Hi CV!

How smart are you? How do you define your smarts? How do you know if you’re a genius, street-smart or intuitive? Because, as Bob Dylan taught me, we are defined by position and place. What gets us there? The “goods” in life like family, grades, genes, luck, timing, health, humor, work ethic, friends, attorney. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to succeed.

And, we pass that pressure to our children. We want them to get great grades, to make the right decisions and choices, and to be a good influence on their peer group. Wow! That’s a lot. That takes a lot of smarts!

At our next “Teen Trials & Tribulations: a series of 4 talks” presentation, we’re going to look at different types of intelligence. Melina Sardar, a local favorite at Ark Family Center, Inc., is going to talk to parents and students about our internal decision-making process. Join us at this free and fascinating presentation, “Emotional Intelligence (EI) vs. Academic Intelligence (IQ)” next Thursday night, Nov. 13, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in CV High library.

Many of you know emotional intelligence is the awareness about your emotions and the emotions of others, and successfully incorporate this understanding into your thoughts and actions. But if you’re like me and don’t have time to read a book or academic study, you can skim “Forbes” and “Psychology Today” to familiarize yourself with EI before her talk. Knowing this community like I do, you’re already up on IQ.

This topic reminds me of a video I watched at the request of Bill Flanders, my new board president. The speaker said that when we are challenged/attacked, we must not take it personally because it’s never about us. It’s about the other person. So before you let your fight instinct kick in, take a few breaths and consider the source. I think that’s using EI; we’ll know on Nov. 13!
Remember that Parent Sessions moves to CV High’s library, 2900 Community Ave., on Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Suzy Jacobs
is the executive director of
CV Alliance located at  
3131 Foothill Blvd. Suite D
La Crescenta, CA 91214
(818) 646-7867  http://cv-alliance.org/