Oh, holism!

So, I've been reading just about everything I can get my hands on at Girls Inc., and I've come to realize that I need to write to organize my thoughts way more than I initially thought. I thought I would just be reading lots of sometimes/always/never and strongly agree/agree/neutral/disagree/strongly disagree-type surveys all day. Instead, I've found that everything at Girls Inc. is super-interconnected. The right hand knows exactly what the left hand is doing, may have helped plan the activity, and probably volunteered to help. And that makes sense. Girls Inc. programs are supposed to be for the whole girl (mental, emotional, physical). They hired an Evaluation Specialist with a holistic perspective. So of course the organizational structure is anything but compartmentalized! And my job is WAY more fun this way.

I'm in this weird situation where I need some initial interviews with people before I can work independently much more, so I think the next few posts will be me working through ideas I have and opinions that I need to clarify. Here's a short list, mostly for my own memory.

1. Is AmeriCorps VISTA effective/neccesary? Is my year of service morally valid?
2. How does Girls Inc. fit into my own beliefs about gender? What will I say to people who doubt that gender-specific organizations are neccesary?
3. Why do I like my job so much? Is it because of the heavy ethnographic component or because I like working in nonprofit?
4. My own top 5 educators, top 5 role models, etc.
5. Mother Nature by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy