Posts by Paul Costello1
If you want a story to be told at the back end, the lesson the AmeriCorps Project CHANGE members learned today was that you have to design it from the front end.
Yes, you can wait for things to happen spontaneously but while you wait, most of your experience gets lost or is wasted because you created no story catching grid, or plotted no map of where you are to begin with and where you want to go. There are three stages of a story and three different energies:
We are at the BEGINNING where the energy is to CREATE.
We will progress to the MIDDLE where the energy is CORRECTIVE.
And we will come to the ENDING where the energy is to COMPLETE.
Each phase of the story is distinct, and offers a once-only opportunity. Hence it is vital to capture it. Change happens so imperceptibly that we end up forgetting what we once were.
Stealing from Aristotle’s idea that a story needs a Beginning, Middle and Ending for it to feel coherent, the members plotted their year of service across a 9 space template which turned BME on its side, to create 9 story phases of the year ahead:
Beginning of the Beginning,
Middle of the Beginning,
End of the Beginning,
Beginning of the Middle,
Middle of the Middle,
End of the Middle,
Beginning of the End,
Middle of the End,
End of the End.
At each stage of the journey, we will build a scaffold to ensure that we capture this phase of meaning as it emerges into fullness. Now we have a map, and we know how meaning will grow by layers, as we begin three times, come to a middle three times and end three times. And if it all works, we will come to the end and know the beginning for the first time, and we will be ready to launch on a new story.
ember is a time for new beginnings. School is back in business and so is Project Change, with five more member slots than before, and new partners to join the collaborative work that CHANGE has been doing in Montgomery County for the past 16 years. We want to thank our MD State and Federal funders for their vote of confidence in what we are doing.
ging with endorsement and gratitude. Here are some of the comments we heard:
u might live in a big city that tourists pay a lot of money to come see, and not ever do what the tourists do. Such was the case today when Project CHANGE took time out to visit the Lincoln Memorial, and walk through to the MLK and FDR memorials to end at the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin. For some members, though they are locals, this was their first visit.
To spend time in such inspiring places was in keeping with the mission of Project CHANGE. These great statues were first built to remember history, but then become places where new history is also made. The stories that matter are ones that keep growing new chapters. Of course, the CHANGE team don’t see themselves in the same class as these great heroes, but nevertheless, they are part of that unfolding story of leadership through service of something greater than oneself. Well Done Project CHANGE.
me management is such a challenge for us all, but especially for Project CHANGE members who have to juggle their service hours with study or family or other part time job commitments to make ends meet. Sometimes, the demands can feel overwhelming. One member recently had to give up shift work because it was just too much. He was simply not allowing himself time to sleep! How does one work out some sense of priorities when everything feels urgent and there does not seem to be enough of you or your time to go around?
Today the Project CHANGE team met to hear the story of George B Thomas Snr. and how he started the Saturday School, the 6th day of learning for disadvantaged students in Montgomery County. It is a remarkable story.
