I think it's safe to say I haven't been updating this blog as much as I'd hoped. The numbers show it too. It's been nearly 3 months since I arrived here in California and I've only posted once. Perhaps the trick from now on is to post in bursts, writing something and then posting it once it's been typed up. Hopefully I'll figure out a good way to keep the folks back home updated on a more regular basis, since I only have time to make so many phone calls.
Life in Boyle Heights has been energetic. Halloween is coming, which means the Haunted House at work, to be held on the 31st of October. It's been fun helping to set that up and just seeing how excited the kids are to either work on it or to be scared by it. My Halloween costume is all set for our trip to San Diego this weekend to visit another JV house which will be hosting a rocking awesome party. I'll be a moose. I spent a better part of the day on Saturday making my costume out of stuff we had gathered around the house, paper plates, markers, the ends of old grocery bags for the horns.
In the spirit of Halloween, we also had a movie night this past Friday at work as a Fundraiser for the High School's upcoming trip. We watched the Goonies, and be "we" I mean myself and a handful of the elementary & middle school students. I'd never seen it before, but thoroughly enjoyed myself.
On a completely different note, our community is challenging each other to become more vulnerable and to truly let this experience touch us. This JVC year, to me is about revealing my brokenness and allowing the brokenness of the people around us to unite so we can walk beside each other in our brokenness, and find healing. The kids here don't tell me traumatizing stories every day, but every so often one of them will start crying because they're frustrated with their homework, or frustrated with life in general. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't do well when people look sad. Heck, I don't even do well when animated animals look sad (no joke, ask my sister.); how much more vulnerable and uncomfortable do I feel when kids that I work with and care about come to me and are crying. It's hard to deal with because sometimes I can be gentle, but other times I have to be firm and just tell them to quit crying and finish their homework. It's one of the hardest parts of this experience for me, seeing others vulnerable and being helpless to help them.
On that note, there is still hope. As a part of our weekly community nights last night, we watched Fr. G and the Homeboys, a documentary about Homeboy industries and the work they do in our neighborhood. *Side note, if anyone is interested in learning more about Boyle Heights/Homeboy, I highly recommend reading Tatoos on the Heart. Boyle Heights improving; there is hope and I have the pleasure to see that every day in my kids as they get better and better at schoolwork and, hopefully, become better people. I know I'm becoming a better person for the interactions that I have with them, my coworkers and, most importantly my roommates. We laugh, we complain, we watch the debates, we challenge each other and I can't wait for what else this year brings.
