Words that make me cringe

I promised myself I would write another blog about the jargon of the non-profit word, and my VISTA site, but this is just my internal discussion.

I have been thinking about jargon for the last few days because I have had to begin changing my lexicon as I begin to work at my site. I also want to make sure I write down and recognize jargon as I pick it up so that when I am describing to others my work, I can be clear to NOT use jargon words when possible. The reason is that, as I wrote earlier, when dealing with people who are coming out of poverty, jargon words act as a barrier to them, at times. The jargon of "help" from service providers can make an unpleasant experience more intimidating. To be more inclusive, we must use more inclusive language and I want a guide to maintain my own self. Like I wrote in my previous blog, adapting to the job means changing myself. This isn't bad, but an anthropologist's job is to be able to explain to other people a culture, and language can be very powerful tool or a hindrance to that task.

The other thing I found out today about myself is that I unconsciously cringe at some language. It isn't because I disagree with an idea, but the way it was presented, because of the jargon, biased me.

So my boss and I were talking about my role and opportunities that we had identified between our program and another program we are connected to. I will talk more about this SWEET program later. My boss comes from a management and especially retail environment. He has been involved for years in the chamber of commerce and in his new position at my site been building up professional business relationships. But that word "professional" is almost a jargon word itself.

Professional to me means someone who wears a suit. It means they show up to meetings, use a computer, have agendas, and is skilled in some behavior or activity. Business professional means fluff. It is a word that makes me cringe. When I think of a "business professional" I think about a person who comes up with ideas and then tells someone else what to do. Usually it has to do with how to make money. I cringe just thinking about it. It is a person (usually male) who's good ideas aren't from the employees, but something that looks good on paper. I just don't relate to it, and in a way it is the reason I became an anthropologist. I want to change what it means.

I want a "business professional" to be an anthropologist, in a way. I want them to be leaders who let the sales people, customers, and producers of the goods come up with the ideas. I don't want the top down approach in the 21st century. I think about Sam Walton. His great idea was to pay people a living wage with benefits and buy big enough lots to get the lowest price and pass that along to consumers in poor neighborhoods. He wore a cowboy hat. But his idea got so big, and was so successful, after his death, a room full of business leaders in suits run the company now. I want business leaders to be the guy in the hat, not the suit. Suits make decisions based on numbers. Hard hats make decisions based on people.

But this is my internal stereotype. And I know it isn't always fair. I still know that "big business" is not all roses. There are businesses that don't make decisions based on sustainability, responsible stewardship of the environment, or its human cost. I also know that a lot of work has been spent, not just on re-branding corporations to look more friendly, but some really are more friendly. My internal bias still causes me to cringe at the word "business" or "business community."

This goes back to my discussion of jargon. The non-profit, especially private non-profit, world has adopted a language of business. I have a list of the words I have been keeping, but let me high-light a few: assets, investment, capital, production, entity, ask, development, cost, target, and mission.

As I become more educated about what I do and my "mission" at my service site, the language can change me, but do I want it to?

Netroots Nation Day 1

Okay, here is post 1 about my trip to NN08!
I got to SLC about midnight and met my friend Chris's mom, Lordes. She is very interesting, her house is filled with stuff, all kinds of stuff. Ranging from cheap crap to very expensive foreign dolls, this place is packed. I slept with, gah! of all things, a bed full of elephants.

You know what they say..."if you lie with the dogs, you will get flees". I don't know just what I'll get from sleeping with elephants.



So I got to Phoenix about 6:40 am. I had breakfast with my friend Ellen.

I had very nice conversations on the flights with lovely people. One is Affton a BYU student, and another was Linda, a woman from California.

We talked the whole time on the planes and really didn't get bored for a moment. it is nice to meet new people, and it was a treat that I sat next to them.




I got to Austin about 1:40 pm and got my suitcase and then met up with Dorothy from Hawaii. We took a taxi ride to the hotel. I checked in, took a shower and then had a minor emergency!
The cord to charge my computer was dead and I couldn't charge my computer! So I took at $12 cab ride to the place where I could get one, and $45 later, I had a new charger. The guy at the hotel said it would cost just $.050 to ride the #3 bus back to the hotel, but I couldn't find the bus stop, so I decided to walk. I was on 26th st, and the hotel is on 3rd and over about 6 blocks. I wasn't thinking right when I realized that this is about 3 miles! It was humid and about 95 degrees outside, but I walked back to the hotel. Here were some of the sites I saw walking back to my hotel.

I was carrying my purse and my computer, and I was sweating like a pig...just look at my shirt when I got back.

Then I went back to the hotel. changed my shirt and blogged a bit.







Then I went to the BurntOrange party. It hadn't started yet, so I got a fat tire beer and talked to a local regular about the soccor game on TV.

I went outside where I met some wonderful people. I met Greg from MT and a local Austinite who has some great ideas about precinct grassroots organizing. Greg from MT and I talked a bit about rural politics, and MT. There was another guy there who was cool who was wearing a gree O*bama shirt and responsible for a cool flier I want to post on my door in the hotel. It says "Democracy begins at Home" and has suggestions on organizing neighborhoods.

During the BurntOrange party I met the founders of Drinking Liberally! Here they are. Greg is in the middle, and I forget the guy on the left's name, but you can look it up by going to drinkingliberally.org.
I got swag bag and was so starving, I ate the fortune cookie right away. Check out this fortune..."For some sad reason, you still have high hopes for Ron Paul". So I taped it to a postcard I'm sending to a friend.

Well, I'm off again. I'll post more later.
Peace!