Nice To See You! How Have You Been?

I realize that it has been almost a year since the last update here at rise up buffalo.  To my readers, I am truly sorry.  Life has become chock full of things to be done and this web journal had to be put on the back burner for a bit.  I should have mentioned that, but sometimes life takes off before you have time to give notice.  Anyway – we are back now and hopefully there will be weekly updates of goodness for you to ingest.  

Here are some of the things that have been happening elsewhere, but are, in many ways, connected to rise up buffalo:

For all you gender studies folks, and those of you that could use a couple lessons in gender studies, we present not just girls, a place to learn and pass it on.

Are you interested in wiping out hatred? Squashing bullying? Eliminating racism and discrimination? Join us at Hatred Be Gone where we will attempt to put a positive spin on the negativity that comes from discrimination and hatred. Moving toward a world without hatred. This includes the hatred perpetrated by those that are discriminating in the name of religious beliefs. This is the worst type of hatred, couched in the words of scripture or a system of belief. Hatred Be Gone! Poof!

hippiegrrl explains it all is up and running! We are finally on our own server. All the old posts from Backwash.com are archived here, as well as the new goodness. Please pop by and check it out when you have a moment to spare.

In the future we will have a landing page for all the “hippiegrrl” properties, but for now we are scattered across the interwebs. Safe travels and see you again soon!

Peace,
Chantale

The Internet and Procrastination

I start off on a good note. Looking things up. Reading articles. Doing schoolwork. And then, all of a sudden, something happens. Like a shiny coin in the corner of a webpage, I see a link that takes me away from my original thought. I follow this link and begin reading other articles. Eventually, an hour later, I realize that I am off on a completely different track than where I began. So is the nature of the Internet. So much stuff, so little time. It would be nice to take it all in and get things accomplished, but I feel like only 30% of my time on the computer is productive. The Internet is the best place for a procrastinator. Even as I am in the middle of doing actual coding homework, I get side tracked and end up doing something other than what I began with. Is this so for others? Or am I just bad at keeping on task? Share with me. Tell me your thoughts…

Peace,
Chantale

Are you registered?

It is almost time to select our next president. If you are not registered yet, please use this form to do so. We need to band together and keep moving forward.
Our country cannot afford four years of another Republican. We had eight years that got us to where we are and now that we are finally coming out of it, we need to keep going on this better path. Obama will get us further down the road to improvements in our economy while maintaining our rights. Romney, as surrogate for the right wing, crazy conservative, tea party influenced, Republican Party, will take away the rights of women through policies that harm EVERYONE!

Register and then get to the polls! It is your right, your privilege, and your duty to do so.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

New Year New You

I never attempt to make resolutions. I feel they are a waste of time. Something to dwell on that usually disappoints in the end. Instead, I prefer to make goals. I suppose goals are resolutions cloaked in the costume of positivity, but they always seem more attainable. Resolutions have the pressure of one year, while goals have a forward motion. They can be completed within the new year or they can be ongoing, in perpetuity.

When I graduated from my first bachelors program at buffalo state, in 1997, I made my first, hand written, goal list. A five year plan. Before that, I had myriad lists dealing with everything from simple daily tasks to my ultimate goals. They were usually in my head and sometimes committed to a piece of paper in my journal. Always hand written and erasable, they were fluid. A business idea here and a song idea there. Ever changing and evolving. These lists were little reminders to keep breathing. To keep pushing forward. Without the little daily lists I may have just stayed in bed every morning and not bothered to try anything.

The first official, hand written, proper list had pieces of furniture on it. All the things I needed and wanted for my very first apartment. This sounds odd for me to consider as my first true goal list, but I really believe it was. It was written by my friend, over coffee, as we discussed the things we were going to bring from our homes and the things we would need to buy. It was three pages long and listed so many items that we would have never been able to fit everything into an apartment the size of which we could actually afford to pay the rent on, monthly.

I was reminded of this list while cleaning out boxes in my “office” on the weekend. I found it in a box with mementos from my longest running career and old wall hangings from my room in my parents house. It was stuffed in a folder next to pages of writing for an old ‘zine that I attempted to write and distribute on campus. Cackling from the depths of the box, it mocked me. Look at me! I am your first list! I am the one that got away! I am the reason you are still in Buffalo! I was your way out and you stuffed me in a folder to be stuffed in a box to be found 15 years later to create a lamenting! Why have you forsaken me so? If only you would have made it work. If only you would have packed up your room, bought a few items from me and moved in with your friend’ you might be further along now.

This is an interesting thing to think about. If you could go back in time and take a different path, would you? If you did, what would change? In the case of this list, I would have moved in with my friend, who was the reason I met my husband. So the writer would still be in the picture. I would have learned a earlier about feminism and sociology. I would have worked at a coffeehouse, instead of a bank. I would have most likely went back to school earlier and by now I would be at the end of my phd road, rather than the beginning. All these things could have been or it could have been the opposite. I could have not been able to afford rent and moved back in with my parents. Having been defeated, I would have probably still applied at teletech and worked there for two years, restarting the same history, but two years later, putting me two more years behind on that phd. So it could go either way. The best thing to do is to be thankful for what I have and move forward. Make a plan to become a sociology professor and go for it. Make it work anyway that I can. Scrimp and save, beg and borrow, and get to the end point.

So this brings me back to my goal list. For 2012 and beyond, here are the things I would like to accomplish, moving forward.

– get a new job
– start a masters program, leading to a phd
– move to north buffalo, temporarily, to save money

That is enough for now. This list should grow over the next few months and years to encompass my future. We shall see how it goes. Positivity is the key!

Peace,
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

Positivity aka Ways to Piss People Off

There have been days, over the past few months, that I want to crawl up into a ball and forget that I have a job. I do not want to get out of bed in the morning. I do not want to take a shower, get in my car and drive to that place, punch in and start my day. I just want to go to school or the caffe or the library. I do not want to have to deal with the never-ending stream of issues that come with being in the customer service field. I have no choice, so I continue to get out of bed, take a shower, drive my car to that place, punch in and start my day.

This week I have decided that since I have no choice in the matter I might as well attempt to make the best of it, while I have to. Until something better comes along, this is what is. So rather than wallowing in self pity or feeling so badly that I cry all the way home from work, I am going to start looking on the bright side.

WHAT? If you know me personally that is probably the word that is screaming in your head right now. Why would I want to look on the bright side? Well – for my sanity I suppose. If I do not start being a positive person nothing will change. I am hoping that the opposite of that last statement is also true. If I start being a positive person everything will change.

This is all fine and good. I can be a positive person in my little corner of the world. I can schluff off all the crap that comes my way on a daily basis. I can pretend that the ways that people speak to me is not a big deal. I can ignore the pettiness and the insecurity of others and chalk it up to the field I am in. The problem, you see, does not lie within the walls of my workplace. The problem lies with the people I know outside of those four walls.

Since I have started this new, positive, outlook I have had several questions from people close to me. Questions such as, “what is up with you?” or “why are you acting so weird?”. C’mon people! I am trying to be positive here. Work with me!

Living in Buffalo, it is nearly impossible to stay on the bright side. There are always people, at every turn, that want to drag you back down into the doldrums of life in the downer city. If you are positive they are almost always upset with you. Believe me, I have a hard time staying positive. It is nearly impossible when things continue to get worse, but I think that if we just except our fate and be negative all the time nothing will ever change. So this is my plea to everyone. Please try to be positive. And if you cannot be positive yourself, please at least let others who are trying to be, be. I realize that I used to be (and will fall off the wagon many times to return to) negative as well, but this is a new leaf. New leaves are difficult and cumbersome, but in the end they are the best way to move forward.

So, why not join me in turning over this new leaf? There are a few great blogs that I have been reading to get me into the swing of things. Check them out! They may make you become a positive person as well. And do not worry – my cynical sarcasm is still intact, the positivity is only work related. Have a great day and happy protesting!!

Peacefully,
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

Links of note:
cordelia calls it quits
the happiness project
project happiness
brazen careerist

From the archives – back from the big city – 30 june 2007

yes, we have returned!

spending a weekend in toronto (or canada in general) always makes us want to do more for the environment. it also nudges us more in the direction of activism. realizing that toronto is a major metorpolitan area, you would think this wouldn’t be the case, but they are very conscious of usage, recycling, etc. up there.

so – considering the fact that we don’t want to be left behind when it comes to environmental awareness & activism, here are a few links to things happening locally in the western new york community!

re-tree wny – group formed to start the replanting process this coming fall for the trees that were lost during our storm in october 2006.

streets are for people – this group is organized in the toronto gta (mainly the queen west/kensington market neighbourhoods) to take back the streets for people. buffalo could use a little of this.

buffalo blue bicycle – buffalo’s bike sharing program. a great way for citizens to get back into biking without making a large investment in a new bicycle. you can join the club, learn how to repair bikes and share with other like-minded biking citizens! a season membership is only $25 or 6 hours of service helping to repair/maintain bikes. not bad!!!

freegans – As it states on the freegan website – “Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.”

push buffalo – helping low income individuals and families turn the page and become homeowners – one house at a time.

massachusetts avenue project – the mission of map is to “nurture the growth of a diverse and equitable community food system to promote local economic opportunities, access to affordable, nutritious food, and social-change education” and they have several ongoing programs to help them accomplish these goals!

queen city farm – a project that is still in the early stages, bringing the ability for fresh food and growing to the east side of buffalo.

i realize that this is quite a bit of information, but we are trying to get back on the right foot with this site. please join us in supporting these amazing groups and give you two cents on the comment board!

peace & happy marching –
hippiegrrl

Is This A Dream?

Sometimes I wonder if my current state is merely a dream and that someday soon I will wake up to a different reality. I will still have the same apartment and the same significant other, but I will be doing something else (something better and more important) with my life. On that day I will rise in the morning, be happy to get out of bed and go to my wonderful job, teaching the future leaders of the world. Until that day, I am living in a haze of good intentions. Until that day, I am applying to PhD programs and attempting to make something of myself. Until that day, I will continue to be a low level employee, working my butt off for very little money, induring great heaping piles of micro-management.

As you may or may not know, I dislike my job. Mostly because it feels like I have taken several steps backward to get to it. At any given time in my past you could have found me managing IT projects for a small community based bank, doing the barista thing, or stocking the shelves at the college bookstore. For a short time I did a stint as a teller, hoping it would evolve into something more. It did not. The only solution is to take a different path. Customer service has been at the root of nearly every job I have had in my life. This has to change. I have finally figured it out. I do not enjoy waiting on people!

So – working from that realization will get me beyond this simple, but tedious and aggravating job set. Moving toward being a professor, working on web design and development as a freelancer, writing articles for hyperlocal media and journals. These are career paths that will lead to somewhere better. Somewhere challenging and fun and not so staunchly conservative or sales based. My dream will come true someday, only this dream will include a classroom and office hours, not a knight in shining armour.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

What I’m reading now:
Book: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Magazine: Ms.
Online article: The Only Child: Not a Loner?

“They” as an Obstacle to the Future

Today I feel like getting a little motivational – for my readers and myself. Sometimes one just needs a kick in the behind to see the light. This is me sharing my thoughts with you and hopefully it will benefit both of us!

Over the years, I have worked for many companies that push the idea of loyalty as a core value for employees to abide by. Loyalty can mean many things, and in some cases it is definitely a plus. However, when the idea of loyalty becomes a crutch by which owners and operators rule their roost, it can get sticky.

We have been brainwashed, in this bootstrap, dollar and a dream country, to believe that if we work hard for the corporation we will get something in return. “They” will give us a raise or a promotion or whatever old thing we want for our efforts, down the road. “They” will be upset if we do not achieve. “They” will be hurt if we decide that there is a better opportunity that we want to grab and leave “them” for that brighter future.

Well, “they” are not worth it. “They” are not thinking about our futures, but merely the bottom line. As “they” continue forward the money will roll in or it will not, while opportunities for us will come and go. Living for “they” sometimes hurts us and we need to stand strong in our convictions.

Always remember that “they” are in it for themselves, not the betterment of the community of workers. “They” are not thinking about our family and friends. “They” are not thinking about our growth as human beings as well as career-minded individuals. “They” are always and continuously thinking about the bottom line. People that get in the way of this pursuit for profit will be labeled unloyal or insubordinate. This cannot be a deterrent to continuing on the best path for oneself. “They” will go on surviving (and thriving even) without us if we decide to move on to more important pursuits for ourselves.

So – I propose that each of us begin living and working for “us”, rather than “they”. This change in perspective can you do you well. When faced with a better job opportunity think of how it will better “us” and not how it will hurt “they”. “They” cannot be hurt in the ways that “us” can be, so there should be no feelings of guilt. “They” will continue on without “us” so “we” need to be able to continue on without “them”.

Sometimes the “they” is not a real group of people. Sometimes it is a force that is inside each individual, standing in the way of true growth. “They” is sometimes used as an excuse and this is something that needs to change. Fear of the future can create a “they” in our minds that does not exist in reality. Roadblocks can transform into the “they” that keeps us from making it to the other side of our goals. We need to power through the “they” in each life, real or imagined, and move through to bigger and better things. Without drive and confidence in ourselves, “we” will always be subordinate to “they” and never become the “I” we were each meant to be.

Peace – Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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