World, Hold on!!

Do you remember this song by Bob Sinclar, from five or six year ago.  I just came across it on youtube and suddenly remembered the nice partying on those lovely Mediterranean nights.  When I listend to it, I pondered a bit more on its lyrics.  I think they have some very nice meaning, or at least a nice meaning can be assigned to them.  It’s a message of hope, but also a message for the world to wake up to do something for the future.  At least that’s the meaning I assigned to it.  Perhaps it’s because of my experiences this week.

This week I celebrated my first month of being here in Chicago.  Early this week, the blog also exceeded 500 views.  I don’t know what this means, but I am assuming that you are still interested in what I’m writing.  On the other hand, this was a bad week for Tina, you remember her?  I trimmed most of her leaves now, but she looks very frail, and I don’t know whether she’ll survive.  I know I should have changed her pot some time ago, but I didn’t have any time to look for gardening shops, and to tell you the truth she has bored me a bit.  Do you think I’ve already become something of a consumerist?:P  She is a good listener, but seldom provides any feedback.  So I am investing my time in better friends – more human you know.

In fact this week I did quite some hanging out with different people, which helped me get to know better some of my class mates and I also got to know some new people who I met through a seminar I attended to. 

Community Organising

The seminar was about community organising, but with a faith rooted approach.  “Community organising’ here is quite a big thing and much more organised than what we do in Malta.  Obama’s job as a lawyer was in fact as a community organiser.  It is also one of the aspects I’m studying here.  It’s mainly based on an institution founded by a guy from Chicago called Saul Alinsky.  The approach is very much organised and choreographed, nothing like our way of doing things, and it is directed at achieving the power, which is the ability to act and which ultimately will lead you to reach the goals of the community, as opposed to people such as corporate companies’ agendas.   The topic is obviously much deeper than that, and I’m still understanding it.  However one aspect which is lacking in the original approach is the faith aspect.  The seminar I went to, thus tries to Christianise this approach.  For instance you look at the people you want to get something from (example – the CEOs of Corporate Companies), not as your enemies but as collaborators, towards achieving this common goal.  The subject gets a completely new dimension once faith, hope and love are added to the formula.  It gets more colourful I think.  The subject is very interesting, and it is a way of getting things done.  I do hope to learn more on the subject, and hope that I’ll be able to share more with you about the subject, and perhaps import some of it to my home country too.

At this seminar I met some very interesting people, who have different stories and experiences, and that’s what making this Chicago experience so enriching to me.  We discussed a lot the issue of poverty and the issue of wealth distribution.  Wealth distribution and segregation seemed to stand out throughout the conference.  Two aspects which I think will be major issues in Maltese society soon enough.

I also really liked the place were the seminar was held.  The building was a red brick box with a timber framework roof.  It looked very industrial, and although I don’t have any information about it I believe it had an industrial use, but was now converted into a church.  Some aspects of the conversion I liked, but I think there were too much different elements and sometimes the old structure wasn’t respected enough.  So you can imagine that I spent some good time daydreaming of renovations and redesign of the building.  I wanted to attach some pictures of the space, but I’m momentarily without a camera.  I’m doing some research for a good one, and hopefully will soon start uploading photos to accompany my blog again.

Networking & Facebook

I am also realising the importance of networking.  Networking is as important as money, if you want to have a say in society.  It’s a way of getting a message through.  Facebook is one of the ways networking can be done, although I believe that on it’s own it is not strong enough, physical communication still remains the most effective.

Still I have noted something interesting going on on facebook this week.  There was this sudden crop up of loads of what I defined as ‘Identity Pictures’.  Everyone is posting 6 photos on a black background which say: What I do, what my mother thinks I do, What my friends think I do, What I really do, and so on.  Some of them are cool, others not so much.

The question is: what are people really trying to say with these images?  I don’t know, but its quite evident how contagious facebook is.  Someone starts something and suddenly it spreads all over the world.  We saw it with these identity pictures, and even the arab spring revolutions are said to have started in this way.

So the question in my mind now is: What should I post to spread a wish all around the world to sponsor me? :P

World hold on!!