Floating Around Town

One wonderful thing about Immokalee is how easy it is to get around. One main way that people travel around town is by riding bikes. For a long time, I was afraid to do this because of one fear. Dogs. There are dogs in Immokalee. Everywhere. For those of you who are afraid of these animals, do not let this deter you from the town. Many of the dogs are chihuahuas, and, therefore, no harm to anyone but themselves. But there are a few bigger dogs. And the fear of meeting one kept me from riding bikes (for awhile), one thing that I had been so excited about trying before I came down to Immokalee. Everyone knows, of course, that dogs are more likely to chase a bike than someone who is walking.

Recently, however, one roommate and I started taking daily (or nightly) bike trips around town. Never before have I felt so free. A part of the community. The beautiful thing about riding slowly through the town is that we get to see so much that we would normally miss. We bike by men walking home from work with their lunch coolers and see our students playing in their yards. We swerve around men walking in groups down Main Street. Women doing their nightly food shopping. We travel to places where we might not have gone that night: to soccer games in the park, to the Coalition, or to additional trips to the library.

Just last Friday, we traveled into town where we got to see our friends’ three year old sons dancing around like crazy and singing Spanish songs in makeshift microphones. On Sunday, we traveled to the fiesta at the Coalition where we got to see several bands playing in an open-air setup in the Coalition parking lot alongside about 250 other community members. Mostly men, they stood around watching the bands, waiting for a chance to cheer for their country when it was announced over the microphone. Waiting for the marimbas, a wooden Guatemalan instrument. Waiting for dusk when people would start to dance. Many of the men and women dressed in their best. A nice shirt and jeans. A traditional Guatemalan shirt and skirt. When I left, I saw a little boy leaning against my bike. He liked it too, I guess.

People are excited about riding bikes in town. It is an easy thing to invite people to do. Recently, it has also brought me closer to my roommate. As we drift, we talk.

Side by side. Enjoying the sun. Enjoying the night. Feeling at ease. Fearless. Aware. Ready. Just ourselves. The stars shine up ahead. We pedal out our concerns racked up throughout the day. Our worries. We release tension at the way that things are. Share with one another our ideas on the way that things should be. The way things could be. Unsure. We feel ready to fight on ahead. Pedaling onward.

Sarah

Full Speed Ahead

First, I apologize for the delay in my blog post. Reconnecting with the entire HMVS group as well as the Sisters at the Villa was a perfect opportunity to recharge our minds and spirits as we embark on this second half of the volunteer year. I took a few extra days to reconnect with friends in Ohio before returning to SUNNY and WARM Florida last week. I then spent three days at the University of Miami School of Law for a scholarship conference for admitted students. I was greatly impressed by the people, programs and possibilities that I encountered, so I am now able to make a much more informed decision when choosing a school for the fall.

At AIJustice, we are losing another member of the Children’s Project, as she is moving away to be with her fiancé. The work continues strong, though, and a new paralegal will replace her on Monday. The minors at the shelters keep us busy, and the caseload is growing steadily. Summer is just around the corner, and that means that the numbers will only be going up and the demands will increase.

After having been absent from the office for nearly two weeks, though, I am now seated in my office surrounded by piles and piles of papers. Perhaps a hurricane came through while I was freezing in Ohio?!? My current goal is to catch up with everything by Monday (my birthday!).

To all of you up north, I send warm wishes from sunny Miami. Before going to the mid-year retreat, I was questioning the wisdom of staying in South Florida for law school. In fact, I was even feeling burnt-out at my volunteer site. Yet, after returning to this gorgeous place, I feel at home and know that I belong. J Happy Leap Day!!

-Adam

Fast for Fair Food

This time next week, over 50 farmworkers and allies will be abstaining from food outside of Publix’ headquarters in Lakeland, FL. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a grassroots, farmworker-led organization, has had a campaign against the supermarket giant for nearly three years now. The CIW has repeatedly asked for Publix to come to the table to discuss signing on to the Fair Food Agreement—an agreement that 10 other national fast food, supermarkets, and food service providers have signed onto—but Publix continues to dismiss the offers.

For decades, Florida's farmworkers have faced poverty wages and daily violations of their basic rights -– including modern-day slavery in the most extreme cases –- in order to harvest our country’s tomatoes. The Fair Food Agreement has begun to change these conditions by advancing the rights of the farmworkers. By signing on to the Fair Food Agreement, companies agree to measures that insure better working conditions in the fields, which includes a zero-tolerance policy for slavery in the fields. It also includes providing a penny more per pound of tomatoes directly to the workers.

In the hope of raising awareness of Publix's role in blocking progress in the fields and expanding the rights of the farmworkers who harvest the nation's food, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their allies will fast from March 5-10. They will go without food to demand that Publix support the fundamental human rights for farmworkers that are taking root today in Florida's fields.

Please keep our community in your thoughts next week as they work for justice through the direct, non-violent action of fasting.

In solidarity,

Julie

For more information on the fast: http://ciw-online.org/fast/index.html

Press release: http://ciw-online.org/fast_for_fair_food_press_release.html

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/304488489608936/

Life As It Should Be

Sorry this post is almost a week late. I’ve been thinking about how best to share these thoughts and I’ve finally settled on using examples from one of my favorite musicals: Man of La Mancha.

In this monologue, the character Miguel de Cervantes is exhorted to open his eyes to the reality around him. He responds beautifully with: “when life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams -- this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all -- to see life as it is and not as it should be.”

In the play, Cervantes impersonates the retired country gentleman, Alonso Quijana, who “lays down the melancholy burden of sanity” to become the famous knight, Don Quixote de La Mancha. All of this reminds me of Thomas Merton and his concept of the true and false self that Sr. Cheryl presented during the alumni portion of our mid-year retreat. Throughout the play, Don Quixote is mocked for his fantasies, while Cervantes is likewise mocked for telling this “absurd” story. Both are constantly exhorted to wake up and see the reality around them as they stubbornly cling to their idealistic dreams.

The irony is that while society thinks Don Quixote is crazy, his fantasies reveal great truth. For example, on his adventures he encounters Aldonza, a kitchen girl and a prostitute. Yet when Don Quixote lays eyes on her, he “sees heaven” in her and calls her his lady, Dulcinea. It is later revealed that Dulcinea is a good person living a harsh life. In this way, Don Quixote sees and brings out her true self, while the false self of Aldonza eventually fades away.

These stories also call to mind the article For Some with Autism, Jobs to Match Their Talents, which is about a Danish firm that specializes in hiring people with high-functioning autism, and contracts them out to work for other companies. The awesome part is that the company plays to the strengths of their workforce, like their “talent for intense focus and concentration, an ability to recognize patterns, spot minute deviances and recall details, and a perseverance for repetitive tasks.” By doing this, these employees are actually paid a premium for their services, rather than working in a “charitable” position created by the employer.

This article hints at the profound truth of Merton and Cervantes because there aren’t many positions in the world that utilize the gifts of those with high-functioning autism. This company sees the world not as it is, but as it should be; a world where the unique gifts of their workforce are recognized as strategically important for society. Thorkil Sonne, the man who started the firm, says: “a weed is a beautiful plant in an unwanted place.” “An herb is the same plant where it is wanted. Who decides if something is a weed or an herb? Society does.” Sonne imagines a world where society believes in and accepts that everyone can contribute and that everyone is needed. Or, as Catholics would put it, that we are all necessary parts of the Body of Christ. We are all needed in some way to accomplish God’s mission of love and that to do our part, we must become the true selves God created us to be.

I know this is all very pie in the sky, impractical, idealistic and naive. But so what? I think the world has enough cynics and skeptics; enough voices calling for practicality and incremental progress. What the world needs is more dreamers; more Don Quixote’s willing to dream the impossible dreams, right the unrightable wrongs and reach the unreachable stars.

Oh, and if you’ve never seen it, find a copy of the movie version of Man of La Mancha and watch it.

~J.P.

Life skills and paper monsters

Go to laundry matt and wash comforter, Vacuum first floor, Wipe down tables, Clean stove, Wipe down counters, Clean appliances, Wipe down fridge, Run Dishwasher, Take out trash, Clean kitchen floor, Clean bathroom floor, Clean sink, Do more laundry, vacuum third floor, Clean bathroom floor, clean kitchen floor, Clean counter tops, Clean appliances, clean toilet and sink, wipe down tables upstairs.

For ten minutes I felt really accomplished.... now I feel really tired.

So yeah, the roomies were out today and I ended up up cleaning... everything.... and I headed to the new laundry down the street. I have always loved laundry matts. They're this weird place where you take a time out from life. I find the sounds calming and everything comes out cozy and warm and smelling like softner and cotton. Mean while, you spend an hour playing arcade games or reading a book. It's a win/win. Anyway...

I was sitting at a table reading a book and I couldn't help but notice the cutest little girl you've ever seen. She was romping around and smiling at everyone and having a good time. She had this tiny stuffed horse in her arms. I told her it was “a very nice pony.” She promptly corrected me. “It's a horse. His name is Herman. Herman the horse.” and then she bounded away. I laughed and went back to my book. After a while I saw the same little girl pushing a laundry cart around. Herman sat dutifully in the basket. For some reason this bothered her mother. Her mother yelled at her and her father went and scooped her up and sat her down at the table. He attempted to mollify her by putting a cartoon on the laptop. She wasn't terribly interested and looked rather miserable. I did the first thing that came to my mind. I pulled the most colorful page I could find out of a magazine and started to make origami. You know, those things kids call fortune tellers or cootie catchers. They're the only origami I know.

My intention was to give it to the little girl, but, as I finished the folds, her sister (who was maybe 12) came over and began to gush. She sat down beside me and asked how I made it. I tore another page from a magazine and showed her. As we folded the pages together her sister came toddling over and looked on with awe. I've never understood why they were called cootie catchers and, since we weren't writing on them, they weren't fortune tellers so I told her they were paper monster faces. I opened the paper maw and made “rawr” noise. She giggled uproariously. I gave it to her and she ran off to show her mother. Her sister stayed at the table with me and for the next fifteen minutes we made “monster” after “monster.” As we worked, we talked about how silly it was for the advertisements to show women in clothes they would never really wear in poses that were completely unnatural. Oh how I love random teaching moments. I had one paper creature on each hand when the little sister came back. I made the paper monsters rawr again and she giggled. Then she slowly put her finger up to poke it......As predicted the paper monster gnawed on her finger. She asked if she could have this paper monster too. I said of course and she ran off. By the time I left those girls had a dozen colorful, glossy, paper creations carefully collected into a laundry cart.

Of the many reasons to volunteer, one I frequently hear is “to gain life skills.” Days like today remind me that all skills are life skills. Being trained in accounting or law wouldn't have helped me today, but having a father who showed me to make paper creatures (along with possessing no understanding of when a situation should be awkward) means, for just a little while, three lives were touched by a wonderful moment of silly, simple, joy.

~Jennifer

Impromptu Blog

Hello

Do you get extra credit points for a spur of the moment blog?

I received a candle for Christmas - the inscription reads "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." Henry Thoreau


beth

Mid-year Retreat

Hello Retreatants

It is Sunday evening and by now most of you are back home. I hope everyone had a safe trip. My blog was due last Wednesday the first day of the mid-year retreat. Of course being one to follow the rules - I started to write my blog on Tuesday........ I started, I stopped, I started, I stopped - the creative forces were not flowing. As I sit here in the beauty of my home, enjoying the company of Jack and Molly I am glad I did not complete the blog last week.

I am feeling energized and refreshed after a great week with all of you and the community. Each time I am at the Villa regardless of the reason I am welcomed by a sister. They open their home to us and truly enjoy our visits. The staff prepares our rooms, provides us with meals and endless snacks. And of course there is the opportunity to walk the land and swim in the pool........ We are blessed to have this space to come to as part of our volunteer service. I can think of no other place that would make us feel so at home.

During the week many people shared their gifts with us - Sr. Katie, Sr. Cheryl, Sr. MaryAnn, Sr. Barbara and of course Ellen who was with us in spirit. Thank you for the time and energy you put into planning this event. Each time I am with the volunteers I am in awe of the gifts that each one of you have and share - kindness, intelligence, talent and of course never ending humor. The list is endless as we found out when presented with the list of words that describe us.

Some of us have decided what next year will bring - law school, grad school or employment. For the rest we are still doing our favorite activity - "discerning" about what comes next. There is no doubt in my mind whatever decision we make - it will be the right decision at the time.

Have fun and do good work.
beth

Being Grateful:

This morning:

Middle of the day:

This morning I began the day like many of you with a BIG cup of coffee. My days at Saint Martins High School usually begin around 7 am and coffee is a must. At this point I have somewhat of a routine down. My friend Angela (teacher at SMDP) picks me up, she drives us to school, I arrive at school, brew coffee, and grab breakfast. My favorite part comes next. Before I even get a chance to sit down a student *Anna comes in to talk, get advice, and homework help. I couldn't be more satisfied with this morning routine.

Today was a stressful and amazing day. I went into the chapel for a quick ten minute breather after a few chaotic periods of substitute teaching freshman students. I reflected on the fact that despite the everyday stressors I really am so lucky to be where I am right now. I believe I am where I belong. Every day I go into work and do tasks I would have never thought I could do a year ago. Whether it's teaching, substitute teaching, presenting, or counseling a student I am amazed by every task I work through.

By no means has this year been easy, but when I had a moment of reflection I thought about all the wonderful people around me. I am so lucky to have the people in my life. The students I encounter continually remind me how rare it can be to have a strong support system. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to work with all the students, faculty, and staff. I am lucky to have wonderful roommates. I hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Tina

* name of the student has been changed

The "Gray" Area of Immigration

No one would argue that we are in the midst of a very heated political climate given the upcoming election year and current primaries that are underway.

Given that the topic of immigration and undocumented aliens is one that is highly debated, I would like to shed some light on some of the more controversial aspects of this issue. At the end of this past summer, President Obama issued a mandate passed down through Immigration and Customs Enforcement called “prosecutorial discretion.” Many anti-immigration pundits quickly criticized this political maneuver stating that it simply allowed for undocumented immigrants to continue living in the United States. However, this is only half the case. What “prosecutorial discretion” really entails is focusing our limited resources to deporting the people worth being deported. For instance, is it worth the time, effort, and perhaps most importantly, the tax payer’s money to deport an undocumented mother with and established family and no criminal background? Yes, it makes sense to deport an undocumented, convicted felon that serves as a threat to our society, but a little old lady that is just trying to make a better life for herself and her family? You be the judge.

Many people criticized this policy stating that is was giving these undocumented immigrants a free pass into the United States. Given the limited resources that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has, I think it makes a ton of sense. This policy also received a lot of praise from the pro-immigrant perspective. However, this is not to say that this policy is inherently flawed from even an immigration activist’s viewpoint. Simple stating that ICE is not going to actively pursue the deportation of many undocumented immigrants puts these people in some sort of a “gray” area. No they are no longer at risk of random deportation, as long as they do not commit a crime (even though undocumented immigrants are arrested, placed in detention, and put in deportation proceedings daily for crimes as minor as driving without a license), but they also have no real form of status in the U.S. They do not have a work permit to work legally, they cannot obtain a valid license, and they have no means to gain such status in the U.S. While at first glance the policy may seem to be in the best interests’ of the immigrants here in the U.S., the final outcome of said policy has yet to be decided.

The Inspiration to Recycle

Recycling is an interesting concept. The image the word “recycling” first conjures in my mind is one of a green and yellow bin that I throw things into and put out at the curb each week to be picked up by a loud green truck that barrels down New Market Road faster than one would think to be safe. It is a cold and impersonal interpretation of the word. Another image that it evokes is one of me and my roommates spending an evening in our kitchen painting a table with the sounds of Afro-Cuban funk emanating throughout the house. This is the inviting and personal interpretation.

So here is the Babs certified definition of recycling: We take something that was made for one purpose and change it into something that is used for another purpose or we create a different version of the same something to be used for the same purpose but in a way that more suits our individual style. Did you follow?

And now, here is the story to help you all expand on the personal image of the Immokalee girls hanging out in our kitchen on a Saturday night. One day at Habitat I got the pleasure of riding out to Naples with my supervisor to pick up some tools from a 90 year old volunteer. After 20 some years of volunteering he is retiring from Habitat and moving back to St. Louis to be close to family. What we thought was going to be a trip to get a bunch of tools kind of turned out to be us cleaning out his garage for him. No worries though, because we got some cool stuff. One of the items that I took home with me that day was an old table top. I was excited about this because the kitchen table that we inherited with the volunteer house was a nice 90’s themed glass table top with black metal legs. The legs may have been attached to the glass at one point, but many a meal this year has included shifting of the glass and/or legs. Sometimes this was intentional to better reposition the elements of our table, other times it was a surprise attack. So you can imagine why the prospect of a slightly more stable table was exciting. My original thought was to get some wood to make legs for the table top I had brought home. Then I realized that the circular wooden top I found fit perfectly underneath the octagonal glass top we already had. So in the spirit of recycling I decided to find a way to connect the metal legs we already had to the wooden top. Four long nails, some “exact” measurements, and some therapeutic hammering later and we were in business. So here comes the last step: decoration of the table. We divided up the table into four sections and each family member took one and made it her own. The designs ended up organically morphing into each other as we worked together creating our new kitchen table. It is one of the most beautiful images of recycling I have ever experienced. Now I just have to figure out what I’m going to do with the old piece of countertop I brought home.

But why do we usually reserve the verb recycle for inanimate physical objects? Why can’t we use the word to refer to people? I am a physical therapist and an athletic trainer by trade. I spent six years in school and took some pretty big board exams to earn these titles. I made myself into these professions, yet they are not words I would use to describe myself this year. I am fulfilling a different purpose. I am an activist, a kindergarten teacher, a social worker, an organizer, an English teacher, a Spanish student, a construction worker, an immersion trip planner/implementer, and a tiler/painter/caulker extraordinaire. Not titles that would have been bestowed upon me by others a year ago, but all things that in one way or another, I was made for. I have recycled myself.

And that is the beauty of recycling. Just because something was made in one way doesn’t mean we can’t alter that. We can make something different. We can make something better. We can make something our own—We can make ourselves different. We can make ourselves better. We can come into our own.

Peace Out

Love,

Babs

And there was light

Today it was sunny in Cleveland....

I'm pretty sure somewhere pigs flew and cats did what they were told.

It's days like this I really miss having a bicycle.

Today I Feel

My favorite activity every night is to sit down and look at the journal entries that my kids wrote in after-school that day. Each entry begins with the prompt “Today, I feel...because...” I always try to make sure that there are a multitude of colors for the kids to choose from and encourage them to be honest about how they are feeling. The answers can range anywhere from “happy because it’s fun to be in bookworm” to “sad” because of a loss of a loved relative or pet. Many times, the answers express something that either greatly excited or frustrated the children that day.

The idea began when one little girl started to cry in class. Confused, her classmates crowded around her to comfort her with little success. After trying to speak with her myself, I realized her inhibitions or perhaps inability to verbally express her feelings. I asked her to sit down and write her feelings, and what came out was touching and very deeply felt. Seeing how calmed she was by this opportunity and how much better I was able to help her after this, I decided to make journal writing a common activity for all of my students. It is my hope that verbalizing their emotions will help them to better able to identify and be proactive about their feelings. I do not restrict what they write and let this be a free space to express themselves. Of course, it is also a writing activity.

What I find so hilarious about the journal entries is how each child’s personality is so clearly witnessed through their writing. Even at six years old, these children have developed such strong characters, and these personalities so affect how each child views the world. For example, I have one little girl who has written that she feels like a princess every day. Although there is a different reason every day, she finds a place where she feels special. Another of my students is a collector. He constantly scans the ground and finds little things that he can pick up and put in his pocket. He is very sensitive and writes about all of his wonderful discoveries as well as all of his disappointments. It always amazes me how each child has such a different view of the world and how no two children write or think the same. The journals are a constant reminder of how important individual attention and responses are.

Ultimately, while there is little that I can do to alter what causes the disappointments, excited moments, and sad moments in children’s lives that is reflected in many of the journals, it is my hope that this activity and my ability to respond to the children’s feelings will be a positive influence on them.

Sarah

I have an addiction to canceled television shows

I can’t lie. Finding the motivation to do this blog post is proving nearly impossible. I love my job and I’m normally a talker, but I’m wiped out and this post will reflect that. Next post will have more awesome, really.

It’s that time of year where the government thinks I make way more money than I do and asks me to pay up based on their appraisal of what I make. (Which, again, is based on a semi-fictional framework of my life.) So I spent the past three days in an anxiety-filled stupor unable to do anything more than fulfill the requirements of my day. I couldn’t sleep so I just stayed up watching the West Wing until three in the morning. (In all fairness, it’s a great show. Who knew Marin Sheen was so awesome?)

Finally, yesterday, the grip of terror broke and I was able to shake off the paralysis of my fear. I clicked submit on my federal, I started a payment plan with the Lakewood tax department, and I began the application process for a real live job.

I love what I do. I love where I do it. Now, as we begin to round the corner toward spring, it’s time to figure out how to maintain these things after my year of service ends.
Until then it’s nice to look around and know, when I’m distraught, Tina will make sure there are cookies in the house and JP is there with yet another episode of “West Wing.”