Ut Prosium. That I May Serve.

Those are some pretty inspiring words to live by. I have some other words, as well:

“To lend to those less fortunate a helping hand…
To keep forever sacred the memory of those we have loved and lost.
To be to others what we would they would be to us.
To keep our lives gentle, merciful and just…

To walk in the way of honor, guarding the purity of our thoughts and deeds.
Being steadfast in every duty small or large.
Believing that our given word is binding…

To practice day by day love, honor, truth…”

Between the motto of Virginia Tech and the Creed of Phi Mu, there is no reason I shouldn’t be doing all I can for others. I am participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life because I want to make a meaningful difference in the fight against cancer. Did you know that Virginia Tech is the leader for university participation in Relay for Life? “Virginia Tech received the Gordy Klatt award for achieving No. 1 net income for the 2009-2010 Nationwide Youth/College Relay For Life for the second year in a row. Raising $582,194, the 2009-2010 event has also won awards for top college in participation per capita, top online event for raising $417,428, and greatest number of survivors present,” according to our website.

That I May Serve.

Every day, the American Cancer Society is helping us stay well by preventing cancer or finding it at its earliest, most treatable stages. They assist families in finding the best resources to help their friend or loved one deal with a diagnosis and their journey to get well. The American Cancer Society is also rallying communities through events like Relay For Life, to fight back and find cures for this disease.

This year is the 10th anniversary of Relay for Life here at Virginia Tech, and we have a goal to raise $750,000. Please make a donation to my team to help the American Cancer Society create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Take time to participate on your own team and ask yourself, “How else can I serve?”

Back when I was in undergrad, I had wanted to be a forensic psychologist. I admit it: the power of CSI had gotten to me. Unfortunately, I was growing anxious about a future which included compartmentalizing relationships, setting up boundaries, and potentially isolating myself (for safety reasons). It was winter break during my junior year, and I was dreading going back to school. This idea of what I wanted to do was way more glamorous than the reality, and I was having a hard time adjusting.

At the same time, my father was retiring from a career in the Navy and moving into the private sector. He and I were almost at the same point: both navigating a professional world hoping to find areas that wouldn’t just serve us, but would actually interest us, as well. He had been working through his career transition with a number of aids, one of which was the book Do What You Are : Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type. Since I was so anxious, he thought we should look at the chapter with my own MBTI type: ENFJ.

“ENFJ: The Public Relations Specialists”

DING DING DING! We have a winner! It turns out, I’m a people person who has messages to share. (On a side note: I had been doing PR for our sorority, especially building relationships with the whole Greek community. When I announced I was going to shift into marketing/PR, everyone said, “I thought that was what you were always going to do.” Apparently I was the only one who didn’t know that.)

Fast-forward a few years, and I’m in an Organizational Behavior course as part of my MBA program. We’re reading another book about personality, Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types. One of the chapters combines elements from the MBTI with Hippocrates’ temperaments into Greek God classifications: Apollo, Dionysus, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. As an NF, I fall under the Apollonian temperament, defined as the state of becoming.

If I am to be in a constant cycle of self-actualization, naturally I will also have a desire to share in my search for meaning. According to the authors Keirsey and Bates, NFs are quite influential because of the power of communication and the nature of needing to share messages. It is inherent that I share insight, experience, advise, and opinion through my words. If I am to influence the most people, I must therefore become a writer.

In reading about this side of my temperament, I never once question whether being a writer demands that I am published or considered an authority in anyway. It seems before we had a line drawn in the sand between writers and bloggers, the written word was just that: the written word. I had started calling myself a writer a little over a year ago, but in some cases I didn’t know if I really was fulfilling that element of my nature, or if I just didn’t like getting the strange looks on peoples’ faces when I said I was a blogger.

Perhaps I needed that little passage from a book published in 1984. That was a good year you know…as my own birthday approaches, maybe this is a sign from the universe telling me to continue sharing my message. After all, this may be what I’m born to do.

Photo credit.

One of my favorite artists is Barnett Newman. His abstract expressionism and simplicity are things I always keep in mind when I paint. One of his most well known series of paintings is the Stations of the Cross. It’s incredibly moving, seeing these paintings in a round room, displayed so that if you spun in a circle, you would feel as if you were able to take in the series at once.  What is even more insipring from his work is that as a Jewish artist, he was depicting what is considered a Christian tradition. But it wasn’t about us vs. them. The series is about a man’s struggle and sacrifice. I believe the paintings are still at the National Art Gallery in D.C., please see them if you have a chance.

Twelfth Station

One part of Newman’s work is about his use of zips. These zips are breaks in the color field, either with negative space (covering up the canvas and painting over it) or with positive (painting around the zip with different colors).

Vir heroie subl.

Here are a couple of my own zips:

Photo credits.