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Week 2 – Caylin

On By caylinatbsmIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s not surprising to me that I’ve gone six days without blogging again… I definitely regret not finding time sooner to post again, but I can’t complain about the reasons why. Most people could, probably, considering these reasons include days that start at 6:30 AM (AKA waking up at 4:30 AM). But not I! I think that I’ve thoroughly convinced Liam and others working at BSM that I’m a bit of a weirdo since I have been consistently arriving earlier than planned and truly wiggling my way into their community. The good news about that is that I don’t think they mind! Sadly, tomorrow is my last day as the temporary “intern-worm.” But now is not the time to discuss that, now is the time to reflect on the entire week that’s passed since my last post.

While last week was filled with discovery, this week was much more filled with disillusionment. Disillusionment is often cast as a very negative term, but I don’t mean it as so. I just mean that I found more than once that my first impressions of parts of BSM and the people who live and work in BSM were skewed. And so my idealistic, simplistic understanding of what BSM is all about fell short even by Sunday evening and continued to be challenged throughout the week. I was disillusioned from my idea that I got the picture, and through this I think that I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the work they do and the people who co-exist at the crossroads that is BSM.

Sunday was my third worship service. Previous to this worship service, I had walked away from the church after service feeling rather alienated by my own beliefs and a little bit wrong for having sat in with such a wonderfully faithful community while having confidence in my own, different, faith. BSM is a completely open community to those who are open to it, which I am, but it’s hard to feel completely comfortable in the midst of people who have something in common that you do not. To empower this feeling further, the topics of the previous worship services were ones that not only were hard for me to understand, but also that I felt did not bode well with BSM’s mission. But this Sunday, the topic was based on of the idea of mysticism and the “mystery of God,” both ideas which I definitely find myself more in tune with. In addition with feeling that I understood the sermon and the entire vibe of the evening, the music was absolutely fantastic and in the midst of it all I had a very strange, emotional conversation with a man who is a resident of the overnight cafe. So I walked away from this service feeling really spiritually charged. I think the disillusionment here was in the exclusivity of the church. I had always felt that being a Christian was either all-in or all-out, and really, at least in the eyes of BSM, it doesn’t have to be like that at all.

On Monday, I ran the mail service with the help from another volunteer, Kevin. I love helping with the mail service. The coolest part was being able to help people to sign up for the mail service. There were about 5 people who came in to sign up to make 315 S Broad their address, and so I would explain the rules, help them fill out the quick paper work, and give them a moment to just relax or to talk. A lot of the people who sign up for the mail service are in a time of transition, whether it is just becoming homeless, leaving a shelter, becoming homeless for a second or third time, or something else. This means that the majority of them really needed a moment to gather themselves. It was nice to hear from a few of them that just taking a moment to sit and talk with them made them feel a little bit calmer. But something interesting is that one woman had a strong complaint about the cafe. This was a huge disillusionment for me, as I had not seriously considered the perception that the people we helped had of BSM. It stayed on my mind a lot throughout the week, as I started to see not only what BSM does but what BSM sometimes fails to do.

After that, I stayed in Philadelphia to help with and attend Last Mondays, the monthly art performance by a Philadelphia art group Hybridge Arts Collective (which was fantastic).

Tuesday was a nice day. The biggest things that happened were two meetings, one with Liam and one with Erica. Meeting with Liam has been a challenge simply because I always feel like our meetings end before I’ve actually gotten to say what I mean to. I’ve attempted to translate to him what I’m getting out of my internship and I don’t think I’ve actually done so very well. But that’s okay, maybe it just takes more time and reflection before I can really articulate. My meeting with Erica went well. Liam helped me to set up meetings with almost everyone on staff so I can really get an idea of what piece they bring to the BSM puzzle and how it all fits together, and she is a pretty significant piece of that.

Wednesday was another one of those long days. I got to BSM around 7 AM and didn’t leave until around 7 PM. It was also a good day. I worked the extended hours again, which was great since I actually know most of the people who are there in the morning now and it feels like a really familiar space. I talked to Liam about the woman who complained to me about the staff at the Cafe on Monday in an attempt to understand what initiatives BSM takes to gather feedback from guests about what they do well/not so well. They held a forum a while ago to get feedback, but it did not go so well. This could be because of the extent to which mental illness is a part of the Cafe experience. I haven’t really touched on the mental illness part of BSM’s guests, mostly because it was another huge disillusionment for me. I want to talk more about it in conjunction with Breaking Bread and Friday’s extended hours, but first I want to finish Wednesday.

After the morning we had a training course in how to identify and deal with issues of domestic violence. This was really interesting, because the last VTGS meeting was centered on the same topic. (VTGS is the service learning course held at BSM that Liam runs). So I had been to a panel on the same subject, but I was excited to engage in discussion about it with a completely different group of people.
After this, we had a staff meeting. The best part of that was getting to babysit Joshua when he got fussy. His mom is a hugely integral part of the staff (not to mention awesome), so I jumped to give her a break while they finished up the business of staff meetings.

I did some menial work until around 6:30 PM, when it was time for the “No Holds Barred” bible study. Before this, I told Liam I was nervous, and the last time I went to a bible study was in 7th grade because they offered free donuts. My biblical knowledge is so lacking that it’s a little bit embarrassing in a religious environment, but he told me that it was fine and I could just view it as a “sociological experiment.” So I went, and as we began, I decided to actively engage, and sort of throw what little I knew on the table and see what held up. This was really interesting. When we first began, I read over the passage and didn’t see any significance to it. By the end, I think I understood most of the subtext. I wish I was going to service on Sunday to see what the sermon focuses on.

Thursday was Breaking Bread. I want to focus only on the mental illness bit I was talking about a little earlier. I wrote a while ago about the man I met at extended hours and how excited I was to connect with him. I learned soon after that day that he had some sort of mental illness. He seems to be OCD about things that don’t exist. Dirty city air getting everyone sick, snake venom on seats, dirt getting inside of his shoes and making him sick. As I’ve spent more time with him, I’ve seen it become more and more a part of my perception of him, which makes me a little bit sad. It’s amazing, however, that when he comes to talk to me, he really tries to act normal. He passes off his OCD as “everyone feels that way, you know?” or just avoids the topic completely. Mental illness is a part of almost everyone who BSM works with, whether it is a personality disorder, bipolar, OCD, schizophrenia, or something else. It’s really made me aware of how complex homelessness is.

Today, I worked extended hours again. I wish it wasn’t my last time for a while, as it feels really good to be on first-name basis with a bunch of the guests. I’m really going to miss the people I’ve met here, both staff and guests.

Tomorrow is my last day 😦 I’m going to the VTGS class, even though no one else from Westtown is… it feels sort of anti-climactic to end with the class, instead of a breaking bread or worship service or something that really lets me see the entire community before I leave. I guess it’s a fitting end, since the class is really what brought me in to BSM.

I know I didn’t really get to my “deeper understand of what BSM is,” but I am exhausted and need to go to bed! Look for a reflection post in a few days!

Caylin

A Hopeful Cynicism – Mike

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First off, I should apologize for not posting sooner. I came down with some kind of nasty infection about 3 days ago, and while I feel better now, nobody wants to read posts about how long it took me to read Lolita(quite a while) or how fun being sick is(not very).
When I wrote my resolution to the Israel/Palestine conflict last year in Hiroshima-9/11, I thought I had everything mapped out. Two state solution, path of the Wall/Border/Fence, resource allocation, etc. What I forgot were the people, the ones who have the power to put my resolution into action. While I have immensely enjoyed speaking to a vast array of people with a vast array of views, it hasn’t brought about the impact that I thought it would before I took off in Philadelphia. Namely, it hasn’t made me hopeful that a solution is possible any time soon.
Before you scream at me through your monitor, I will explain. What I mean to say is that by hearing almost every imaginable viewpoint from either side, it has further complicated the conflict in my mind. Two quick examples:
1.)The definition and implication of the word Zionist. Even some of the most “progressive” Israelis that we talked to, i.e. Arik Ascherman and Lydia Aisenberg call themselves Zionists. Zionism is a big, confusing word that in my opinion does not merit a specific definition. Google it and come to your own conclusions, as I’d be foolish to even attempt to define it. What I do know is that Zionism has huge implications and a wide range of impact. What’s concerning about the word itself and its many definitions is the fact that most Palestinian “progressive” groups who we talked to are completely unwilling to work with Zionists. Their reasons range but their conclusion remains the same: they won’t work with Zionists. Clearly, you can see the problem. If even the most progressive groups are unwilling to collaborate, then, put simply, who will?
2.)The disunity of the Palestinian people. This issue is a bit more hard-hitting because it’s one that I hadn’t heard about until David Mendelson educated us about it in one of our many meetings. Until that time, it had been my belief that the Palestinian people were only in a conflict with outside forces. I now realize that the Palestinians have each other to deal with us well. Besides the obvious split of Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, respectively, the Palestinians are divided into different ethnic groups, religions and viewpoints on the conflict. While they all want peace in some way or another, the catch is in the details.
These two issues alone could spark a novel(and I’m sure they have). Unfortunately, they are just two of an ever-growing mental jigsaw puzzle I have, and they all must fit together if there is to be any hope of seeing something beautiful when the puzzle is put together. While it is appalling to hear kids my age say that they hate all Jews(!), I have been able to draw some hope from these jagged puzzle pieces.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum came as a all-too-solemn reminder of where I come from, and it was an experience that I’d prefer not to blog about in great detail. And while it was a bleak reminder of a bleak past, it had a hopeful message: Even the Holocaust ended. So I’d prefer to approach the rest of this trip with a hopeful cynicism, to draw every last bit of hope out of everything we hear, but at the same time, to remain realistic.
I hope to post something lighter(sorry to depress you) before I leave, as there is quite a lot of good to share. Until then, I shall react and reflect.

Mike D.

This is My Change – Hannah

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It seems like just yesterday I was packing up my things and heading off to Washington D.C., but now it is Friday, March 4th and 4:42 pm and I’m sitting at my regular spot at the kitchen counter, typing up one of the final few posts recapping the trip.

Firstly, let me say that not only was the Washington D.C. trip incredibly fun and new and exciting, but it was also humbling and shocking (and in some ways depressing).

Let me recap yesterday.

Jeff had straight A’s in high school, has a college education, speaks eloquently, has a kind soul and a happy heart, and wants nothing more than to bring a smile to your face. Jeff has bipolar disorder. Jeff is formerly homeless.

Jeff sells papers for Street Sense, an organization that helps the homeless get back on their feet by providing them with a meager source of income. Street Sense is a paper written mostly by the homeless, focusing on homelessness issues in Washington D.C. and the world. Homeless individuals can buy a paper from the organization for 35 cents a pop, and then sell them on appointed D.C. street corners for 65 cents profit.

Yesterday our group donned the bright yellow uniform that designates a Street Sense vendor and walked past the White House, past several eateries, to K Street, a street infamous for lobbyists and nightclubs. For two and a half hours, from 10 am until 12 30 pm, our group scattered over a five-block radius and sold papers for the benefit of Jeff.

It’s unbelievable how cold some people can be. I found that many people walked faster when they noticed my luminescent yellow vest, and the great majority of people refused to make eye contact with me.

I would say, “Good morning sir/ma’am! Support the city’s homeless for a dollar?”

And you know how people answered 9 times out of 10? They said, “No, thanks.”

I remembered that Jeff said not to be offended, just smile and say “God bless,” or “Have a beautiful day,” but I just couldn’t understand. Nothing I said constituted a “No, thanks.”

You say no, thanks, when something is offered to you. You say no, thanks, when the flight attendant asks you if you want a drink. You say no, thanks, when you’re asked if you want all your hair chopped off.

You do not say no, thanks, when someone asks you to look into your heart to donate 1 dollar, just one dollar, to maybe better the life of someone else.

I did listen to Jeff and pretend it didn’t bother me that at least two hundred people passed me on that absolutely frigid morning and only around 12 of them bothered to pull a dollar out of their pocket.

There was one particular man who I remember. He had on a green tie, a pale blue shirt, and a black, very business-y looking jacket (he had pants on too). He crossed the block at least three times, and every time I asked him again if he would be willing to donate a dollar to support Jeff. Around 11 45, when I could hardly move my fingers any more and my toes were so cold they were starting to feel warm again, I saw him cross the street and walk purposefully towards me.

“I went to lunch,” he said and smiled, handing me a dollar, “This is my change.”

A lot of other stuff happened, and I’ll post about it later, but for now I’m just going to post a few more pictures!
Hope everyone is having a great break/ beginning of March!!

The Limitations of Perspectives – John

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3/4/2011

I am sorry it has been so long since I updated last. Since I last posted we left Bethlehem and moved to Ramallah to stay with families from Ramallah Friends School. I was a little nervous about being immersed in a group of people my age from a completely different part of the world. Yet, I quickly found that there was nothing to be nervous about. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were greeted by some of the students and they all came up and introduced themselves. Since the initial meeting we have started to get to know them better by finding connections, talking about our different cultures, and giving ourselves over to the concept that we are not all that different from each other.

We still, of course, are constantly on the move. Some of the highlights from this week have been visiting different parts of the wall, meeting Jean Zaru (clerk of Ramallah Monthly Meeting), meeting Hanan Ashrawi (legislator), meeting a settler, and visiting Jericho, the Mountain of Temptation, and the Dead Sea. Of course we have done much more, but there is simply too to put in one post.

What I have realized in my time in Ramallah is that I have no answers to this conflict. I am thinking back to the conflict resolution paper for Palestine/Israel that I had to write for one of my classes last year. I realize that if I needed to revise it after going on this trip I would throw the whole thing out and start again. I was blinded to the emotional and practical levels that play apart in this conflict. Of course, after two weeks I cannot fully grasp it still, but I have started to see the picture a little more fully.

Whenever I talk with someone about their opinions on the conflict here I have to remember the perspective I am seeing. I was talking to someone in Ramallah and they said that they hate all Jews. I didn’t really know what to say to that. I believe that is a narrow-minded and harmful thing to say, but at the same time I cannot tell him he is wrong because I understand why he said that. One of the things that I have learned on this trip is that every perspective (and there are many in this region) is both insightful and limiting. This man in Ramallah can see and feel this conflict in away that I will never be able to understand because I have not lived it. Yet, it is keeping him from understanding that not all Jews are bad and further still, not all Israelis Jews are bad. I have, of course, not only seen this from a Palestinian. Perspectives have hurt and helped Israelis we have met, other members of our group, and me. I see now that one person cannot truly understand this conflict. It is too complex and the emotions are too strong. If there is ever going to be a solution, all perspectives must open up and show everyone how they see this conflict, and must also be willing to truly listen and understand what everyone else thinks. Unfortunately this is much, much, much easier said than done. We all have our biases and we will stand behind them as long as we possibly can.

I hope to post at least one more time before flying home, but it probably won’t be until Sunday night.

Until then,

John

What I Have Done? -Emmanuel

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I started out clueless, thinking I was going to be using commands in a terminal to create a website for the BROWN & WHITE. No, everything I learned during the first week of my project was purposefully to enhance my understanding of what goes on behind the inputting of information as I create the web pages.

The BROWN & WHITE is set up on a virtual server, separate from the world wide web, which means you will not find it online until the final decision and all the security tools allow me and my team to do so. In the mean time, the virtual server allows program to be accessed offline and one of the programs that I am running on for this project is Joomla!

Joomla is perfect for newspaper publications. As an administrator, my privileges match my responsibilities. I am allowed to assign users and give them permissions. I am allowed to create groups, set passwords and send invitations to people to become Authors, Editor and Publishers of the Brown and White. When the mission of this project is accomplished, members of the BROWN AND WHITE club will be invited through an email. If a member is assigned the permission of an Author, he or she will be able to submit stories to a category called Articles. A member with the assignment of an Editor will be able to see submitted stories highlighted in blue, any time he or she logs in. Saving an edited article is obviously the last step an Editor will have to take care of. When a Publisher logs in, even an article that has been edited previously be an Editor can still be modified. Here is where the Publisher has the most privileges over all users: the Publisher chooses a more specific category that is appropriate for the article and then changes the preference from unpublished to publish. This is not a must-do because then it would just be an ordinary/uncategorized article. The publisher can also mark the article to become a featured article on the webpage.

It took me a while to come up with a design for the webpage; first, I realized I do not have banners, logos and a brief of what the website should look like. Carl however advised that it would be much easier to go through the example pages on Joomla! I started out like an eleven year old on a playground packed with blocks and boxes. On the administrative page, I pranced through directions on the management of Articles, Categories, Extensions, Modules and everything else that will be helpful to know about before messing things up. I believe Templates were apart of the package too, but I have not even tested that yet. Oh?

The webpage is looking slick and sly. I have one more day to dust it up a bit and pimp my ride out of ‘Town. Frankly, I am tired of looking at the screen, my stress gets worse around two o’clock and that is my time to hit the gym. Time out for me today, I came in at 8:00ish and I gotta roll ‘cause it is 5:00 p.m. That’s dedication, but this job and me, not congenial for personal reasons, “I gotta stay fly.” You know, Three Six Mafia …

Peace,

Emmanuel

Thailand Senior Project

On By Westtown SchoolIn Uncategorized1 Comment

This just in via Teacher Deb’s phone! This is Lynn, Emily and David making bricks at the Elephant Park. Note their pachyderm friend in the background! 

  

Bikes and Goats Tuesday

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Hello all,

Today the sun finally decided to come out. I went for a long bike ride before going to Back Alley Bikes to volunteer again. Afterwards I came back to the Trumbullplex to make some dinner. I went for a walk out to what’s called Pheasant Run. It’s an entire large block without buildings. In the last couple of years pheasants have come back to Detroit because of all the vacant land. After I came back a collective member took me to one  local high school for pregnant teens and young women. Next to the school is a farm with chickens, a horse, goats, rabbits, and apple trees. The idea is to teach them about taking care of a living creature. We milked the goats and fed them. I came back and some folks had made extra dinner so I ate a second one. A while back while cleaning I found a movie called Salt of the Earth. It’s an old pro-union movie, the acting isn’t great but it was blacklisted in the States at one time. Tomorrow I’m going to Earth Works again and then to a rally against budget cuts to Wane State then back to Back Alley Bikes.

Peace,

Henry

Just Another Detroit Day

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Hello all,

Today I did some more distributing of flyers for the venue with a member of the collective. We explored Hamtramic, which is a neighborhood separate but connected to Detroit. It’s hard to explain, but basically in the 60’s the government built highway 75 which destroyed the neighborhood. The highway was also a point of racial tension. In Hamtramic we stopped off at the place know as the Detroit Disney World. Some guy hit retirement and didn’t know what to do with himself and covered his house in crazy stuff. After I got back I went for a bike ride to the train station. The building has a real presence and beauty in its decayed state.

Peace,

Henry

Life in Germany

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Where to start? It’s been a full couple of days here.  On Friday, at the SSB, I was introduced to Willy, a big strong guy with a strong Swabisch accent.  “Hasch du noch net schon mal geschweisen?” (Have you welded before?) and then, “mm, egal,” (doesn’t matter)  I was a little worried, but as I started welding flat plates and then moved on to right angles, with Willy’s guidance, I began to feel more confident.  By the end of the day, I was doing reinforced welds with an electric arc welder.  I’m not sure If I’ll ever weld again, but it was certainly an experience learning.  On Friday, we got on the TGV to Paris, an experience that I have looked forward to since childhood.  Unfortunately, it was dark already, but the train back was during the day.

For me, the most interesting part of Paris was its Metro.  The trains were always packed, and the buskers plentiful, and it was interesting to see such a cross-section of Paris life, far from the tourist islands of the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame.  The food in Paris was also amazing, it seems like there is a Bistro on every corner, some more touristy than others.

After spending the weekend in Paris, we returned to Stuttgart, where I learned that I would be reporting early at 8 am to the general repair area, where I helped rebuild on of the air-ride suspension systems on one of the streetcars.  Afterwords, there were some air conditioning  units to be installed.  Today, I was in yet another department, where the wheels and transmissions are assembled.  There wasn’t a ton of work to do, and most of it involved using large cranes to lift heavy objects, so there was a lot of awkward standing around, but it was still cool to see how real things are built.  Tomorrow, I’ll be in the testing and special vehicles area, where they set the newly rebuilt trains up to run in the system, and make sure everything works, as well as maintain service vehicles and non-streetcar trains – Should be interesting!

Jack

I finally got the photo posting to work, so the first to are from the SSB shop (which an enormous drill press) and Paris

The two sides of Honduras

On By xela134In Uncategorized1 Comment

I´m afraid that I was mixed up the last time I posted, and posted in the wrong place. You can find my other posts at http://alexesinhonduras.wordpress.com/.

Today I find myself a long ways away from where I was the last time I posted, both physically and emotionally. After spending 2 weeks translating for the medical students, I traveled first to El Progreso for a night and then to La Ceiba, where I am now. I am going to school at the La Ceiba Bilingual School for a week before I depart to the states. My host family is incredibly nice, and everyone in the whole country is very friendly, but still it´s un poco stressful for me to be immersed in the language, combined with the need to be polite and happy for my hosts. Every day (today at least), my host family and I wake up at 5 in the morning, eat a quick breakfast, maybe shower, put on uniforms, and speed off for school at a little after 6. Today we were late, so my host sisters had detention, where they had to write 1000 lines. And I thought Westtown could be harsh – but luckily since I´m an exchange student I am impervious to rules. I still felt bad for Stephania and Rossanita, because they took the punishment and didn´t complain a bit. After 8 45-minute class periods and a 15-minute lunch, all the students had an hour or so before sports began to spend time and actually talk to each other, as if they didn´t talk in class. All of the students are polite and friendly, there are just some teachers who are overly forceful with rules. During the sports time, all the soccer players, futbolistas, run onto the field and kick balls around, much more skillfully than I ever could. After that, all the girls had volleyball practice, then everyone had dance practice. By the end of dance practice, it´s already 7 PM, a horribly long day. This is a good week as closure for my trip, to really test my abilities.

Last week, at the clinic in Santa Lucia, I finally was able to be useful as a translator, once I had learned all the important words. If the patient says ¨tengo dolor de todo el cuerpo¨ it means ¨my whole body hurts¨, and then they get diez pastillas de acetomenophin o ibuprofena, para tomar uno cada dia cuando usted tiene dolor – 10 acetaminophen or ibuprofen pills, to take one every day when you have pain. It´s really not super complicated, except for when the patient tries to tell you their life story in the middle of a consult. This tends to apply to most of the patients, so it´s my job to sort out useful information that the doctors want to hear from random facts about life. Sometimes that can be hard, especially when you had no idea you were going to be a translator and only have basic Spanish training. I came out alright, because I always had help if I needed it. This week, I´m not so lucky. I´ll try to keep you posted on how it goes.

-Alex