This is My Change – Hannah

On March 4, 2011March 5, 2011 By hannahrunningIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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

On March 4, 2011March 5, 2011 By johnintheholylandIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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

On March 3, 2011March 3, 2011 By emmanuelnewsIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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 March 3, 2011March 3, 2011 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

On March 2, 2011March 2, 2011 By henryandthecollapsedcityIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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

On March 1, 2011March 1, 2011 By henryandthecollapsedcityIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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

On March 1, 2011March 1, 2011 By jackgoestostuttgartIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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 February 28, 2011 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

Music Music Music!

On February 28, 2011February 28, 2011 By henryandthecollapsedcityIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today I woke up late after a late Saturday night. I hung out with a lot of the collective who were playing music in one of the rooms. My camera can only take 3 second video clips for some reason, so the clips are short. Later I finished splitting all of the wood in the side lot and stacked all of it neatly away to dry. Tonight the Terminal Orchestra played. They were a 10 piece band; 3 drummers, 1 violin, 1 bass and 5 guitars. They had an amazing sound and the whole community came out as usual. Afterwards people hung out for hours.

Peace,

Henry

A View from the Inside

On February 28, 2011February 28, 2011 By EmilyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Sculptures, exhibition posters, and inspiring images tacked to the wall near the studio’s entrance. The cart on the lower left is filled with prints waiting to be signed.