Thank you for reading A Social Work Generalist’s Notebook. This friendly disclaimer is actually the article. Let’s get to it!
I have been focusing on writing in this space since January of this year. I started writing here out of a need to just write stuff in a some public-facing area. I’ve been experimenting with blogs and podcasts since around 2005 or so. Once upon a time in the early social media era, it was fun and relatively harmless. I say “harmless” and “relatively” because, of course, all it takes is one viral moment and you’re cooked.
This needs to be said because anything I write here is “me” the personal, off-the-clock thought-having human being. Social work as a vocation is part of my identity, but let it be perfectly clear that everything I write here comes from me, the private citizen. I reference my day job because that is still me.
It’s a common theme among people in the helping professions. We consider the boundaries of our work and our professional selves. In my case, I take this approach:
This is a personal writing space. Yes, you can email me from here, but if you are a student, I’m not going to respond. (Check the policy on this.)
I don’t speak for my employer here.
I don’t teach from this space.
Any scholarly writing I produce can be found elsewhere.
I’m here to talk about AI, self-preservation, and the art of social work.
I also do some podcasts.
Okay, now I’m just promoting my free-lance work.
I hope that clears things up!
Okay, once more:
All opinions shared here are mine and mine alone.
Thanks for coming to my talk.
I haven’t been writing much the last two weeks because of emergent work demands. I’ll get into it someday.
Last week had moments of joy.
I went to my first author talk. Have I read any books by Elin Hilderbrand? Not yet, but I did attend her event last week at the Iowa City Public Library. I am a fan of any novel about goings-on at institutions of higher ed and I have her new book, The Academy, queued up this week.
I got confirmation that a chapter I contributed to a new book on social work practice and technology has gone to press. It was a lot for me to get that out, and now it’s done.
I’m joining a group on scholarly teaching program at my institution. I remember adults talking about “professional development opportunities” when I was a kid. I get why it’s so important now.
I wrote about New York stories in recent audiobooks.
This week’s accountability goals:
Grading. That’s all. Grading.
Teaching.
Walking. Last Friday I promoted my place at work at my institutions’ request. I had never marched in a Homecoming parade since I played baritone in my high school marching band. So, this was a fun thing to do.
