As was noted in my college days, people no longer keep jobs in one company, or even one industry in their lifetimes as it once was. What you're good at only becomes refined as you try out more and more opportunities that come your way. Such is the song that has been calling me back out into the world, and as of this past week, I have answered. As a colleague and friend defined, I am officially FUNemployed! So what does this mean for me? And what does this mean for you?
Ill be on a scavenger hunt to find where my passions lie, ill be taking more time to love my apartment and its inhabitants, ill be taking more opportunities that I couldn't fathom adding to my once filled plate.. ill be changing up how I roll in this world.
We can hit up that place I've been telling you about for so long! You can be excited! Be supportive! Keep your eyes and ears open about places and projects that could be a good fit for me. You can write me a recommendation on LinkedIn, if that's how you roll :) but most of all, you can humble me by continuing to be a part of my truly amazing network of friends, mentors, cheerleaders, nerdstas and peers.
If you are at this page, you might have found me from the Twitterverse, and want to know a little more about me. Here are a few things you should know about how I roll on the interwebs:
Who I Am Professionally
- I am a Co-Founder of the Navigators Guild. We help guide Social Benefit Organizations to use New Media for Social Good. (Stay Tuned for all the info!)
- I was previously an Office Manager for the Interfaith Youth Core whose mission is to Inspire, Nurture, and Catalyze Interfaith Youth Leaders to promote Religious pluralism. But, I'm Rollin' On...
What I Do Passionately
- I am a Board Member for Project Vida. Project Vida is a Community Health Services Organization on the southwest neighborhood of Little Village serving the Black and Latina/o communities on the Southwest side of Chicago.
- I am a Co Organizer for the Chicago Net Tuesday Group. We meetup about the convergence of Innovation, Technology and Social Change every month on (you guessed it) the SecondTuesday of every month. (get it? NetSquared, NetTuesday??)
- I am a moderator for the 501 Tech Club of Chicago.(get it? 501 Tech, 501(c)3? )
Who I Am Personally
- I am a nerd. in fact, according to the very credible What Kind Of Nerd Are You test, i am: 65 % Nerd, 52% Geek, 35% Dork, or a Cool Modern Nerd
- I am a lesbian. i have a great girlfriend, @enuno, and i am a vocal supporter of equal rights, feminism, and androgeny!
- I am a cat owner. not totally unrelated to the point above. i have 2 cats, their names are Kittie (i call her Schmittie) and Puffkin (i call her MiniPuff)
- I am an IdeaFox! (just made this word up really...) but this is to say that i am an avid idea generator. if you ever need someone to think creatively about something, or just brainstorm... i LOVE IT! i will alpha test anything that i feel i would use, and tend to be an early adopter.
- I Am A Twitter Gangster.
- I am quite worldly. i love foreign language, cross cultural studies, rotary intl, world news services, international Telecom and Social Network industry news. and more music than i can fill the oceans with!
- I am a Nintendo Fan chica. i love video games, but most importantly, i love yoshi. me and Nintendo go way back, and i try to keep up with the amazing company (one day youll notice and hire me!!)
- I am a gadget girl. if you are looking to buy a new phone, or figure out how your new g1 works, hit me up!
- I am always trying to match people together, whether they are looking for ideas, company, tips, sites, etc.
- I am always looking for Grub Buddies
- My favorites list tends to be things i really LOL'ed at, things i need to remember, or things that i can reflect on.
- I obsessively use Exclamation marks, capitalize words at random, and ironically rarely capitalize i. Sorry grammar nerds!
- I am much more social Online than in real life (IRL), until i can determine how much of a nerd you are, then i am Uber Social!
- my most used words on twitter are w00t, Uber, Yeah, Love, and Goin, so to translate, i am an exciteable, and agreeable person, who expresses her feelings of love for lots of things, tells you where im goin, in the hopes that you will join!
So there's a little Fun Size version of how i roll, feel free to check out more posts on this blog, Tweet Me Up, or say hi at the next tweetup!
Yours, Kara C @karitas
This is a post i was invited to put on Eboo Patel's The Faith Divide blog, on Newsweek/Washington Post's On Faith website.
let me know what you think!
Guest Blogger: Blaxican and American
By Kara Carrell
Langston Hughes says that America was never America to him. And in many ways, being a Blaxican (of Black and Mexican heritage) woman, I have felt the same. In talking with my friends, mostly young people leading diverse lifestyles across the country, I’ve found the question of what it means to be American - what it means to be patriotic - being asked over and over again. The questions persist despite traits and heritage, beyond minority and majority divisions.
Langston Hughes also says,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
The Flobots, an up-and-coming band from my hometown of Denver, Colorado came out to Chicago recently. (To my excitement, they also showed up on Jay Leno recently, and they have a national tour this summer.) The Flobots’ new album, Fight With Tools, shows the band members donning American flag bandannas, as well as flags waving in the background.
As the Flobots took the stage in Chicago, I noticed a lot of American flags out in the audience, being worn and waved in the mosh pits. As the concert went on, energetic hopping matched the beat of the music. Johnny 5 and Brer Rabbit, lead emcees of the band, called out, “To all of you out in the crowd, wearing and waving the flag: we want to tell you that these flags are not for the America you know today. Not for the America that has been. This is a representation of the America to come. The America we are all building.”
Reflecting on the concert later, thinking of what the Flobots had said, I found myself able to re-own what it means to be a patriotic American - that it’s important to recognize that America has not lived up to the principles of what it can be, and that we should use that recognition as a catalyst for building the America that will be. I felt excitement in making that America happen.
Looking forward to the 4th of July, we should celebrate not only our independence, but also our interdependence; shifting our thoughts and our actions toward the revitalization of America. In this America that will be, Independence Day also becomes Interdependence Day.
The 4th of July will be filled with millions of steps we all take as citizens toward making this the America that will be - where we will build, serve, talk, clean, and take action together.
At the end of this day, when we watch the fireworks light the night sky as we barbecue with family and friends, we will not only celebrate where we have come as a nation, but the America we are building. Rising together in solidarity, we will celebrate bringing our nation that much closer to what it looks like in the eyes of our dreams.
We will have reached for it, with tools in our hands, fire in our voices, and mutual loyalty and respect in our hearts, knowing that every year, on Interdependence Day, we get closer to a real, legendary, grassroots America for which we can all be patriotic - even Langston Hughes, even the youth, and - enthusiastically - me.
Kara Carrell is the Office Manager at the Interfaith Youth Core. Her current Flobots anthem is “Rise”.
good news: the city lets you pull a permit the same day, if it's uncomplicated enough to pass the building department the same day. Go in on tuesday after lunch and emerge with the right to build.
While i was out in New Orleans, hanging with new friends, and having a wonderful time, i got to discover new songs that i love now, and re-experience songs i haven't heard in a long time. here are some of those songs:
it actually inspired me to wear my fro one day of the conference.. not near as hot.. but i tried :)
So, I noticed another vox chicas post, and she had this lovely scarf that she made, and it was being sold on her etsy account, and ice heard of etsy before, but this was the first if experienced the site, and it was the last straw. I had to start making things! out of materials that aren't recyclable, but definitely repurpose-able, like my valentines day project, and with beads, and lovely paper and excuisite colors, I even dragged Evelyn to the Michaels to look at everything... But I realize I want to be creative with things people forget about, things people assume are disposeable, and trash. I'm really interested in making mosaics and things.... And learning about new forms of creativity I may be good at producing things from....
What I love even more is that I can document it, and show the significance of each project on flickr, and on here... I think it really is a big gap I'm finding in my life, I don't give myself the time to play an create enough,
So here's to a reactivation of my creativity!
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I have a lot to learn about cultures, biologically speaking
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