5.3.2016

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

What I Learned About Launch Week

In Citizen Schools (and probably a lot of other classes and after school programs), we sometimes use a graphic organizer called a KWL chart. It looks something like this:

These are useful for getting kids to recall information they already know, brainstorm questions about a new topic, and reflect on what they learn in a class. They are also useful for us adults (and without knowing about these charts, I've already started a collection of posts about What I Know).

Before Launch Week (the official start of Citizen Schools programming), I knew that a) program would start, b) I'd have wayyy more interaction with the students, and c) the months of training I received would finally be put to use. I wanted to know a) What was actually going to happen once I was standing at the front of a classroom, b) How I would remember all the parts of each day's lesson, and c) Was I really qualified to be doing this? Here's What I Learned:

1. Holding the attention of 20 students for 90 minutes is not easy, but it's not complicated either. The tricky part is getting them all to pay attention at the same time.
2. Economy of Language has multiple benefits. Using as few words as possible to get your point across is not only an effective way to keep things straightforward for your students, it also ensures that you won't lose your voice on the first day of program.
3. Kids love rewards. You guys: I raffled off leftover oranges and carrots in my class this week and the kids went bonkers.
4. The show must go on. Much like any "performance," class has to keep rolling even when you forget your agenda and materials in your office, which is three stories down.
5. Keep an air of mystery. Related to # 4, when you forget materials, your train of thought, or a crucial handout from the day before, no one has to know but you - pretend like everything's cool, and kids will go with it.
6. Teaching begets learning. I'm not talking about students learning here - I mean me, the teacher. I've learned something new (or relearned something again) every. single. day. And I can only guess and hope that that trend continues.

As the Teaching Fellows Do

School hasn't officially started yet, but I think I can share a little more about what a Teaching Fellow does.

Everything.

After almost two months on the job, I've realized that my "job description" is ever evolving and changes with the week/day. Much like House Management, a Teaching Fellowship is all about flexibility and adaptability. A few more (specific) similarities? In these seven weeks I've already painted, gardened, gotten price quotes, organized, and baked at or for work. Luckily, I've also gotten to speak to a few parents (in English and Spanglish and, let's be honest, very broken Spanish), meet a few students, joke and bond with my team, and reflect in a one-on-one meeting with my Campus Director, so I'm feeling appropriately challenged, celebrated, and invested in.

Next week I'll meet my students, attend meetings with teachers, and get my Apprenticeship assignments (part of the after school portion of Citizen Schools, which pairs volunteer experts and professionals - Citizen Teachers - with middle schoolers for a 10-week course culminating in an exhibition we call a Wow!), but for now I'm preparing agendas, planning lessons, and lending a hand where it's needed. Basically, I'm getting things done for America.

52nd Time's the Charm...

After 52 (more or less) applications/cover letters/times I tried to convince someone I was normal/hireable/awesome as a human and 11 actual interviews, ranging from brief phone conversations to pleasant in-person chats to discussion-based group interviews, I can finally (exhaustingly, happily, proudly) announce...I have a new job!

I'm sure if you've been reading recently you guessed this already, but I wanted to make sure I finished out my time as a nanny/house manager before I started talking about what's new in my life. Now that I'm on my summer break, the fact that I'm starting a new position next week feels more real.

The Who:
I was hired in late May by Citizen Schools to be a part of their National Teaching Fellowship Class of 2017. It's a two year program through AmeriCorps (which I was also a part of during MercyWorks) and my official title is Teaching Fellow. I'll also have a campus-specific role (TBA) and I'm sure a hashtag will follow.

The What:
For now, my job description is "Teach, Serve, Grow." I'll be working with middle school students both in the classroom and after school, but beyond that I haven't really imagined what a day will look like - I'd rather go in with open expectations and learn from there. I will say that the opportunity to work in the Education field after several years on the Residential side of things really excites me. I think we all know that I loved/love school.

The Where:
In late June, I found out that my school placement is in Logan Square, which means I'm already pretty familiar with the neighborhood (yay!).

The Why:
I've written about why a job change in general was needed and wanted. My ideal job (the hopes I had for my future from the beginning of my job search) involved a nonprofit, being able to help/serve others, having coworkers, and using my creative talents. Citizen Schools fits that bill and then some. I actually found the position after being turned down for a different job within their network. My initial contact suggested the Teaching Fellowship and introduced me to an area recruiter. After a challenging interview process, I was happy that what was at first another rejection turned into a new life direction. (And it made what I read in Rejection Proof ring all the more true.)

The When:
I start next Monday! I'm sure my first few weeks (of training) will leave me with lots to talk about, and then once school starts I'll have even more to say. New things bring lots of excitement around here. Thanks for being a part of it.

Twice the Nostalgia

In the past two weeks I engaged in two activities that reminded me of home/Wisconsin. It's nice to have that occasionally, a taste of another life and a change of pace from my current one.

Richardson Farm Corn Maze

This corn maze is the largest in the world--33 acres and four mazes--and provided hours of fun/confused wandering for Jesus, his family, and me (after the preliminary non-fun of finding the place and maneuvering around rural Illinois). Once there, we ate kettle corn while getting hopelessly lost in the maze. Eventually we figured out how to read the map, and from then on we had no problems finding the checkpoints scattered around the Girl Scout-themed maze.

St Robert Bellarmine Harvest Gala

This Northwest parish reminds me a lot of my home parish in Colby--a fun mix of little old ladies and men, young couples, and plenty of families with kids who attend the connecting school. Their Harvest Gala serves as a fundraiser for the community and school, and this year they honored Fr. Scott with their Guardian Angel Award. Father Scott, CEO & President of Mercy Home, is also a resident at St. Robert Bellarmine. I was at the Harvest Gala to volunteer as a MercyWorks alum. My job for the night: coffee. Brewing, filling carafes  pouring, keeping sugar and cream stocked...this took me back to working at the retirement center and Ryan's. Once the dinner and auction were done, we (other former MWers & I) got to dance and enjoy the party with the young couples who stuck around for the DJ.

It's My Roommate!

Check out this blog post all about my roommate and Partner In Crime, Britney!

My own post is also on this blog.

Possible Back-up Career?

When I'm not volunteering full time, I enjoy spending my time volunteering. No, really. Well, only if my roommates come with. Last Wednesday we spend our Community Night packaging emergency food boxes for Cook County at the Greater Chicago Food Depository (a giant warehouse south of Chicago...honestly, several football fields would fit inside).

The way they do these emergency boxes is a la I Love Lucy, aka rapidly moving conveyor belt. Each person has a specific product to place in a specific spot in the box. Then it gets labeled, weighed, taped, placed on pallets, and loaded into the warehouse until an emergency (fire, flood, etc). The boxes we packaged could feed a family of five for a minimum of 3-4 days.

Since my job was to take the boxes off the line and stack them on the pallets, I could watch pretty much the entire line in motion: my roommates and the other volunteers putting their products in, the boxes making their way around the corner where more of my roommates manned the scale and tape machine, then the pallet area where I stood. It was all so efficient--our goal was to pack 1,000 boxes, or 25 pallets, but we finished a total of 1,179 boxes in the two hours we worked.

During the break we got halfway through, I joked with my roommates that it would be fun if we actually had factory jobs. We could joke around and play cards during breaks, we'd all be buff from heavy lifting...they didn't feel the same way, but I still think it would be nice every now and then to not have to think so much on the job.

Drive for Mercy

This week Thursday brought another public event (as a 99.7% privately funded institution, Mercy Home has to make sure it's name gets out a lot), this one at the downtown Mercedes-Benz dealership. A young professionals group, U40 (they're all under the age of 40), put on Drive for Mercy and they needed volunteers, so Britney, Shannon, and I decided to check it out. Our jobs included checking people's coats and selling raffle tickets, and we also got to enjoy the catered food and dancing. For anyone who's never hung out at a car dealership after hours, I highly recommend it. Once we did our jobs, we basically wined and dined alongside $50,000-100,000 cars in the showroom.

On Friday I had the day off, due to a Conceptual Framework training on Wednesday. I spent most of it grocery shopping for our community--14 people need a lot of food. Luckily we have a membership at Restaurant Depot so we can get bulk items (like a gallon of olive oil or a pound of raisins). With that done, Jillian, Megan, and I headed to Bourbonnais, Jillian's hometown, to see her younger brother in an improv comedy show at his high school. He's a funny kid, and reminds me of Quinn. We also got to stop at Jillian's house, putting my roommate house visit count at 3. I'm determined to go to everyone's house sometime in my life...it's so fun to see where everyone is from!

O, Christmas Tree

How many Chicago school kids can say they've seen Mayor Daley in person, or that he's helped to light their Christmas tree? Not many, but the youth of Mercy Home can. This past Tuesday, Chicago's mayor attended Mercy Home's Christmas tree lighting ceremony for the 18th time, his last time as mayor of the city.

Youth from each program told what their program had done for community service in the past year (bake sales, clothing drives, volunteering at book drives and food pantries) and gave Mayor Daley the Book of Service, which outlines the community service Mercy Home youth participate in each year. Then everyone headed outside to light up the tree, sing, and get hot chocolate and cookies.

It's beginning to look/sound/taste a lot like Christmas!

This is How We Do.

Saturdays in program (like earlier today) are fairly quiet. I realize this means nothing to a lot of you, since you have no idea what I mean by quiet, or just how loud it can get here. After several months on the job, allow me to give some more detail as to what I actually do and how a "normal" day looks...just understand that people work here for years without experiencing a "normal" day.

Daley Home now includes seven youth between the ages of 13-17. All of them but one (who is still in eighth grade) attend high schools throughout the Chicagoland area, and thanks to generous donations and scholarships the guys have earned, most attend private schools. This gives them greater support due to smaller class sizes and more college-focused curriculum.

A typical day for me starts at 2, when I walk downstairs to the time clock, then down the hall and over to program. My commute is literally one minute. The guys are all still in school, so I have some time to check my work email and read the communication log to see what has happened in program since I worked last. From 3-5 the guys arrive from school. I say hi and ask how their days went, if they have lots of homework, what's new and exciting in their lives. Like the teenagers they are, they answer quickly and give few details. Some of the guys will start their homework early (or we ask them to if they are struggling in classes), but most will grab something to eat first. Those waiting to do their homework during structured study time spend pre-dinner hanging out in the milieu (common gathering area of program), on the computers in the back, napping in their rooms, or down in the gym with staff.

All the guys prep for study time before we head down to the (brand new!) cafeteria for dinner at 5:15. We eat dinner with several other programs and I again ask about the guys' days. Now, with food in front of them, they talk my ear off. "Rach," they say, "do you like to play sports?" "Where did you go to school?" "What was your favorite thing to do in high school?" I guess because staff members know so much about their upbringing and lives in general, they too are curious about us. I also learn lots of new slang words in the cafeteria and I get to see how the guys interact with other youth. Some treat each other like brothers--and it might feel just that way to those who grow up at Mercy Home with each other--while others are more private about any interaction.

Back in program, study time starts. This is where things get a little tough, because it is rare that the guys actually want to study. I spend this hour to hour and a half redirecting them from listening to music or watching youtube videos, goofing around with each other, or in general dragging their heels about getting work done. When we have outside tutors this helps them to focus, otherwise the other staff and myself might sit with one youth to keep him on task and show him that he can finish his homework if he just applies himself. I really do enjoy this time, despite feeling like I'm pulling teeth. I love when they want to show me something they are working on (a paper on alternative energy, a map of Chicago streets, Spanish verb worksheets), knowing that they trust me enough for this.

After study time comes chore time, which for me seems like less fun than homework, but for the guys is less stressful than anything school related. We let them turn the stereo on loud and goof around a little, provided they aren't horseplaying and are actually getting their chore done. The chore rotation gives them practice at cleaning a little of everything--from vacuuming and dusting to sweeping and mopping. It's good for the guys to have some responsibility for keeping their living space orderly.

Once chores are done, the guys have free time for the rest of the night. Some will continue homework while others beg us to take them to the gym. Some go for walks or down the block to the 7-11 for a snack. They watch TV or play video games, use the phone to talk to their parents, and hang out with staff. Typical teenager stuff. A few might have an early bedtime as a behavior consequence, otherwise they are still up when I leave at around 10.

Then I make the short walk back to my apartment--all without leaving the building. Most of the guys know I live on campus, which can be funny since they sometimes think I am in program like they are, with study and chore time as well. My roommates get home around the time I do and we spend the next several hours debriefing and processing our hectic days over a hodgepodge of food. On paper things go smoothly, with schedules and structure, but in reality we work with teenagers so something is always coming up to throw things off or disrupt the flow of the day: youth not coming back from school, detentions, doctor appointments, or special events at school can effect the entire night.

Hopefully this leaves you a little less confused about what I'm actually doing down here. As a residential facility providing educational and career resources as well as therapeutic treatment and basic structure, Mercy Home does a little bit of everything (even housing 14 crazy post-grads who have snowball fights in the parking lot...).

I'm not all bad; I'm a faithful sinner

Yesterday was Rachel Day. With snow finally falling, I set out with Dave Matthews playing on my iPod and a head full of thoughts. I've never had so many events to keep straight between work and community, and the multiple sheets of scrap paper notes covering my desk made it clear: I needed a planner. I hoofed it all the way to Target. It was cold and windy, but the time alone allowed me to breathe and think after the Thanksgiving rush and the funky sleep schedules it left in its wake.

With that done, it was time for my very first spiritual direction. Through MercyWorks, we volunteers have the chance to meet with a spiritual and/or professional mentor. I already had an informational interview with a professional development mentor a few weeks ago (she writes a whole bunch for Mercy Home), so I was excited to also have a spiritual director.

Spiritual direction has a super long history that I'll leave to you to research, but a better name for it would be spiritual conversation. Because mostly, we just talked. She asked me how I found out about Mercy Home and about my background and every now and then she would repeat what I had said and ask a clarifying question about it, or rephrase it, or somehow help me make sense of what I was saying. It was a little scary how good she was at sorting out my thoughts.

I left remembering why I came here in the first place: to do direct service. After 16+ years of school--study, theory, reflection, reading and writing--I wanted action. I chose a year of service because I specifically did not want more school (yet), I wanted practice, experience, and to dig myself into the world I'd spent so long learning about. When I took that risk (considering my comfort with theory and my discomfort with practice), I got frustrated that my spirituality felt weird. My mind and body made the leap from theory (school) to practice (full-time job), but my spirit, my faith, failed to make the switch. Of course I feel a disconnect between what I've been doing these past 3 months and my relation to God.

Because I'm no longer reading and writing as much as I used to, but instead interacting with coworkers and the guys at Mercy, I need to readjust my spirituality as well. My spiritual director called it being a "contemplative in action": recognizing God moments as I work, in the moment. That's not how I operate. I reach epiphanies with alarming delay. Still, I committed to trying it out, practicing the practice. I'll let you know how that works out for me.

(Actually, I got a chance to practice being in the moment as soon as I got home. For our Community Night, we had group yoga, which is all about letting go and focusing on breathing. It felt awesome, but I'm definitely sore today.)

Ringside 2010

One of the perks of volunteering a year one's life to a nonprofit agency is the opportunity to volunteer for their fundraisers throughout said year. This past Saturday, my roommates and I got all dolled up and headed downtown to the Mariott, where we served as table captains for the high rollers of Chicago for Ringside for Mercy's Sake.

While we were serving wine, vodka and tonics, and harvest ale to our tables, the top dogs of Chicago's financial institutions were duking it out in the boxing ring at the center of the ballroom. The night also included silent and live auctions, a raffle for a 2011 Jaguar, and dancing after all the boxing was done.

We only had to serve drinks during the dinner and boxing, and once that finished we were free to enjoy the live band and dancing as well. That was clearly my favorite part, but I enjoyed the rest of the night too. Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini was the special guest, along with Bobby Rahal, and while I have no idea who most of the boxers were, it was still exciting to watch them box.

The most exciting part? Getting all dressed up and hanging out with grown ups for once...not to mention the free dinner at the hotel before we started to work.

City Year Recruitment

I never thought I'd feel like an expert on MercyWorks, but recruiting at a post-service fair proved me wrong. After discussing the particulars of my year of service to more than several of the 150 City Year members at Malcolm X College yesterday, I feel like a MercyWorks spokesperson.

City Year is a year of service much like MercyWorks, except there are tons of volunteers all over the country and they find their own housing in the cities they are serving. They usually end up being placed in schools as mentors and tutors and after their year they might either want to pursue another volunteer year, attend grad school, or go into full time employment. Hence the post-service fair.

Since all of the City Year members know what a year of service is, I didn't have to do a lot of explaining. I mostly got to talk about what makes MercyWorks different from other volunteer programs--namely, that all 14 MercyWorkers work for the same agency for the year and they have the option of signing on for full-time employment once their year is complete. Many volunteer programs place you in outside agencies (schools, hospitals, shelters, nonprofits) and function only as the home base for volunteers.

The City Year members also had a lot of questions about what we actually do. After describing Mercy Home to them (or to anyone), it can still be confusing as to what our job descriptions actually are. My answer to the "So what do you do?" question is usually "I'm still figuring that out." All job titles within Mercy Home tend to be flexible and inclusive, so "Youth Care Worker" encompasses a multitude of responsibilities. I summed it up by saying I provide basic structure (dinner, homework, chores, gym) for the youth as well as act as an advocate for their personal, educational, and social needs (along with giving some concrete examples).

The funny part was, when they asked how long I'd been at Mercy Home and I said two months, they seemed surprised. I was surprised too, at all the random information I knew about Mercy Home and how normal it felt to talk about it.

Chicago Volunteers in the News

MercyWorkers got a shout out from Claire Noonan, director of the St. Catherine of Siena Center at DominicanUniversity! Check her article out here:

http://www.chicagocatholicnews.com/2010/09/x-files-welcome-to-this-city-of-beauty.html

Preventing Crises & Meeting Vols

You should all be pleased to know that after eight hours of lecture/practice, I am currently (mostly) CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute) trained. What does that mean? If any of the guys or girls (in any program) grabs me, bites me, or pulls my hair, I can successfully maneuver my way out of that situation. Furthermore, if any of the youth are bringing damage to themselves or another person, I know how to safely and nonviolently restrain them until they calm down.

The thought of actually restraining on of the Daley guys is a little scary, but luckily restraints rarely if ever happen in my program--it's just better for everyone to know what to do in any situation.

Tomorrow we will finish our training and get fingerprinted and the remainder of my day I'll continue to be in program, getting to know the guys.

Tonight we are having volunteers from the Amate House over for some dinner and to compare volunteer years so far. Having other volunteers in the city is nice, since we can share useful hints about where to find bargains and how to cope with stipend-living!

Starbucks & Service

It's funny that I spent most of the summer reading and contemplating nonfiction books more on the theory side of things, ie they strictly talked about one or more of the five program values of MercyWorks (service, spirituality, simple lifestyle, community, professional development). Funny because I both started and ended the summer with books on my own to-read list that fell under the practice side of things, ie they followed one person's journey of some sort and how they lived out one or more of the five program values.

The book I started with was Eat, Pray, Love, but I've talked about that one enough on here. The book I just finished, How Starbucks Saved My Life, showcased almost all of the values, with the exception of spirituality (though an argument could be made that it had hints of spirituality).

When Michael Gates Gill finds himself out of a job, he is knocked pretty far down the social ladder. A job at a busy Starbucks in New York City allows him to refocus his priorities. Instead of demanding services from others, he serves all types of people ("Guests") without prejudice. Instead of treating himself to all-you-can-eat dinners, he cuts his spending and enjoys things like evening walks or sampling coffees. No longer a part of the cutthroat world of corporate America, he embraces his fellow Starbucks workers ("Partners") and forms a sort of community with them. And even though he had been at the top of the professional world as an advertising executive, his professional development at Starbucks puts his old life to shame.

As I read this book, I wondered why it hadn't been made into a movie yet. A simple Google search proved that one is in the making, though. It also really made me want to work at a coffee shop. Maybe that's what I'll do after my year of service in Chicago.

Can't Face the Truth, But I Can Read Some Books

Reality check: I'm leaving for Chicago in three weeks.

My program, MercyWorks sent me an orientation packet a while ago. I was super excited when it came, skimmed through it all, then got really apprehensive and anxious and shoved it under my bed, where it has stayed since. Not that I don't want to go to Chicago, or that I'm not more happy anxious than nervous anxious, but seeing everything on paper--schedules, what to bring, contact list--whoa. I guess a part of me doesn't want to mess anything up, and the best way to do that is to ignore things, right?

I did pull out the suggested reading list, and I've been plugging away at the eleven books meant to get us into the simple living/social justice/professional development/service/spirituality/community mindset. Some of them were real flops (a guide on simple living, for example, which suggested things like growing a weed garden instead of spending so much time on landscaping), but most were worthy of my summer freedom.

There Are No Children Here - Alex Kotlowitz
This book held my interest mostly due to its setting in Chicago. I know basically nothing about the Windy City, and this sociological snapshot of two brothers growing up in Chicago helped to ground my own thoughts of moving there for a year. My first weeks of living in Rome felt like a story happening to someone else, and I'm pretty sure Chicago could feel that way as well.

Doing the Truth in Love - Fr. Michael Himes
For me, this book served to reaffirm my decision to enter into a year of service. So many of Fr. Himes' insights resonated with my beliefs that actions speak volumes. We might speak a truth, but in actuality we "do" Truth all the time. Everything we do shows others the Truth we believe.

The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace - M. Scott Peck
The thing I'm probably most looking forward to for this year is living in community with thirteen other like-minded people. I imagine it's going to be like Real World: Chicago, only with a faith and service twist. The thing is, community doesn't just happen. This book describes the typical phases a community goes through, the struggles, and the immense benefits community brings. You'll also notice the subtitle is community making and peace, NOT peace making and community. Most people feel as though we must reach world peace before we can begin the process of creating a world community. Not so, says Scotty. First we must make a community, then peace will naturally follow.

My Life With the Saints - James Martin, SJ
This memoir, the story of one man's spiritual journey, was a fun read. Each chapter introduced a different saint whose life had affected the writer's. The book also underlined the idea of a communion of saints, a community of believers--the idea that we are all maybe not saints, but saintly, and as such can find kindred souls among the saints.

The Long Loneliness - Dorothy Day
One of James Martin's influences, Dorothy Day honestly reveals her spiritual struggles in her autobiography. I just started this one, but Dorothy's self-effacing tone and blatant honesty makes it an easy, if not introspective, read. I already see a lot of Dorothy in myself, especially her thoughts on writing: "Writing a book is hard, because you are 'giving yourself away.' But if you love, you want to give yourself....You write about yourself because in the long run all man's problems are the same, his human needs of sustenance and love."

Part of the Solution

Every group on campus here at SNC has to meet certain requirements in order to remain an operating organization and continue receiving funds. For one of these requirements, the service component, Cru chose to volunteer at Paul's Pantry, a local food pantry which has distributed over 71.4 million pounds of food to the needy of Brown County since 1984.

We had about thirteen students, some from our Bible studies and others from our outreach with ESL students, who came to help sort the donated items Paul's Pantry receives. Directed by a vocal woman who came up to my elbow, we took bulk donations of cereal, rice, oatmeal and beans and bagged them for families to purchase. Several other groups of volunteers joined us in the bagging and stocking room--some from local high schools and others just individuals who spend their Saturdays helping out at the Pantry.

I knew about Paul's Pantry from my days working in the kitchen at the campus cafeteria. I always hated throwing away perfectly good food, but luckily we were able to send it to Paul's, where it would go to people who actually needed it. What I didn't know was what happened after the food got to Paul's. Because it is such a large pantry and serves so many people, lots of volunteers are needed to keep the shelves stocked, sort through loads of donations, and help those who are shopping there to find everything they need. There was a system in place and everything was well-organized, probably with some thanks to the tiny lady who wasn't afraid to tickle our knees if she needed to get around us.

While we worked, we learned from the ESL students that things like Paul's Pantry don't really exist in Japan. According to the Japanese, it is the government's job to help the needy, and if they aren't going to help, why should the common people? Plus there are certain environmental beautification programs meant to keep the homeless out of cities like Tokyo. The girls with us don't exactly believe that, but that's the common perception in Japan.

Some people in America share such a perception, lending voice to just one side of the multifaceted debate of who is responsible for those in need? My own beliefs, which are always changing the more I learn about the different aspects of poverty, are generally that we are all responsible. I do believe the government plays a part; the purpose of (American) government is to provide for and protect its citizens and allowing millions of people to be homeless does little to protect them. On the other side of things, I am a supporter of the separation of church and state and I recognize the church's responsibility to care for those in need, knowing that the government alone cannot fix things.

Most importantly, though, I believe that helping the homeless or impoverished or anyone in need of anything has to start with an individual. Instead of debating whose fault homelessness is and who should be responsible for helping, we should all focus on doing good where we can.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. [Mother Teresa]

When I woke up this morning there was a fresh layer of snow on the ground. Did Punx Phil see his shadow? I don't even know.

I've been mulling over a lot of (interrelated) things lately. It comes down to
Filling out these service applications and answering questions like "What draws you to direct service?"
Sitting in on a guest speaker for a Human Dignity class.
Reading a book on one man's quest to live a completely sustainable lifestyle.
Visiting a local homeless shelter for my own Poverty and Social Justice class.
Reading a book on poverty in the aggregate for P and SJ.

I'm drawn to direct service because even though everything I read and see screams "No Hope!" I want to be part of the solution, not the problem.
Because when Dr. John Perkins gave his Three 'R's'(which in his Southern accent sounded like "Three Auras") he shook up my previous belief on socialist thought.
Because the people who seek warmth, comfort, a shower at the homeless shelter don't even have the bootstraps with which to pull themselves up.
Because no matter how much our society believes that working harder or being smarter will guarantee eventual success, the facts say otherwise--the problem of poverty in America is not caused by a lack of education or manners or determination. The problem is the structural breakdown in politics, economics, culture, and society.

I wish I could just take all of these things in my head from the past two days and share it with everyone but I know there's just too much to say.

Dr. Perkins' 3 R's were Relocation (knowing another's problem as if it were your own, like how Jesus relocated to Earth to know us), Reconciliation (getting back to 'right' with God and others), and Redistribution. NOT the communist, socialist version, which I have sometimes thought would solve many world problems. You know, the "It's not a matter of lacking resources, it's the unequal distribution of them" argument. No. Dr. Perkins had this to say about that: "If you took all the rich people's money and gave it all to the poor, the rich people would have it back by tomorrow night. [pause] The poor people would just use it to buy a Cadillac from the rich people." His redistribution is more of our own feelings and emphases. Put more value on people, not possessions.


Colin Beavan, in No Impact Man, restates this people-centered sentiment with his own environmental twist. What if our single-use, throwaway lifestyle was not making life easier? What forgoing takeout and television not only helped the planet but made us happier and brought us closer to those we loved? I highly recommend everyone read this book, but don't worry, there's a No Impact Man movie documenting the entire project!

Today at St. John the Evangelist Homeless Shelter we learned about the history and background of the shelter. It's pretty much the last stop for the homeless of Green Bay, meaning they have exhausted all other avenues. Other shelters require people to be alcohol and drug free with little to no criminal background; St. John's basic requirements are that you are 18 or older. Other shelters run 24 hours a day, year round; St. John's is only open from 5pm to 9am November to April, the coldest and harshest time of the year. It's an emergency shelter with a max capacity of 50, and lately they've been seeing numbers in the 40s. For my Poverty and Social Justice class we also have to complete 15 hours of service at a place of our choosing and St. John's is where I plan to do mine.


The book Poverty and Power: the Problem of Structural Inequality sounds intense, but it's ideas are so basic I found myself 200 pages in within three days of reading. Why does the US have the highest rate of poverty and, in general, the highest level of economic inequality among rich nations? According to Royce, individuals within poverty cannot take the blame for the entire concept of poverty. The question isn't always why is HE poor, but why is ANYONE poor? While Conservatives deal out tough love and moral uplift and Liberals focus on more training and education so the individual can better his or her self, few people are left to focus on creating jobs and investing in poor communities.

What's hardest is knowing nothing I write will get anyone off the streets and into housing or the job market. My sudden and increased passion is useless if the entire system is broken. But I don't want anyone thinking I have no hope--no, I've actually been in a humbled, grateful mood the past few days. "The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all." [Proverbs 22.2]

MLK Jr Day

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and while I did not attend any special service, I believe I appropriately commemorated the day.

I started off with a breakfast of banana chocolate chip pancakes, the perfect energy boost before working out.

And by working out, of course I mean reading Newsweek and Time while I walk briskly on the treadmill.

After lunch, I spent three hours in the library working on the application for Amate House in Chicago.

Then Andrea and I made chicken fajitas and I spent the rest of the evening finishing the application, only taking some short breaks to eat ice cream and watch The Office.