Lost

So, I've been a bit lost lately. I've lost sight of why I'm spending a year of my life with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. What do I hope to achieve? What do I hope to discover? I had such different conceptions about how the program would work in the beginning so now I am trying to figure out how to reconcile reality with former expecations. I guess I'm just hoping that I get grounded again soon. I'd like to feel that I have a concrete purpose so that I can put all that I have into working towards that purpose. I know I'm young and should be entitled to some enjoyment here and there, but I really would like to make the best of this year so that I can turn around and confidently say, "Yes, I achieved what I set out to achieve." We'll see how that goes.





Today's Topics:





1.) Wake up, sicko! We need an escape vehicle!
2.) Tastes of Chicago
3.) Let's get together and change this town
4.) Birthday madness!
5.) Reminded me of Voices

1.) Wake up, sicko! We need an escape vehicle!
As you may remember from my previous post, I was greatly struggling with an intense illness that I couldn't shake in the past few weeks. I showed all sorts of symptoms- incessantly runny nose, extreme fatigue, sore throat, general congestion, coughing, sneezing, and mild chills. This provoked me finally to visit the Texas Med Clinic late on a Friday night (Oct. 8). My housemate, Megan drove me there (it was kind of far so I was very grateful to her) and we arrived around 9pm. I signed in and waited about an hour to finally be seen. When I was seen, the doctor's assistant took my blood pressure and temperature and then sent me out into the waiting room again. I waited and waited (and enjoyed a great conversation with Megan, but come ON) and finally was called back to see the doctor. I sat in the room all alone and waited for about half an hour for the doctor to come. When he did, he checked my ears, nose, and throat, listened to my lungs and left. Then his nurse came in to take a strep test. Then I waited. I was nervous because the clinic closed at 11pm (it was now probably 11:15pm) and I didn't want the doctor to leave without giving me the results.

Matters were worsened when one of my housemates called me while I was waiting for the doctor by myself on the exam table. She was obviously intoxicated and said that there was someone who really wanted to talk to me. She then handed the phone to a guy named Jason who said his friend Travis had never met a Laura in his life and really wanted to meet me. "Do you hear that?" Travis asked, "That's the sound of me pulling a chair out for you at 'The Friendly Spot' [a personal favorite bar of my roommates]. You better come!" I was dumbfounded. I had TOLD the guys that I was in the doctor's office but they still insisted that I come join them at The Friendly Spot. "I am very ill. I'm being tested for strep throat," I informed the guys repeatedly. "Strep throat? There's a shot for that! Just take the shot and you'll be fine!" was Jason's response. I wasn't upset at them but hearing them having fun at a bar made me extra bummed that I was sitting in a doctor's office on a Friday night feeling miserable.

The doctor returned with the results of the strep test finally and told me that it was negative. He prescribed steroids and special steroid nasal spray to cure whatever I had (he didn't actually ever make it clear to me what my illness was...). "Steroids, eh? I think I'll just sleep it off," I thought to myself. But I ended up going to Walgreens two days later anyway to fill the prescription because my nose literally wouldn't stop running and I was wheezing so badly I thought my lungs were collapsing. (Side note: Sorry for all of the hyperbolic descriptions but they're just too fun to write!)

However, before filling my prescription (which eerily worked like magic), I had to suffer through 48 more hours of feeling nasty. And this is where the title of this section comes in. After leaving the Texas Med Clinic on Friday night with Megan at about 11:45pm, we called the housemates at the Friendly Spot to see if they wanted a ride home. They declined, saying they were enjoying themselves too much to leave. I asked if any of them had a way of entering our back gate at home because without a remote gate-opener, they wouldn't be able to get in. None of them had one so we told them we'd keep one by our bedside so that when they decided to come back, they could call us and we'd just roll over and hit the remote without having to leave bed. That seemed like a reasonable plan. But reasonability is non-existent when alcohol is involved, I guess! Haha. So I finally lay my aching nose on the pillow around 12:30am and expected to sleep in until I felt better (which seemed like it could be a long while). But 6.5 hours later, my phone rings and it's one of the partying housemates. "Wake up, sicko! We need an escape vehicle!" Okay, so she didn't actually say that, but that was they gist of her call. Apparently the girls had decided to spend the night at a Motel 6 with the fellows I had spoken to on the phone in the doctor's office. The girls were annoyed, however, with how "clingy" the boys had become and so they decided...at 7 in the morning...to leave as quickly as possible. And they also decided to call ME, the sickest one of all, to pick them up. Since I would do anything for the girls of my household, I dutifully left my bed and was at the Motel 6 in no time. They piled in the car and told the details of a night that started out amazingly but then got "weird" and "annoying." I felt like a mother, picking up her naughty kids after a night of craziness. I wasn't mad at them. I kind of felt bad for them. I knew that they just wanted to enjoy themselves but had let things get a little too far. I also knew that they felt pretty bad asking me to give them a ride in my condition and at that hour on a Saturday morning so I really couldn't be upset.

What really surprised me though is that two of the three girls that I picked up that morning ended up going out with the SAME guys two nights later! Too funny.

2.) Tastes of Chicago
A friend of my family's, Bridget Lamble, came to visit me last Sunday, and spending time with her was very refreshing! She is from San Antonio and spent a year doing the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Chicago so we kind of swapped places. She and her father took me out to a most delicious brunch and then we went to her childhood home. It was beautiful and what amazed me was that it was pretty much preserved in the same condition as it had been when Bridget was growing up. The rooms were decorated in very unique ways and I enjoyed feeling as if I were taking a trip back into the (not too distant) past. We also watched a slide show (projected grandly on the wall) of Bridget's wedding pictures. It was cool to see so many of my parent's friends about 20 years ago. I was super grateful to talk to someone from Chicago and to get the updates on how things are there. Thank you Bridget and dad!

The second taste of Chicago that I got last week was more literal. My community went out to eat with our JVC "support people" John and Catherine at a Chicago-style pizza joint. It was lovely. One doesn't realize how great one has it living in Chicago until said "one" leaves the city and realizes that superb pizza is hard to find. I would give that place a 7/10 on the Chicago pizza scale. :)

3.) Let's get together and change this town
I was asked by my boss to attend a community discussion/presentation last week sponsored by SAM Ministries at the Mexican American Urban Community Center in my neighborhood. Organizations from all over the West side of San Antonio were asked to come to the discussion and present on what services their organizations offered and to also bring ideas to the table for how to improve the community. I was in charge of presenting the Guadalupe Community Center (the new location for my department) to a panel of maybe 40 people and I was quite nervous. I am familiar with what my department, Crisis Intervention, does, but I am just learning about what the rest of the departments at the Guadalupe Community Center offer. It was exhilarating though to be part of an initiative to improve the community. I liked seeing that there are other organizations in my area that are passionate about improving the desperate situations that many San Antonians face. Most of the organizations deal with the immediate needs of clients but some deal with solving the root of the problems that create poverty. I'm excited to be a part of enacting structural changes in the community.

My boss also has asked me to brainstorm ideas for how to use potential grant money to bring different programs to the Guadalupe Community Center (GCC). I feel honored by the fact that my opinion matters and that I have quite a bit of sway over the programs offered in the center. I just have to come up with some great ideas!! I guess the one difficult thing is that my boss is very tied to the military and she has asked that I brainstorm ideas for how we can assist service members at the GCC. I've never really thought about the assistance needed by service members, especially because I feel that the military or the government should be responsible for assisting soldiers after they finish their terms of service. However, I'm learning more and more that service members are increasingly left to fend for themselves when they leave the military. It's a reality that I am being forced to learn about this year and I'm very grateful for this experience.

4.) Birthday madness!
This past Friday, October 15th was my housemate, Kait's birthday! We celebrated by going out to dinner at a sushi restaurant (yum to the 10th power) and then going out clubbing. We went to a club called "Revolution" and it was interesting to say the least. It involved three dance floors, each with different kinds of music, and the 7 roommates, plus a few others, enjoyed moving from floor to floor and shaking along. We tired of that club though and so we decided to walk next door to "Salud," a bar that played tons of Mexican ranchero music and Juanes. Kait was less than pleased at this new bar (and I guess I can't blame her, it was tough music to really jam to) and so we went to yet another club attached to "Revolution" and "Salud." This club played lots of lovely hip hop music and we enjoyed dancing in the huge mass of people on the dancefloor. At one point, however, a certain song came on that provoked a group of gentlemen dancing next to us to form a large circle with their arms around each other and sway violently around as a unit. They accidentally(?) almost dragged one of my housemates down and trampled her so we decided it was time to go. It was a good night, nonetheless, and I was glad that my housemates and I were able to enjoy a fun outing together.

The only thing I'll comment on is the fact that Texas law allows people to smoke in the clubs and bars. Therefore, I smelled like an ashtray after I left the club and I'm not sure I liked that very much.

5.) Reminded me of Voices
Kelsey, Megan, Father Marty, two other parishoners, and I attended a benefit concert on Saturday night that was very reminiscent of the concerts that I've attended back at St. Gertrude's Church in Chicago. Each concert attendee paid a fee to enter, dinner was provided, and then three bands played. The audience consisted of tables and chairs for eating and each table was equipped with paper and crayons so that the audience members could contribute drawings to a mural that was being made. The first band to perform was actually just one man playing guitar and singing and he was a high school teacher. He was pretty talented, although my one qualm would be that he only sang about women. Then the next band was a music teacher and his two students. They did a 30 minute set and were very cute. They sang some contemporary songs and originals that the teacher had composed. My favorite act though was the last one, performed by Patti and Rod Radle. They are the couple that leads the music for the 11am mass that I sing at every Sunday. They are amazing people- a real social justice activist duo. They sang and played together- both switching out the banjo for the 6 string for the bass- about nuclear weapons, injustice done to immigrants, and the need for peace. I felt like I was at a Voices concert. (For those who don't know, Voices is a Chicago-based band that sings about issues of social justice. My father was a part of this band in my childhood and so it is very dear to my heart). I was cheered to find that there are other groups out there that continue to sing folk music and jam about social issues that merit much attention. I want to spend more time with Patti and Rod, not only because they remind me of my roots, but also because they seem to be the most socially conscious and active people on the West side of San Antonio.

Well, what else can I report? Work continues to be manageable. I am settling in nicely at my new work location. To clarify, my Crisis Intervention department used to be located in a building on Salinas St. with the Immigration department. Now our Crisis Intervention department is located a block from my home in the Guadalupe Community Center. The Guadalupe Community Center is a branch of Catholic Charities that offers after-school programs, senior programs, dance programs, and food and clothing assistance. Now that our office is there, we have consolidated our food pantry and clothing closet with theirs to make one big center of assistance. I really like my coworkers (the majority of whom are middle-aged women) because we all eat lunch together and share food, stories, and hearty laughs. The clients I work with can be very challenging, but I am getting the hang of assisting them to the best of my ability. And, we pretty much solved the problem of the kids running into my office while I'm on the phone. The director of the after-school program laid down the law and so I can rest at ease.

Well, I'm plum tuckered out. I'm in the church rectory, it's 10:30pm, one of the priests keeps looking into the room that I'm in because I think he needs to use the computer so I should go.

All the best!!