Success

Today started out great when I woke up at eleven o’clock. After running some errands around the Brown campus, I remembered how much homework I had to do. One of those assignments was an interview of a woman in my life. I decided to do my grandmother, who is mother of three children, a doctor, a volunteer in Haiti, and quite a feminist. I learned a lot of new things about the role of women in her life, and how that has changed over time. I also learned how actively feminist she is, and how that has led her (and also other women in my family) to achieve so much. We talked on the phone for more than an hour. I realized that I hadn’t talked to her in an eternity, and I remembered how thoughtful and inspirational she is.

After lunch I had the chance to meet with Tiphany, one of my leader fellows, to discuss my developing action plan. I have decided on one involving accessibility of organic produce to low-income families (more details later...) We discussed how feasible it was, and what I may have to do if everything doesn't go as planned. Later I would find out that she had done a similar project in highschool. I will definitely be using her as a resource in the future.

At seven we had a workshop with the entire leadership institute. At the workshop, four of our leader fellows told us about their experiences with their action plans. One thing that became very apparent was that none of them achieved what they had planned to achieve. There were many obstacles that arose, and many of them ended up having to change their plan entirely. They told us to not measure the success of your action plan by if you reached your original goal, but instead by your ability to adapt to obstacles that arise and still continue trying to help that cause. They stressed having a source of mentorship or other support that can keep you motivated when times are tough. They also gave us tips on how to deal with administrators, and what the symposium in November will offer. Overall it was a helpful workshop, and made us aware of the obstacles that we may face, but to not be discouraged by them.