Haverford House

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/pasenate…

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.