Comments: Justiceworx Wk 2, Days 5 & 6

The final two days this week went very well. Both days of work at Enable were incredible. My work group did such a good job with the consumers. On thursday we had an hour long dance party with the consumers. It was a wonderful time because we were able to dance and see them really letting loose all over Enable. All of my volunteers were sad to leave, but they also were empowered to come back at some point and volunteer there again. It really made me proud to see my volunteers become passionate about the people at Enable. 

Today at Enable we watched a tv spot that Enable, one of my volunteers and I had done last year. It was on some obscure TV station called Ebru TV. It turned out pretty well, but it was really weird watching myself on TV. It was also really weird because Ebru TV didn't really film a typical day at Enable. We were told last year that we couldn't play games or play music, which are two huge parts of the Enable experience. The consumers shined on TV though, and that made me happy. The show did a good job profiling them before Kevin (the volunteer) and me. 

These last two days seemed like a blur. This whole week seemed like a blur. I remember doing the skit on Sunday night and explaining to them all the rules. Now I have to say goodbye to all of them tomorrow. I think most of them got the message, though. I have to try and stop placing myself at the center of events at Justiceworx. In family groups or work groups or whatever I tend to make myself the center of attention for some reason.  I need to work on ministering the message of our week and not just fluff it up for the students. My gift is my personality, my challenge is controlling it. 

These last two days were awesome. Tomorrow will be bittersweet, but boy, do I need sleep. 

-Jeff

Justiceworx Wk 2, Day 4

So today was a pretty good day. We did the justice activity and it was certainly an improvement from last week. That being said, improvements need to be made on all sorts of areas. The kids seemed to like the presentation and talk given by Brian, so that made up for whatever the activity may have lacked. 

Tomorrow my work group gets to run the activities at Enable. I'm really excited!! In the morning we're running a bracelet making activity as well as a finger painting one. Then after lunch we're going to try and have an hour long music/dance party extravaganza. I just finished burning the CD for it. It should be awesome!! I'm really proud of my work group this week. They've come together nicely. 

I gotta head to bed now, but I promise there will be a video blog by the end of the week. I hope you are doing well in cyberland! Have a wonderful tomorrow!

-Jeff

Night Duty: Justiceworx Wk 2, Day 3

Today was a good day at Enable. We strolled in at 9am and were parsoned off to our different groups. I played a little bit of Beatles music for a consumer named Carol who loves the Beatles, then I painted with some of the kids in my group and some consumers. It was great. Then we had an excellent lunch discussion. We talked about how God factored into their lives and how they could own up to their own beliefs in God. After lunch we went back in Enable and split off into groups again. I ended up playing Monopoly with the Beatles loving consumer against a staff member, volunteer, and another consumer. We ended up losing in the end, but just that share of community with the consumer I was paired with was nice. 

I gave the staff talk about my relationship with God. It's interesting reflecting on the progression of my own beliefs from high school to college age. I talked about how I was so set on how God judges people that I almost blinded myself from other perspectives. After some tough personal events I ended up re-imagining my belief in God with the help of SJU and my theological instruction. I think the kids got a lot out of my talk (at least I hope they did). 

At the moment I'm on night duty. We basically walk around the boys dormitory in pairs and make sure they aren't doing anything too crazy before bed. We check to make sure they're in bed and sleeping. Tonight has been interesting because the boys were pretty up and at 'em, even though half of them talked about how tired they were, etc., during gifts and challenges today. 

I love Justiceworx even though the boys don't listen to the nighty duty people. It's so classic high school. One wants to be cool in front of their peers so they act tough in front of the college kids with the power. They also could just be not tired. Oh well. Either way night duty's always fun because we get to stay up a bit later and talk to each other as leaders. It's nice to hang out with the other guys here. I really need to find more guy friends, although the ones I have now are incredible (love you all!)

That's it from here. Have a wonderful tomorrow!

-Jeff

Service group: Justiceworx Wk 2, Day 2

It was a great day today. I hadn't volunteered at my site in about a year and today it felt as if I had only left it for a few weeks. While the administration looked a little different, all the "consumers" (people we're serving) were the same. The building was the same and the feeling was the same as it was last year. I never thought I would be this happy serving at this specific place, and yet it all makes sense. I love people and meeting people and entertaining people, and this is the perfect place to do it, not because the consumers won't judge you, but because the group of people here take people outside of their comfort zone and force us to be better people just by their own actions. They act in such a way that their appreciation is almost palpable. 

Today I began leading my service group to a place where adults with mental disabilities participate in various activities such as arts and crafts, board games, and music playing. Our service is to basically have fun all day with some of the most fun loving, carefree people in the world. I cannot think of any words to describe just how seemingly impossible these people love new company. Looking at their faces and seeing the difference our presence makes to them is enough for me, but I know that these people have given me lessons I cannot repay them for. I only provide music and they have provided me with a deeper appreciation for those who are considered different and outcast because of it. They love everyone in such an incredible way that it seems to me we should learn how to love from them. 

My group of students this week is great, too. I know most of them from previous years and they all are so fun to be around. They all enjoyed the first day of work and I'm hoping that they can keep the same energy they had today and move through the week with it. We have to plan a day of activities for the "consumers"on thursday, but I think that they can figure that out. We'll figure it out together. 

I'm excited for a great week.

-Jeff

PS: Video Blog soon! Stay tuned!

Share the Well: Wk1, day 6

Yesterday was the last day of the first week of Justiceworx. We had a good closing prayer service and did something that we've  never done before in the history of Justiceworx: we involved the parents! It was a great ending to a good week. Our staff meeting focused on tweeking the obvious flaws in some things in the week, so that was good. Then the Casa friends plus Tumnus went up to New Hope, PA for Mop's "surprise" 21st birthday party! Turns out that it wasn't much of a surprise for Mop: She already knew about it. The Michiganders were there for the actual surprise; tumnus, Joel and I showed up a little late. It was a great time to get away from the Casa for a while and hang out somewhere else. It was at a really nice winery. We ate and had fellowship with Mop and her family. It was a really really great. Then Tumnus and I drove over to Mop's house to hang out with her and a few of her friends. Met some people from Temple, Gwenyd, and other colleges around SJU. We watched youtube and such, per usual. It was a good night. 

I ended up back at my house around 11. Turns out my relatives from Colombia were staying at my house for the past week. I wasn't able to sleep in my bed, so I hung out downstairs and watched TV. The new True Blood was awesome and Speed Racer  has always been a fun movie. In the morning I talked with my Uncle Ricardo who I had not seen in 13 years. He's my godfather and, again, I haven't seen him 13 years. It's tough sometimes thinking about how much of my family I don't know. I wish that I hadn't been so stuck up when I was younger and hunkered down to get to know my relatives. But I suppose for every decision God has a plan, so we'll see what God has in store for me. 

Either way, it was awesome speaking with him, my cousin Juan David, and my Tia Bernarda. All three of them are incredible people, and I'm so happy that we are all related. I hope that I can continue seeing them more often. Hopefully I can see them this upcoming weekend and July 3rd. Only time and work will tell. 

That's all from here in the Night Duty Room. The first day of my Justiceworx began today! I'm so excited! Everything went really well. I hope that the week shapes up well because we have an awesome group of kids. Our evening prayer went off well and all the activities the kids seemed to be into. I feel good about the week. 

More tomorrow night. Maybe this time it'll be a little earlier than midnight. Good night, and have a wonderful tomorrow. 

-Jeff

The Casa Friends: Justiceworx Wk1, Day 5

Today was another great day for us. I can't believe how quickly these people who I just met a week ago are becoming my good friends. It's crazy how that happens so quickly. We hung out this morning in the casa and planned out some of the evening's activities. I was Alex Trebek tonight, the only catch was that underneath my suit I was wearing a superman costume. It was a sweet exit after Justiceworx Jeopardy. The Jeopardy piece went pretty well, though it was tough. The kids got really into it and screamed incredibly loud to be heard. It was a huge wall of sound when they buzzed in because they all wanted to win so badly. Everybody came up to me after the game and asked "how were you able to do that?" Takes practice, I suppose. 

We decided that since Saturday's a bit different than the rest of the week, we'd be going to the Seminary around 10. This'll give us a good amount of time to get ready and wake up haha. This week I've been waking up around 10! It's really a miracle that I"m sleeping that late. Then again, I'm also staying up late so it evens itself out. Probably from writing on this thing every night. 

The closing prayer service had the same feeling as last years. The kids, even though they had a different experience than previous years, seemed somber as we ended the week out with a final theme song. This week was very different than I had ever seen as a participant or as a leader. That's what happens when we're on our own, I suppose. WE have to adapt to our new surroundings and make best of what we're given. 

I hope the kids got a lot out of the week. We gave them time to plan out initiatives that they could impliment in school. There were some really really good ideas and I hope that the kids really do what they say they'll do. Only time will tell though. 

Time for bed. I hope you all have a wonderful tomorrow!

-Jeff

How do you know when to stop?: Justiceworx wk1, day 5

Today was a good day. I woke up at around 9:30 and made myself some breakfast and hung out with the Casa friends in the morning. We took the painters' tape off of the wood borders around the room. Then I went to pick Sean up from the train station and came back only to hang out some more. I'm getting deeper into my book Everything is Illuminated, and it's really good. Then Mop, Nick, Mary and I drove over to the seminary and hung out there for the afternoon. I helped wash the stove in the kitchen and cleaned some other stuff, then went to hang out with Brian's family group. Then I partook in the evening's activities with the staff and kids and it really was a good day. The theme was "My response," and we had them take an injustice that they put on a ceramic tile in the morning and smash it with a hammer. We'll use these tiles to create crosses to decorate the walls of the Casa. 

I had a very good conversation with Brian after the kids went to sleep. We were standing in the game room playing ping pong and we started talking. For some reason we got on the topic of me and he began to evaluate me in a very honest way. He tells it like it is and I appreciate him for that. He acts as a mirror to my actions and allows me to better reflect on how I should act around the kids. 

From this conversation I realized how much growing I have to do in ministry. I need to begin to return to the roots of where my love for youth ministry began and try and bring those forward. To quote the Gospel of John, "He must increase, I must decrease." I must be a vehicle for Christ's love, not a resounding gong. I must bring these kids to Christ, not be Christ for them. 

It was a good day today. I hope I can keep these days going. 

-Jeff

PS: I found an interesting volunteering opportunity after graduation. It's called Heart's Home and it seems like a worthy program to volunteer at. The website is here, just click on it!

Cheer up, Emo Kid: Justiceworx wk1, Day 4

So today was an interesting day. We really didn't do much in the casa except hang around. I woke up at ten which was nice from the previous night because it meant that I got about ten hours of sleep. Anyway because I woke up at ten I didn't really have to worry about having breakfast and so I had some left over Conte's pizza. After eating that Sean came in and hung out for a bit with us before he and his friend Pete went over to NYC. I was enlisted to drive his car back to the Casa since I was the only one who knew how to drive stick. While we were out I decided to have Burger King, and realized after finishing my burger king that I had eaten two lunches. Ick. 

It's weird realizing that I eat a lot more than I need to. There's no reason to eat as much as I do but yet I seem to like to eat a lot. When I'm bored I eat, when I'm full I even eat. I know I shouldn't eat this much but when I stress about it I eat. It's a really really weird thing because there's nothing wrong with eating (obviously, we need it to live), but I just eat too much. A goal for this summer then has to be figuring out why I eat so much and what drives me to eat as much as I do. 

Anywho, Justiceworx went well today. The theme today was "God Wants," and we did a different wednesday activity than we usually do for the kids and it went fairly well. They seemed to get something out of it, and hopefully for the rest of the week we can flesh out some possible ways in which they can respond to their own environments. I love that we drive home the fact of God wanting justice to the kids. I think it's such a lynchpin of everything that I do as a Catholic-Christian. 

I hope you all are having a good week in cyberland! I put up a videobar on the side but I don't know if you can see my videos alone or other Youtube videos. Either way check them out! I'll be posting more video blogs now that I know how to do it. 

See ya around!

-Jeff

ZOMBIES!: Justiceworx wk1, day 3

I really love my community. And I love what we are becoming. Enjoy the Vlog!

Suzy Homemaker: Justiceworx, Wk 1, Day 2

So today was a great day at the Casa. We were able to wake up around nine because Sean wasn't going to be here until 10 AM. So we all got up and waited for him to show up, but he didn't show up until around 11:30 because he was caught up at the bank taking care of business. Sean's good at doing that, and I guess he has to be. After all, he is the founder of the Center for Faith Justice. 

Anyway Sean arrived and we started to get to work on the prayer garden outside of the Casa. It was overrun with weeds and general grossness, so Nick, Mary, MOP and I began the process of de-weeding it. We found two turtles among the brush, and I found that weeding is much easier with a weed whacker, especially an old school one. After about an hour of that we came in for lunch and talked. IT's great living in community with people again. I feel like I do better when this happens because it keeps me honest. Living in community is about being honest because if one isn't, then the community is hurt by it. Everyone living here has to be their best all the time for each other and for the kids we serve. 

Anywho after we finished lunch Mary and I went and washed Joel's clothes. I know what you're thinking: why did you do that? Well, Joel's on Justiceworx this week, and because we do not have access to the part of the building where the washers and driers are, we can't do laundry. So he gave me access to his car (a BMW 3-series) and his laundry. The laundry was washed  at a laundromat and dried back here at the Casa. After waiting a while for his clothes to dry I made my way over to the Seminary to hang out with the kids at Justiceworx. 

Today's theme was "We are," and it was communicated very well, better than in passed years I think. We had an incredible activity thought up by the one and only Chris Davidson and it really pushed the kids to their limits. That isn't supposed to happen on the first day! Then we had a very well thought out prayer service. It was an awesome day and I can already see some kids coming out of their shell this week. I can't wait to see how it unfolds. 

Tomorrow brings new things, and as always you will see a new blog post! Unfortunately this is the only week I'm going to be blogging every day because I have the time. After this week it'll be weekly (pending on time and energy). I hope you all are well! 

-Jeff

PS: I hope there's no rain tomorrow. Ultimate Frisbee is calling my name. 

Justiceworx: Wk 1, Day 1

Today marked the first day of the Justiceworx program! I didn't really realize how much I had missed Justiceworx until the time crept closer and closer to its beginning. Even though I'm not actually on the team this week, being in the presence of the team and the high school kids really just made me feel so at home. It's a magical feeling to know how everything during a year leads up to one point that makes that year. Justiceworx has always done that for me. 

This first day was different from other sundays because we used it as more of an introspective day for the kids. We broke them up into family groups and work groups. Family groups are the groups they meet with most at Justiceworx. They get to know the group better than their work group, although sometimes it's the other way around.   The theme was "I am" and we had them reflect on the parable of the talents Jesus told in the gospel. We also had them reflect on the theme "I am" and  on the parable of the talents Jesus told in the gospel. We also had them light a candle for an ability they wish to take on in order to make them be themselves more this week. 

In comparison to other Justiceworx experiences I felt that this was a good way to start off the week. Sunday empowers the kids to see the talents they have and value them as ways to bring people closer together as people of one earth. But, it's only the beginning, and the whole week will be highlighted! 

Check back this week, we'll have weekly updates! That's all from here. See you tomorrow!

-Jeff

PS:  We made a skit explaining the rules using tennis balls tied on a string and the song "Circle of Life." I'll let you fill in the details.  

Biscuit City twenty song spree all over the world!

If you want to know what that title means, it refers to Chris Davidson Rock Band in Rock Band 2. We had a good 20 song marathon tonight, which was pretty sweet. I blog late tonight in the Casa, our new place of residence. Thank goodness it's not as creepy as the seminary was at night. The funny thing is I'm know the seminary wasn't haunted, and I'm pretty sure this place is. It must be the close quarters that gives me a sense of security because I know that if I get scared I'll be able to run upstairs at a very quick pace. 

Today was great! Mop and I showed Nick and Mary around Princeton. We had Hoagie Haven, which is probably the best hoagie shop around the Princeton area if not in New Jersey. One Jon Stewart travels back to Princeton (his home town) in order to eat one of the sandwiches from hoagie haven. It really is worth the hype, so if you have never had a hoagie (ie: sub) from Hoagie Haven, get yourself down to Nassau Street and order one! It's delish. 

We also visited our place of work: SJ Seminary. It's closing after this summer, so we're bummed about that. It's no fun, but the Casa is actually pretty nice. Everybody seemed really impressed with it, and with all of the work that Brian, Chris, and Joel put in, it turned out awesome. 

Well, my screen has currently gone purple, so I'm going to stop blogging. I need to take my mac to the mac store even though it's only 2 months old. I wonder if this is from wear and tear? Not sure. I hope it's ok =(

Will post ASAP!

-Jeff

New Place, New Year...Leaderworx 2009

This blog chronicles my personal experiences with the Leaderworx this year. It was much harder to write a reflection about the year last year without having a place where I could dump my thoughts in. So hopefully this will end up being that place. 

I'm going to try blogging once a week so that you all in the world wide web will be able to understand what it's like working here. It'll be like nothing anyone can ever understand unless he or she experiences the work. From past experiences, I know that it can certainly turn out that way. Working 100 hour weeks trying to teach high schoolers about Catholic Social Teaching ends up unexplainable (usually), but we shall see. We have a new volunteer living space this year separate from the seminary where Justiceworx takes place. This will add a new dynamic to the work. 

Well, that's all for now. I'll keep you posted on the happenings of the next few days, but when it comes time for Justiceworx, it'll be a weekly thing. 

Peace, 

-Jeff