Balancing in the Research

This is written more for the future spawn of CBRF students; my predecessors rather than the snots I’m working with now (JK I love you guys).

This past week, I got next to 0 research work done for the Go Green Challenge. While my mentor, Emile, was out on vacation, I did a lot of paperwork/office work for the Detroit Public Schools office of Community Use and Rentals, which is the technical work DPS has to do when, say, a Church or a Junior Police Training Academy or the ACT test rents after school time and space at our facilities (I caught this proofreading, but take note that the use of the word ‘our’ indicates that, though I am not technically an employee of Detroit Public Schools, I am beginning to see my self as a part of them rather than external!). And much like discussed early on in the CBRF, sometimes you have to just bite the bullet and do the unstimulating work, because our organizations and nonprofits that we work with need the bight-eyed, bushy-tailed, thorough work of a young intern badly; it’s all a part of that symbiosis of immersion and Community Based Participatory Research, contrasted with the Parachute Model of research.

I was lucky enough, though, that when Emile returned, the research work started right back up and the paper work did not persist. However! To young grasshopper futurelings of the CBRF yet to pass! If you feel that your nonprofit’s office and paperwork is eclipsing the research, your down-home, one-of-a-kind Jenna can help you sniff that out and rebalance the tide of work. I feel bad for you guys if your reading this in 2018 or something and Jenna isn’t the one who’s guiding you guyses as the CBRF program director.