The Joys of August

As I reflect on the past month, I am reminded of the following joys of August:

Time with my grandparents.

An auspicious RA Training: One WUrld, One Dream!

The spirit of the Olympics: One World, One Dream!

New life: the birth of John Nields-Duffy: August 23, 2008.

The hope of a new year: meeting my 10 frosh advisees, the KY frosh, 90 students in our Psych. 105 class, and many other new students: Welcome to Washington U!

The opportunity to team teach a course: The Psychology of Young Adult Development.

An unexpected gift from a colleague. The thoughtfulness truly touched my heart.

History and the audacity to hope.

Facebook! I have reconnected with many, many friends and that brings me joy.

As E.M. Forrester says, "Only connect."

As August comes to a close, I have a joyful heart and look forward to September and cooler weather.

What brought you joy in August??

The Joy of Time

As I mentioned in my last post, I am embarking on my 16th year at Washington University. It is hard to believe that I began my career in 1993 at the age of 23. Wow! On many levels, time has flown by but it also stood still. The freshman reading program book last year "Einstein's Dreams" was all about time. I find myself thinking a lot about time lately. Phrases that have surfaced in the last few days:

College is the best time of your life.
Use your time wisely.
Manage your time.
You will have the time of your life.

I have a simple time management philosophy: you make time for what is important to you. You can't buy time, save time, stock pile time--you must live in the present moment. Worrying about the past and fearing the future distracts us from the present. We miss out on the here and now because we are living in the past or hurrying to get to the
future.

Finding joy in the present moment...now that is something that is worth my time!

What is your time management philosophy?

Flow and Freshman Move In Day

Today is Freshman Move In day at Washington University in St. Louis! This is my 16th move in day at Wash U, and it is one of my absolute favorite days of the year. There is such excitement and hope in the air: new beginnings, new friendships, new opportunities--everything and anything are possible on this day.

This day brings me joy. My goal was to visit every freshman floor throughout the day, and I am happy to report that I achieved that goal. (I have to admit that with each passing year, it becomes more physically challenging to walk all the floors. What I could do easily in my mid 20s has become a bit more strenuous in my late 30s.)

I have a tradition of greeting all of the KY students (this year, there are 19 of them.) I write them a personal letter and usually hand out chocolate. I just want them to know that there is a friendly person who shares a common heritage with them and who can serve as a resource if they need anything.

I also go around and greet my academic advisees. I serve as a four year academic advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences, and this year I have 10 freshman advisees who all live in Lien House. I have met six out of the ten and can't wait to get to know them all and learn from and with them.

I just got back from Freshman Convocation--the official academic welcome from the university for the new students and their parents. The 1432 first year students all attend wearing their residential college t-shirts. The Athletic Complex was ablazen with a rainbow of the res. college brightly colored t-shirts accompanied by exhuberant, loud cheering! Res. College spirit abounded (and my ear drums are still recovering.)

At Convocation, there are several guest speakers including a faculty member invited by the Chancellor. This year, Chancellor Wrighton seleted one of our Faculty Fellows to address the class. Tili Boon Cuille, Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Faculty Fellow for William Greenleaf Eliot Residential College was the first ever Faculty Fellow to be chosen for this honor.

I am still reflecting on her remarks which captured both the spirit of undergraduate education and the role of learning in and out of the classroom. I will write more about her brilliant talk in my next blog.

As my feet (or as they call feet in the south--"dogs") are aching, I must prop them up and give them a rest. Tonight, I will fall asleep with a joyful heart and great hope for Washington University's Class of 2012.

Experiment in Blogging!

Ok--so this is my first ever official blog! I have initially titled my blog as Girasole: Journey to Joy! Girsasole is Italian for sunflower. Both Italy and sunflowers (especially sunflowers in Italy) bring me joy. I will now list out my top 10 Joy List for today, August 17, 2008:

1. Kentucky: this is my home state and where I grew up. My home base, so to speak. When I think of KY, I am reminded of hospitality, community, family, southern cooking, friendliness, and bluegrass music which coincidentally---all bring me joy.

2. Family: both my family of origin and the family members that I choose for myself. Even though I believe that all families are dysfunctional (the nature of families), my family brings much joy to my life. This past summer, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversay and instead of having a reception, they decided to invite my sisters and me and our respective partners to a beach house in Florida for one week. Now that was quite joyful!

3. Octagenerians: I find people in their 80's to be wise and brilliant, and they bring me joy. In particular, my grandparents bring me joy. I am incredibly forutnate to have all FOUR of my grandparents still living. (All live in KY--my home base. See #1). Granny, Bigdaddy, Gaga, and Poppy have taught me a lot about resilience, perspective, hard work, and love of family. Each set of my grandparents have been married for 63 years!

4--Green Olives: enough said!

5--Music: specifically artists that write and perform their own music. Music can bring joy to my soul like nothing else. On my i-tunes right now: Patty Griffin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carrie Newcomer, and The Nields. Note: for many years, I produced a series called the Acoustic City Concert Series here in St. Louis. While I have no musical talent myself, I derive great joy in organizing and presenting musical concerts. I am the co-founder of the St. Louis Folk Festival and even though, I do not present as many concerts as I did in the past--it is still a passion of mine that I am sure I will always carry with me.

6--College students: I am embarking on my 16th year working in student affairs at Washington University in St. Louis. I feel called to work with college students and love learning from them and with them. I am currently in the throes of Resident Advisor (RA) Training and am having a blast. On Thursday, 1432 new first year students will move on to the campus for orientation. I absolutely LOVE this time of year--so many possibilities, so many dreams coming true, and so many new dreams and goals to be pursued.

7--My cats! Willkie, Ashton, and Rosie are balls of white fur and unbelievable joy!

8--Italy: I have spent a total of approximately 13 weeks in Italy over 4 summers, and all aspects of this amazing country bring me joy: the food, the wine, the art, the people, the landscape! I dream of living in Italy during some part of my life.

9--Unexpected grace and wonder. I ate dinner with friends at a Chinese restaurant last night and my fortune cookie read: "When one door closes, another opens." Hmmmmmm.....

10--Turning in a paper a day early! I am in my 2nd semester of a PhD program; thus, I am constantly writing. What brings me joy is being in the groove and in flow with my writing!

What brings you joy???