First Week in Watts

The first week of work is almost done! It’s been a pretty quiet week at work because the public school doesn’t start until September 13th. So far I’ve been running errands for my boss, Theresa, and exploring the neighborhood with her. I get in nice and early because my housemates have to report to the Verb (Verbum Dei, that is) bright and early. Zach works with the corporate work study program, so the boys at the school have to check in with him before they can take off for their placements. The Verb is part of the Cristo Rey network of schools, which means that the boys work one day a week for corporations that then sponsor part of their tuition.

On Tuesday, Theresa took me around Watts in the Urban Compass van. We drove through the housing projects, Nickerson Gardens, where my students live. We also drove through other parts of the district, and even saw Watts’ landmark – the Watts Towers. These are structures built completely from trash and recycled materials – they’re pretty cool! However, they’re not exactly in a prime location, so we didn’t get out and walk around. Theresa gave me the run-down of the gang presence in the neighborhood, but also assured me that the gangs very much respect the high school campus. Most of the families in the neighborhood have heard of Urban Compass or recognize her and her van, so she feels safe when she drives it.

As for our own neighborhood, we figured out yesterday that the technical name for it is “Adams – Normandie,” but also learned that the name doesn’t really matter. We’re in South Central, close to USC, and near the 110 – that’s all anyone seems to need to know! If you’re curious, you can see the streetview of my house here!(Thanks Google!) We have the bottom floor and our landlord lives above us.

As part of the JVC program, our Casa will be having once Spirituality Night and one Community Night each week. On Tuesday, we had our first Spirituality Night, and it went really well. (For any BC folks, it was kind of like a CURA group for roommates!) Last night, we celebrated our first community night at a free concert on the beach in Santa Monica. It was so cool! We met up with another JVC house in LA and mostly chatted and people watched. It was quite an assortment of people – hippies, hipsters, students, homeless people, and your stereotypical SoCal guys and girls. It was definitely amusing, even though we could hardly hear the music.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m looking forward to hopefully exploring a little more of the city this weekend!