Today is my 32nd birthday and it has me thinking a lot about who I am now, and who I want to be. WHO AM I AND WHO DO I WANT TO BE? I am Jessica Nobile. I am first and foremost a human being that cares acutely and chronically for the well-being of the world and its members. That has been a priority for me as long as I can remember. I am strong, hard-working, ambitious, and 100% determined to institute structural change for the promotion of equality, justice, and also as a means to ameliorate tensions that exist because of the imbalanced and discriminatory nature of society. If given the choice, I with all certainty would not choose me as my opponent under any circumstances, most especially when the stakes are high. Meaning, if you are unethical, power-hungry, greedy, selfish, and against the betterment of society then you should avoid me. I myself would not want to engage in battle with me no matter my size. I am relentless, smart, resourceful, unafraid of death, and never give up.
Let me reiterate, I never give up. Not on society or this belief that progress and positive change is possible. I also never give up on me-my morals, my principles, my faith, my sense of self, my ideals, my purpose, etc. ME, I never give up on me. I love myself. Reflecting back on the past 32 years, some of which was filled with suffering, oppression, strife, turmoil, I recognized and now own my inner strength. I am strong. I am stoic. I can move mountains, shift their texture, depth, and height so that they no longer appear or manifest oppression. I am resilient. I am stoic. I am simultaneously passionate and creative about social work, helping people, changing the world, and fixing what is wrong. I am immensely passionate and creative. I am moral, soulful, vibrant, intelligent, friendly, self-less, silly, funny, playful, active, artistic, caring, and compassionate. I am a free-spirit, bound to the world. I can always, without fail, find a positive about someone….anyone. I frequently and authentically compliment people. My mom tells me that I have been doing that since I learned to talk. I do my best to never lie and immediately correct any accidental lies. I exude integrity. I am whole, complete, and authentic. I seek to empower. I stand behind empowerment and embrace interactions with clients, students, mentors, and good colleagues as a space for my own growth, learning, and development. I also view empowerment as a method to reform society. I believe in empowerment…I believe that people can overcome anything using their own unique strengths. I am unique and much of what makes me unique is really subdued here in the South where racism, sexism, and discrimination continue to be normalized and applied in daily interactions. I am sick of being subdued. I am a humanist, a feminist, and a person that vehemently detests any form of discrimination, aggression, or violence. I love diversity. I love people, especially the outcasts. I love snow, especially when it snows in Georgia on my birthday. I love my family, friends, and animals. I love my mentor, Dr. June Gary Hopps (she's inspirational). I love being inspired. I love education. I love books. I love the sky, most especially when it is illuminated by a crescent moon and stars. I also especially love the sky when it is painted brilliantly by a multitude of different colors. I love yoga- balancing half-moon is my favorite pose. I love flowers- peace roses are my favorite. I love languages. I love traveling. I love all religions, faith, and spirituality. I love to laugh. I love to sit and talk with kindred spirits. I love stretching, walking, swimming, and climbing. I love all wild-life and being outside. I love art and poetry. I love music and bird-songs. I love my profession profoundly. After, God, social work is my highest truth. I love social work! I love being a social worker. I love being a social work educator. I love being a social work researcher. I love being a social work writer. I love social work! I love so many things and care about all of them so deeply. I love profusely, in this deep manner, to move mountains. I must love particularly, powerfully, and completely to make society be better/do better in order to improve the well-being of all its members. Our greatest weapon, my greatest weapon against hate, is this impermeable love for all things. I love love. However, the way I love is parametric. I think that this is the difference between loving and being in love- being in love eliminates parameters. In retrospect and probably as a protective mechanism, I have never been in love because I have always loved parametrically, although deeply. So now, who do I want to be? WHO DO I WANT TO BE? WHAT DO I WANT TO DO? I want to be a social work professor. More specifically I want to be a social work professor employed at one of the New York City universities. I plan to make use of spatial attention, variety, and the multitude of people living in NYC. I want to empower students to make use of these public spaces in NYC in order to extend social work values, ideals, and attitudes to the rest of the world. I want all people to know what social work means and what we believe. I want to collaborate with professors at all the NYC universities and across different fields. I want to collaborate with professors, researchers, social workers, and people all over the globe. I want to establish a visible international federation of social work headquarters in NYC and also one in Italy in order to promote supra-national social work collaboration. I want to help others establish headquarters throughout the world so that we work communally to help a global population. I want to synthesize social work across countries, not simply in the academic realm, but also in how we reach people. Not simply people in need, but all people, since every single one of us collectively creates humanity. I want to help social work prosper politically and influentially by working together to share our values with the masses. A global organizational movement that reflects social work values and pulls together social work resources. Social work that transcends divisions and uses all people, including those accessing services, to improve society. Reformation, transformation, revolutions so that all members of society are treated fairly, equally, and with respect. I want to eliminate the space between social research and social practice. I plan to use media, creative arts, colleagues, students, and everyday people to accomplish this goal. I want to exist in NYC, so I can collaborate with UNICEF as a social work professor. I want to extend our social work profession outwards. Encourage collaboration across countries, help establish an international/supranational social work face. I want to share my thoughts and ideas with the whole world. I want to integrate everyone, not by eliminating differences, but by creating an appreciation for them. I have a blue idea notebook that includes journal article topics, new teaching approaches, and three qualitative research studies I have designed in addition to my dissertation. One of the research studies already has a completed IRB form ready to go as soon as I become a professor. One of those studies centers on my public school of origin and will be a case study that hopefully grows into a documentary and/or a book. Why? Integration occurred and worked where I grew up. I want to be a professor and showcase why integration worked, what made it work, and the positive outcomes associated with integration. I want my whole being to encompass societal change through social work. Lastly, I want to love life without parameters. I want to learn how to be in love with life.
2 Comments
Maria
2/9/2016 07:59:05 pm
I am so proud of you Jess!!!!!!
Reply
Jess
2/10/2016 09:07:29 am
Thanks Maria!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
January 2020
Categories |