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jenettWander in, invite a friend to come along, and chat! (Not sure what's going on? Here, have a brief FAQ.) You can find previous ones in my salon tag. Please take a quick look at the reminders at the bottom of this post, too.
Today is the first day of classes at my place of work, and I'm still a little startled, somehow, about the transition from the laziness of August (when there's almost no one on campus except those of us who have 12 month contracts) to the bustle of the school year. (I have also hit my seasonal "my lungs hate September" moment, so I am not at my best, which is not exactly helping. It's been a very damp summer, and my mold allergies, they are complaining.)
Because of how I spent Saturday, I think this week, I'm going to snag an ideajjhunter brought up a month or so ago, of wanting to talk about relationships, and how to go about finding them or making the most of them.
Not just the romantic ones, but mentoring ones, friendships, teacher and student, parent and child, siblings, colleagues, and all the things that make communities and connections and the families we choose and the ones we don't and connections we make and the ones we don't.
(Why this week? Because I spent Saturday out with some awesome women, met via striking up a conversation in a restaurant in February. We all had a blast, but one of the things we've talked about a lot is how rare those kinds of friendships are in their lives. I have a *lot more* of that kind of interaction than the other four, but most of it is online and separated by distance.)
A few final notes
As noted, the basic thing here is 'leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse'. The FAQ has more help with your choices for comment (DW account, OpenID account, or anonymously) if you need a hand. Or ask, and someone (likely me, but maybe not) will be along to help. We'll work everything else out as we go.
Today is the first day of classes at my place of work, and I'm still a little startled, somehow, about the transition from the laziness of August (when there's almost no one on campus except those of us who have 12 month contracts) to the bustle of the school year. (I have also hit my seasonal "my lungs hate September" moment, so I am not at my best, which is not exactly helping. It's been a very damp summer, and my mold allergies, they are complaining.)
Because of how I spent Saturday, I think this week, I'm going to snag an idea
jjhunter brought up a month or so ago, of wanting to talk about relationships, and how to go about finding them or making the most of them. Not just the romantic ones, but mentoring ones, friendships, teacher and student, parent and child, siblings, colleagues, and all the things that make communities and connections and the families we choose and the ones we don't and connections we make and the ones we don't.
(Why this week? Because I spent Saturday out with some awesome women, met via striking up a conversation in a restaurant in February. We all had a blast, but one of the things we've talked about a lot is how rare those kinds of friendships are in their lives. I have a *lot more* of that kind of interaction than the other four, but most of it is online and separated by distance.)
A few final notes
As noted, the basic thing here is 'leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse'. The FAQ has more help with your choices for comment (DW account, OpenID account, or anonymously) if you need a hand. Or ask, and someone (likely me, but maybe not) will be along to help. We'll work everything else out as we go.
Tags:
Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-04 02:19 pm (UTC)- keeping an up-to-date list of bugs for beginners in a prominent place
- making sure that every time I say anything in an I'd-like-to-mentor-you capacity I give a list of ways to get in touch with me, and say "please feel encouraged" (rather than "please feel free")
- talking in public about mistakes I've made or things I've found overwhelming and about how I think volunteer environments of this kind ought to feel
I don't know what else it should look like; this is kind of new to me; but I am trying, and it does seem to be working, both in terms of getting people I know who've been scared to try involved, and I've had several complete strangers rock up and say "on the strength of that thing you wrote, I want to give this a go", or "this thing you are doing is useful, thanks, but I don't need anything from you at the moment!" -- which -- is all really, really lovely.
Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-04 04:29 pm (UTC)(And I say this as someone who is circling around the idea of looking at some baby-dev type stuff, but who needs to get several other projects going useful directions first.)
The one thing I think is also good to keep in mind in mentoring settings is that no one's the right mentor for everyone, and that's okay. (Which is why it's good to have a variety of mentors handy when a group can.)
Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-04 06:05 pm (UTC)(I TOTALLY GET having other things higher up the priorities list. The project will still be here when you find time. ♥)
Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-04 06:40 pm (UTC)(And heh, yes. Multiple projects, though once I get the Alternity wiki done, it'll free up a certain amount of space. Maybe also brain.)
Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-04 11:12 pm (UTC)I think I'll switch my phrasing when making offers of assistance of various sorts to use that, too. Thank you!
Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-05 02:36 am (UTC)Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-05 11:44 am (UTC)Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-06 11:44 pm (UTC)Re: Mentoring - as mentor
Date: 2013-09-07 07:34 pm (UTC)So glad you like the list of Things Real DW Programmers Do! :-)