Time to hit up the hospital emergency room.  Lucky for me, there’s one with-in walking distance only a block from the apartment, so it was easy enough to find.  Not only is it the smallest ER that I’ve seen, but it’s also the most crowded.  I prepare myself for a long night of waiting, reading A Wrinkle in Time to pass the time until I finally get to see a doctor and get my prescription!  Almost four hours later, I leave the hospital, swing by CVS (fortunately also within a block), and head home to get some much needed rest. 

Now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t get some outrageous bill in the mail for my visit in the near future.  That would really be the icing on the cake in this chapter of my life story.

Comment from danielle martin on January 5, 2007 - 9:59am

Hi Laura,

#1 - I hope your feeling better.

#2 - I didn't want you to feel like no one was reading your medical adventures but I don't have much advice for you except, yes, your life would have been much easier if you had "been prepared" and found a doctor when you first got to CA and not wait until you got sick. I found a primary care doctor that does hours at a drop in-clinic, as well as regular appt's so I've never had a problem. This is pretty much true for any job/health "benefts".

When I asked around Project HQ the only advice would have been to show up at the ER and declare you have no insurance - depending on the state, you sometimes get better coverage that way than if you tell them about Seven Corners. Isn't Mike Denegal (former VISTA Leader) still around to ask advice?

Other than all your medical drama, how's life at work? I'd love to hear about what y'all are working on at Pangea....

-Danielle

Being almost four months into my second VISTA term, I've never had any trouble utilizing our health benefits...until now.  I'm not an overly-ill person or anything, but I've used our benefits a number of times.  During my trip back to Indiana for the holiday, I managed to pick up a simple head cold (which also happened last time I went home, so I'm trying to determine the correlation).  Head colds are no biggie at all, but FLYING with one is no picnic.  As a result, I've developed a quite painful ear infection.  All I need is a prescription for the infection. 

Since I wasn't smart enough to follow the advice from PSO and select a doctor when I initially moved here, I didn't have the luxury of calling him/her up to schedule a quick appointment to stop by and quickly remedy the problem.  So I thought "Okay, I'll hop online and use the Seven Corners provider search to find out what Urgent Care Centers I can go to and just do that."  Never did I imagine it would turn into an adventure.  My results yielded two care centers, one of which is pediatric only.  (For comparison purposes, I checked Indianapolis - where I was last year - and got 15 results within a 15 mile radius.)  I called them up to confirm the information listed to discover that the information was indeed wrong, but no big deal - they just relocated their office to the same location where the children's care center is located. 

I left the office a little early so I could beat rush hour traffic and begin my adventure.  We arrived at the address for the care center and ventured inside.  Upon walking in, I noticed that the area was crawling with children (all sick in some way - yuck), so I asked if the clinic served adults.  Nope.  The receptionist asked me how old I was (she probably thought I could have been under 18), so I gave her my answer and she confirmed they couldn't help me.  I asked her where I could go since I had received information about a care center being located there, and she had no idea what I was talking about.  She did, however, give me the card for a clinic located one block north and advised me to try there.  On to stop #2. 

We made the short trip to the second clinic and walked in, ready and prepared to be served.  While signing in, the receptionist asked me if I had an appointment, to which I responded "no."  (I didn't think you needed appointments at urgent care centers?)  Turns out I couldn't be seen because I didn't have an appointment.  She was nice enough, however, to give me a list of clinics that I could try to see if I had better luck elsewhere.  Moving on... 

Before going anywhere, I tried calling some of the clinics on the sheet, only to discover that most required appointments to be seen.  (At that point, I wasn't even thinking about the issue of whether Seven Corners would cover my expenses or not.)  Since it was nearing 5:00 by then, we gave up and went grocery shopping so we could restock our kitchen. 

While at Ralph’s, I explained my situation to the pharmacist and asked if he could provide any advise.  He told me about an urgent care center not far from where we were, although he couldn't tell me an exact name or address.  Upon arriving home, I went to search for it on the internet, with no luck.  I did, however, have luck finding a place just one block from the apartment that was open until 7:00.  It was 6:17;  I still had time to make it before it closed.   

We took a quick walk across the street, and found the place.  "This is it!"  I thought.  But nope, I was wrong.  The receptionist informed me that she couldn't verify my "insurance" so I would have to be responsible for any charges for the visit until I could find out if they would be covered.  How much?  "At least $175, but could be $250 or more."  Too much.  I left frustrated and in awe of how complicated this had become.  I would have given up by now and just waited out the infection were it not for the fact that it's one of the most painful ones I've had in a while.  I wake up at night in pain and am constantly reminded of it throughout the day.  So I wasn't ready to give up. 

This morning, I called Seven Corners to find out if they covered any other places that weren't listed online, specifically the place I had tried the night before.  In a nutshell, the response given to me was "If it's not online, it's not covered."  I mentioned that I had tried the only place listed that I could go with no luck, to which I got, "If there is no where in a 35-mile radius of where you are, you can go anywhere."  Oh.  So I expanded my search to 40 miles (35 wasn't an option).  I discovered that there are three places all between 26-27 miles from me...but that's one way and not exactly close. 

In an act of desperation, I tried calling the original place again to re-listen to the recording and noticed the suite number given with the address - 150.  Interesting...the suite number for the children's clinic (in the same building) is 105.  But you would think they would know about it and would have told me about it when I initially asked...but apparently not.  So today after work, I'm going to try going back to the first building we tried to try to find the clinic.  Wish me luck!!  I don't know what I'm going to do if this doesn't work out...maybe I'm just spoiled.

Comment from Carl Seifert on January 4, 2007 - 1:21pm

Laura your ordeal sounds terrible. I'm sorry. You have definitely encouraged me to check out clinics before I get sick. Thank you for that.

I really hope things work out and you start to get better soon. Have Corey make you some Matza Ball soup...i hear its jewish penicilin.

Carl Seifert
Computer C.O.R.E.
Alexandria, VA

Comment from Laura Hanley on January 5, 2007 - 1:33pm

Thanks, Carl!  I put up Part II yesterday in case you're wondering how things (hopefully) ended.  I'm glad I encouraged you to find a place before you'll need it as well!

 Hope things are going well for you with your VISTA term and your New Year is off to a great start!

In service,

Laura

Does anyone know if there will be an annual CTCNET conference this year? I checked out their website and found two contradictory pieces of information.

One here that says there will be no conference due to strategic planning and one here that claims there is one and it shall be in LA in June/July. Talk about contradictory.

I call upon the powers that be to straighten this confusion out.

Carl Seifert

VISTA in VA

Comment from Paul Hansen on January 3, 2007 - 3:55pm

Carl the powers that be have confirmed that the conference is OFF. In the next few days I'll be sending out an email to VISTAs and supervisors about this since that was the default conference that all CTC VISTAs were expeceted to attend. We will be making the NTEN conference the conference of choice instead. But we are always open to alternatives if people find others that are more in line with their work and interests. --Paul

Comment from Carl Seifert on January 4, 2007 - 7:53pm

Paul or anybody,

As far as these conferences go, who exactly pays for them? Is it the responsibility of the sponsoring organization or does the Corporation pay for that?

I'm looking into going to NTEN and I need to know where my funding is coming from.

Thanks,

Carl Seifert

Comment from danielle martin on January 5, 2007 - 12:25pm

Hey Carl,

Yes, your org is supposed to cover you going to a conference (see Expectations page - http://www.ctcvista.org/expectations). It used to be the CTCNet conference, but now it's anyone that you think would be appropriate. We are going to try and organize groups of VISTAs going together to conferences - it all should be covered in your next monthly conference call. There will probably be more of the TANP VISTAs at NTEN but there should be a strong showing.

-Danielle

We finally got our super-sweet computer that we will be using for the NYMAP youth video exchange.  Unfortunately, I got it about 5 minutes before I left for vacation, so it has just been sitting around for the last week.  But now I am back, and ready to put it to good use.  Youth media swapping, here I come!

I'll post another entry when I actually have a chance to try it out, and learn more about the whole exchange process. 

Thanks to former VISTA Leader, Saul Baizman, who reads the Boston Globe most days....from the Opinion section:

A double take over a headline

December 20, 2006

ON SATURDAY a front-page headline read: "PC now or Vista later?" At first glance, it appeared to report encouraging news detailing a resurgence of volunteerism, as in Peace Corps now or VISTA later, but alas, it became apparent all too quickly that the article was about the heart-rending choice between two consumer goods. What a difference a generation can make.

-MARY C. SENIOR

Comment from Saul Baizman on January 5, 2007 - 1:40pm

Ha! Just caught this blog post. After reading Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death," I hardly read the Globe -- or any news -- anymore. Caveat Read-or.

When I learnt that there was going to be a demonstration on collaborative electronic tools at our dec. 6th conference call, I browsed the web to find something that would give me an idea of what a collaborative tool is. I found a concept offered by Google that enable exchange of documents between group members. They called it “writely”, which allowed me to create a document, the same document my husband could open and edit from his computer and at his convenience, but not in real time.

Yview seems slightly different. With graphical display and its ability to provide real time exchange of screen sharing, in addition to document sharing it is an amazing tool. Tim made a very interesting presentation. Though I had to share the computer with John at the time of demonstration— attept to install software on my own work station failed -- it was a thrilling experience to share the white board with fellow TANs John, Jeff, Andrea, Cheryl, Corey, Laura and Aliya who participated from different locations. Luckily I have succeeded installing one on my home computer, and am intending to learn more about it.

I look forward for Laura’s talk on disaster recovery techniques at our next conference call scheduled to take place on Jan.8th. Also to take the opportunity to say hello to the other members.