It is THE big week in New Orleans! Starting yesterday and continuing on until Tuesday next week we will be celebrating MARDI GRAS! I cannot wait for this week end. IT has been so hyped up by everyone we know and now its finally here. I will fill you all in on as much as i can next week :)
We do get Monday and Tuesday off next week because the city basically shuts down but this week was still a full work week. The parades started last weekend and we have been able to catch a few but the bigs ones start tonight!
Almost everyone i know is super excited, but there are a few New Orleans old timers who have a 'been there, done that' attitude. They are the best ones to ask about where to go and what parades to see. It has been a pretty busy week at work as well. A lot of rain makes for a lot of laundry and warm showers. Also a lot of clothing requests and sock needs.
I met James today. Well i had talked with him briefly yesterday but i got a chance to sit down and really talk with him today. James has been in prison for the past 10 years and was released about 3 days ago. When i chatted with him yesterday he was very polite but a little stand-off-ish. Today was the same and i figured out why. Emily asked me if i could go in the back to find James some cloths and toiletries (to help him out a little). I walked up next to him to ask him his size and immediately his body language changed. He turned his shoulder so that he was looking at me square but slightly farther away and he wouldn't look me in the eye for very long. He told me he had just been let out of jail and was overwhelmed with everything going on... I wasn't sure what 'everything' meant until he started talking about lunch yesterday. He said that the Sisters had offered him seconds of the ham sandwiches that were yesterdays lunch. He said he was shocked that there were so many lady's at the center, stunned that there was HAM sandwiches, and unable to handle the fact that there were seconds: no one had offered him seconds in 10 years, let alone seconds of ham. I realized his stand-off-ish presence was because he was not used to talking to a lady or being helped by anyone. He even told me so. He said that there were some women who worked in the jail sometimes but he had not spoken to a lady in a long time. There was so much in the past three days that was overwhelming him because he was not used to being back in society... He was having to re-learn or remember a lot of the social norms and feelings. After a while he relaxed a bit but i had to change my body language and eye contact to make him more comfortable. Instead of leaning in to have a conversation with him i straightened up and kept a bit more distance. I tyred to make as much eye contact as possible when i was talking but did not hold the eye contact for too long. I brought him into the office so that we could do some research on programs that he might join to help him find a job, a place to live, and such. When we were inside he was overcome with emotions which made him teary eyed.
In the end he relaxed enough to smile and have a nice conversation with me about where he was from, his family, his education, his past jobs, and such. We found a program for him to look into. And he was really thankful for the help that the HTC gave him. I am sure we will see him again. My hope is that he is able to calm down before something bad happens and he ends up back in jail... It made me think a lot about our prison system and whether or not it really is rehabilitating people? If James comes out from being in prison for 10 years and is completely overwhelmed by society then is society really helping him by putting him in jail? I have a lot of questions. Not too many answers. I am not making any judgments about the system we have. It's just that Jame's situation has made me question a system that i have never questioned before.
With Love
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Inspiring Spelling
Today i sat down with Morris for about an hour to help him with his disability registration. The disability registration application is a long one... and Morris is not the worlds fastest talker so i knew i was going to be in this for a while. But every minute of the boring application was made worth it because i was chatting with Morris the whole time.
When i help with any type of application i tend to leave my computer open to a word document or the Internet so that i can quickly look up words. I would hate to miss spell something on one of the many applications that i help with. Most of the time the people i am filling out the application for did not get very far in school so other people automatically judge them. Having me miss spell simple words on their job related applications would not help the judgement that they already face. It was slow starting with Morris's application but he got the hang of it eventually (most of the questions are very repetitive). All the while i would write something down, check my spelling, write something else, check some more spelling, and so on. He figured out what i was doing eventually. Most of the time when one of the guests figures out that i am checking my spelling they tease me, or sarcastically ask me about all my years in college and weather i learned how to spell or not. I normally come back with a snappy remark about how I am the one filling out their application, not them, and we laugh. But when Morris saw that i was checking my spelling he sat back in his chair and said, "Thats encouraging..." I asked him what was? He said that it was real real encouraging that i went through school, college, and now have a good job, even though i am a weak speller. That i worked hard in school, that I didn't let my spelling stop me from doing anything, and still don't let it discourage me from going for good jobs. He kept saying over and over, "I appreciate you." (but it sounds more like "Ah pre-shiate cha") Which is another NOLA lingo way of saying thank you or thank you very much. I have never had anyone thank me for being dyslexic... It was encouraging :)
There was a section on the application that asked Morris how much he has to carry or lift when he is working. It gave options like 'less then 25lb,' '50lb,' and 'more then 100lb.' He looked confused so i reworded the question and asked, "Do you lift me? Or something as heavy as me when you go to work?" He looked at me and said, "Don't talk yourself down like that!" He was really disappointed and i had to take it back before he answered the question. It was a sweet, honest, and heartfelt concern that he felt for me.
At one point during the application he told me that i was hard headed. I said i liked to call it confidence. But he was not convinced and i still don't think i am hard headed, haha.
Morris also talked a lot about Hebrews 11. I looked it up later and the words repeated over and over in the verses are, "By faith..." By faith so and so did that and by faith so and so did this. Morris has such a strong faith. He reminded me how much we all just need to trust in God. Also that we need to remember to give God credit for all of the things He gives to us in life.
Love you all and i hope you love Morris too :)
When i help with any type of application i tend to leave my computer open to a word document or the Internet so that i can quickly look up words. I would hate to miss spell something on one of the many applications that i help with. Most of the time the people i am filling out the application for did not get very far in school so other people automatically judge them. Having me miss spell simple words on their job related applications would not help the judgement that they already face. It was slow starting with Morris's application but he got the hang of it eventually (most of the questions are very repetitive). All the while i would write something down, check my spelling, write something else, check some more spelling, and so on. He figured out what i was doing eventually. Most of the time when one of the guests figures out that i am checking my spelling they tease me, or sarcastically ask me about all my years in college and weather i learned how to spell or not. I normally come back with a snappy remark about how I am the one filling out their application, not them, and we laugh. But when Morris saw that i was checking my spelling he sat back in his chair and said, "Thats encouraging..." I asked him what was? He said that it was real real encouraging that i went through school, college, and now have a good job, even though i am a weak speller. That i worked hard in school, that I didn't let my spelling stop me from doing anything, and still don't let it discourage me from going for good jobs. He kept saying over and over, "I appreciate you." (but it sounds more like "Ah pre-shiate cha") Which is another NOLA lingo way of saying thank you or thank you very much. I have never had anyone thank me for being dyslexic... It was encouraging :)
There was a section on the application that asked Morris how much he has to carry or lift when he is working. It gave options like 'less then 25lb,' '50lb,' and 'more then 100lb.' He looked confused so i reworded the question and asked, "Do you lift me? Or something as heavy as me when you go to work?" He looked at me and said, "Don't talk yourself down like that!" He was really disappointed and i had to take it back before he answered the question. It was a sweet, honest, and heartfelt concern that he felt for me.
At one point during the application he told me that i was hard headed. I said i liked to call it confidence. But he was not convinced and i still don't think i am hard headed, haha.
Morris also talked a lot about Hebrews 11. I looked it up later and the words repeated over and over in the verses are, "By faith..." By faith so and so did that and by faith so and so did this. Morris has such a strong faith. He reminded me how much we all just need to trust in God. Also that we need to remember to give God credit for all of the things He gives to us in life.
Love you all and i hope you love Morris too :)
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