Social Quirk

Hi, and welcome to the Social Quirk blog.

Before I get started on this new, illustrious job (NYU gives me a $1,000 gift certificate to its bookstore in exchange for nine months of blogging) I guess I should say what brought me here.

NYU's School of Social Work asked me three questions:

Why are you studying social work? What brought you into the field?

My decision to become a social worker is not too different from what drew me to become a journalist -- a belief in social justice, empathy, raising awareness to social problems and fighting for appropriate social policy.

My hope is to continue with both careers - aiming to use my background in print, radio and online journalism to work on the macro-level (advocating for policy changes), while using my training in social work to provide micro-level change (via direct-service).

It's not hard to see how both these fields can inform the other.

To hone in on what brought me into these fields: I always wanted to be a social worker and it seems to be one of the things I'm best at. But if I didn't pursue the journalism end of things and establish skills to change policy, I think I'd get incredibly frustrated doing social work.

One of the issues I hope to continue to hone in on is domestic violence. In my volunteer work, I craved clinical training to provide more support.

Meanwhile, life handed me a unique situation - at 18, I did an imperfect crisis intervention with a suicidal sex offender who was attempting to drown himself until I came by (he was drowning himself by my favorite reading spot).

I became fascinated by the issue of finding out if there was such thing as effective treatment for this population. To boot, I was surprised by my ability to show empathy for this man, even though I was disgusted by what he had done.

As I've entered NYU's MSW program, I've gotten increasingly interested in working with sex offenders in hopes of decreasing the recidivism rate.

It is also a strange kind of funny when people ask me what I see myself doing after grad school and I say "I'm thinking about working with sex offenders."

What do you hope to get out of being a blogger? What benefit can the bloggers bring to the Silver School community?

There is so much you can get out of being a blogger, strangely enough.

As I returned to New York City after work/living in South Africa for a year, I got a job with The National Law Journal as an assistant web editor and the blog editor/writer for their brand new Los Angeles "blawg", L.A. Legal Pad.

I'm not a lawyer. I've never been to Los Angeles. I'd never consistently written a blog. And yet, here I was writing ten blog entries a day on the Los Angeles legal scene from New York City.

Even stranger, lawyers who didn't know my background (or rather, lack thereof) wrote complimentary letters that I "got" L.A. and provided a in-depth, critical look at what was going on.

Strangest, the blog readership went from 60 readers per day to up to 1000 per day and the blog was named one of the best legal blogs that year by the American Bar Association.

That experience has been incredibly instructive in my knowledge of law and social issues in Southern California. The big thing I got out of it was it forced me to seek out news I might not always find and critically look at it.

I have no doubt I'd get the same thing out of being one of the social work bloggers. I generally read a few newspapers a day, but I don't hone in on issues specific to the social work field i.e. LCSW issues, NASW-NYC advocacy campaigns. (check the Widget's to the right - it's getting done)

Also, getting feedback only makes me grow as a social worker and rethink/better develop my thoughts. A certain level of critical thinking is also just added by the fact that you know someone is reading.

In regards to the second question -- what positive things bloggers can bring to the Silver School community -- it comes down to some of the basics of journalism and social work. Blogging can just be a vent. It can be a student telling their troubles and, should fellow students stumble upon it, they might relate.

But it also can be something to bring students together around issues, written in clear language, that helps them get what's going on, find out useful resources and prepare for the challenges outside the school.

I often find myself sharing links, newspaper clippings, or resources with other students in my classes. Since many classes are guided by a general template of readings, a blog can help stimulate thinking on areas missed or supplement broad issues.

Write about a time when an academic experience shed light on a personal/extra-curricular experience, or vice-versa.

Around the time I started social work, I also started dancing. It was on my to-do list of things I'm afraid to do.

I was anxious with each step and there was no doubt, everyone was much better than me. But I hoped, taking several classes and practicing at dances, that Latin and swing dancing would be similar to language - immerse myself and it'll all work out.

At the same time, I was trying to do the same think in social work. It seemed that all the other students had gotten a BA in psychology or a BSW (why, oh why had I done journalism?). Being a self-proclaimed nerd, this sucked. Suddenly, a dunce hat seemed stuck to my head and I
worried about responses to my questions.

To boot, I was placed in a drug treatment center on the women's rehab floor. I'm a skinny, single Jewish kid who's never done a drug and I'm trying to counsel middle-aged mothers with often histories of drug-addiction and sexual abuse that began in childhood.

And here, NYU just threw me into the placement. No training. No nothing. I guess I'm going to ask, "how's that make you feel" in 60 variations, I thought.

I felt awkward. I felt like I was dancing.

At first, there'd be a piece here, a piece there that I'd learn. As I danced to the music, I was constantly in my head, thinking about the next step. "Had I already done that one? Shit, how am I going to fill 3 minutes with these three moves?! She's going to get frustrated and bored with me."

Meanwhile, as I worked with clients, the same thing was going on, and I started to notice. I was stuck in my head and, especially in groups, wanted everything planned out. I kept thinking "how should I ask that? Shit, I need to come up with better questions than that. How am
I going to fill a 60 minute group? They're all going to get frustrated and bored with me."

But slowly, something started to happen. I got a rhythm, a certain level of self-confidence. I wasn't thinking about my steps or worrying about filling up the song/session. I could manage it, as long as I kept with it and saw it through. I would survive this and, hell, I might even get good.

Sure enough, I find myself happily celebrating the conclusion of my first year at the Silver School of Social Work and my 1-year swingaversary.