Haverford House

Going home for the holidays (I kept slipping and calling it “break”) was both a pleasant throwback to college breaks (hours of bad television, without unread thesis articles hanging over my head!) and a not-so-subtle reminder that this fellowship has an end point. After ducking questions of “so what are you doing next year?” and ignoring my goal of staring down my darn MCAT review book once and for all to decide if I’m ever going to open it, I find myself with several giant question marks in my head when I try to picture the year(s) to come.

I’d been warned by friends who have completed 1-year fellowships right out of college that they usually postpone the post-college crisis mode one more year, and then you have to deal with it long after everyone else you graduated with has moved on to adulthood. And I think all of us in the house have started thinking about, if not planning for, our post-HH lives. But it’s not so much a fear of the “real world” that’s hitting me now, just a sense that after this year I want to start working toward something, if only I knew what that something was. I worry that working a mostly 9-5 job, while the job itself is interesting and challenging in so many ways, without having my schedule filled with much else, has flattened me. Now I’m pondering how to take advantage of the professional development funds we get for this gig to stretch my brain in a different way as I think about grad school, med school, or just heading off to another country for a bit.  All the while, I hope that my anxiety about the future doesn’t pull me out of the present too much– there is a bunch to do at the office and we’ve got a couple ideas for Haverford projects that haven’t gotten off the ground yet, so a lot to be excited about.

I’m going to make sure that all their doors are open. –Photo and Voice by Shearine M.

I’m not sure what I expected from the Witnesses to Hunger panel last week, but I definitely didn’t expect it to be so emotional. I guess that’s what happens when even-keeled academia collides with real-life struggles. I didn’t expect tears, but that’s what we got, from the panel and the audience. Which was good, I think. Because it felt like people cared, like we were all in it together, at least for that moment.

I always wonder what the point of these events are, especially when it’s the hour before the event and the labels for the exhibit haven’t been put up yet and I’m convinced that more things will go horribly wrong. But then, as Jane said, it all became worth it when the Witnesses to Hunger photographers walked into the CPGC Cafe and we heard their responses– that was when the tears started to flow. I think it could be enough for me if all this event meant was that these wonderful, strong women got recognition for their art and expertise and for opening up to an audience about their lives. But I don’t think that’s all that happened– I think the audience gained a lot, and maybe a few were unsettled or inspired or affected in some small way.  I hope that those who came to the Conversation du Jour we conducted on Friday also gained something, as well as those who have just wandered in to view the exhibit on their own (it’s up in the CPGC Cafe and the MCC until at least the end of the semester).

I want to encourage everyone to come out to Drexel this Thursday evening, December 11th, for a much larger exhibit opening and one that nearly all of the 40 mothers involved in the project will attend. There will be photos, videos, discussion, food, wine, and a chance to hear from policy makers and meet the mothers. I’ve attached more information below. I hope you can make it and bring others.

We encourage you to attend the opening night of Witnesses to Hunger on December 11, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm presented by The Philadelphia GROW Project & Drexel University School of Public Health.  The exhibit runs December 12-18, 9am-5pm (weekdays), 12pm-5 (weekend) at Bossone Center/Drexel University, 3128 Market St, Philadelphia.

Witnesses to Hunger is an invitation to enter the lives of 40 women in Philadelphia who show the experience of hunger and poverty through their digital images and their stories.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, please check website http://www.witnessestohunger.org or call 215-762-1945.

AKA the poor excuse some of us Hav-Housers have for not blogging until now…

click here for bloons… but only if you’ve already blogged.

So for those of you who don’t know, my Haverford House placement is at Community Legal Services.  I work there as a paralegal in the employment unit, advising people with criminal records on applying for expungements and pardons, and engaging in some employment advocacy on their behalf.  I have had a negative view of the inner workings of the judicial system for some time now with regard to its treatment of people with criminal records, and this job has shown me that I was being generous.  Some of the worst case scenarios I’d imagined are quite commonplace.  

I speak to people on a regular basis who have not been able to keep a steady job for years because they were caught at age 18 stealing a sweater, or arrested when a neighbor called the cops because they were having a heated argument.  People’s convictions may be 20 years old and many employers will still treat them as hard criminals.  I won’t begin my rant, but considering the number of record-less, wealthy peers I’ve heard talk about stealing “just because,” and driving drunk and high simply to prove they can, I think it’s safe to say that most of my clients have more than paid their dues to society.

I am actually posting right now though on a happy note, as Pennsylvania recently took some action to help lesson the duration of the affect of certain records on people’s lives (What?  A functioning PA government?? Well not quite, but it’s something).  The governor just signed off on a bill that will allow people with a summary conviction to have it expunged after 5 conviction-free years have passed.  This means that hundreds of people who were previously going through the painfully long pardon process (we’re talking years), can now potentially have their records cleared in a few months.  

There is no doubt that this is going to make a huge difference in many people’s lives, though there are numerous potential kinks that will need to be worked out.  Unfortunately, the Senate could not agree to pass the bill that the House had originally proposed, which would have included certain misdemeanors in the list of expungeable offenses:

     http://www.aclupa.org/pressroom/pasenatepassesweakenedcrim.htm

Clearly a lot of people out there are less than impressed with this new legislation.  I do agree that it’s not a sufficient measure to deal with the problems it is trying to address, but, when you’re working for the underdog, you appreciate how huge a “small” victory (at least according to the standards of a generation marked with sensationalized depictions of courtroom speeches and judges easily swayed by moving speaches) really is.

It’s late, I know, but it’s still pretty amazing.  On October 25th, a number of community groups from across the city filmed interviews and neighborhood sites for the videos they’ve been planning since the summer.  The event is part of Precious Places, a program I coordinate at Scribe.

Here’s an article about Greenbelt Knoll, one of the groups, and here’s another about the Unity Garden.

Below is a sneak peak back in time: (in order) Greenbelt Knoll, Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church, Johnson Park in Camden, and Oaklyn Memorial Library in New Jersey.

I am not exactly the most artistically inclined person.  While I love going to galleries and the Philadelphia Museum of Art and could spend hours staring at a sculpture on the street, my own art is usually limited to hand-made greeting cards and coloring books.  Therefore I never imagined that part of my Haverford House experience would be spent organizing, designing, and setting up an exhibit of photographs for the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship Cafe and the Multicultural Center, both located in Stokes Hall.  Yet these photographs are also beyond the ordinary, they are works of art that were created by mothers on public assistance in Philadelphia.

These women are part of a project called Witnesses to Hunger, which is project that is run out the Drexel School of Public Health. Witnesses to Hunger brought together 40 mothers and had them document their lives through digital photography.   Through presenting these images at Haverford we are working to open up dialog on campus about public assistance and hunger and how do we choose to recognize or to ignore these issues that are a reality for many families in the city that is a few miles from Haverford’s gates.

For me, this project represents what Haverford House should be all about.  I am collaborating with two of my house-mates to put on this exhibit and discussion and we in turn, are being supported both financially and organizationally (not to mention emotionally) through the Hurford Humanities Student Arts Fund and the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship.  We are working with professors, students, staff, advocates and residents in Philadelphia, and with each other to connect Haverford students to Philadelphia in a way that provokes conversation, reflection, and potentially action.  These photographs are both beautiful and powerful and are not always easy to look at; they are reminders of poverty, desperation, and hope.

While the next few days before our exhibit goes up are sure to be stressful ones, filled with levels, sticky corners, mat board, frustration, and late nights.  Yet we will keep at it, because we know that on this Wednesday evening, looking into the faces of both the photographers and the Haverford community members, it will all be worth it.

We hope to see you at the panel (Wednesday 12/3, at 7:30 in Stokes Auditorium) and checking out the exhibit which will run in the CPGC Cafe and Multicultural Center from December 3rd until December 19th.  Please contact me at jweber@haverford.edu with any questions or thoughts and check out the Haverford calendar listing.

The first question that anyone asks when I tell them about my job is “How’s the commute?” The question is understandable seeing that I live in West Philly with all of my Haverford House buddies, but I work in Camden, New Jersey. Therefore I usually cross state lines twice a day and spend anywhere from an hour to two hours a day in the process of commuting. What I usually tell people, which is true, is that I actually love the commute. I love the built in separation of home and work, a time that allows me to clear my head before entering the office and the time to mentally leave behind my work at the end of the day. The other great thing about my commute is the chance to fly over the Delaware River twice a day. For those of you out there who have never taken the PATCO line between 8th and Market and Camden City Hall you should definitely get yourself on a train today. It feels absolutely magical to be up so high and to see this world splayed out before you.

Yet besides for being good for my mental health, the commute has also filled me with questions and made me a bit unsettled. As I began my daily ritual back in July there were a few things that one could not fail to notice on my commute. The first was that I am actually a reverse-commuter, meaning that I am going in the opposite direction of most of the people taking the PATCO. Day after day, my trains are always empty as I travel to New Jersey in the morning and then back to Philadelphia in the evening. Whereas the trains coming into Philadelphia in the morning are jampacked, as are the trains flying away from Philly and into Jersey in the evening. While I don’t know the exact statistics behind this phenomenon, I can only guess that it occurs because Philadelphia is an economic hub and attracts workers across state lines, however, it does not retain these same individuals to live. What are the effects of this influx and outflow to both Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia?

The other strange thing about the commute is that it reminds me on a daily basis of my mobility and the incredible privilege that I to cross state lines at will. With my PATCO pass in hand, I can leave and enter Camden at any time I want, but I know that many Camden residents do not have that ability. The feeling that I often get from talking with people in Camden, many of whom have lived through the city’s economic boom and devastating busts, is that they are stuck. Therefore while I commute against the crowds from South Jersey, I am very much a part of the daily evening exodus from Camden of those who can afford to leave. There is a part of me that wants to stake a claim and stay in Camden and prove everyone wrong who constantly degrades the city. I want to stay and show people the beauty that I see in the city and its people, but I also cannot ignore the reality that I see and hear about on a daily basis. So as I fly back over the river every evening, interspersed in my emotions remain a feeling of betrayal, a clenching of anger, and a twinge of relief.

I know that Liz and Janice just both wrote about the upcoming election and I don’t want you to think that’s all Haverford House is about, but seeing as the election is less than two days away, this is probably the last chance I’ll have to write about it.

Actually, Haverford House is actually kind of election central these days. As I write this, Corey and Sonia are out canvassing (I don’t know if I should say for who, but perhaps you can guess from this jack-o-lantern we made). I think almost all of us are volunteering on election day, either through the office of this unnamed candidate or with Vote for Homes, a non-partisan voting effort assisting people who are homeless, formerly homeless and low-income to exercise their right to vote. We’re all excited to be involved in voting efforts in such an important state, and it’s great that our jobs are flexible enough that we’re all able to spend election day working on the election and can at least feel like we’re making a difference.

Yesterday, Sonia and I were a canvassing team and hit up a couple of blocks west of our house.  I was unfortunately reminded of how much I hate knocking on doors (does anyone like it?) and there were so many people not home that it felt like we were wasting a lot of time, but it was great being able to give out voting information and connecting to the few people who seemed super excited about the election. I was also glad for the excuse to spend some time west of the house– Jane and I have talked a lot about how much more we head east than west (if you aren’t familiar with West Philadelphia, the eastern part of West Philly has been dubbed “University city” and is dominated by the University of Pennsylvania and everything that comes with it that might be appealing to recent college grads). While I don’t think I can quite tackle a discussion about diversity and gentrification of West Philly in this blog post, I guess I should say that I was happy getting a chance to talk to folks who have lived in this city for years and know a lot more about Philly than I do. And we didn’t encounter a single McCain supporter, making me think more about how much an Obama victory will mean to this city. (I had to give up on my attempt at nonpartisanism to get that last sentence out, I’ll have to make sure  to put my  nonpartisan hat back on for Tuesday when I’m with Vote for Homes).

Good afternoon all our many zillions of readers. This is my first blog post EVER and I believe it should start with a modern cliche.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiJbs-JS3XQ

This video is called “you can vote however you like” and is a partisan song and dance done by some of the most awesome children I have ever seen. I suggest watching it several times in order to hear the words they are saying. The teacher of these children has to be someone incredible.

Having just helped to plan a half-day voter education seminar at Parkway Northwest Peace and Social Justice High School in Mt. Airy (my place of work) I am extremely heartened that so many young people are more excited and know more about this election than I ever did about any election in high school or college for that matter. The point of the seminar was to help students to understand how to form their own opinions about the United States political system and how to get involved before the election. I think we at least partially achieved that goal, though I did not get to finish making a fake voting booth out of cardboard.

In planning this half day seminar I learned:

• Where the giant warehouse is that contains all of our oversized pink ballots for the election and that you can get ’sample ballots’ for educational purposes. It was pretty cool to get that small insider look at the voting system.
• Always send formal faxes to local officials, they are not people you can send emails to.
• Cherelle Parker and Dwight Evans are great speakers and also two of our state representatives.
• Yes, sadly I did not know this before.
• Representatives from the green party, League of Women Voters and Education Voters PA will come to talk at your event and that they are very nice about it.
• Do not try and get a voting booth for practice at your school three weeks before the election.
• Student run workshops CAN BE DONE, with a lot of hard work done by both teachers and students

Hi, everyone. I’m the coordinator of the Haverford House program, so reading my blog might not be quite as exciting as reading a blog written by one of our current fellows (Corey, Ileana, Jenny, Jane, Liz and Sonia). However, I’ll get the ball rolling…

How ’bout them Phils? The celebratory noise outside of my sedate Mt. Airy neighborhood was enough to keep me awake. I can’t image how loud it must have been down in West Philly… it got me thinking about how exciting next Tuesday night might be for most Philadelphians.