A Day to remember...

Today, 10 years ago we lost a family friend. Carissa Deason was a friend of my sisters and someone I looked up to as a 12 year old. She was killed on her way home from spring break her senior year of high school by a drunk driver. It was early in the morning and we were driving home from orlando, and we passed a crash on the side of the road in Tennessee. Not knowing anything yet, we said "That looks like the Deason's SUV", but continued driving back home. It wasn't until later that afternoon that we heard the news that Carissa had died. Her father, an ER doctor, couldn't do anything to help her after the crash. She was airlifted at the scene....

I cannot believe that 10 years have passed since the accident, but every time I hear of people drinking and driving I do not forget the consequences. Its a topic that is really close to the heart.

Below is a link for the PSA that was aired about her. Take a Look.

R.I.P Carissa Sue Deason

1981-1999

JoyStar Family Interactive Entertainment Network - Drunk Driving Prevention-Carissa Deason

Extreme Home Family!

I just recieved the email about the family we will be helping and I am so excited about it.

The McFarland Familyfrom left to right: Curtis, Bernard (father), Dominique, and Courtney

This morning, one special Indianapolis family heard Ty's famous greeting, "Good Morning McFarland Family" and knew that their lives were about to change.

Meet the McFarland Family:Inspired by a librarian, Bernard McFarland learned the power of books at an early age. Though raised in an impoverished family, Bernard McFarland overcame his obstacles with his thirst for knowledge and graduated from college.
Bernard has a personal mission to redirect the minds of the children in his neighborhood, Martindale Brightwood, with "Pack House 2000," a program dedicated to helping exercise the minds. A hero to many in his neighborhood, Bernard expands their dreams by forming reading groups and organizing field trips to libraries, museums and cultural events throughout the city. As Bernard leads these efforts to help children realize their full potential, the McFarland home has deteriorated to an unsafe dwelling where his sons, Courtney, Curtis and Dominique sleep on the floor of their shared bedroom.
This week, the McFarlands will enjoy a much deserved vacation, while The Estridge Companies, the Indianapolis community, and the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team: Ty Pennington and his designers, Paul Dimeo, Michael Mallony, Paige Hennis, and Ed Sanders, fulfill the wish of this inspiring father and his family who have helped so many capture their dreams of a greater education and better life.
This Extreme Makeover build is unique in that it will transform the lives of not only one family, but their neighborhood as well. Follow the transformation on estridge.com and visit the build site to support your Indianapolis Extreme build team.

It is incredible how many people in the community have volunteered their time to help an amazing family. I feel so honored to be able to be a part of it. Though this family has been through a lot, it is great to see the leadership Bernard, the father, has encouraged to many others in the community.

amazing.

I understand the concept of the class in the fact that we report to the leaders who report to the president and then to the CEO.. I get it.

What we did in class yesterday made me realize a couple of things:

What I do not like about this process is how many people are in our groups. It is hard for 20 of us to come together and write a paper when it seems like there are not enough ways for us to divide it up. If it were a 20 page paper then fine, we each get a page. People are afraid to speak out maybe beacause they are shy or just do not have an opinion, but it is really hard for people to speak out in a group full of strangers. (I know, this is what will happen in the real world). I also do not understand why our president is not even in our class. Okay, he took the class in the past-- but don't you think someone in our class should be given the opportunity to help run it the way we want? I also do not understand why all the grades for what we have done aren't posted. I do all of the extra credit and get emails back with points but they do not seem to get recorded.

I really am learning a lot from this class. It constanly challenges you to become a better person, leader, etc. Maybe because it is unlike any other class I have had, but it seems so unorganized to me and is always in complete chaos. Maybe that is part of the lesson though. To be able to learn that things need to be organized, properly communicated, and interesting.

uuuuuuh, i dont know...

It seems like it has been a long time since we were on Spring Break. I loved how the moment I stepped of the plane and turned on my phone, I was welcomed with about 5 emails from Feinberg himself. "Welcome Home" I thought to myself. As I realized there are only enough weeks left to count on one hand, I thought "how can I be remarkable" in these last couple weeks. Luckily I am not graduating so I do not need to focus on a job in this awful market. I am studying abroad in Sydney this summer with an internship so there is no worries to find one of those. A rare opportunity came to me that would be awesome to step up to. I had the opportunity to sign up as a volunteer for ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition in Indianapolis this coming weekend. Yah, I am a fan of the show but to be able to help out with such an amazing experience is awesome to me.

Anyways.. this class is always making us think outside the box, and thats exactly what is going on for IM2... we have to spend more hours thinking about a movie we can even write about than it will take to actually write the paper. I am really trying to find something that will enable me to write an interesting analyis and not just a crap paper. As much as I want to get it over with, I hate submitting crappy work.

As you can tell, I am running out of things to talk about and I apologize to whoever it is that has to read my blogs....

In the words of Feinberg..

YO

the leadership backbone

"The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. " --Elaine Agather

After class last week, our group leader sent out this quote. I totally agree with it. You either have the guts or in this case backbone to step up to be a leader, and you develop yourself from that. You will learn when it is appropriate to pull out the "funny bone" and be charasmatic. Once you are a leader, you can then use that to set goals for the future which would be the "wish bone".

This quote reminds me back to the day people nominated themselves to be leaders. The people with backbones immediately stood up and walked to the front, and I hesitated. I stood up but I didnt make it down the the front in time because I had to think about it. This doesnt say that I dont have a backbone, maybe it is just not as strong as others.....

On a roll....

I have really been trying to "be remarkable" in this class. I have been trying to really analyize things rather than just summarize. I was so excited to receive the feedback from Feinberg that I made his wall of greatness or whatever it was called for my memo on The Queen. I worked hard on it and I was excited to get a High A and that he even posted part of my paper in the email. I was also excited about the extra credit. The very first clip in the email had a clip from the movie Pay it Forward with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osmond (sp?) .. which oddly enough was the same movie I sent a clip of in for extra credit. I'm finally getting a hold on this class and I like the way it is constantly challenging me to do things differently and outside the norm.

Props to my group leader Kaileigh-- she is doing a great job!