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.:Resource Guides:Interviews-Ben MacConnell.
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Interviews
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The Big Picture
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In what ways have your values changed since you graduated from college? |
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My values haven't shifted much in terms of working toward justice related issues. I think I've just become clearer about the motivations. For several years, I walked around pissed off about this or that and felt powerless in many ways to affect
any change. I used to be comfortable running off at the mouth complaining all the time and boring my friends to tears. Then organizing was revealed to me as a professional field. I realized that people are where all the power is and that we had the fortunate
ability in our democratic process to affect change if we organized well. So I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out people, building trust, identifying issues, and mobilizing them around the problems they see in their community. I guess on the surface it
seems somewhat trivial as an approach, but when I graduated from college, I would have never thought such a simple idea could be the source of so much change. I'm also growing more comfortable with the idea of anger over injustices being a positive motivational
force. And the strategic use of confrontation. All of these things have sort of been growing pains that I have witnessed and learned from over the years.
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How do the values you presently hold relate to your work? |
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They all relate. Not to sound dramatic, but this work REQUIRES that you relate to your values on a daily basis. If you cannot get angry over hearing another person recount an incident of injustice or when you see a public official
sweet talk their way out from being held righfully accountable, then organizing is going to be just another occupation. You'd probably do just as well working a job at Starbucks or something.
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Career Center Resource Guides
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