Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Cliff Notes:
#1: I suck at blogging regularly.
#2: I want to be arrested for civil disobedience.
#3: I want to go to grad school. Loyola has a Magis program where I can live in an intentional community and get my MSW fo free! Wash U in St. Louis also has some scholarships... Ayy!
#4: I got to go to an Alabama Arise meeting; a lobbying group made up of 150 organizations who decide on what legislation to lobby for and which issues benefit the poor. It was awesome; and I got to meet individuals who have made worlds and worlds of change already on their own. It was so neat to be around that much passion, I felt like a bum, but a really excited bum :)
#5 I am looking into a life as a Jesus loving Quaker. For reals. They love peace and justice and all those good things, but (almost) more importantly, they're hilarious. Their official website states that:
We mostly don't dress like the man on the box of oats anymore, and today we hardly ever call people "thee."
(http://www.quakerinfo.org/)
Gotta love it. I'm going to check out a Quaker meeting on Sunday.
Peace,
-E
"Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty"
#2: I want to be arrested for civil disobedience.
#3: I want to go to grad school. Loyola has a Magis program where I can live in an intentional community and get my MSW fo free! Wash U in St. Louis also has some scholarships... Ayy!
#4: I got to go to an Alabama Arise meeting; a lobbying group made up of 150 organizations who decide on what legislation to lobby for and which issues benefit the poor. It was awesome; and I got to meet individuals who have made worlds and worlds of change already on their own. It was so neat to be around that much passion, I felt like a bum, but a really excited bum :)
#5 I am looking into a life as a Jesus loving Quaker. For reals. They love peace and justice and all those good things, but (almost) more importantly, they're hilarious. Their official website states that:
We mostly don't dress like the man on the box of oats anymore, and today we hardly ever call people "thee."
(http://www.quakerinfo.org/)
Gotta love it. I'm going to check out a Quaker meeting on Sunday.
Peace,
-E
"Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty"
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Work is wonderful and difficult all in one. I love, love, love sitting with people and getting to hear their stories. I've just come to realize how much I associate sitting and listening to someone with acknowledging their dignity and loving them, and I get the opportunity to do that every day! The hard part though is balancing that with actually "achieving" something (ie getting their bills paid) because there is lots of paperwork and I feel like I miss out on a lot of their story trying to get the necessary documents and information. It's a fine line. The worst though is when I forget someone's face and they see me and are like "don't you remember me?!" I feel like I really let them down and myself down by forgetting, and getting used to my mind's limits is rough. Anywho, I still love getting to tell people we get to turn their lights back on or pay part of their rent - I get to hug lots of people and hold their hands. It's wonderful :)
We didn't go gator spotting but we did get a chance to go to Pensacola for labor day which was awesome and relaxing and only an hour away! I saw a jelly fish AND baby sharks AND white sand beaches. We also went to a minor league baseball game, and we're on our way to becoming the biggest Mobile Bay Bears fans this state has ever seen. We had first row tickets, and there was absolutely no one there. It was the first time I've ever been able to actually hear the players talking in the dugout, ha. Another family some of the roomies met at church invited us over for a picnic, and we got to go with two priests (driving w. a 78 year old, diabetic, ADD priest was hilarious after his birthday cake). The one priest was from Ireland and a little strange, but kind. Rather than asking us where we were from and such, he saw "what year did your parent immigrate here?" as a valid get-to-know you question, ha. Regardless, both are cute old men, and when Fr. Klepac forgets that I'm not catholic, I think he really likes me, ha.
I finally got to a church on Sunday that I really enjoyed - it was sooooo different than anything I'd been to. It's a Presbyterian church, and there are literally like 25 people who meet in a room for a "contemporary" service. 6 or 7 of the people are from the L'Arche community (an live-in facility for people with special needs). Willie, one of the members of L'Arche gets to "play" up during worship (he just strums and mouths words, but it's the most beautiful thing ever). They created the service specifically for the L'Arche community because they weren't getting a chance to participate during the traditional service, so now they have instruments on all the tables and we join hands and sing together. The worship is completely off tune and unorganized, but it gave me a new perspective on what worship is - its not me singing certain songs/words/ in a certain style, but joining together with a community in Jesus' name. It's awesome and I'll definitely be back.
It's a "cool" 90 degree week, and we're still hoping for a baby hurricane. I feel completely out of the loop news wise bc I don't have my computer and rarely turn on the TV. I think someone could tell me that California broke off into the Pacific and I would probably have to believe them right now. All in all - send updates (truthful or hilarious).
Peace,
Em
We didn't go gator spotting but we did get a chance to go to Pensacola for labor day which was awesome and relaxing and only an hour away! I saw a jelly fish AND baby sharks AND white sand beaches. We also went to a minor league baseball game, and we're on our way to becoming the biggest Mobile Bay Bears fans this state has ever seen. We had first row tickets, and there was absolutely no one there. It was the first time I've ever been able to actually hear the players talking in the dugout, ha. Another family some of the roomies met at church invited us over for a picnic, and we got to go with two priests (driving w. a 78 year old, diabetic, ADD priest was hilarious after his birthday cake). The one priest was from Ireland and a little strange, but kind. Rather than asking us where we were from and such, he saw "what year did your parent immigrate here?" as a valid get-to-know you question, ha. Regardless, both are cute old men, and when Fr. Klepac forgets that I'm not catholic, I think he really likes me, ha.
I finally got to a church on Sunday that I really enjoyed - it was sooooo different than anything I'd been to. It's a Presbyterian church, and there are literally like 25 people who meet in a room for a "contemporary" service. 6 or 7 of the people are from the L'Arche community (an live-in facility for people with special needs). Willie, one of the members of L'Arche gets to "play" up during worship (he just strums and mouths words, but it's the most beautiful thing ever). They created the service specifically for the L'Arche community because they weren't getting a chance to participate during the traditional service, so now they have instruments on all the tables and we join hands and sing together. The worship is completely off tune and unorganized, but it gave me a new perspective on what worship is - its not me singing certain songs/words/ in a certain style, but joining together with a community in Jesus' name. It's awesome and I'll definitely be back.
It's a "cool" 90 degree week, and we're still hoping for a baby hurricane. I feel completely out of the loop news wise bc I don't have my computer and rarely turn on the TV. I think someone could tell me that California broke off into the Pacific and I would probably have to believe them right now. All in all - send updates (truthful or hilarious).
Peace,
Em
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
I'm really bad at blogging -- quick update:
Cockroach update: I think we're up to over 30 now - WOO! If you're excited about cockroach season, just wait until winter when rat season starts.
We get to babysit lots of children. Families just invite us over, and we tend to play with the kids' toys more than the kids do while one of my roommates talks to the 4 year old about George Bush Senior and the Transsiberian railway. These naiive families trust me around their children and expect me not to steal them. Silly Silly...
Work is good - really stressful, but really good! I'm doing casework on my own now, which means I get to meet one one one with clients. I thought I would be terrified of this, not knowing what to do and all, but I've been surprised at how comfortable I am with it. I still have no idea what to do half the time, but the other 3 caseworkers haven't complained to bad at me asking questions. It's also kind of nice that I'm new, because I can call all the contacts in the area and introduce myself and basically beg for resources from them for my clients. It's great. Work is starting to pose more questions than I've asked in a long time though... I'm trying to understand the difference between mercy and justice; between giving financial assistance and loving someone well. I really don't have answers yet, but let me know if you have any insight.
I love my community. Really. They're hilarious and we all spend far too much time together; I'm sure we'll be ridiculously sick of each other soon. This weekend, we went out to Beerfest... now don't let your idea of Mobile fool you, we had a blast. The event was 3 different beers at over 20 bars. We spent the majority of our night at a piano bar where we mingled with 30 year old, married coast guard men (Married Murray) and had one of our roommates get on stage for a birthday song (which was accompanied by an uninvited birthday dance from a stranger who is mysteriously in all of our pictures from the night).
I miss everyone lots lots lots. Please send me updates of your life. really.
Peace,
Emily
Cockroach update: I think we're up to over 30 now - WOO! If you're excited about cockroach season, just wait until winter when rat season starts.
We get to babysit lots of children. Families just invite us over, and we tend to play with the kids' toys more than the kids do while one of my roommates talks to the 4 year old about George Bush Senior and the Transsiberian railway. These naiive families trust me around their children and expect me not to steal them. Silly Silly...
Work is good - really stressful, but really good! I'm doing casework on my own now, which means I get to meet one one one with clients. I thought I would be terrified of this, not knowing what to do and all, but I've been surprised at how comfortable I am with it. I still have no idea what to do half the time, but the other 3 caseworkers haven't complained to bad at me asking questions. It's also kind of nice that I'm new, because I can call all the contacts in the area and introduce myself and basically beg for resources from them for my clients. It's great. Work is starting to pose more questions than I've asked in a long time though... I'm trying to understand the difference between mercy and justice; between giving financial assistance and loving someone well. I really don't have answers yet, but let me know if you have any insight.
I love my community. Really. They're hilarious and we all spend far too much time together; I'm sure we'll be ridiculously sick of each other soon. This weekend, we went out to Beerfest... now don't let your idea of Mobile fool you, we had a blast. The event was 3 different beers at over 20 bars. We spent the majority of our night at a piano bar where we mingled with 30 year old, married coast guard men (Married Murray) and had one of our roommates get on stage for a birthday song (which was accompanied by an uninvited birthday dance from a stranger who is mysteriously in all of our pictures from the night).
I miss everyone lots lots lots. Please send me updates of your life. really.
Peace,
Emily
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