Never Surrender Dreams
- J. Michael Straczynski
The road to the stars starts at the point of your passions.
- J. Michael Straczynski
Aug. 2, 2006
I have a passion for making connections (TEACHING) between diverse ideas and,
in so doing, helping people to become better, to improve themselves.
I have a passion for building elegant solutions that make excellent use of
available resources, of limited resources.
I have a passion for telling stories that help people to see old things in new ways,
and for devising solutions where none are apparent.
I have a passion for understanding and bridging apparently disparate disciplines,
such as science and religion, theology and science, Native American spirituality
and Christianity, Orthodoxy and ecumenism / protestantism.
I have a passion for music, for reading, for science fiction, for history,
for alternaties, for Civil Rights, for democracy, and for hope . . . for bridging gaps.
Aug. 7, 2006
What are your passions? Who do you serve?
DEMOCRACY
The dream of democracy and how it enables and empowers people to rise above the challenges
of the moment to make the world a better place for all, is one of my passions.
The stories of the forefathers, and of civil rights leaders fill me with hope and
inspire me to strive for better self evident truths.
Amnesty International? Social Engineering - (Asimov's Foundation).
NOTE:
In eighth grade you, the least popular kid in class, were elected class representative over the
ever popular Sang Yup Kim, based on a spur of the moment speach about how the class representative
was a link in a chain that connected our class with the student council and that I would be that
link to make sure that our needs and concerns were represented. To my suprise, I won, but I
did not deliver.
SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY / FAITH & REASON
The interplay of these two seemingly opposing fields has been a passion of mine for a very,
very long time. Anthroposophy had the most amazing blend, promising a scientific approach
to the spriritual world. To fathom the universe and the spiritual world have always been
of interest to me . . . Lakota, meditation, cybernetics, anthroposophy, Khalil Gibrahn's The Prophet,
etc. . . . and now Christianity and my heritage in Coptic Orthodox Christianity and the
ever elusive ecumenism. "Bridging Science & Spirituality" , "Three Scientists and their Gods" ,
"Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path"
SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING, COMICS
One of the first television programs that I remember was Star Trek and I recall playing it
with Joe Koonse before I was in first grade. Space 1999, Ark II, Battlestar Galactica,
Star Wars, comics all played a large part in my youth. I loved these fantastic tales. In
sixth grade I began gaming - Dungeons & Dragons, later Gamma World and Shadowrun and Mage.
I loved IMAGINEERING worlds and MERGING worlds in bizzare juxtapositions (Drow Quest I & II). Gaming was a wonderful
way to share a story space with my friends and that was an incredible experience.
CREATING
Writing, drawing, programming, singing, photography, are these really passions? I devote so
little time to them, but very much enjoy them - especially the results!
TEACHING
I love helping people grow in understanding and becoming proficient in something new.
Some of my best experiences are around times in which I was presenting information about a
topic that I loved. I recall the World Wide What? presentations I did for the ACM at UNCG
and other things that I did for Technology Tools. I love putting together materials that
walk a student through to understanding, building the insite a piece at a time until the light
bulb turns on. This is a strong passion, and I've been told by many people that I have a
talent for this and I should devote more time to building it as a skill. Presentations.
This is really . . . BRIDGING GAPS , BRIDGE BUILDING
Writing, teaching, counseling, these are all bridge building and involve bridging gaps between
cultures, understanding, ideas, etc.
Aug. 14, 2006
TEACHING
I would so much love to be able to make a living helping people to grow and develop, to learn
new things, TO MAKE CONNECTIONS and to stand on their own.
To be paid to learn would be sooo amazing and would help to feed my desire for knowledge and to learn more.
Having time off during the summer and winter holidays would also be a much preferred perk and would allow
me to spend more time with my family and in research and to develop my writing skills.
It would also put me in a position wher I could volunteer more and to become an instrument of
social change.
COUNSELING
Career counseling has been fulfilling and I very much enjoy helping people to help themselves; however, I don't always like tacking people down. What if I am not motivated, but I would enjoy helping students to grow and to choose.
I seem to have a knack /talent / gift for this, given how I have been serving in this way at Church over the past year.
And even before that, with several of my college friends and their careers.
Dream Job?
Applying multiculrual research towards and orientation program for Green Card lottery winners
in Egypt who can be prepared to transition into a third culture as they relocate to the United
States - prepare them to preserve their culture and choose the elements of the US culture that
they will adopt. A program to teach critical elements of US History that will help them to
positively transition into the society without losing their cultural identity. Isis Attia has
done some of her masters work in this kind of multicultural research and the four responses an
immigrant can have after they relocate. (US Consulate Grant? US AID?)
Other opportunities to work on development programs to help 3rd world countries to stand on their own 2 feet.
These leaders have the resources (Network & Financial) to enable this dream job in which
you are able to apply cultural diversity knowledge to enabling programs in which the
culture can be bootstrapped. Here are my skills, where can you use me . . . or . . . here is where I can help you.
Leaders who are inspiring me:
- Naguib Sawires
- Bono (U2)
- Rick Warren
- Greg Acopian
- Bill & Melinda Gates
Aug. 26, 2006
Steve Simpson - Greensboro, NC
Just moving from National Conference for Community and Justice to Red Cross. He recommended
that I try International Red Cross in Geneva, UN, UNESCO, UNICEF< US AID. Grant writing to setup computers & training centers in remote
villages (pay for self) - Gates Foundation - aids solution in cooperation with Coptic Church in Egypt lends more credibility to have it
sponsored by a local organization.
List all of your pluses and have ways to bring them out in conversations or discussions
in Egypt. Cannot assume that they know.
Aug. 31, 2006
BRIDGES of UNDERSTANDING
. . . can also be built . . . working w/ Vaance in the Hibernate class shows me that where I have passion, on the points of passions is in the
TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION and I can see how I can weave together a tapestry of understanding to help make
enlightenment dawn . . . so that the obfuscated becomes clear, lucid, pelucid, transparent . . .like glass.
I was working with him to improve the course and he had chosen exercises that took us in
different directions and covered only 2 of the 6 chapters. But I remember the taste for this; I used to do presentations like this in college,
for the ACM and I was good at it; I would draw a crowd, but I was also not always prepared . . .
when prepared, I was good. Then ther was the Technology Tools project, GTCC, etc. Now there may
be opportunities to pick this up at TheU.bankofamerica.com . . . Bank of America University.
Sherin focuses on my talent with International Communities . . . think of how well you can fit into communities as a result of all of your international experience and how that could help you as a
technical trainer in the UAE or Egypt.
. . . on the other side, how about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and getting a research facilty together in Egypt to find a Nutrition based cure for AIDS
or Diabetes (or preventing diseases through nutrition and hygiene education)? How to feed the
poor in a healthy way? You have the some connections and could probably help to make something like this happen.
What about a training facility in Egypt . . . all kinds of training: LEADERSHIP, TECHNOLOGY,
responsibility in society, CULTURE SHOCK.
Must also be able to keep in mind Sherin's insights into networking to find the decision makers in the other companies . . . the 6th degree to get overseas (Waseem, Mina, others?)
How to track all the connections, VirgiTech and others?
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