This is a picture of a sign posted outside of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ. It’s not immigration related, but I thought it was a really interesting sign. Southside Presbyterian is a very active congregation. The church hosts a workers center that helps connect workers, many of which are Spanish-speaking immigrants, with employers. The program ensures that the workers receive fair wages and prevent workers from being taken advantage of because of their immigrant status. We were able to speak to some of the workers who use the center to find employment and hear their stories about dealing with trying to find employment in the United States while being undocumented.  Another group trying to help the undocumented population in Tucson is an organization called Scholarships A-Z. It is a student-run organization that provides information about scholarships and educational resources regardless of immigration status. The students running Scholarships A-Z shared stories about the frustration of trying to finance a college education while being undocumented. It was great to see people in the Tucson community who are interested in helping illegal immigrants and are actively participating in organizations working towards change.  

This is a picture of a sign posted outside of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ. It’s not immigration related, but I thought it was a really interesting sign.

Southside Presbyterian is a very active congregation. The church hosts a workers center that helps connect workers, many of which are Spanish-speaking immigrants, with employers. The program ensures that the workers receive fair wages and prevent workers from being taken advantage of because of their immigrant status. We were able to speak to some of the workers who use the center to find employment and hear their stories about dealing with trying to find employment in the United States while being undocumented. 

Another group trying to help the undocumented population in Tucson is an organization called Scholarships A-Z. It is a student-run organization that provides information about scholarships and educational resources regardless of immigration status. The students running Scholarships A-Z shared stories about the frustration of trying to finance a college education while being undocumented.

It was great to see people in the Tucson community who are interested in helping illegal immigrants and are actively participating in organizations working towards change.  

1 month ago
While in Mexico, we stayed at a place called HEPAC, which is a BorderLinks sister organization. It’s a community center that offers adult education programs, a Child Food Security Program (providing lunch to children and education for families on nutrition and gardening), and houses a women’s cooperative that produces jewelry that raises awareness about deaths in the desert.  It was really inspiring to see the staff of HEPAC’s passion for the community and its issues. Since we stayed there, we were given the afternoon to roam around the center freely. Some of us played with the children on the playground. Some pet the wandering stray dogs (that would be me…I was starting to miss the west side’s stray dogs). Some of us took pictures and chatted with others about our experiences so far in our year of service and the retreat.  On Sunday morning, we went attended a service at a local Presbyterian church (pictured here). It was almost completely in Spanish. One of my housemates helped interpret the sermon, but as for everything else, I was left on my own. It was a great experience. 

While in Mexico, we stayed at a place called HEPAC, which is a BorderLinks sister organization. It’s a community center that offers adult education programs, a Child Food Security Program (providing lunch to children and education for families on nutrition and gardening), and houses a women’s cooperative that produces jewelry that raises awareness about deaths in the desert. 

It was really inspiring to see the staff of HEPAC’s passion for the community and its issues. Since we stayed there, we were given the afternoon to roam around the center freely. Some of us played with the children on the playground. Some pet the wandering stray dogs (that would be me…I was starting to miss the west side’s stray dogs). Some of us took pictures and chatted with others about our experiences so far in our year of service and the retreat. 

On Sunday morning, we went attended a service at a local Presbyterian church (pictured here). It was almost completely in Spanish. One of my housemates helped interpret the sermon, but as for everything else, I was left on my own. It was a great experience. 

1 month ago
In my opinion, the most mentally draining part of our Borderlinks experience was our trip to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Our first stop when we arrived was the wall. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture because my camera was buried in my bag at the bottom of our van at the time.) What struck me most about the wall is that you can see through it. Nogales, AZ and Nogales, Sonora used to be one city, and now, you can see one from the other, but you can’t live in both places as easily as you once could.  After seeing the wall, we went to a place called Grupos Beta, which is a place where recently deported people can go if they don’t have anywhere else to go. They can get medical help, water, and food. Our group was able to speak to some of the people who had been recently deported and a lot of them had been living in the United States for a long time before they were discovered to be illegal immigrants. The most heartbreaking story I heard was a woman who had two children, one illegal and the other an American citizen, living in Arizona with her family, but she had been deported. She was three months pregnant and waiting to find a group with which to cross the border, so she could get back to her children.  The picture is Nogales, Sonora, again. Note the spool top fence and the tires. This is the neighborhood of the factory workers. 

In my opinion, the most mentally draining part of our Borderlinks experience was our trip to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Our first stop when we arrived was the wall. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture because my camera was buried in my bag at the bottom of our van at the time.) What struck me most about the wall is that you can see through it. Nogales, AZ and Nogales, Sonora used to be one city, and now, you can see one from the other, but you can’t live in both places as easily as you once could. 

After seeing the wall, we went to a place called Grupos Beta, which is a place where recently deported people can go if they don’t have anywhere else to go. They can get medical help, water, and food. Our group was able to speak to some of the people who had been recently deported and a lot of them had been living in the United States for a long time before they were discovered to be illegal immigrants. The most heartbreaking story I heard was a woman who had two children, one illegal and the other an American citizen, living in Arizona with her family, but she had been deported. She was three months pregnant and waiting to find a group with which to cross the border, so she could get back to her children. 

The picture is Nogales, Sonora, again. Note the spool top fence and the tires. This is the neighborhood of the factory workers. 

1 month ago
Last weekend, my four fellow San Antonio YAVs and I went to Tucson, AZ to participate in an educational program called Borderlinks. The program is meant to inform people about border issues in a way that shows you different things and leaves you to make up your mind about how you feel about the issue and how you want to become involved.  It was an intense weekend. I saw a lot of difficult things. I would like to share with you my photos and experiences from the trip. There will be more pictures to follow. The picture here is the view of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico from where we stayed. 

Last weekend, my four fellow San Antonio YAVs and I went to Tucson, AZ to participate in an educational program called Borderlinks. The program is meant to inform people about border issues in a way that shows you different things and leaves you to make up your mind about how you feel about the issue and how you want to become involved. 

It was an intense weekend. I saw a lot of difficult things. I would like to share with you my photos and experiences from the trip. There will be more pictures to follow. The picture here is the view of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico from where we stayed. 

1 month ago

Lent and Fasting

Some of you know that we’re in the season of Lent. I feel like a lot of people out there this is the time of year where you give up something you like and you’re not exactly sure why, but you do it anyway out of religious tradition. Sometimes you get through the entire Lenten season without what you’ve given up. Sometimes you only make it a few days. I’ve never been much a fan of Lent (I’m more of an Advent girl); however this year, I’ve made a concerted effort to understand Lent better and participate in a way I’ve never done before.

I’ve talked here about my mentor and how we’ve been talking about fasting as a Christian practice. She lent me the book Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson. In the chapter about fasting, the book talked about Lent not being a test to demonstrate our will power. Lent is a time to repent and remember how God provides for us in the absence of something that we think is necessary to our daily life.

For Lent, I haven’t given anything up. I decided that I am going to do a weekly 24-hour fast in preparation for a three day fast starting on Maundy Thursday and ending Easter Sunday morning. (I fast weekly from after lunch on Tuesday until lunch Wednesday.) In the Jewish tradition, fasting is seen in two different ways: 1) repentance and 2) preparation for God’s work. I’ve done three weeks of fasting and the first two weeks kind of sucked. Not going to lie. The second week, I had a terrible caffeine headache that could not be soothed until I broke my fast and drank coffee, but it was after the second 24-hour fast that I began to feel like I understood my call to fast. I told my mentor that I felt God wanted me to fast because I needed to prepare for something. I’m still not quite sure what I’m preparing for. It could be as simple as preparing to finish out my year of service here in San Antonio. It could be something I haven’t even encountered yet. After having that moment of clarity, my third 24-hour fast this past week felt more purposeful and less stressful. (It probably helped that I had been accepted into my first two picks for graduate schools by the third week, so I was less stressed out as well.)

Through fasting, I’ve also realized that I have issues with food. I have for a long time. When I was in high school, I had a lot of social anxiety that manifested most noticeably by being afraid of having people watch me eat. I wouldn’t eat at school or in restaurants. I couldn’t eat at large family gatherings, unless I ate separately from everyone. After medication and counseling, I was able to not let my anxiety affect me as much and enjoy eating in public with family and friends. Processing my history is something that I have only recently been able to do, even though that period of my life started more than 10 years ago. In addition to preparation for God’s work, my interest and call to fast is my hope to have a positive experience involving abstaining from food to help overshadow the negative experiences I had in the past.

Finally, fasting is my way of reminding myself that God will always provide for me and not to take my access to food or anything else for granted. I believe this is part of what we should remember about Lent. Whether you’re giving up soda or television or food for Lent, remember that God has given you these things to enjoy and we should try not to take them for granted. I say this as someone who struggles every day with this lesson. Soul Feast reminded me that I hardly ever forget to eat, but I forget to thank God for what he’s given me all the time. Lent is my time to repent for this and prepare myself for a life after Lent, after Jesus dies on the cross and is resurrected on Easter Sunday, and a life where God challenges me to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.

I’ve not been very religious on my Tumblr before. I’m not sure why that is, but recently, I’ve felt called to be more upfront about my religious beliefs. Called to identify myself as a Christian first and as other things second. This doesn’t mean that if you’re not a Christian, I don’t respect your views. I come from the emerging paradigm of Christianity that accepts and respects pretty much all beliefs. (I really only have problems with people who believe being religious means hating people who are different than they are. That’s not cool.) I would like to encourage everyone to express what they feel they are called to be and do in this world. I believe that’s how we grow.

That’s what Lent is all about, Charlie Brown.

2 months ago

Six months in San Antonio!

On February 29th, my fellow YAVs and I reached our sixth month mark. I’ve lived in San Antonio for six whole months. It’s a little unbelievable to be here. I mean I spent years dreaming about doing the YAV program and now my year is half over. If anything, hitting the six month mark has renewed my intentions to make the most out of this year. 

Today, I woke up feeling really good. (Even though I was extremely cold. Our house does not have centralized heating like a lot of old houses in San Antonio and both of the heaters in my room have broken due to over use. I’m covered in three blankets as I type this.) I’ve never told you (my blog readers) about this, but I have an anxiety disorder and accompanying depression that I treat with medication (and up until this year I treated with counseling). Every day that I wake up feeling good is kind of like a little miracle. The greatest thing about this year (and there have been a lot of fabulous things) is that I’ve had more days when I’ve woken up feeling good than I have in recent memory. I praise God for his great gifts.

Today’s community day is going to involve making packages to send to prospective YAVs to try and bring them to San Antonio. At first I was like, “Dude, I don’t know anyone who is interested in doing this. Everyone I tell about the YAV program is like, ‘That’s really great that you’re doing that. I could never do what you’re doing.’” Then, I thought about it. I could email the chaplain at Hanover College (my alma mater) or at Faith Presbyterian Church (my home congregation) to see if they know about someone who is trying to find their right path or is interested in seminary or public service that isn’t quite ready for the schooling require for those fields. I could be like their version of my former youth director Sarah Ott who told me that she thought I would be great for the YAV program. You never know when something you say or do is going to get through to someone or change someone. It’s possible someone doesn’t believe that they can do something until you tell them that you believe they could do it.  

Now that I’ve gotten fired up about today’s community day activity and my housemates are not awake yet, I have some time to kill before we get started. So I’m going to blog more about what’s been going on chez nous, in case a prospective YAV comes to read this and needs more information. 

We recently welcomed a new YAV to the site. Welcome, Jamie! Jamie was in Kenya originally, but left for various reasons and decided to finish her year with the lucky San Antonio YAVs. Her energy has been revitalizing to the rest of us who were definitely becoming a little jaded (maybe still are a little jaded). It’s been great being able to share our favorite parts of San Antonio with Jamie and making new memories with her. 

I’ve hit my stride when it comes to working at Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program. I really love the balance of working with clients who come to the office for case management and working with the refugee children through tutoring. On one hand, I get to meet and help a lot of people with basic needs, and on the other, I get to build relationships with the kids that I tutor. Since hitting the six month mark, people at work have asked me how long I’m staying. I assure them that I’ll be here until August, but then I will have to go because of graduate school. 

Yes, big announcement for those of you who don’t know from Facebook: I have been accepted to three of the four graduate schools I applied to! (I haven’t heard from Louisville yet, but to be fair it hasn’t even been a month since the application was submitted.) I am very humbled by this result. My housemates have been telling me that I would get into all four since I started applying and I never quite believed it. I’m still astonished. Especially with The University of Texas Austin, because that’s like one of the top 10 social work schools in the country. It’s funny/depressing/annoying how that inner insecure high school girl never quite leaves you despite how many successes you have as an adult. I am pretty sure that I will be going to UT Austin, but I have never been good at making decisions, even when it’s pretty obvious what I should do.

I’ve been going through a period of spiritual growth recently. I’m going to share that with you in another post, since this one is already too long for Tumblr. Have a blessed and miraculous day! 

2 months ago
”

I just want you to know there are worlds out there, safe in the sky because of her. And there are people living in the light and singing songs of Donna Noble a thousand million light years away. They will never forget her, while she can never remember. But for one moment, one shining moment, she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.

The Doctor, “Journey’s End” (via lily-handmaiden)
3 months ago
”

The test will measure whether you are an informed, engaged, and productive citizen of the world and it will take place in schools and bars and hospitals and dorm rooms and in places of worship. You will be tested on first dates, in job interviews, while watching football and while scrolling through your twitter feed. The test will judge your ability to think about things other than celebrity marriages, whether you’ll be easily persuaded by empty political rhetoric, and whether you’ll be able to place your life and your community in a broader context. The test will last your entire life and it will be comprised of the millions of decisions that when taken together make your life yours. And everything - everything - will be on it.

John Green (Crash Course World History: The Agricultural Revolution)

(Source: kteelee, via effyeahnerdfighters)

3 months ago
”

On action alone be thy interest
Never on its fruits.
Let not the fruits of action be thy motive,
Nor be thy attachment to inaction.

The Bhagavad Gita 
4 months ago

A New Year

I realized this morning that I had not posted in a while and wanted to bring you up to date with what is going on down here in San Antonio. (Not to mention that I’m putting off working on my graduate applications. More about that later.)

I went home for Christmas and New Year’s, and it was great to see my family and friends. I had the chance to see my baby girl, my now 9 year old (!) Yorkshire Terrier Suzie, who did not remember at first, but definitely remembered me after she slept in my bed the first night. One of my best Christmas presents was an ornament with her picture in it. I miss her a lot, but she is doing really well with my parents. 

I came back to Texas on January 2nd and went back to work the next day. It was a little slow going getting back in the groove the first day, but there were plenty of refugees who came in after the holidays needing help with various things. 

I had my first experience with taking a client to an appointment, which was kind of a train wreck. First, the client showed up early right before lunch. I took the client early, but he was getting glasses and wanted to wait until that afternoon at the office to go back and pick them up towards the end of the day. The client did not enjoy waiting, especially when we went to pick up the glasses and they weren’t ready and wouldn’t be until the next day. I drove like 40 miles all over the city throughout the entire day. I definitely learned a little bit about being flexible that day and the importance of flexibility in the field of social work. 

Speaking of social work, I’ve submitted applications to the University of Texas at Austin and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I’m working on the Indiana University application, which is due next week. University of Louisville is the last application and is due in the middle of February. I should know about whether I get into U of I by the end of February…which is both good news and bad. 

Right now, my application process is a vicious cycle. It’s starts with me writing, and then about 30 minutes in, I realize that I still have so much more left to write and I’m like, “This will NEVER end!” Then I think, “That’s a lie. It will totally end,” and I start to freak out because there will come a day when I will either be accepted or rejected by the four schools I have applied/will apply to. I have a short panic attack, which I counter with some YouTube/Tumblr distraction therapy. At which point, I return to answering my application questions. The cycle starts again. I’m in the middle of a little Tumblr therapy and will shortly return to application questions like, “Describe an ethical dilemma you have experienced.” (I would like to point out to Indiana University that this is NOT a question.)

In the area of positive news, my mom and my former youth director Sarah came to visit me last weekend. It was a lot of fun. I got to be a tourist for the weekend, which is something I haven’t really done since getting to Texas. That’s something that happens when you LIVE in a place. You don’t think about it as a tourist destination; it’s where you LIVE. While they were here, we went to the Tower of the Americas, La Villita (kind of like a artisans market), the Pearl Brewery farmer’s market, The Witte, the Alamo (DAVY, DAVY CROCKETT, KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER!), and the world’s ODDEST store…or so they say. It wasn’t that odd. We also saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I think deserves its Best Picture nomination despite what all of the haters say. So moving. Go see it! NOW! We also saw Contraband, which was pretty good for an action movie. I hadn’t seen an action movie in a really long time. I forgot how enjoyable they can be. 

Friday morning, my housemates and I went to the Cowboys Dance Halls’ Annual Free Breakfast to mark the start of the rodeo season. It’s the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the largest free breakfast. We got up at 5 am to go. It was very fun. There was live country music and various Texan breakfast dishes (potato and egg breakfast tacos, brisket taco, biscuits and gravy, etc.) There was also table for the Humane Society where you could donate a $1 and get a dog kiss. They had a Yorkie, so of course, I had to participate. Unfortunately, the puppy was super sleepy and was not in a kissing mood, so I pet her for a while.

Another development since coming back to San Antonio at the beginning of January was meeting up with my mentor for the first time. We’ve met up two times so far, and we’ve got a lot in common. We’ve decided to make our relationship about spiritual growth, which is something I felt had been lacking in my experiences in San Antonio so far. I shared with her that I was interested in the practice of fasting and told her about my idea to fast three days - Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday morning, so we’ve started to study the idea of fasting in more depth. It has been a great experience so far and I’m looking forward to more time with my mentor. 

That seems to be everything about the month of January. My goal is to send out newsletters at the end of February, as a sort of halfway summary of my year. I will have finished graduate school applications by then, so I will have much more time on my hands. (I’m not sure whether that is a good or bad thing. See cycle above.)

4 months ago