Quick Update

Just a quick update on a few things in the last week and a half...

Last week at work was pretty rough with the kids. I don't know if it was the stage of the moon, something in the water, the rain, or just that it's been a long time since a break, but they were CRAZY.  Many of my first graders straight up refused to do homework. They ran around the room like it was a McDonald's Play Place. They were loud and distrespectful and fed off each others' energy and my frustration. By Thursday, I'd had enough. I demanded silence during homework time, and armed myself with the list of parents' phone numbers and my cell phone. After three strikes, I would call home and they would be picked up pronto. Fortunately I didn't have to call anyone (phew!) and I think they got my point. This week has been a little calmer but wow, they were crazy. I went home so frustrated every day!  And being mean to them and forcing silence when Urban Compass is supposed to be fun did not make me feel good at all. 

Fortunately we had some fun community activities to break up the frustration. We went to a hilarious comedy show based on the awkwardness of 7th grade. It was a musical, and it was painfully funny and true.  I had flashbacks to Rosa and all the drama that comes with being 11. The portrayal of the teachers was hilarious and certainly made me laugh, considering I see myself being a middle school teacher some day...  I find much more humor in seventh grade struggles than first grade craziness, that's for sure! 

The weekend was super chill. For two Fridays in a row, a bunch of us have hit up Yougurtland, a frozen yougurt chain where you build your own and pay by the price. They have awesome flavors & toppings, ands very JV-bugdet friendly :)  On Saturday, Julie and I took a trip to explore some new neighborhoods - Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Angeleno Heights. After a driving tour, we went to some really cool thrift shops and got lunch. It was a great roommie day-date!

This week, I've been realizing how attached some of my students are to me, and I to them. The student with serious ADHD who I've mentioned before is starting to respond to me pretty well, but takes a LOT of my time, attention, and energy. I feel bad when he takes me away from other kids, but it's rewarding to see him doing well with me.  A couple of the older girls that I usually hang out with during play time asked me to bring in my iPod so we've been jamming to some favorite tunes. Though I'm NOT a singer, I keep them entertained with silly impressions of Lady Gaga and Beyonce.  Sometimes they take videos on my phone...which I promptly delete!

That's all for now...off to the Grand Canyon in the morning!

Check out that icing!

This week was particularly fun and busy at Urban Compass.  On Thursday, we celebrated St. Patrick’s day with some cookie decorating, which is always a hit. Most of the kids were wearing green, which surprised me given that exactly 0% of them are Irish!

They were all about the pinching, too, so the few kids without green on got attacked.  On Friday afternoon, with the Verbum Dei staff on a retreat, we had the campus to ourselves and had a scavenger hunt.  Since we don’t do homework on Fridays and we weren’t in anyone’s way, it was a perfect day. Our regular volunteers from LMU were team captains; they lead the kids in search of ladybugs, four leaf clovers, leprechaun puzzles, Christmas stockings, flowers, and popsicle sticks that I had scattered around campus. They had a blast, and it was so much fun to watch.  On Saturday, we took the older kids to a Clipper’s game! We watched them beat the Cavaliers at the Staples Center downtown. It was SO much fun. Everyone had a blast and the kids were awesome!

Despite the fun and games at the end of the week, the start of the week was tough. One of my newer first graders has serious ADHD. He’s a wonderful kid: he loves me, he loves Urban Compass, and he loves hugs, but he does not love doing homework. He can sometimes be a loose cannon on the playground, which is fine, but in the classroom it is overwhelming: easily distracted, constantly moving, and impossible to focus.  I don’t know what was going on early this week but something in the air or water or stars made him extra hyperactive.  I found myself constantly praying for patience with him, and with the other kids that he kept distracting. 

LA JV's & Jesuits!

The week with DK was also particularly busy and fun! We kicked off the week with a gourmet meal at the East LA Jesuit Residence, where Fr. Scott Santarosa of Dolores Mission Parish and Fr. Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries hosted the LA JVs for dinner.   They were so generous to open their home to us for the evening!  We gathered with the LA JVs again on Wednesday evening for dinner with an immersion group from University of San Francisco. Funnily enough, one of the girls on the trip went to Mater Dei High School, a partner of Urban Compass, and knew all about my organization! It was great to talk to them and again made me recognize just how much we’ve all learned and grown in the past seven months.

On Thursday, Casa DK went to our fabulous FJV friend’s house for dinner in Eagle Rock. This is a ritzy neighborhood north of downtown where Marisol and her roommates rent an amazing house.  Marisol and Rose were in the same community as JVs in Atlanta and now have careers as lawyers that cross paths in downtown LA.  Dinner was amazing…we had tapas and vino and so much fun.  I feel blessed that we’ve been connected with so many interesting people through the JVC network; it’s amazing how people who don’t even know us want to take care of us just because we’re JVs!

On Saturday evening, I got to spend time with Aunt Beth and Uncle Tom! They were in town for Thomas’s spring break games and picked me and Cara up for dinner at LA Live (the downtown entertainment/restaurant hub) before their flight home. It was so good to see them and spend time with family. Thanks again for dinner!!

Shannon and Colleen in the rain

And finally, the weekend ended on a very wet note today. We went to watch the end of the LA Marathon in Santa Monica, with hopes of spotting our JV friends crossing the finish line at the pier.  Unfortunately, it has been pouring rain all day so it was a rather chilly and damp day, but we made it fun nonetheless. Although we didn’t actually get to see the JVs at the finish line, we were cheering for them loud and proud for a few solid hours. 

And now one more picture from last weekend's trip to Laguna Beach...

Laguna to Lent

Last Sunday night, an Alternative Spring Break trip from University of Detroit-Mercy joined us for dinner at our house to learn a little bit about the life and work of a JV. It was great to share a meal and put our recruitment materials (aka JVC bookmarks) to use. However, as I listened to my roommates talk about their work and clients, I was struck by just how much we have learned in the last 7 months. As I listened to John talk about working on Skid Row and homelessness in downtown, I realize just how our eyes, minds, and hearts have been opened. By sharing our stories in the evenings, I have learned so much more than just about working with kids…I have learned so much from my housemates and other JV friends who passionately talk about their life and work. As I look back on the last five months, I am so grateful for the network of JVs that is here in LA. We are blessed to have 4 communities with a total of 22 fantastic individuals all doing unique and important work across the city.

Last Saturday, we took a day trip to Laguna Beach, where Zach’s girlfriend and her roommates were staying for their spring break. The beach was amazing!  Later in the evening we celebrated Mardi Gras at Casa Ita Ford.  On the actual day of Mardi Gras, we went to Dolores Mission for Noche de solidaridad (night of solidarity). This was a prayer service and all-night celebration with the men in their homeless ministry. Each night, about 25-30 men sleep in the church.  Noche de solidaridad was a night filed with prayers, testimonies, and music, and also an open invitation to sleep out in the plaza of DM.  They were going to end the night with an Ash Wednesday service and breakfast at dawn.  We didn’t spend the night but enjoyed a couple of hours socializing with other JVs, the men in the ministry, and various immersion groups visiting DM.

On Ash Wednesday, Verb students attended services by grade, which gave the opportunity for staff to lead reflections that were particularly relevant to the students. I went to Julie’s service with the seniors, which was beautifully done. (Way to go, Ms. D!)

Last night, we celebrated Mardi Gras again at Verb’s annual fundraiser event.  The event is held at The California Club, an elegant club for the well-to-do businesspeople (traditionally businessmen) of LA.  Verb hosted a Mardi Gras-themed dinner with a cocktail hour, presentations, awards, and a silent auction.  Julie, Zach, and I helped with the setup, registration, and silent auction. There were so many cool items donated to give away: lots of wine, designer jeans, student artwork, signed movie posters, Rosetta Stone in 5 languages, handmade jewelry, trips, tickets to games and shows, and so much more.  I was the sole bidder on a signed cast picture from Off the Map, ABC’s new jungle/doctor/soap opera drama (Aunt Cyndi, I hope you’re proud!). It also came with a script from one of the episodes, also signed by the cast, and a candle...all for $10!

Since today is the end of the quarter for Verb, we have had around 15 volunteers each day at Urban Compass for the past two weeks as the guys rush to get their Christian Service Hours done.  These days are particularly calm in the classroom because the students get to work one on one with tutors, meaning they are more inclined to stay in their seats instead of running around yelling to me for help.  It’s great! It also gives me a chance to talk to Verb students. Half of them think I’m in college and I have a lot of fun watching them interact with the little ones.  The funniest moment from this week was when one of my most outgoing first graders yelled at her Verb tutor, “No me touches!” In her beautiful spanglish, she was trying to say “don’t touch me” which should have been “no me toques!”  She had been talking in Spanish to the tutor everyone started laughing at her mix-up.  She didn’t quite know why, but when we explained, she thought it was hilarious. 

"Ms. Z, you're not a sister."

Thanks, Jose…I almost forgot.  I was just so wrapped up in the celebration of the 100^th Anniversary celebration of the Morehouse (a historically Black college in Atlanta) Glee Club that when then when the emcee, a BET star, wanted a cheer from all the sisters in the crowd, I couldn’t help myself.

So why on Earth was I there to begin with, you ask?   Well, on Saturday evening, Julie, Zach and I joined a delegation of about 50 students and staff from Verb at Club Nokia downtown at LA Live for the event. The tickets (which went for $105 a pop!) were donated by a LA County Councilmember who has a special liking for Verb.  There were all sorts of honors being given and presentations being made, but we were most interested in the main event: the Glee Club.  The Morehouse Men put on a fantastic show, singing traditional African music, Christian spirituals, and other traditional songs.   There was also a guest electric violinist who tore up the stage; her rendition of Amazing Grace almost made me cry. 

After that very classy event, we joined up with the JVs for an event that was a little less classy but a ton of fun. We went to a midnight showing of a movie called The Room. It’s shown monthly in a movie theater in Hollywood and has a cult-like following across the country. It’s something like Rocky Horror in that people scream responses to the dialogue bring all kinds of props (plastic spoons, to be specific), and all seem to know it inside and out. The big difference is that it’s probably the worst movie ever made. The acting is atrocious, the filming is just sad, and there is actually footage that is repeated (and not in a dream sequence).  The writer/director/producer/star comes for Q&A and is absolutely insane.

On Saturday, I attended a conference with Colleen and Katie of Casa Ita Ford called Teen Summit: Preventing Dating Violence & Bullying.  It had potential to be a fantastic event – the speakers were wonderful, there were some great workshops lined up, and there was a ton of free food. Unfortunately, the whole thing was tainted by the lack of a schedule. Nevertheless, the keynote speaker started off the day with a moving story about growing up in Watts and dealing with gang life and the public schools. She also spoke about time she spent in prison after being charged with murder, and how she was determined to help young women turn their lives around before making decisions like the ones that led her to spend half her life locked up. She was inspiring, simply put. I attended a workshop about bully prevention, which proved helpful. The biggest problems with bullying at Urban Compass are among the girls – there are a couple girls constantly vying for the title of Queen Bee, and others who begrudgingly follow their every move in order to not be shunned. One girl straight up told me this, and said she was sick of it, but that there’s nothing she can do. The workshop had a couple suggestions, but for all the professional answers I would have to buy the services of the speaker.

On Sunday, I took a trip with my casa to The Getty Villa, a beautiful art museum in Malibu. It’s modeled after an Italian palace and is home to a beautiful collection. We took an architecture tour and ended up learning a lot about life in ancient Rome as we came to understand the layout of the palace, the materials used, and the namesake – J. Paul Getty.  It was a perfect spring-like day outside and being right on a cliff overlooking the Pacific was stunning.  

This week is our second area visit, and we kicked it off wonderfully with dinner tonight with our ever-fabulous support people and program coordinator. Thanks to Maria, Krista, and Andrew to their constant encouragement!