words to ponder

Just completed my first week as an AmeriCorps*VISTA at MetroWest/Greater Worcester Habitat for Humanity ReStore. This week I got to know the staff and the volunteers as well as the layout of the store. Although there is some structure already in place regarding volunteers, I already see what I can improve on.

ReStore is an awesome place to shop, donate and volunteer. The environment is a laid back warehouse full of random (yet organized) donated goodies including full kitchen sets, cabinets, doors, windows, construction materials, paint, tile, hardware, bathroom fixtures, home and office furniture, home decor and BOOKS (25 cents each). Donated items are very eclectic and are priced 40-70% off the original retail value. I encourage anyone who reads this blog to stop by and say hi to me and explore the always-changing merchandise All proceeds from anything purchased at ReStore goes into the projects that Habitat is working on throughout Worcester county.

There have been many things that I have accomplished in the last twenty-five years:
- traveled to Europe (twice) and to Israel
- protests! (I miss the excitement of Amnesty International's Get on the Bus)
- graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor's in political science from Franklin Pierce
- will soon be starting my second year of AmeriCorps*VISTA
- am engaged to a wonderful man and have become step-mom to three kids (yikes!)

Also, I love Worcester:
- became a board member of the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center
- co-founded Green Island Residents and Friends
- usually attend Poets Asylum
- enjoy going to Canal District Alliance luncheons, Wednesdays at noon at Hotel Vernon
- now have a WOO Card

I will be fading away from Green Island, the Worcester neighborhood that I have become acquainted with for the past three years. Why, do you ask? I will be doing a second year of AmeriCorps*VISTA, this time at the Habitat for Humanity Metro West/Greater Worcester ReStore on the other side of the city.

There will be many things I will miss about being in the Island:
- Walking to work, whether I decide to pass by my favorite coffee stop downtown (A&D Coffee & Lunch Xpress) or to go through the bowels of Worcester (aka Chandler Street, towards the Main St end)
- The non-stop construction along Millbury Street and in the Kelley Square area
- Working with Green Island Residents and Friends, participating in the leadership trainings and other events
- The Canal District Alliance Wednesday luncheons - so much energy!
- Randomly poking my head in at Pernet Family Health Service to say "hi" to anyone who is around, especially Sister Gemma
- Waving to Mesfin at the Ethiopian Dream Center
- Witnessing Rosalie drop off the latest copies of InCity Times

Dear Jayme,

I cannot believe ten years have passed since you were the bright-eyed seventeen year old girl who's life was cut way too short and very abruptly (we never learned about what happened). Today I remembered how you passed by me when I was an awkward sixteen year old who wasn't sure what to do with herself, in the social studies wing of Pinkerton Academy all those years ago, with your chartreuse messenger bag full of the freshly-made copies of your zine. You invited me to the new after school club you started, a chapter of Amnesty International. Just like everything else that happened in those high school years, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into - I had no idea what activism was or had much knowledge of human rights. But when you left this world, there was a void that needed to be filled. I went to those meetings regularly, learned about human rights, how to organize a chapter, the purpose of protesting and other actions. I led those meetings my senior year and encouraged more people to get involved. Thank you, Jayme, for inviting me. Even though I am no longer involved with Amnesty, I have taken what I have learned and put my energy towards my local neighborhood.

I learned something new today when I Googled your name. I did not realize that you wrote poetry. I wonder if you knew that I wrote, too. Or if I have forgotten. It's been a while since I wrote a poem.

As a seventeen year old, you did amazing things that I as an almost-twenty-six-year-old am envious of. I am not you. However, you helped shaped me. Maybe you did not realize it in the months leading to your death in which you became a familiar face (how did we not become friends before?). You inspired me more as I learned more about you.

Today I wish I could meet you again. I want you to rekindle the spark inside me, just like each year when I remember you.

I am looking forward to next week's 10th Anniversary of Jayme's Fund.

- Hannah

The topic of unemployment (and the underlying inequality/poverty issues) will be a struggle to organize around. This is an important subject that needs to be discussed! Although many people are connected via the web, we need to connect at a personal/face-to-face level. We need to join together in solidarity, make our voices heard and our network a force to reckon with. Anger (at our situation and at the system) is both an asset and a liability.

This afternoon's Worcester Unemployment Action Group's (WUAG) meeting took a turn towards the interesting. During the second public meeting, which had several "speakers", including Grace Ross and Chris Horton, two individuals had a fire burning in their bellies - a need to explain their life stories and to negate all the possible solutions brought up by the organizers because of a sense of urgency, a foreboding that no matter what happens, we're all screwed. These men who dominated the first part of the meeting (I had to leave shortly after) were genuinely pissed off. They have an absolute right to be mad and justifiably so. However, these men were fighting the methods that the WUAG team was using instead of working with them. The WUAG team listened and agreed with many of the statements that these men made, but the men were unwilling to listen and to cooperate with the group. I applaud the WUAG team for trying to mitigate the situation, to ease the tension, but to no avail. I'm not sure how the meeting turned out after I left.

We all need to tell our stories and our struggles, but the Worcester Unemployment (and under-employed) Action Group is not just a support group - it is a group that will take action and action needs to be organized. What is does "action" involve? Besides informing the public, it means lobbying local and state representatives to unleash more money for jobs and relief

The definition of unemployment has changed: "Unemployment figures don’t count those who have given up on looking for work, anyone taking even one college course, anyone who’s looking for a job but never had one." We need to reach out to everyone who considers themselves un- and under-employed, whether or not they are eligible for or have already exhausted "unemployment benefits" and other relief services.

- Shulkin, Jeremy. "The Days of Old" Worcester Mag 16 Mar 2012.
- "Worcester Unemployment News, 2/24/12"
- Brown, Jenny. "Can Labor Organize the Unemployed?" Labor Notes 24 Feb 2012.

I feel that the past couple of years have been a huge learning curve. I have been out of my parents' house, which means learning how to budget and pay bills. I have also been able to live my life, exploring what I am interested in and pursuing new experiences.

I have learned to be a step-mom. At first, I played the roll of step-mom to my boyfriend's two younger kids every other weekend. Now I am full-time step-mom to a teenage girl. Big leap. Big learning curve to adjust to.

A beautiful sixteen-and-a-half-year-old... who eats a lot, who needs help with school work, who yearns for freedom, who listens to ICP and considers herself a Jugalette, who thinks she's an adult yet who also needs to nurture her inner child... We are finally in her life, able to be the parents she has needed all those years.

This is a new start for her. And a new start for us. A scary new beginning that all three of us needed.

When I opened her bedroom door last night to ask her to turn down the music, she was sitting crossed-legged on her bed with a school book open in front of her. She smiled as she reached across the bed to the computer to turn down the music. This is her safe space now.

Here are the reasons why I love Worcester this month:
1) Education for Power Teach-In tomorrow at Worcester State, organized by WSU and Worcester Free School and sponsored by many other great organizations. FREE workshops, 10-4.

2) We've Got the Power community organizing training, organized by Worcester Roots Project. Runs for 7 Thursdays, starting March 15 at Plumley Village. Sliding-scale for groups and individuals. Went to this training last year - learned about the history of some social/political movements as well as honed some organizing skills.

3) Mass Meeting and Forum of the Unemployed, THIS Saturday 4-6pm at Sacred Heart Church on Cambridge St.

4) Learn about tenant/landlord rights and responsibilities in Green Island. Tuesday, Feb 28th, 10:30-12 at the Green Island Neighborhood Center (the little building at Crompton Park). Grace Ross will be presenting! To continue organizing around the Green Island neighborhood, stop by the next GIRF (Green Island Residents & Friends( meeting on Monday, March 5th at 6pm at the Haitian Baptist Church on Ellsworth St - we'll be discussing planning a family fun night.

5) This past Monday there was a Youth Jobs Action Night held at the Boys & Girls Club where Worcester's state representatives and state senators spoke about their commitment towards channeling funding towards youth jobs.

6) Please come to the Youth Jobs Rally and March on Thursday, Feb 23rd at the State House. Bus leaves for Boston from the Worcester Youth Center (326 Chandler St) at 10am and returns before 5pm. Contact Worcester Interfaith: 508-754-5001 or worcester.interfaith@verizon.net.

J is my twelve year-old step-son who has never before seen professional musicians perform or experienced a real concert/show. We figured it was about time to introduce him to that kind of experience. Well, sort of.

Last night the family (me, my boyfriend, J, and his eight year-old sister H) walked down to Pleasant Street Baptist Church to see the Christian pop/rock/soul band Unspoken. The band impressed me as talented musicians, though, being Jewish, some of the Christian messages came off too strongly for me. H was running around in front of the podium with the other young kids, eventually sitting down to color. My boyfriend and I enjoyed the music, fascinated by the drum-box that produced an amazing sound. J was captivated. On the walk back home, J mentioned that he wanted to cry a few times during the show but he wasn't sure why. I told him that he was moved by the music (and probably the sermons that accompanied the songs). By the end of the show, we bought J a CD, which he had signed by all four band members.

I figured this was the first step to going to a real concert. This was a safe environment - being with family, in a religious institution, and if he wanted to leave, we could just walk home. The show was also free, though by buying the CD, I hope we contributed to the artists.

When I was J's age, my father brought me and my slightly younger sister to see Mary Chapin Carpenter all the way in Boston. It was overwhelming - SO many people gathered outside, the loud noise, sitting on folding chairs - and we could hardly see the performance. Although I was not too fond of folk music, I enjoyed the experience. My sister, on the other hand, did not enjoy it and did not go to another concert until she was in college.

Because I was ecstatic about that first opportunity to see a live band, my father kept bringing me to concerts - Elvis Costello, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Rolling Stones... He would go with me to concerts for my sixteenth birthday (Godsmack) and seventeenth birthday (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds). I have been going to shows ever since. Thank you, Dad! I appreciate everything you opened my eyes to.

I hope J is eager to continue on this musical journey.

Yesterday evening, as the warm weather became decidedly cool and the daylight drained into twilight, twenty or so individuals marched along Main Street, carrying signs and chanting.

According to Martha Assefa, the organizer for Worcester Anti-Foreclosure Team:
"Members of The Worcester Anti Foreclosure Team (WAFT) will be demanding justice and restitution for the Petit family whose home was wrongfully and illegally broken into by bank agents and whose life possessions, including antique furniture, were taken, allegedly to the city dump.

The protest will start with a brief rally outside the Courthouse where Worcester County DA Joe Early has his offices, where WAFT members will present our demand that the banks be required to follow due process and that the Worcester Police Department accept and respond to criminal complaints against them. WAFT will utilize all resources in our community to leverage restitution, balance the scales of justice and compensate this family for their egregious losses.

Politicians, community leaders and members alike have been invited to speak at the courthouse. At City Hall WAFT will meet with City Councillors and call for support of new ordinances including mandatory mediation of all foreclosures."

Pictures that the Petit family showed around portrayed an empty home with doors broken off their hinges. Nothing was left - everything was ILLEGALLY brought to the Leominister dump.

A photographer from Worcester Mag and a videographer from Occupy Worcester were the only media outlets around, though both websites do not have anything regarding the action as of this morning.

WAFT is an amazing organization that works with individuals and families going through the foreclosure/eviction crisis, networking with and supporting each other and taking action to prevent an incident or to inform the public and those holding public office.

In May of 2008, I graduated magna cum laude from Franklin Pierce University with a BA in political science. I am a member of Pi Alpha Sigma, the National Political Science Honor Society. I studied abroad in Vienna, Austria.
I learned a lot during the four years I attended college. Is it worth the price?

And now a flood of student loan debt is about to wash over me. Yet I owe much less than the average person. Many of my friends went to college or have taken college courses - most of them are swimming in debt because they have minimum-wage jobs (like me) and are not able to pay anything other than living expenses. The debt and the interest we accrued while going to college (to get an education, not to party) will likely hang over our heads for the rest of our lives as we struggle to pay it off.

At the time I was accepted into college, my mother worked at a college, so there was a reasonable discount for tuition. I still took out student loans (three of them!) to cover the costs of room/board and other college expenses. Since graduating, I have been paying a small amount each month to NHHEAF, a NH-based college-prep and loan organization. In 2009-2010, I did a year of service as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, which delayed my two Sallie Mae loans until 2013.

The money my parents invested in me, paying for odds and ends like a meal plan and spending money while abroad, I will probably never be able to pay back. While in college, I studied hard, taking a full course load of five classes - I did not have a part-time or full-time job. I took my "job" of getting myself an education seriously. The extra spending money came from my parents (albeit I didn't ask for a whole lot).

* Do you think it is fair that gambling debt can be discharged in bankruptcy, but not the student loan debt of a working class person who tried to get a college education and couldn’t find a decent-paying job?
* Why is it that politicians don’t worry about the “moral hazard” of bailing out large banks and insurance companies, but are concerned about debt forgiveness for student loan debtors when such forgiveness would be a “stimulus package” for the U.S. economy?

"Will the Young Rise Up and Fight Their Indentured Servitude to the Student Loan Industry?" Levine, Bruce. AlterNet 24 Jan 2012.