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Posts by author:
Lily Brent
 You may not have noticed, but you haven’t heard from me in a while. I was trapped under the giant avalanche of papers that is graduate school. Some of these papers were generated by me, most were authored by others. I had to read my way out. It was harrowing.
In my last dispatches, I wrote about the anxiety of starting grad school. Of settling on a course of action. Of debt. So the big question is, one semester in, did I make the right choice? Is it worth it?
So far, I am happy I decided to attend social work school. I can’t make much of a comparison between my school and others (except for, ahem, the bill), but I think social work is a kick-ass profession. Like most fields, social work has some problematic (read: paternalistic/racist/classist/homophobic) history that can not be excused. Then as now, social workers are tackling some of society’s thorniest problems, and sometimes we do it well and sometimes we do it poorly. That said, I appreciate a graduate program with a curriculum that requires all students to turn a critical eye toward themselves and the systems they participate in, to study oppression and how to combat it. Read more →
Tagged as:
education,
jewish social justice careers,
skills
You can’t always have the answer. No matter how many years of field experience you have, no matter how many books you read, you can’t be prepared for any eventuality. But how desperately I wished to have all the right answers to those dilemmas I faced in Rwanda. The precise word or deed that would somehow break the chokehold on the lives of teenage girls in quiet, urgent pain.
Growing girls are like yellow flowers. They seem impossibly fragile, but they will bust up the pavement, out of the darkness and into the light. They will free themselves and most hours, most days, they don’t need a thing from me in order to do it. But then there are the other hours and the other days. The insomnia and the hyperventilation. The whispered confessions in a room full of hundreds of people when the power goes out and the candle wax is burning my fingers, but I don’t dare move because she has chosen this moment and chosen me to tell her story to. And my god, what a story.
What do I say to this young woman? What can I possibly do to prevent others from suffering as she has?
Those questions in those crucial moments led me to apply to graduate school. You can’t always have the answer. Sometimes there isn’t one. But how much better it is to be standing on the shoulders of giants than standing alone. Read more →
Tagged as:
change-makers,
education
 In a few short days, I will be starting a dual masters program in social work and international affairs. Choosing a course was difficult. When you settle on one direction, you abandon all the rest. But as I embark on my education, what I find most anxiety-provoking is the cost. Depending on financial aid over the coming years, I will be assuming the burden of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in loans, as many of you have done for undergraduate as well as graduate education. I am entering a profession that doesn’t make it easy to pay off that kind of debt. As a friend said, “Well, at worst, you’ll die owing the government money.” Comforting.
I value my education. I believe in study and the need for developing expertise in a field. Not everything can be learned on the fly, and it is possible to do damage with good intentions but too scant a background. However, there is something that feels ludicrous or even dangerous about making this kind of investment in myself. I can’t help but think what this money could do if it was given to people in developing countries as a grant or a series of microloans. Can I really do $100,000 worth of good in the world? And should I have to? Why does it cost so very much to learn what I need to know in order to be effective in my profession? Read more →
Tagged as:
education,
money
 When I returned from a year-long volunteer stint in Rwanda, I was sleeping on my best friend’s futon while looking for a job/apartment. One night she left a book on my pillow. For a moment I’d like to be your best friend: imagine I saw an ad for this book in the back of a magazine and thought of you.
Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others is a critical read for anyone trying to make the world a better place. Whether you are a teacher, a Child Protective Services case manager, an environmental activist, an ER nurse, or an international aid worker, you have probably faced burn-out, a sense of failure and hopelessness. Much like Pursue, the book endows a sense of community among people of many different professions who have common experiences facing tragedy and complexity in the attempt to create lasting change. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burke contribute to the growing trend toward acknowledging the effects of change efforts on their practitioners. Most of us know that without taking care of ourselves, we have no hope of making a positive contribution in the lives of others. However, translating that abstract knowledge into action takes a commitment to ourselves, as well as our work, that we’re not often encouraged to make. Read more →
Tagged as:
books,
change-makers,
inspiration
This post originally appeared on Lily’s blog, Red Climbing Lily.
 The other day I had a conversation I have a lot. Someone asks what I do, or has heard about the year I spent in Rwanda, and then feels compelled to press me on why. “Why help people in other countries, when there are so many problems here at home?” or some variation thereof. I’m used to defending my life choices. Which is kind of curious given that I am not a hobo, heroin addict, polygamist, or someone doing something similarly controversial.
Read more →
Tagged as:
action,
change-makers,
inspiration
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A Project of :
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Jewish change-makers are inspired, motivated and fiercely smart. Jewish values urge us to question injustice, act, and take collective responsibility. Pursue sparks and sustains social change by channeling the unlimited passion and potential of Jewish change-makers
in their 20s and 30s into action for a more just world. Copyright 2010
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