Guest Blog: Aaron Schiff
The following was written by Aaron Schiff, one of our newest fellows:
My name is Aaron Schiff and I am majoring in Psychology. I was born in raised in Los Angeles, California. I have a wide variety of interests including graphic design, computer programming, video production, chess, cooking, tricking and hockey. I also have a new hobby which is unquestionably the Forest Foundation.
To say that the Forest Foundation is one of the coolest places to work for is an understatement. After only working for a little more than a month, I already have complete control over making my own movie about the Forest Foundation. I have already made numerous networks through supporting fellow Foundationer Kevin Sherman. And I have already made some irreplaceable friends.
The Forest Foundation makes it easy to stay involved with the community and promotes responsibility, sense of purpose and self confidence. How could it not, being twenty years old and already being responsible for creating and carrying out your own project is one of the most exciting things I have ever been involved with. Everyone around you supports you and the positive energy is outstanding. One of my favorite parts of the week is actually going to meetings and seeing everyone and their ideas/projects. You tell me another job that you look forward to going to meetings at.
Thoughts on Working
Sometimes I just sit back and marvel at how much we actually get accomplished in any given workday at the Forest Foundation. Seriously, I'm not trying to toot our own horn here, but our staff is extremely dedicated. You can see it every morning during our daily update meetings, each full-time employee giving a robust account of what they accomplished the day before and what they plan to accomplish that day. There's a phrase David C. often says, which I believe was originally coined by Morris, that goes something like, "When the rest are walking, we need to be running." And I think that's what makes our staff so unique - everyone's willing to run as fast as necessary to make the foundation a success. Working days, nights, weekends, those kinds of things don't really matter to our staff. It's not a matter of when you do your work or how you get it done, but just that you do it to the best of your ability and constantly strive to improve. Shouldn't that always be the point of someone's work?
Logan
Thoughts on the Mission Statement
I just had a very telling conversation at the Forest Foundation International Headquarters (IHQ for those of you in the know). A group of friends of friends came to the office and inquired as to the specific details of our foundation, and then asked about our mission statement. I told her that I would read it to her straight from the "welcome packet," which I did. After finishing the mission statement it was clear that she was impressed with our mission, but more interestingly so was I. This is quite an impressive adventure we are participating in here at the Forest Foundation...
David F.
A Simple Exercise
David had an excellent exercise for the group at meeting tonight - he asked each person to name something special that they were going to do for themselves in the next three months that they don't usually do. I thought it was a great issue to raise, because we all need to reward ourselves sometimes. Not only that, but it's also important that we step out of our personal bubble that we've created and do something new. It served as a sort of wake up call, I felt, to let yourself loose and live a little more. A simple exercise with a big impact, it was.
Logan
Passover
This week is Passover, and for many of our fellows that means going home to spend the holiday with their family. For me, however, it's another opportunity to observe what it is and what it means to be Jewish. Working for the Forest Foundation has been a vivid learning experience for me because, until this past year, I'd never experienced Jewish culture. I haven't seen what exactly goes on for Passover yet, but I'm eager to see and learn. As this week goes on, I'll expand upon these thoughts.
Logan
Yashiya a Success
For those who missed the international debut of Yashiya yesterday, allow me to tell you that it was a smash hit. No exaggeration. The performance was clean and crisp. Every member of the cast and crew stepped up big time for the show. I honestly couldn't believe it. The dance numbers and lines all came off without a hitch, everyone nailing their parts perfectly. After the show a number of guests gave us suggestions on other venues to stage the performance, recommending that we continue to play Yashiya. Everyone laughed and applauded and gave genuine compliments after the show. It was extremely rewarding to finally bring the play to life. Now I guess it's time to think about what we're going to do with Yashiya next, but for now I'm content to marinate on a job well done. Enjoy your weekend.
Logan
Yashiya Today!
Today's the day! Time to put up or shut up, for lack of a better term. It's showtime! The debut of Yashiya, the Good Guy, is today at B'nai B'rith at 5 o'clock. We're expecting a big turnout and for everyone to be well entertained. So if you're not planning on it already, come on out to B'nai B'rith for a great time! See you all this afternoon.
Logan
Final Rehearsal
Tonight is our last rehearsal before the big Yashiya debut tomorrow at B'nai B'rith. Well, what more can I say that I haven't said before. Everyone knows how I feel - it'll be great to finally put all of our preparation the last two months to the test. It's weird to think it's finally ending; it seems like we've been preparing for Yashiya forever. It's been a good run, and now we'll finally see what everyone else has to say. Here's to the show!
LC
Time for Yashiya
So this is it, the big week. The week that Yashiya will finally be premiering at B'nai B'rith. The date is Thursday, April 21, and the show will begin at 5:00pm. I couldn't be more excited than to finally act in front of an unknown crowd of people who have never seen Yashiya before. I think it will be a great day. It'll be my first real play performance, but I can't honestly say that I'm nervous because I don't feel nervous at all. Actually, I'm anxious - anxious to at last bring this play full circle. It's been a long time coming now, so this performance will be a huge catharsis after a large buildup. I look forward to it. See everyone on Thursday!
LC
Santa Barbara
Another beautiful day today in Santa Barbara. It's days like today that make me so thankful to be working and living in this city. The weather is great, and the unique community here makes it possible for us to accomplish the things we are doing in Santa Barbara. So I hope everyone enjoys their Friday and reflects on some positive thoughts.
LC
Yashiya Yeah!
We had another Yashiya rehearsal last night, and will have one again tonight. We've put in a lot of hours on this play, and although at many times I've wished it would just be over, the dedication everyone has shown to make it a success has lifted my spirits whenever they've been down. Last night, David Fingerote energized us all with some words of inspiration about how we can make this play great. And I feel if it's not David doing this last night, it's someone else another night. This group is full of energized, supportive personalities, and that is what has made participating in Yashiya the most rewarding.
LC
Alli Blender on the Weekend Retreat
As the baby of the weekend, I have to admit, I was slightly nervous. I come away from the experience, however, in such awe of the Forest Foundation and what it means to be a part of this organization striving to improve the world. The Berkeley chapter of the Forest Foundation is much less developed than our Santa Barbara counterparts and most of us have no real perception of how powerful and important the Foundation can be. The weekend was most successful for me because of the respect I was able to bring back to my fellow students and co-workers for the foundation itself, in addition to a drive I now maintain to improve the Berkeley chapter and to achieve the program’s potential. I was also lucky enough to return to Berkeley with a full stomach (from all the great non-health food Santa Barbara meals!), a hot Forest Foundation Beanie, and a great El Capitan Canyon sweatshirt! My weekend couldn’t have been better!
Alli Blender
Sunday Trainings
The Forest Foundation had its first training of Spring Quarter last night with Kathleen Stinnett of the Hudson Institute. This quarter we will be having a number of different trainers lead our Sunday sessions, which is a departure from the previous two quarters that saw Jim Peal leading all training sessions. Although we love Jim, we're getting a taste this quarter of some other trainers' views and methods. And if last night's training is any indication, the decision to rotate trainers may be one of our best ideas yet. Kathleen's presentation was about how to manage change and transition in one's life, and the content of the session was perfect for the foundation's age bracket. Everyone in college is in some kind of transitional period or will face one soon, so last night's information was incredibly valuable and prescient. I found the training session to be incredibly informative and applicable to my life right now, and look forward to what the rest of our sessions will hold this quarter.
Yashiya Run-through
We had our first official run-through of Yashiya in front of a small audience of friends yesterday and we found that there are several kinks we need to work out. It was expected that we'd need to put a fair amount more work into the play, and now we know what we need to work on. The response, however, was quite positive. Everyone present said the play was entertaining and gave constructive criticism of how Yashiya can improve before we debut the real deal. The enthusiasm after the run-through however is at an all-time high.
LC
Yashiya at the Schmooze Room
We performed a scene from our upcoming musical Yashiya at the Schmooze Room today, and the response was very positive. The seniors responded well, telling me and other actors how much they enjoyed the show. It was very gratifying for me to finally put to the test what we have been tirelessly rehearsing for weeks. It was the beginning of the culmination of a tremendous effort that we have been striving to perfect. Today's performance really has caused me to eagerly anticipate staging the entire production for even more people to see. Can't wait to see everyone there.
LC
Yashiya Still On The Horizon
It's been a while since I talked about our musical Yashiya, so I thought I'd drop a little reminder that the play's still on tap. We're getting closer and closer to its debut on stage and everyone's been putting in a lot of hours to get ready and make it hugely entertaining. I have no doubt that it will be. Jordan and I took some time to rewrite the last scene today because the old one just wasn't working. If we find something that doesn't feel right in the play, we change it. In this manner, I am confident that the play will be very well received.
LC
Website Revival
We have a new look to our website and I think the changes we've made to it are fantastic. In redesigning the website, however, I'm learning how intensive it is to maintain an up-to-date website, and I'm not even the one doing the actual work. Richard Sloven taken the reigns in maintaining the website and every day he's pouring all of his knowledge and ability into it. Constructing a website like ours takes a lot of outside cooperation because all Forest Foundation fellows need to give Richard descriptions of their programs so that he may post them on the website. I'm helping him collect these documents, and so far it's been anything but an easy task for the both of us. However, the website will very soon be a virtual encyclopedia of everything Forest Foundation related, and it'll look good, too. Under Richard's guidance, the website's in very capable hands.
