By Angela Cormican
Intern, Center for a Sustainable Future
“It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without ribbons or boxes or bags.”
Rate? Measurements? To reflect on the 7 practices at right, and answer to the level of growth or to grade the internship experience and structure, one image comes to mind:
Scene:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas, cartoon version…The Grinch is all pissy because he hears all of these Who’s singing, and sees them holding hands and stuff, like they didn’t give a crap that he just came in and stole all of their Holiday cheer, and they are carrying on, and the Grinch is like hit, these people get it…they do not need all of this ridiculous stuff that is bad for everyone…maybe life, er, Christmas, means a little more, just maybe…
The General Idea:
The image of the Grinch’s heart shown growing three times on Christmas Day…that is the result and the “rating” I have to give to intensive sustainable thought, engaging scholarly and field practice, and internship experiences at IU South Bend. Since my introduction to sustainable studies by Dr. Sernau, I have been writing, thinking, and feeling differently, acting differently, doing different things…My heart has grown three times since, I will never be the same, changed, and I continue to live by the seven practices to be a champion of sustainability.
YES! I have grown so much from this internship…just in the past few months I have been engaging with our community, signing people up for energy audits at a Jewish synagogue (didn’t see that one coming), filming food debates at a national conference, laying on the floor of the anthropology meeting room, digging in the dirt, shoveling mulch, making things happen at the campus garden, creating publications for students for classes and clubs, on hand to take pics and support group members, get Adopt-a-Box going, in theory, online and with students, 12 steps to a sustainable future, and this whole conservation club at the kid’s school, and deciding, for sure what I want to be when I grow up…Thank you Professor Bailey for being there for me, on your giant green ball, thank you.
Growth is not exactly the word I would use to describe what happens when you begin to live a different vision…it is more shock and denial and maybe a little depression, and maybe a confrontation or two…on the downside, BUT your heart can grow, and your perspective can grow, and your patience can grow, and all that leads to a new you…and that is pretty valuable, on any scale.
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