Monday, February 23, 2015

Tessa: Food for thought blog cuatro

This is going to be a disjointed post because that’s how my brain feels at the moment. Also, I apologize for the lateness.

I’ll start with Mark’s visit. One, I thought he was awesome. Very personable and eager to help with our ventures in any way he could. He certainly restored my faith in the Heinz community for a second. Two, he talked about his venture (real life) so effortlessly. I was really impressed and took notes. His visit also reminded me that people are people and it really isn’t that scary to have conversations with them. The worst-case scenario is never that bad…

In terms of class reading reflections… I have a lot to digest and think about, which is why this post is kind of a hot mess. My two biggest areas of thought right now are: competitors and AAA stakeholders. I feel like stakeholders can really make or break my venture so I’m looking forward to talking to potential advocates, adversaries and agnostics. My venture idea certainly has competition it just depends on how broadly I want to define that competition, which is interesting to think about. Arguably, 11th AP English class could be a competitor.

I did a fair amount of extra reading this week that related to my venture:


1.     A Texas Community Takes On Racial Tensions Once Hidden Under the Surface
Texas for the win? A very progressive neighborhood in Austin has created a forum to talk about race after a few profiling incidents occurred. The article talks about how the conversations were born not out of “capital R” racism, but microagressions. This article made me feel even more secure in my ventures goal.

2.     Problems Too Disgusting To Solve
This article reminded me of how social ventures sometimes try to tackle really big and important problems. In class we talked about climate change and how it’s difficult to impact it because it’s so large and overwhelming. Nelson Mandela said “It seems impossible until it’s done.” Race relations isn’t something one venture is going to cure, but a small dent is better than tip-toeing around.

3.     At New York Private Schools, Challenging White Privilege From The Inside
The curriculum in this article is what I’m envisioning for my venture. It will somewhat different because the audience in Pittsburgh certainly is not upper west side NYC… Some parents were NOT feeling this, though.


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