Pre-Convention Workshop - Integrating Leadership & Service

A Comprehensive Model for Integrating Leadership and Service
~Kate Durso, & Todd Foley (Saint Louis University)


My ACPA experience began with a riveting pre-convention workshop aimed at exploring the concept behind integrating service into leadership curriculum.  The session was lead by Kate Durso, Assistant Director for the Honours Program at Saint Louis University, and her colleauge Todd Foley, the Assistant Director for the university's Student Involvement Center. The session was developed with learning in mind, and had incorporated discussion, group work, as well as several reflective activities in order to explore the material.  The presenters began the workshop by clarifying their intended use of the terms "leadership" and "service".  "Leadership is a relational and ethical process of people together attempting to accomplish positive change" (Komives, 2007). On the other hand, "service" was defined as "applying your time, treasure, and/or talent to respond to an expressed community need" (Durso & Foley, 2012). The group proceeded at this point to engage in discussion, aimed at answering questions such as why do students do service, why do we as educators want students to do service, and, where do you see connections between service and leadership? In reflecting on the questions, the group determined that student interest in service and leadership development was driven by various aspects such as mandatory credit hours, prior involvement, resume builders, volunteer experience, it's "trendy-ness", desire for social justice, wanting to make a difference, and much more. In discussing hte connection between what service experiences provide, the group began to understand the role that it could play when integrated strategically into leadership programs. 


At this point, Todd Foley led the group through a brief overview of some important leadership models and theories, such as the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996), Servant Leadership Theory (Greenleaf, 1977)(one of Stephan Tang's favourites he informed me), Adaptive Leadership Model (Heifetz, 1994), Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984)(Our Royal Roads CED papers are brought to mind here - anyone else?), and much more! Todd Foley was very passionate about this body of theory, and suggested that if he could, he would talk for days about these concepts! Nonetheless, he kept it brief, and the two presenters moved on to discuss components of a successful leadership curriculum.  A discussing ensued about the contrast between the "Traditional Method" (AKA industrial) versus the importance of the latter "Transformational Method" (post-industrial) within leadership curriculum.  The presenters emphasized the importance of reviewing your current learning objectives and outcomes, in order to see if they are geared to more of the traditional outcomes, or that of the transformational experience that is geared towards achieving "high impact" outcomes. The workshop concluded with a large reflective period where attendees had the opportunity to think about their current leadership curriculum, and to discuss and focus thinking to the "small wins" that could be achieved in considering the integration of service into leadership.  The time spent discussing ideas and current practices with other attendees was truly valuable, and left the audience with an opportunity to soundboard their ideas off of each other.  The presentation at this point was over, and the presenters left the group with a take home exercise/action plan in order to begin to outline next steps towards integrating service into their leadership curriculum. Great session - very informative!  


References

• Durso, K. M., & Foley, T.J. (2012, March). A Comprehensive Model for Integrating Leadership and Service [PowerPoint slides]. Presented at the annual convention of ACPA-College Student Educators International, Louisville, KY.

• Greenleaf, R. G. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey in the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist.

• Heifetz, R. A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA

• Higher Education Research Institute [HERI]. (1996). A social change model of leadership development: Guidebook version III. College Park, MD: National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.

• Komives, s. R., Lucas, N., & Mcmahon, T. R. (2007). Exploring leadership: For college students who want to make a difference. 2nd edition: Jossey-Bass, An imprint of Wiley.

The Road to Louisville

My colleague Stacie Kiefer (Queen's University) and I left for Louisville this morning at 6:00 A.M, headed for the ACPA conference in Louisville, Kentucky.  Although flying would likely be the preferred choice by all, it wasn't for the two of us! After a necessary stop at Tim Horton's, the great ACPA road trip adventure began! Highlights included great stories, the infamous Cracker Barrel lunch break, lots of lilac bushes, a variety of animal sightings (cows, deer, raccoon's & even a wolf!), along with many other interesting sights along the way! After conquering the Hills of Kentucky, we arrived in Louisville 10 hours later -phew! Looking forward to what will likely be a great conference!

Bridge into Louisville, Kentucky 

Louisville, Kentucky

 I took this photo as it reminded me of a scene from one of my favourite TV shows!  Although, this is definitely not Atlanta, It's Louisville of course!

Louisville Slugger Field

 Hope of the Louisville Slugger! I am hopeful I will be able to locate a great new bat to help out the team this year!

Bridge to Indiana

Room with a View!

The Lilac's are in Bloom in Kentucky!

The lilac's (I assume this is what they are) were in full bloom from Ohio all the way through the hills of Kentucky!  Spring has definitely sprung in the U.S.A!

The 2012 ACPA Conference in Louisville, Kentucky

For those of you interested, I will be blogging about my experience at the upcoming American College Personnel Association (ACPA) conference from Sunday, March 25 to Wednesday, March 28, 2012. The conference will be taking place in Louisville, Kentucky.  I have planned to drive down to Louisville in order to take in the sights and enjoy the beautiful countryside!  Kentucky and ACPA, looking forward to seeing you soon!

 

Louisville Night Skyline 

ACUHO-I Interest Sessions

The 2011 ACUHO-I Conference boasted a selection of over 160 interest sessions! The range of topics were vast; ensuring that decisions as to which sessions to attend were always difficult.  The following post will provide a quick overview of some of the sessions that I attended.  Please feel free to contact me for further information and/or resources collected during each of the sessions.  Here we go:

Vanguard Scholars: Leadership Development Within Residential Life
~Jarrett Coger & Reginald Wilborn (Morehouse College)

"The Morehouse College Business and Economics Department and the Office of Housing and Residential Life discovered that many of the opportunities for leadership on campus were for those who already possessed leadership qualities. Based on this realization, the decision was then to collaborate in creating a mechanism within the Morehouse College community that could cultivate leaders from those that simply had the desire, but not necessarily the skills.  Thus, the Vanguard Scholars Program was created in an effort to develop and enrich the leadership experiences on the Morehouse College campus for students who would otherwise not have them" (ACUHO-I, 2011).

Morehouse College strongly believes in the role of leadership in the development of its students.   Many of the students that arrive to the campus, are interested and already have been exposed to leadership roles.  There is a drive for it, and the Morehouse team decided that they wanted to cultivate the talents of students at all levels of leadership.  The program (Vanguard Scholars), was thus created to recognize students that were not at the top tier of leadership.  The Vanguard Scholars are in essence, a role that is created above the standard Don or RA.  It is a role that involves teaching students about leadership, and the continual development of their skills and self. There ultimate goal for these student-staff members is to have conversations with students so that they can be left to ponder the question: what will your legacy at Morehouse College be?

The session was brief, yet revealed that the structure in which the Vanguard Scholars program was based upon was relatively simple to create.  Vanguard Scholars were students that were recognized top tier leaders, and they were given extensive training on several topics,over and above the standard Don/RA training. The curriculum for this training included:

- Models of Leadership
- The Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)
- Ethics & Character
- The Element (Ken Robinson, PhD)
- Social Cognizance
- Role of Professionalism
- Contextual Leadership
- Civic Awareness
- Virtual Proficiency
- Models of Activism

The Vanguard Scholars are expected to live in residence and to teach occasional nightly classes.  They lead monthly excursions of the Morehouse College campus.
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So You Want to Be a Director? Then You Want to Change a Department's Culture
~Justin Price, Carrie Ponikvar, & Mike Furno (University of Denver)

"This program will highlight a director's journey from RA to his current role as director at the University of Denver.  This session will examine the journey involved in changing the culture of a department through reorganization, vision, values, hiring, committees, assessment, and patience.  Participants will have the opportunity to learn the keys to preparing for the role of director, as well as to be informed about lessons learned, mistakes made, challenges faced, and success stories revealed.  Participants will be provided examples, strategies, assessment tools and documents created as part of the culture change" (ACUHO-I, 2011).

For those Residence Life professionals that wish to become a Director or to move into senior-level management, this session provided great tips for moving in that direction.  The session began with a discussion from Justin Price, the Executive Director of Housing at the University of Denver.  Justin detailed his journey from the role of an RA (ever since he saw the first "We Want You" RA advertisement), to becoming an executive Director.  He suggested to the group that one of the most important things was to begin to create connections within different departments within your own institutions.  This allowed for him to increase his knowledge in a variety of disciplines, and was fortunate then to know everyone that showed up in his interview panel for a management position he applied to.  He further discussed the importance of having a vision.  Knowing your goals and direction for the organization/role you are applying for, is huge.  Have a plan, make sure it is big picture ideas.  Consider things that you would not normally think of.  Budgets (get familiar with it), renovations, construction, furniture, unions vs. non-unions, etc.  Justin further suggested the value of volunteering (inside and outside your department).  The list continued.  Politics - have to learn it, have to learn how to deal with it.  Human Resources.  You need to have an understanding of posting positions, hiring, firing, training, reorganizing, etc.   Learn the difference between a manager and a leader.  Network.  Education - be committed.  Finish the job.

The discussion was very empowering, leaving the audience motivated and inspired to continue to better themselves professionally.  Justin left the group with a few points for new senior level managers.
- Work on the people first, the process second
- Put students at the center of your work
- Take time to clarify your vision to your staff members (unless you have a place that does not function)
- Don't go to fast
- Create buy-in with your staff members
- Communicate
- Document
- Recognize and understand the institutional culture
- Hiring staff is a great way to make change, however, you may not need to hire.  You may have a possibility for reorganization
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What's Changed in Student Conduct: Effective Interventions and Sanctions (Part I)
~Valerie Randall-Lee (Northeastern University)


"As a result of assessment practices, research, and our continued learning in the area of student development, major changes have been happening in the areas of student conduct procedures and sanctioning. Are you keeping up? In Part I of this program, we will be examining student conduct processes, including the purpose of conduct codes and procedures, what motivates students, different resolution techniques, the role of sanctioning, and language used in conduct procedures.  This is a quick overview of timely information to help you determine how up-to-date your conduct procedures are and what you can be doing to better meet the needs of your students" (ACUHO-I, 2011).

This session began with a discussion on the structure of various institutions conduct processes.  The CAS standards were discussed as a good foundation for conduct programs to be created/modelled after (as well as the Stylus Publishing student conduct practices, ACPA Conduct manual, and Reframing Student Conduct document). The group discussed the importance of due process, and ensuring that there is clarity in every conduct situation.  Important tips for conduct meetings were next discussed:
- Be prepared
- Answer the who, what, where & how
- Consider motivational interviewing - what's motivating someone's behaviour?

The session moved quickly and ended with a final thought.  "Students stay at schools because of the connections they make with people". Work with students, be clear with them, and help them identify future decision making processes.  
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What's Changed in Student Conduct: Effective Interventions and Sanctions (Part II)
~Valerie Randall-Lee (Northeastern University)


"In Part 2 of this program we will focus on the sanctioning process in student conduct cases. What works and what doesn't? This program will discuss the options of papers, fines, classroom  training using clickers, small groups, and online courses.  As a result of lessons learned through NIAA grant on campus, Northeastern has made dramatic changes in how it responds to alcohol and drug violations, and this will be highlighted as well" (ACUHO-I, 2011).

Part II of this session began with a clarification on Motivational Interviewing.  "Motivation is not something that someone has, it's what one does. It's about recognizing a problem, searching for a way to change, and sticking with that change strategy." Valerie discussed that the key to motivational interviewing is to establish rapport with students; respect, affirmation and empathy.

The discussion next led to sanctions.  The purpose of a sanction Valerie discussed, is to send a strong message to students that will impact attitude and behaviour through their college career. Here are some things to consider when sanctioning:
- Are you maintaining your stated goals of...?
- Does the sanction fit the violation?
- Are you balancing concern of the community with individual welfare?
- Does the sanction make clear the values of the institution?
- Are the non-issues clouding your thinking? (bias - if so, use someone as a soundboard to ensure your decisions)

At this point, several institutions had the opportunity to discuss their current methods of sanctioning.  As a synopsis, the group came to represent the following systems:
- Point system (fewer, appeared to be transitioning out of the norm)
- Tiered system (grids developed that associate violation with specific sanction types - less common)
- Minimum systems (violation lists the minimum sanction - more common)
- Maximum systems (violation lists the maximum sanction - more common)
- Open systems (violations listed, sanctions listed - not necessarily connected to each other clearly)

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Restorative Justice: Practical Case Examples
~Brian Van Brunt & Anthony Montalbano (Western Kentucky University & University of New England)


"This seminar is designed to provide conduct and residential life staff an understanding of the restorative justice model of student discipline and will compare and contrast this model to the developmental and punitive models of addressing student behaviour.  This program will offer practical examples explaining how to address student conduct behaviour according to the restorative justice model and how to work collaboratively through the initial conduct meeting, assignment, monitoring, follow-up, and completion.  The heart of restorative justice is to repair the harm caused by the conduct code violation and to build a new trust between the community and the student who violated the code.  This seminar will assist residential life staff and conduct officers in identifying the relevant stakeholders and transforming the relationship between the conduct violator and the large community through a cooperative healing process"  (ACUHO-I, 2011).

Please see me for additional information on this session.  Case studies were given and are available.  This session involved much sharing of ideas and concepts

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The Student Housing Landscape: Trends and Changes
Eric Luskin, Katherine Lennox & Thomas Kane (The Scion Group, LLC & Appalachian State University)


"Find out how student housing is changing and what trends are emerging in the student housing landscape.  This information is based on the work of student housing consultants who have been engaged on more than 90 campuses throughout the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the U.K., with additional insights provided by Dr. Kane, who has over 30 years experiencing in managing campus student-housing.  This presentation will be concise and will invite audience participation through discussion and sharing of personal experiences. The focus will be to provide an overview of the fundamental changes to student housing in recent years, as well as to consider what the future may bring" (ACUHO-I, 2011).

This session was led primarily by the Scion Group representatives, and based upon their findings.  Overall, the main ideas suggested were that as students mature through their academic years, the desire for student housing decreases.  First year students are open to living in any style of housing (focused on single and double dorms, 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, 4BR apartments).  Cost increases on average $50.00 per month with an added kitchen.  Overall, privacy is the number one ideal for students.
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References


The ACUHO-I 2011 Annual Conference & Exposition Conference Program Guide

ACUHO-I Opening Keynote Presentation: Roland Fryer

The 2011 ACUHO-I conference opening keynote was delivered by *Roland Fryer.  Professor Fryer opened up his keynote with a rousing story from back in the day.  Growing up, Roland was raised by his grandmother in both Texas and Florida state.  As his grandmother was an educator, he discussed that some of his favourite childhood trouble-making memories were often the result of "teacher in-service days" (PA/PD Days to those of you within the Ontario education system). Roland recounted the time when on one particular day, he stumbled upon a razor that was in his washroom, and proceeded to shave his eyebrows off, as any curious child would do.  When his grandmother returned home, she had a sneaky suspicion that Roland was lying to him as he had said that he "tripped, and they must have came off".  Roland's humour had the audience gripped, and proceeded to discuss more about his childhood. When Professor Robert M. Beren (the name Roland's goes by at Harvard University) was a freshman in high school, most of his family was in prison for drug related offences. At the time, his family was likely the largest distributor of crack cocaine in the state of Florida.

In beginning to understand where Roland "came from", he began to discuss how his current career began.  He went into economics because he liked it and was good at it.  He was tutored by an economics professor that had taken the opportunity to act as a mentor for him.  After several years, Roland arrived at Harvard University, worried that he "wouldn't be smart enough".  Although he was intelligent and able to keep up academically, Roland joked that he was socially unprepared - much like a bad "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" episode.

It was there at Harvard that Roland decided that he had enough of people saying that he had "beat the odds". "8 out of 10 of my friends are in prison", he said.  At that point, it was more important for him to focus on how we could change the odds for his friends and people in this situation.  He further discussed that he wanted to use economics to tackle difficult problems, such as incarceration rates.  "There are about 2 million people incarcerated every day", he said, "1 million of those people are black". He also spoke about the achievement gap that is currently prominent within the United States.  Roland informed us that "there's not a major city within the entire country, where there is more than 25% proficiency in both reading and math, amongst children of different ethnic backgrounds...this is a huge problem."

The discussion led into a talk about assessment. In assessing our programs as housing professionals, Roland discussed that it was important that we don't use the "Cardiac Test". That is, we don't go by our feelings or heart in determining whether something is successful.  We need to be assessing accurately.  To back up this belief, Roland discussed that currently, the US government has spent lots of money on education in the form of Teacher's Professional development studies.  He stated that this year, there are approximately 900 studies that were conducted on this topic.  Of these 900, only two used student outcomes to determine success.

Roland discussed an experiment with the group next, one where he decided to determine whether incentives could help close the achievement gap. The experiment?  Let's pay kids to learn.  The results were fascinating, indicating that contrary to economic theory (i.e. to be paid based on output), input-related incentives produced noticeable learning.  Output related incentives on the other hand, had no result.  There was no learning when children were paid to produce an expected result (increased grades).  This was suggested to be due to the fact that there was no idea on the part of the children, as to how to complete the tasks.  They didn't know how to raise their grades! However, if children were paid to read books (input), it resulted in their reading comprehension to raise by 3 months!

Roland next discussed another experiment, in which he had determined what makes the difference between good and bad schools.  This was primarily done by coding a large amount of classroom video.

1. The amount of time spent in school.
2. Human Capitol.
3. Differentiated Instruction.
4. How data is "used" to drive instruction.
5. Language and setting high expectations of children.

Probably one of the most interesting thoughts that hit home for me during this discussion, related to a comment that Professor Roland noted about the difference between the medical field and education. As his wife is currently working on cancer research, Roland mentioned that he had been discussing a community to his wife, where results in a 6th grade classroom had indicated that they had "defied the odds". He had learned that it was possible to have a closure of the achievement gap. When suggested that he "must be almost done" then by his wife, Roland was shocked.  He had never mentioned that he was almost done.  His wife explained to him the fundamental difference in the medical community.  If they had found two hospitals that had treated cancer successfully, people from around the world would "swoop" in immediately to learn what they were doing there.  Unfortunately stated Roland, this is not the case with the education system.  Roland left us with the fact though that "We can do this...we have to want to do it though". Overall, the opening keynote message was incredibly relevant and motivating.  It was well received by many, and started of the conference on a great note!

Professor Roland Fryer speaks at 2011 ACUHO-I Conference in New Orleans

*Excerpt from 2011 ACUHO-I Conference Program


Freakonomics, Roland Fryer has received praise from an array of sponsors, from universities and lecture series to insurance and financial groups, for his seasoned and engaging perspective on economic issues facing the nation. Roland Fryer is Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University.  In addition to being affiliated with Harvard University he maintains offices at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the DuBois Institute. In January 2008, at age 30, he became the youngest African-American to ever receive tenure at Harvard. 


In this speech rising economic star Roland Fryer draws on his research, which contributed to the success of the phenomenal bestseller Freakonomics, to give audiences insights into why businesses, individuals, and governments make decisions and how social pressures and societal trends might influence future policies" 


Interesting Links - The Colbert Report: Roland Fryer

Day 1: ACUHO-I Conference

Hello New Orleans...hello 35 degree weather! I arrived at the airport around noon on Saturday, and set out to explore the "Big Easy" before the ACUHO-I conference started that evening. How you ask?  Well, by boat of course! That's right, I checked out the Creole Queen "Battlefield" tour down at the Mississippi River.  What an experience.

Raw Sugar Being Hoisted into the Refinery

First off, we headed down the river on an authentic river paddle-boat.  The cruise headed to the Chalmette battlefield where the "Battle of New Orleans" took place.  This is the location where the Americans took over the British during 1815.  When Katrina hit, Chalmette was demolished, and is now in somewhat repaired conditions. The group landed ashore to tour the facility for some time.  The cruise ended with some authentic New Orleans live piano on the ship's lower deck.

Tug Boats on the Mississippi River

Once back, I headed to the ACUHO-I New Attendee Reception where all first time attendees were warmly welcomed to the ACUHO-I conference and association.  There were formal welcome addresses from the  ACUHO-I President (Jill Eckardt) and conference hosts as well as introductions from ACUHO-I committee representatives.  After an hour of mingling and getting to know one another, the conference delegation was lead to Generations Hall for the Opening Reception.  What an event!  The food consisted of local authentic gumbo and rice dishes, bread pudding, and pecan/praline desserts!  There was live music in the form of a jazz ensemble, tarot card  and palm reading, party pics and more!  What a great opening to such a fun and lively conference.  Currently, there are over 170 interest sessions and roundtable discussions set for the conference agenda. Highlighted speakers include economist Marvin Worthy, Dr. Maureen Wilson (Scholar in Residence), and social media expert in residence Eric Stoller.  I am definitely looking forward to what's in store for tomorrow!

The 2011 New Orleans ACUHO-I Conference

On July 9th, I will be heading to the New Orleans for the 2011 ACUHO-I Conference!  For those of you who are wondering, ACUHO-I stands for the Association of College & University Housing Officers International. It is an association that "supports and promotes the collegiate residential experience" (ACUHO-I website). As an active Residence Life Coordinator within the field of Residence Life, I am excited to attend this conference and to learn more about the housing field. For those interested, I will be blogging about my experience at the conference from Saturday, July 9th to Wednesday, July 13th. 

For more information on the 2011 ACUHO-I Conference, please visit ACUHO-I Conference

Release the Hero Within!

This past reading week, I had the opportunity to take part in a trip to Monte Cristi (Dominican Republic), as part of the Alternative Spring Break program at Humber College. The experience was amazing, and was shared with 9 other Humber College students and staff members.  The trip started off with an interesting twist, as we were unable to secure flights for the desired O-O arrival times.  Because of this, we were forced to take O-O up on their offer to arrange for "alternative" transportation from the airport to the orphanage.  I must say that our midnight arrival into the Puerto Plata international airport definitely sounded better on paper then in actuality.  We were still 2 hours away from our destination, and had a lovely bus ride to look forward to.  Awesome - where's the bus?  Let the adventure begin!

After several minutes of phone calls, several ride offers from the local taxi services, and utter panic by the students (not me, I was as cool as a cat), the group was greeted by a friendly gent by the name of Andreas our bus driver.  We loaded into the bus, and headed off to the Orphanage. Although I was in a different country, had no idea where I was or where I was going - there was only one question at that point floating around in my head.  How could Andreas have been so late when he drove so dam fast!?  You'll be happy to know that we made it to the Orphanage safely that evening much to our delight.  We were showed to our accommodation, and attempted to get some shuteye all while the town's roosters made their presence known to us as well.

When we woke up a few hours later, there were likely 80 people casually going about their breakfast under a pavilion quite near to us.  We later learned that these were other volunteers from the participating schools.  We learned more about Orphanage Outreach that day, and that it's a group that’s aim is to "release the hero within" children that are orphaned, abandoned, and/or disadvantaged within the Monte Cristi community.

Orphanage Outreach - Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic

I met most of these children that first day, when we wondered over to the orphanage and played a game of volleyball with the kids.   Most of our downtime during the week involved hang outs like these, and spending time with the children was encouraged as much as possible.  Of note was the night that we were invited to participate and attend the orphanage's church service.  The children were responsible for running the service mostly, with the direction of the Orphanage pastor.  The songs and readings from the children were interesting, and made for a unique experience! 

Although the orphanage children were a focus for part of the week, the majority of the week was spent travelling to the local schools within the community to teach English. Our group travelled daily to a local school known as "Solomon Jorge"; a primary school located at the edge of San Fernando, Monte Cristi.


Solomon Jorge - Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic



Teaching "Emotions and Weather" at Solomon Jorge

The team hiked to and from the school twice each day, in order to teach English to the children that attended Solomon Jorge. The experience was positive, as each day the group was warmly accepted and welcomed by the Monte Cristi community.

To end our trip, we were again presented with the same dilemma.  We arrived a day late, so we were there an extra day at the end. Because of this, O-O arranged for us to have a special tour of the communities that neighboured Puerto Plata.  Yep - Andreas was back, and was our tour guide for the day!  The group headed out first to Sosua, and then finally to Cabarete for the remainder of the day. Overall, the experience was fulfilling, providing many attendees with a different perspective of global citizenship and the value of service learning.

Get Involved!

Orphanage Outreach

My Costanza Wallet

Is the little rectangular wallet holder to the right of your car's stick shift your new best friend? Do you have a new paperweight at the office? Do you find yourself grabbing a hoody out of the closet, just so that you can bring your leather friend with you when you go out?   If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, than you (like George Costanza and I) are likely someone that has an oversized wallet. 

I realized a few days ago (for the second time in my life), that I had a very large wallet.  Here's a current picture of it:

I realized that my wallet had gained weight when I was at a Blue Jay's game last week (Jay's beat the Orioles 6-5 just so you know).  An analogy that best describes my epiphany is when you are buying a beer at dinner, and you are asked by your server to show to show your driver's licence to them.  You aren't expecting this - as you are 27 year old and that kind of thing just never happens to you anymore.  Well, I was about to get in to the Roger's Centre when I was stopped by a security guard.  Yep, he wanted to know what was in the pocket of my shorts.  When I showed him that it was my fatty pants wallet, he chuckled, and let me in.  Time for the wallet diet.

So how does this happen?  What makes certain wallet carriers "hoarders" of random and pointless items? More importantly for me - what is in this darn thing that is making it so heavy? Let the great wallet transfer experiment begin (said like Tobias in Arrested Development)!  Hello $15.26 in toonies, loonies, quarters, dimes...

Ok, here are some of the highlights from my purge.  My HBC Credit Card that I signed up for in order to get 10% off a luggage purchase.  Five gift cards with unknown amounts on them (EB Games, Boston Pizza, Cineplex Odeon, LCBO, and a Tim Card).  Six membership cards to various companies (Blockbuster, HMV, Chapters, Moores, Big Al's Aquarium Supplies and Ontario College of Teachers).  Two student cards from back in the day.  A receipt for a garden lawn gnome (that I can explain at some point). A receipt for dry cleaning (hope I picked that suit up...). My colleagues Air Miles Rewards Card. Two unfinished Marble Slab Club stamp cards (guess I couldn't find the first one at one point and got a second? Ooh I get a free sundae)! Certification in Standard First Aid/CPR.  A receipt for entrance into the Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Florida. A ticket stub for entrance to the Highland Games in Uxbridge, Ontario. A business card for Flashpoint Productions Premium DJ Services. 

That's it.  Oh - and all the other stuff that I deemed too important to not have in my new wallet of course! 

Resources 

• What is a "Costanza" Wallet? YouTube
• Piriformis Syndrome - Aka Wallet Sciatica and/or Fat Wallet Syndrome - Wikipedia

The Phil Legate Experience

"OMG we made the playoffs! Three cheers for the Downtown Dirty Birds...hip, hip, hooray...hip, hip, hooray...HIP, HIP, HOORAY!"

I think my team’s excitement would be explained better if we rewind a few months to April 2011.  The setting is Humber College (North Campus), and the year is about to wrap up for my students and staff in residence. It is here that I was hit with the pre-emptive summer giddiness that everyone in Canada goes through after they have experienced 4 months of slush and snow. Thoughts were beginning to turn from academics and studying - to summer jobs, BBQ's, LCBO trips and summer fun! I definitely was ready for summer to be here, and I wanted to be doing something "summerish" even though it was raining and 6 degrees outside.  Having just come from the Blue Jays home opener at the Rogers Centre (Jays won 13-3!), I had the incredible urge to jack some dingers and shag some flies!  It was then that I decided that I needed a softball team. 

The team was composed of primarily "Resident Assistants"; student-staff who life in residence during the year and are there to build and maintain floor communities.  These staff were eager to play softball, and so, we set out determined to create an identity for our newly formed team.  16 creative team names were suggested, including honourable mentions "Sex Kitten Express", "Teach Me How to Doug-out" and "Ove-RA-Ted".  Ultimately, "The Phil Legate Experience" was selected by a lengthy poll on survey monkey (I admit that I voted for PLE to win). Custom jerseys were ordered for everyone on the team, and I was then made into a mascot for a recreational softball team in Toronto, Ontario. 

The team began practice in the middle of April, in order to fill the urge to connect with "summer" two months before it arrived.  The team managed to get together the most baseball equipment I have ever seen; enough gloves for everyone, a duffle bag full of softballs and another bag full of bats. We even had four legit bases to use, not requiring a glove or hoody to represent home plate.  We spread out in Humber's soccer field, and jacked dingers at each other for two hours each day.  That was practice. It was fun, and we felt we were ready for the season because of it.  We were so wrong. 

The Phil Legate Experience opened its season against "The Softballs" with a 46-16 loss.  Yep, we were scored against 46 times.  It looked more like a football game at the end if you ask me.  The team learned quickly that you have to stop on second base if you get there, and that you're not allowed to run past it like you are when you run to first base.  Our second game was much better however, with the team only losing by 2 in a 7-5 game against "McGlovin".  The unfortunate thing about this game was that it was close, and actually didn't "technically finish".  After about 4 innings, the sky opened up and hurled enough rain on us to create a small lake on the field. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to make the third game played by the Phil Legate Experience, as I was at a housing conference at York University called OACUHO.  That night, the team was successful against the "Jays", winning the game 9-4.  I was immediately stripped of my duty as "Coach", and placed in left field for the remainder of the season.  Go figure - thanks guys. 

Eager to experience my first win against our fourth and second last team of the season, we headed out to play "The Sons of Pitches" in a park near Lawrence Avenue and Weston Road. We were rocked 19-17.  Darn. 

Our final game of the regular season took place this past June 13th against the Downtown Dirty Birds.  I guess you know what happened by now, so I'll just share with you how the game ended. It was the middle of the fifth, and we were up 17-4.  All of a sudden, the lights went out in the park. Some joker had pulled the switch for the lights in the park.  Game over.  Although the game wasn't "technically over", we were happy to call it at that point.  The Phil Legate Experience was victorious!

A quick shout out to the members of the Phil Legate Experience - I couldn't have done it without you.  Thanks for the memories and good times - see ya in the playoffs!  

The Phil Legate Experience Softball Team
Front Row (Left to Right) - Phil Legate, Dan Birch, Lauren Keller, Matt Waghorn
Middle Row (Left to Right) - Amber O'Connor, Victor Gravili, Kylie Waghorn, Ashlee Lacasse
Back Row (Left to Right) - Alena Boczek, Malcolm Vincent, Brock Morgan, Brandon O'Bannon, Dion Fawcett-Ciuffini