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a while back,  and i don't remember why,  i was groping for this word.  

Agency

was one of those things,  at the tip of the tongue,  NEEDED,  but illusive.  Agency.  I emailed Dee,  giving her context,  begging her to come up with the word.  She couldn't.  and i couldn't.

a couple days ago i read an article on dying, and there in it…"a dying person has very little agency"…..    !!!!!!!!!!  my word!!!!!   Agency!!!.  YES!

so today,  i googled  Self Determination   Agency

" the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power."

and then still  looking,  i see this from National Center on Secondary Education and Transition

"Self-determination:  Supporting Successful Transition  by christine D. Bremer, Mera Kahgal, and Kris Schoeller

Self determination is a concept reflecting the belief that all individuals have the right to direct their own lives.  Students who have self determination skills have a stronger chance of being successful in making the transition to adulthood,  including  employment and independence.  Starting with the 1990 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, transition services must be based on student needs and take into account student interests and preferences.   To accomplish this goal,  students must be prepared to participate in planning for their future.  

Self determination encompasses concepts such as free will,  civil and human rights, freedom of choice, independence, personal agency, self direction and individual responsibility.  based on the assumption that people have inborn tendencies to grow and develop psychologically, to strive to master challenges in the environment, and to integrate experience into self concept.  This theory holds that these human tendencies are full expressed only within a supportive social context.  That is, self determination is not achieved simply because an individual has certain requisite knowledge and skills;  it is also important that key people and institutions in the person's life provide a context conducive to self determination.  that even when youth have excellent self determination skills,  they can be thwarted in their efforts to become self determined by people and institutions that present barriers or fail to provide needed supports."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so……here…..on a day that i felt so so Flattened,  so broken,  so Sad.  The WORD showed up in such a fine  and great way.

Agency

Agency.  How do i find my Agency amidst it all.  How IMPORTANT to still and always search for and find one's Agency

Agency.   ok.

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20 responses to “agency”

  1. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Whew…most thoughtful and hopeful despite the current global moment. Let Hollyhocks dominate! Hollyhocks for Congress and Corporate office holders! Let Hollyhocks rule!

    Like

  2. yvette Avatar

    has your sadness to do with orange man?
    i don’t ubderstand it all but isn’t it better if the hollyhocks take over your sad thoughts?

    Like

  3. Mo Crow Avatar

    re agency & self determination, autonomous learning was the form of education when I went to art school in the 80’s, students set their own goals for each area of study, documenting the process with aim, method, results and conclusion, it was a great way to learn!

    Like

  4. Nancy Krampf Avatar

    hollyhocks,
    oh my
    a flower always
    brings joy
    age n cy……..
    ………………..
    can’t focus as
    the hollyhocks are
    playing
    and i am
    unable to look away
    x0

    Like

  5. jude Avatar

    holly hock have come up of their own accord here. the deer will probably eat them again. but they persist. deep down.

    Like

  6. Michele Avatar
    Michele

    I came here this morning to ask what now? That the last straw has been dropped. So. Agency and community and hollyhocks. I feel better already.

    Like

  7. Liz A Avatar

    Agency … is it given or owned? Can it be taken from us?
    This is a word, a concept, that I have long toyed with in my mind. I’d like to believe it comes from within and that we yield it to others at our peril.
    So, we do what we can within our own spheres of influence, watching as the ripples of our actions go out into the world, intersect with others, and grow.

    Like

  8. Wendy@ Late StartStudio Avatar

    The arena in which I have Agency is getting smaller and smaller so here I stand like a lion tamer fending off lions that are hungry for more flesh than they need . . . I trust these legs to remain upright.

    Like

  9. joy in az Avatar

    Hollyhocks
    good reminders of perseverance
    they sprout up in waste places here
    in cracks of concrete
    neon pink and strong

    Like

  10. grace Avatar

    these, the spawn of ones i stole from Ghost Ranch…Georgia
    O keefe’s

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  11. grace Avatar

    yes, Yvette….the orange man
    how somehow he has become the spokesman for EveryOne here…
    and it is NOT SO
    but it also IS SO
    and this is difficult
    but there ARE hollyhocks…the plants like iron mothers

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  12. grace Avatar

    things will hold, over time?

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  13. grace Avatar

    yes. they are Strong

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  14. grace Avatar

    once they have Chosen space, they hold that space

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  15. grace Avatar

    Agency.
    today, the next day, i am still here…Agency….and i live
    among hollyhocks that i stole from Georgia O’Keefe

    Like

  16. grace Avatar

    these are good questions and i’m not ready this evening to
    go into them.
    but right off, in the moment, i think we don’t
    yield
    but something different than yielding

    Like

  17. grace Avatar

    the small agency
    it’s not enough

    Like

  18. grace Avatar

    yes…waste places
    when i was a little little girl in Detroit, Michigan, there
    were hollyhocks in the alley behind our 4 family flat. Nothing
    but concrete there and
    cracks

    Like

  19. Michele Avatar
    Michele

    Such special hollyhocks! No wonder your agency is so powerful. Thanks for writing about it!

    Like

  20. dee Avatar

    coming late to the party — what else is new? Glad you found your word. It’s such a good word. Like power, but without the taint. Like authority, but more organic.
    I like how you include discussion of community in with this, because of course our personal agency can be thwarted or nourished by the norms and attitudes that surround us.
    For some reason, this morning I think about the abortion debate and sthg a feminist sd to me as a third year law student (almost 30 yrs ago)(which, BTW reframes the debate): “what we mean when we say abortion should be illegal is that women should not have the moral agency to kill.”
    I love how the hollyhock gets raised as a victor’s emblem or even a weapon in the drawing you make later… that, to me, speaks to a reframe as well — what do we mean by power? what do we wield to stake our claims or assert our rights? To make our agency manifest? What if a nation of women rose up bearing hollyhocks?

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