Darrell+L.

Phase I: Who Am I? What's My Place?

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 * What __really__ makes up your identity?

My identity comes from my father and my wife. These individuals have always set a standard in their work ethic that I have admired to the extent that I hold it most important. My father taught me skills and how to be proud of finishing what I began. My wife has always set goals that far exceed a single job or chore for her to work toward which is what prompted me to leave the field of Emergency Medicine and go to college. From her I learned what I could accomplish by making career goals and working toward them. Following her lead shared with me not only a strong work ethic, the ability to set and achieve goal, but also a glimpse into the reality of social mobility through education. This solidified my affection for the rewards of a job well done.


 * What __really__ makes up your sense of place?

Experiences from my parents such as traveling all over the country and world to visiting museums all over the world made me love history. This love for history has given me a new interest sharing history with other particularly those that have not had the same abilities to experience them as I have.


 * What roles do your identity and sense of place play when you work with others in a group project?

Well my experiences and education have given me a good understanding of diversity and other cultures. This broadens the lens of perspective history and world issues take on a different meaning because I look at another person with empathy and understanding. I think this will also make me a better teacher because I will incorporate less American/European centric styled lessons. Teaching from multi faceted perspectives like this will make students especially in a diverse class or group more interested or easier to work with.


 * What are the qualities that you bring to the GLIP conversation that will help you make a contribution to your global group?

I have an excitement and passion for learning and motivating others to share in the learning process.


 * What is one local problem (where you live) that you believe needs to be addressed? Suggest some steps could you take to try to solve it?

Finding employment in this economy is difficult for people that are healthy with education. For people with intellectual disabilities getting a job and learning a skill is even more difficult. Some of the problem is that the typical jobs that people with intellectual disabilities had previously have been cut altogether. The other issue is that people with intellectual disabilities need vocational rehab coaches to assist them in learning the skills required for a job.

Increase awareness with young students that have the ability to work for the types of organizations part time that help people with disabilities.


 * Finally, some problems have been around for a long time. What qualities do you think a person must have to step up and try to solve them?

I think that no matter what the issue there are certain qualities that are necessary for a person to make a difference. The first component is leadership without the ability to lead whether by example or direct responsibilities a person will make little impact. The second and third are the most difficult to overcome time and money often times people have to make a career out of the issue they wish to make a difference in. An example of this is I work for the Arc of Orange County helping people and students with physical and intellectual disabilities. (For those of you that live locally in our group that are near the age of 18 the Arc or Autism Society of Wake are good part time jobs that are very rewarding.)

I’m interested to read the groups responses for our Glip Project. I also feel the need to apologize for my late start on this project which is my fault because of my steep learning curve for technology.

Darrell Lingle

Phase II: Sense of Place

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Use these questions to help you determine which picture shows someone else why your “place” is so special to you. Of course a picture can display the beauty of a town. The first picture that I have is a house that has been converted into the welcome center for the town of Hillsborough. It is certainly a beautiful yard surrounded by very nice gardens. The image however gives a certain aspect that is central to the community in the town of Hillsborough which is the preservation of historic buildings. In fact much of downtown Hillsborough while the spaces inside have been renovated the buildings are meticulously preserved down to the paint and wavy single pained glass windows. A picture can I don’t usually take pictures of people but I included ones of my sister’s in-law after the circus clowning around in the parking lot. The picture of the clock is the courthouse in Hillsborough covered in snow this is a great picture aesthetically. The question is how can we interpret an image like this? The clock is old (by American Standards) 1844 to be exact it stands as a monument to the community and is a symbol perhaps of a fairly just legal system. I said by American standard above because for those in our group that are from Turkey, Russia, and China may be acquainted with buildings that are far older than our 168 year old courthouse. Pender Grocery the second picture is a beautiful relic found in the township of Cedar Grove that has long expired in an age of nearly total retail consolidation. Pictures give charm to the places that we choose to inhabit or visit but they can be placed into context by the viewer and we can all learn from this. BBQ Hillsborough actually has a weekend festival devoted to barbeque called Hog Day. It does not matter who you are if you’re from my town you have probably been to hog day and sampled one of the fine smoked meats that our locals take pride in.
 * Does a scenic picture represent the beauty you believe that your town has?
 * Does a picture of a group of people represent and show a warmth and friendliness that your town has?
 * Does a statue or building convey the feeling of history that makes your place important and unique?
 * Is there a cultural event that represents the values of your home location?

What are your initial thoughts about how your image addresses the questions above? Later, you will be working with the members of your group to create a travel package that includes visits to each group member's home location (see Phase II)

Phase III: Identify Local Issue:

What is your local issue? There are many issues that occur locally and have global implications. How one answers this question is really dependent on how you answer the second question. The reason being one has to determine first what they are capable of doing and second what they are passionate about changing. There are typically many local problems which is why the second question is perhaps more important than the second. For me it is helping people with developmental disabilities. The triangle area has a lot of good programs for people with developmental disabilities so service is not the biggest issue. Employment after school is however an issue because there is many services the population for people with disabilities is higher. That does not downplay what others feel the issues in Raleigh are because there are several good choices homelessness, pollution, children that are hungry…

What can you do to be address the issue? I started with simple contact through several calls I had run as a paramedic. This experience gave me an awareness of identifying with people with developmental disabilities. When I went to college I decided to quit EMS and work as a CAP worker for students and adults with disabilities. I still work as a CAP care provider but I also teach now in an intensive behavior modification classroom.

What is the global impact of your local issue? Several economic global impacts are associated with helping individuals often times the people I work with are learning to stock shelves and other various retail consumer related jobs. This maintains the employment of manufactures to shippers all over the world.

Add these thoughts to your Group's Discussion Forum on Local Issues