Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House

 

SAMHSA Conference

Well it's the weekend once again. And time for Halloween!! I have to say that I had a pretty great week. Wednesday through Friday I attended a national conference here in DC put on by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) about homelessness. Very cool, there were people there from across the US, both professionals and formerly homeless people. Friday I attended a full day session about racism that I really appreciate. We spent a lot of time sharing experiences and doing activities. I found that although the context was specific to the african-american experience in the US, it was very applicable to other contexts (eg. Saskatchewan white-native relations). I don't know if I was able to go away with many concrete tools for working to eliminate racism - it's just so complex and most often not blatantly obvious but very insidious. I guess it's just important to recognise how pervasive racism continues to be in our society and to recognise that we are all part of the problem (and thus all need to be part of the solution). Anyways, thoughts that I am still working through in my own head. I would be open to comments or thoughts. I hope that all are doing well. Halloween party tonight!! My housemates and I are dressing up as pageant contestants (Miss Conception, Miss Matched and Miss Fortune)!!

Great Falls Pics

Located just north of DC, this is within biking distance from where I live. Very cool.



Great Falls Park, Maryland

Delaware

These are from Bethany Beach where we spent the last weekend in September.

At Bethany Beach, Delaware. September 30-October 2

9/11 Unity Walk in DC

Give Me a Dry Cold Any Day

Whew, is it ever miserable out today. Rainy and very cold, but not below freezing yet. I think it's this rain though that will really do me in. It never seems to let up. But tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I won't give up hope. Life here continues to go well. We continue to get tons of food given to us by people at the church, which is great, but means I'm eating a little too well a lot of the time. Makes me thankful for being able to ride my bike to work every day (except for today cause it's too darn cold and wet). Work went well last week. I've been doing more and more direct service work with our clients which I really enjoy. Doing client intakes and referrals and such. The one down side is that because our agency is so small and we can only provide assistance with certain things the workload really varies. Some days are insanely busy and others are just dead. But I really appreciate the opportunities I do have to work directly with the clients that come in. It's very eye opening and I'm seeing people who have become homeless for very different reasons. I don't know if this is something I want to do for the rest of my life but I'm appreciating what I am learning and being exposed to.

I had a fun weekend and not too busy. Friday night my housemate Valentine and I went to a party at the Mennonite Volunteer Corps house. Who knew that some Mennonites dance and drink ;) They even let in some guy off the street (Marvin) who really seemed to appreciate the dancing and free alcoholic beverages. Saturday I had my first taste of Ethiopian food when I went for lunch with my friend Ilana. It was very good and I would definitely recommend to those who are adventurous and looking for something new. Although I cannot vouch for the Ethiopian restaurant in Regina cause I've never been. But I look forward to going sometime soon ;) I went to Christ Lutheran Church on Sunday morning. Such a beautiful building. Completely made out of stone and built in 1892. The service was really enjoyable and the congregation is very diverse. My housemates and I went last Sunday evening when they had a Taize service followed by Moroccan food - which was amazing (both the service and the food). Most of all, the people are really wonderful and friendly and they gave us free balloons!! There's also a good group of 20-somethings there so I look forward to attending there some more. I must run but I promise that pictures will be coming shortly...which is another story that I think I'll tell right now.

Our house only has dial-up internet but the church decided it was time to upgrade to highspeed. So, they signed up for dsl through Verizon and we received the package last week. On Thursday, which was our start up date, we open the box to find everything we need but the modem. How they managed to forget that is totally beyond me. There was even a smaller box inside the larger box that was marked "modem." Anyways, we called their customer service line and apparently their records showed that the weight of the package they sent us was less than it should have been had there been a modem inside. All I can say is hurray for big corporations. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it arrives today and hopefully our high speed will be up and running in no time.

The Wonderful World of Non-Profits

Whew. It's been a long day...and week. We just finished our big fundraiser tonight - A Show of Support - that included a silent auction, live auction and raffles. Sooooo much work. No wonder my supervisor is a fan of writing grants. Fundraisers are too much work...but fun. This fundraiser was a joint effort between my agency and another smallish agency in the area. So I got to meet a lot of other cool people who are also interested in issues of poverty and homelessness. This other organisation - A Wider Circle - does wellness classes with low-income people and people living in shelters. They have also done a lot of work helping settle Katrina families - 75 families in total which is incredible for a very small agency. Tonight at the fundraiser they had a couple of their Katrina people speak. The one woman actually gave birth to her daughter during the hurricane. She couldn't make it to the hospital and they couldn't get a doctor so her husband had to deliver the baby (the baby's name is Kia Miracle!). Her story was pretty unbelievable. Not being allowed to take food and supplies from stores, having to wade through deep deep water, past dead bodies. Apparently her best friend & her friend's 9 children all died. I still can't comprehend how this disaster was so horrendously handled, particularly because it happened in such a wealthy country. It's really shameful. I heard another story of a man who's mother was in a nursing home in one of the affected areas. He had contact with her for a bit and was trying to find help for her. Nothing was done. She ended up dying and pinned to her body was a note that read "we're still waiting for water." We haven't had too many Katrina families/people coming to us yet but it is likely that we will in the near future. Quite a few families were brought to/settled in the DC area. Right now the Red Cross is still providing for most of them but that assistance is limited in time. It is likely that we will soon be seeing them in our shelters and such. It will be interesting, especially since there are already so many people already in need. Anyways, the title of this post is in reference to crazy fundraising projects. Necessary to continue providing services but an insane amount of work. But, tonight was a pretty big success. I think some big money came in, which isn't surprising in this county - there's a lot of money here. A big change from the prairies ;) But, it is really late and I've been working hard all day. So I'm going to call it a day and crash.
Me and Joan (the outreach social worker) at the fundraiser.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Another fine weekend in Washington, DC (although much wetter than previous weekends). I found work last week to be more draining than usual. I've begun working more closely with the outreach social worker and helping her with client intakes/counselling and such. We have one particularly difficult fellow who is very trying. It's definitely interesting work and I admire the social worker so much. She is truly incredible. Anyways, by the weekend I was feeling very drained so spent much of the weekend trying to get some energy back. For me this meant doing some solo activities. On Saturday I went to the National Museum of National History (one of the Smithsonian museums). It is pretty huge. They had a super cool display of precious gems and minerals. I'm not much of a jewelry person but some of the stuff was pretty impressive and amazingly beautiful. It's all been donated to the Smithsonian over the years so now belongs to the American people (must be worth sooo much money). They even had the Hope Diamond on display. Very cool.
Saturday night we (my housemates and I) were invited to a dinner party at the Pielemeier's (a couple from the Volunteer Corps Board). Their daughter (who is my age) was having some friends over so it was a bunch of recent college graduates and the Pielemeier's. It was pretty fun, until the question of "who's your favourite hero in American history?" arose, followed by a 3 hour discussion. Kind of intense but interesting (at least for the first 45 mins ;)
Sunday afternoon I went apple picking with my housemate Katelyn. A first for me. Followed by a baking extravaganza on Sunday night. Applesauce, apple crisp and apple pie. Fresh apples rock! Monday was a holiday here as well (Columbus Day) so I too had a nice long weekend. Monday night my housemates and I decided to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving (minus the turkey). It was so nice. I don't think I've ever gotten so into Thanksgiving prep. It was a lot of fun. And homemade apple pie for dessert! A very good end to what turned out to be a pretty good weekend (minus the rain). Now I'm busy helping with the final preps for a big fundraiser this weekend. I anticipate it will keep me very busy for the rest of the week. Until then...

And It Rained

Wow. I guess the weather finally decided to make up for all the beautiful days we have had since I arrived in Washington. Not that today wasn't beautiful (it was gorgeous). But it sure did rain (and continues to do so). I'm getting the impression that weather seems to hang in here longer than in Saskatchewan. The rain hasn't let up all day and it's been steadily heavy rain. I don't know much about weather and weather patterns but Washington doesn't get much wind, and it's close to the coast which seems to allow weather (both good and bad) to stick around for awhile. We sure did need this rain though so I'm glad. But I'm also thinking of all our clients who have no shelter. The emergency shelters don't upon for another month so I'm sure that a lot of our guys are toughing it out somewhere tonight. Right now I'm feeling pretty glad and grateful to have a roof over my head where I can stay dry. Anyways, enough weather talk. I'm looking forward to a peaceful long weekend (yes, we have Monday off too - Columbus Day - so I can at least pretend I'm in Canada celebrating Thanksgiving). My housemates and I are in fact planning a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner for Monday night!! So yeah, no big plans for the weekend as of yet (earlier in the week I had been thinking about a day bike trip but I don't think the weather is going to cooperate) but that's ok by me at the moment. Think I'll just curl up in front of the tv with my Moosehead beer and dark chocolate and watch Shaun of the Dead (gotta love zombie movies - particularly the British variety). So good night and god bless.

The Birchmere

Last night I saw a really incredible musical act called the East Village Opera Company (courtesy of the Canadian Embassy). The Embassy has a mailing list to let people know about Canadian arts and culture events happening in the DC area. This week they had free tickets to see EVOC at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia so my friend Carolina and I made the trek out there (how can you pass up free tickets? - how can I pass up free tickets??). My first time in Virginia and my first time at the Birchmere (a music hall where you're seated at tables for the show). The East Village Opera Company was amazing. Classical Opera and rock music. 11 members (a drummer, a bass player, two guitarists, a keyboard player, a string quartet and 2 vocalists). If you're looking for something new and different (whether you're a fan of opera, of rock music or both) I think you'll enjoy these guys. I believe they are based out of New York but the two founding members hail from Ottawa. Anyways, lots of fun, quality music, tons of talent. So check them out... www.eastvillageoperacompany.com


THE EAST VILLAGE OPERA COMPANY "The East Village Opera Company" Decca/Universal
Friday, September 30, 2005; Page WE08 (www.washingtonpost.com)

Roll over, Mozart, and tell Verdi the news: The East Village Opera Company is in the business of bravura rock makeovers.

No tame popera act, the 11-piece ensemble specializes in rocking the classics on their self-titled CD, sometimes reconfiguring arias with Queen-like pomp 'n' roll. The group's Canadian co-founders -- multi-instrumentalist/arranger Peter Kiesewalter and vocalist Tyley Ross -- bring both affection and irreverence to the task, so even when they sound like art-rockers with too much time on their hands, it's easy to appreciate their imagination and chutzpah.

And their talent. Ross, who starred in the Canadian production of "Tommy" and appeared on Broadway in "Miss Saigon," has sufficient vocal power and range to pull off this brashly ambitious project. Another big plus is fellow singer (and recent recruit) AnnMarie Milazzo, who has several shining moments on the group's major label debut album, including her slowly escalating dramatic turn on Alfredo Catalani's "Ebben? Ne andro lontana."
The group rounds up some of the usual suspects here -- Mozart (Overture from "Le Nozze di Figaro"), Puccini ("Nessun dorma"), Verdi ("La donna e mobile") and Bizet ("Habanera") -- then reconfigures their music for string and rock rhythm sections. Kiesewalter certainly isn't shy when it comes to taking harmonic and rhythmic liberties, and he carves out plenty of room for guitarist Ben Butler to introduce his own six-string arias or add a blues-rock flourish. The results may well appeal more to progressive rock fans than to opera devotees, but chances are the company will delight a mix of both.
-- Mike Joyce

Bethany Beach

A beautiful weekend in Washington, DC. My housemates and I, along with our community/spiritual advisor went out to Bethany Beach, Delaware for a retreat. Very informal, we focused on relaxing and getting to know each other better. We stayed in a beachfront townhouse owned by a member of the congregation. It was really wonderful. And we saw tons of dolphins. They swam so close to shore and there must have been 40 or 50 of them. It was unreal. It's still taking me awhile to get used to the fact that it takes so much longer to drive places here. There's just so much traffic. And I still can't quite handle this mile thing. They take so much longer to pass by than kilometres. Oh well, little things. In other news, they have the hugest Mormon temple here in Washington. You can see it when you're driving on the beltway rising above the trees. Five enormous white spires with the golden angel Moroni (?) on top. It has a very 'wizard of oz'-ish kind of feel to it. It's really something else when it's all lit up at night. Anyways, life is going good. I'm definitely keeping busy and will write again soon.