A Symphony of Brotherhood

“With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech 8-28-1963

I realize that I’m a week late with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day post, but I’m using that day as an inspiration for this post. While this is a Federal Holiday (for those of you who had the day off, I hope that you enjoyed your three day weekend), I spent my MLK day at the Y. For most of my life, this day has seemed like a normal day (except that we would get school off). This year’s MLK day was slightly different. The first noticeable difference is my environment. Both the Y members and the staff are primarily African American, and on this day the mood seemed more uplifting and actually like a holiday. I spent a portion of my day watching the documentaries that we showed in the lobby: the “I have a Dream Speech” and the other speeches given on that day on the Mall. My boss [who attended a HBCU (Historically Black College and University)] is very much into Dr. King’s work and the significance of MLK Day. He kept commenting about how smart the people sounded during these speeches. I agreed. He also provided an interesting juxtaposition to what we were watching as he kept yelling at the kids coming in to play basketball (who had the day off from school) to “pull your pants up, it’s King Day”. Anyway the above “symphony of brotherhood” quote from Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” Speech has always stood out to me. On one hand the beautiful metaphor appeals to me as a musician, but on a deeper level it appeals to my sense of community; it is recognition of people who come together from all over to devote their time towards a cause that they all share a belief in on one level or another. Dr. King summarizes community with this quote. On this day that calls people to participate in service projects, I could not help but think of this year that I am answering the call to service and the many others that I know who stand with me to do a year of service, and to view the year and community through the lens of Dr. King.

I first immediately thought of the people that comprise my community in Saint Louis. This community is what Dr. King alludes to when speaking about the symphony of brotherhood nearly fifty years ago. My community has many faces and identities: Caucasian, biracial, Filipino-Canadian, we come from all different geographical regions of the United States. We have varying levels of faith, and display an array of spiritual, political, and ideological identities. Regardless of our background and outward identities, we all have one unifying identity as a volunteer, and with this identity we all work together, pray together, struggle together to live simply, to struggle together merely to live day to day with our different personalities, ways of life, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs all under the same roof. But, we all have come together to stand up and work for justice.

I think that community is the most difficult of the four JVC values to both explain to others and to comprehend. Part of that reason is because it is constantly evolving in both outward and inward appearances. My community’s look, feel, emotions, thoughts, ideology, spirituality, and workings constantly change. The closest I can do is to say think about the ways that your families have evolved over the years, and now imagine that lifetime of evolution as a microcosm that only lasts for one year. Community is, in a sense, and accelerated family for one year. It is difficult to truly comprehend a volunteer community unless you have either done something like this or are currently participating in a volunteer community setting.

Luckily, we have some help this year. Moving beyond my immediate community, Saint Louis is a great place to volunteer there are many other volunteers from other programs designed similarly to JVC who live and work here. We see three of these programs on a frequent or semi-regular basis (Vincentian Service Corps, Alumni Service Corps, and the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers). I find it fun spending time with the people that make up these different volunteer groups. I feel comfortable talking to the other volunteers, as it is easy to connect to these other volunteers who are in similar circumstances this year, and each program is focused towards like goals and values as the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. In some ways, this feels similar to the feelings of comfort and familiarity that I experienced when in an art/performing arts social settings in Kenya. (See Art and Cultural Social Circles in Nairobi)

Now let’s expand this volunteer community universe that I know to a regional level.

One of the things that I was most excited about when I became accepted into JVC and even first heard about the program was visiting the Jesuit Volunteers in other cities in the Midwest. Each JV community traditionally hosts a holiday weekend in which it invites all of the JVs from the JVC Midwest (Saint Louis, Nashville, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Cleveland). Saint Louis had to miss the first of these weekends (Harvest Moon/Oktoberfest in Cleveland) but spent Halloween in Nashville and Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago. After going to Nashville I said I would never miss another of these weekends again. These weekends are great to catch up with people, learn about how each community is doing (the good, the bad, the gossip, etc) how people are doing with their jobs, learn about their cities and people are doing living in a city that they more than likely have never been to before. They make for great weekends with fun activities and interesting conversation. Saint Louis’s official weekend is Mardi Gras weekend in which we invite everyone, but two weekends ago some people from Nashville and Chicago came to visit. Weekends such as this one gave me time to catch-up with other JVs and have conversations that are “very JVC”, as they range from nightlife, and tricks to living on a meager budget in the different cities, to the churches in Saint Louis and different mass styles, to the social issues and problems facing the city (and county) of Saint Louis.

Later this week, I am attending a five-day (Re) Orientation in Indiana. It will be the first time that I will have seen everybody in the JVC Midwest program at one time since Orientation almost six months ago. I feel like I have come a long way since then. At the beginning I felt a little intimidated by this year of service, and the people in the program because this year was a complete mystery. I didn’t know anyone, didn’t know what to expect from this year of service, was unfamiliar with Saint Louis, and was nervous about meeting and living with a community of new people for the next year. It seemed as if everyone went to a catholic university and, more specifically, attended one specific university (Santa Clara), and everyone seemed to know everyone or at least was already connected on some level. This drove me to feel shy at the beginning during Summer Orientation. This time around, I suspect will be much different as I feel much more comfortable and like I share a volunteer identity with everyone and have spent a few weekends with many of the volunteers and gotten to know many of them.

Click Here to listen to a beautiful song called Symphony of Brotherhood that I discovered in 2008 and featured many weeks on my college radio show.

(Snow) Day

It began snowing heavily last night and continues to snow today while I write this post. According to the Weather Channel, the Saint Louis area is estimated to have gotten over seven inches of snow thus far. When I woke up this morning and walked out the door to go to work (having just encountered a few of my housemates who are teachers and happily just received the news of a snow day) I selfishly wished for one too. I would have liked to have the day off to spend watching movies, playing games, sleeping or whatever. But, more realistically and on a non-selfish level, I am glad that I do not have today off due to the weather. I was happy to see that my metrolink train was full this morning, and that other than a whitewashed sky, the day seemed pretty normal. This is a good thing because many of my companions on the morning commute would not want a snow day because they need to work and depend on all of the money in their paychecks.

On the train, I was drawn back to yesterday at work when I first found out it was supposed to snow a lot. My boss, the executive director, became all excited about the possibility of a snow day and what he would do with a day off of work. He was met promptly with a reply from the person working the front desk who said “YOU take a snow day…I’m coming to work. I need the hours and the money”. The front desk attendant is who I like to call the rockstar of our Y, and one of my favorite people to work with. He does everything in the building well, takes initiative during work and brings the whole place up. He works the front desk, works as a fitness attendant in the fitness area, and is also my sidekick with the kids and brings energy, charisma, instruction to working with the kids. He also serves as a check and brings level-headedness to the kid’s program by being frank with me about when my ideas for games with the kids are too hard for the younger ones or won’t work very well with a large amount of people, so then we brainstorm about how to adapt. He is in his late-twenties and has two kids, so I am glad that the Y is open on (snow)days for people like him so that he can provide for his family.

I often joke with my housemates that the Y is a place where the kids go on snow days, and on days like today I am grateful for this. You saw the stats and numbers of the youth in this area (See Ordinary Time II). The Y is a community center. It exist so that people have a place to gather, and to use as an outlet or escape as they workout or play basketball. It is good to have this place open so that the youth in the area have a place to go so that they can focus their energy and the freedom that they have today in positive ways. On a more personal level, the Y being open today provides me time to work on a grant to bolster our health, wellness, and mentoring program geared towards teen girls, so that the Y can continue to be a positive outlet for the youth of the Cahokia area.

It is reassuring to see that it appears to be a normal day in terms of social services in the city of Saint Louis. My housemate Ari is at work, which means that the St. Patrick Center (St Louis’s “one stop shop” for all unemployment services) is open to work with the homeless and unemployed. Gabby is at work too, which means that Saint Louis University’s homeless outreach program is running and in turn unemployed people are being assisted with their documents that they need and are receiving the help and guidance as they search for employment opportunities.

As far as I can tell, the only negative effect of the (snow) day today is that it caused me to miss my workout this morning. I have my commute timed so well that if I am running late for whatever reason it throws everything off. It took me two minutes longer to walk to the metro station in the snow, which in turn caused me to miss my train by one minute and have to catch the next one. This caused me to miss the bus that I normally take, and had to wait twenty minutes at the metro/bus station for the next one. Due to the snow, the busses took longer on their routes, and thus, instead of getting to the Y at 8AM for an hour workout before work starts I walked in the door at 9AM. This is a learning opportunity for me and I know that I need to take the snow into account tomorrow and simply need to leave my house a few minutes earlier to not repeat today. But in the grand scheme of things, if missing a workout today is my biggest issue with the snow compared with unemployed and homeless people seeking work and shelter, I would say that thankfully, it is a normal day.

Ordinary Time (Part II)

While partaking in my daily ritual of scanning and reading news stories online yesterday morning, I came across a Washington Post article about a YMCA in Tucson, Arizona that served as a common ground between four people involved in the tragedy that occurred there last weekend. (Click here to read the article) It does not surprise me that a Y was a link. Ys are meant to be an area to bring people together from all aspects of a community, be it a judge, a nine year-old girl, a Congresswoman, or a mentally unstable twenty something. This got me thinking about my own Y, the work that I do there, and even the members who I see everyday who come to work out, take part in classes, participate in the youth programs, and take advantage of child watch so that their kids will be looked after while they work out.

I spend my Mondays and Tuesdays more or less as a PE Teacher (see Part I), but the majority of my time at the Y is spent writing grants to obtain funding for different programs. At first this was not the easiest job for me; I felt like an outsider as I was the newest person at the Cahokia YMCA, and thus, the least familiar with the people and the programs of all of the workers. While familiarizing myself with our Y, I saw the numbers and statistics that represent the people and this area, and realized that there are a lot of different needs to be addressed. Here are some of the numbers that I have had to work with:

Nearly a third – 30 percent – of their residents have not finished high school, and 90 percent have not attended college. More than half of their families have a household income of $35,000 or less. Currently, three of every four students in high school in the Cahokia School District live in low-income households, score well below the state average in math, reading and science, and have little chance of entering college. At least 50% to 60% of the student population (in the East St. Louis area) is overweight or nearing obesity. This plan reflects an overall increase in obesity in East St. Louis among all individuals from 19.5% in 1998 to 44.5%. The same dataset reveals that number of those individuals trying to lose weight was 24,304 or 47.2%. While 37.7% people feel they are getting enough exercise, only 24.3% met the moderate activity standard (30 minutes, 5 times a week).

These statistics paint a bleak picture of the area. However, I am fortunate to be at a YMCA that is becoming a strong influence in the Cahokia area as a community outreach center despite it only existing for two years. My Y already has programs running to address the issues of the area. Instead of creating new programs and trying to obtain funding for these programs (something I do not feel entirely comfortable doing since I am new to the area and do not know it very well), I have been applying for funding for new components to enhance programs that already exist. We already conduct a very large, all-encompassing afterschool tutoring program to assist kids with homework that provide the students with enrichment activities. The program even has a college readiness program designed to guide high school students to do everything that they need to do to apply for and be accepted to college. I have written grants to obtain funding for a college tour component of this, an invaluable aspect of a college readiness program.

The Cahokia YMCA also already has a program in place to address fitness and healthy eating and living for youth. I recently wrote (and received) a grant to enhance this by combining aspects of this program with one of our youth outreach/mentorship programs (The Cahokia Y currently has three, one oriented towards male, one towards female, and a mixed one that is volunteer service project based) to do a service learning project in which the youth plan and put on a week of health and wellness activities. Today I am sending off another grant to try and obtain funding for college tours. Next up are grants to enhance the girl mentor program, and environmental ones to improve the actual Y building itself and make it greener, as well as ones seeking to do partnership projects with classes at a few of the local community colleges. Here at the Y we are told that our identity is to be a transformer, to do what we can to improve the people who walk through our doors in whatever capacities that they seek. The Cahokia Area YMCA is growing rapidly in both members and presence within the community, I now know that my role is to do whatever small role I can to transform a good thing, and make it even better. That is what I accepted when I signed up for when signing up to become a Jesuit Volunteer; to work for social justice, and live and work in solidarity with the people that I serve. I am far from the only one who shares this in this recognition of service. The man with the hardest job and top public servant in the world, President Obama echoed this last night during his speech about the Arizona shootings. This quote has stuck with me the most from any words spoken during the speech, as I think that it embodies the spirit of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and a year of service:

“We recognize our own morality, and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame—but rather how well we have loved—and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.”

The First Week of Ordinary Time (Part I)

As I switch up the style of this blog for the New Year, I think an appropriate first post would be to give a glimpse of what a normal work week looks like for me. Going into the JVC year, I thought I would be spending a majority of my time devoted to an after-school program at Cahokia High School. I spent my first week familiarizing myself with this program by reading the grant and all the regulations, and going to the High School and observing and participating on site. That changed after a conversation with my boss Fred about my past work experience and future plans. He felt that the after school program would not be the best fit for me or the YMCA to make the most of my year there.

The YMCA recently re-branded itself with the new slogan “For Youth Development, For Healthy Living, For Social Responsibility”. Everything I do at the Y applies to this in some way or another. Every week, Mondays and Tuesdays are the days that I am both the most excited and nervous about. On those days I play PE teacher. Two of the elementary schools in the Cahokia School District have dropped PE from their daily schedules, but they have a partnership to send their students to the Y to do an hour PE class. So on Mondays and Tuesdays I have anywhere between 70-100 students from 1^st-8^th grade at the same time with minimal help from teachers for supervision or participation and one or two other Y staff to help implement the class. I designed the program into four six-week sessions in which we do drills related to football, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, and baseball. On most weeks, I have a general idea of what type of game I want to play to address the different aspects of the game (dribbling around cones for soccer, route running or dogging tackler drills for football) and decide how to play those games a few hours before hand.

As someone who likes to make grand plans, I have thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of my job. But, at the same time I have learned that I need to keep things as simple as possible so that such a large amount of kids (and very young ones at that) can understand and participate. I have to really thing through even simple concepts such as keep-away to explain that the person in the middle should be energetic, get up in the face and guard the person with the ball, and not be lethargic and stationary in the middle. I believe I am learning lessons from this experience as well, as I learn to adapt on the fly as my plans almost certainly never work out exactly how I think them up (which is something I have had to get used to as I used to be much more upset when things wouldn’t go according to plan). I have also learned it isn’t the end of the world with an activity “fails”, and that I shouldn’t be afraid to having things go wrong. I believe that we ultimately learn more from mistakes than we do from successes.

I also feel as if I am growing more confident speaking and working in front of a large group of people. ( I have 80ish kids every week that I have to be in front of). At first I struggled with this and was not completely sure of myself. (Those of you who know me know that I have never really been one to dominate a classroom, social or other setting). This year is helping me to not think so much and to simply go with it. I have gained the confidence to lead partly from participating along with the kids in push-ups, jumping jacks, running activities, etc. I think I have gained their respect as they have become much more responsive and active in participation and I don’t t have to coax them as much to do things.

All of this was on display during this week, the first week back. I wanted to begin my Ultimate Frisbee unit with the kids, but found out that we still do not have the Frisbees to do this. So I thought “these kids have been on Christmas break for the last couple weeks with no school, they have been bouncing off the walls eating cookies all day (or maybe that was just me), I’m going to do a lot of running today”. So I ended up having them do all sorts of relay races running from one cone across the gym to another to do different fitness things like jumping jacks, push-ups, etc. Other races involved running backwards, high-knees, etc. It was also the first time I was completely by myself with all the kids, as the other Y staff person who does the program with me was with the junior. high kids. I was able to get and hold their attention and they got really into the relay races and had a lot of fun. I ended up sore and worn out as both I and the kids got a good workout from all the running. It was a good sore though and I believe I started the New Year off on a good note.

Tune in next week for a glimpse into the rest of my week at the Y.

A New Approach for a A New Year

First, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that you enjoyed the Holiday Season. While home for the holidays, I was asked many times by different people when a new blogpost would come out. I realize that one has been long overdue, and I would like to thank everyone for their patience. As I have gone deeper and deeper into this JVC year, I have found it more difficult to find the time to write the long blogposts that has been my style. So, I have decided to change things up for 2011, and instead of writing "mega"blogposts that come out monthly, bimonthly, or in the current case, not even seasonally, I am going to take a new approach and attempt to write much shorter posts more frequently. That being said, I expect and hope for the first one of these to be up by the end of the week.

Stay tuned and thank you for your patience!