Two weeks ago I pulled up to a small house and unloaded my luggage into a 5 bedroom house which would house 8 strangers for an entire year. The living situation is one part of my year in Washington. I am a part of an intentional communal living situation. We have weekly house meeting, we do communal shopping, cleaning and cooking. It is a far cry from MTV’s Real World. I sleep in a room with two other girls (who are amazing). Unlike MTV’s Real World, where participants live a lavish life with dream jobs, in my house we all work in a variety of non-profits which dedicate their time, effort, heart and soul to helping those living in poverty. For many of my housemates, our jobs are our dream jobs. Many of us are working outside our comfort zone and within demographics we may never have encountered before. Some of my roommates work with battered women, other with the homeless, and some with those have been evicted. There are serious ups and downs to each of our days. It is a beautiful and challenging experience to live with like-minded people who spend their days doing really heart wrenching work. However, there are uplifting moments in each day and we try and hold onto those precious moments.
My organization is Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School. It is located in the poorest neighbourhood in Washington DC, Anacostia. It has a reputation of being dangerous and scary. This is true but a lot of it is a misconception and the belief is fueled by the fact that very few white people venture to that part of DC. My school (TMA) is amazing. It is a law themed school. Every single student who graduates is accepted into a University. This is much higher than the national average and ten time higher than the average of the area. The rate of people in Anacostia with a degree from a post-secondary institution is 8%. However, this is not like Glebe or any other High school we went too. The school is strict. Everyone wears a uniform, there is no chewing gum, there is no time in between classes, and lunch is 30 minutes. The school is 99% African American and 1% Hispanic. The faculty and staff are about 50-50 black and white. So far, all I can tell is that this school gives kids who may not have a future, a future with endless possibilities. I edited a student’s essay today about who she looks up to. The list was primarily about her family (specifically her mom). However, at the end of the essay, she wrote about how TMA pushed her to her limits. She wrote about how the school enabled her to recognize that she could accomplish her goals. My personal goal is to form relationships with these kids. Find out their life story and help them whatever that may mean. I have never been a teacher before. They call me Ms. Weinberg and that is strange. Institutionally there is distance between me and them and unlike any other role I’ve had with children in the past. For the first time in my professional career my job is not only about fun and games. I run educational programming including but not limited to homework help (you should see me attempt algebra), anti-defamation league club and law day. Law day is a program where we take the entire ninth grade to firms once a month. The students learn about a specific thing (discrimination, negligence, criminal law) and participate in mock trials and round table discussions. As preparation for these field trips, the permission forms give me insight into the lives of my students.
I work with four other people. All of whom are amazing and being in the office is fun. We have an endless supply of candy and the teachers come in and say hi and eat our food. All of the girls have curly hair and as one girl commented on my first day work. “You program girls all have curly hair, it is like you are taking over the world”. Another girl asked me if I knew Drake or was on Degrassi since I was from Canada. I am going to keep a running tab of how many different white actresses I will be told I look like (currently in 4 days of work- 2 different actresses). I can already tell my job will be both challenging and fulfilling. It is going to take time to win over the students and have them recognize that I’m in it for the long haul. Some days I get picked on by 10th graders. I am the new comer to a school where everyone is family.
My job keeps me on my toes. However, another entirely different, but equally as fascinating part of my life is where I live. I live on the border of two neighbourhoods (Georgia Petworth and Columbia Heights). These are two gentrifying neighbourhoods. As my boss drove me home from our Volunteer Kick-Off (at a law firm with a terrace that just about made me want to join the corporate world), she encouragingly said, this is a very up and coming neighbourhood. I am in the heart of a political, social, and cultural revolution in these areas. I live on a block with a public housing complex but four blocks away are million dollar condos. In my two weeks, I’ve seen at least two people be arrested. There is a police station a block from me but I am somehow not comforted by their presence. I witnessed an eviction which is a heart breaking occurrence. My job and the jobs of my roommates inform us about how complicated living in poverty is. Every day we witness first-hand the structural injustices. We, one on hand, are against gentrification. We observe the condos being built and Target and box super stores moving in. These stores get rid of local business, and they displace local people and businesses. On the other hand, these stores employ lots of people who previously were unemployed. The trend in DC is that when a metro stop is built that brings in business and gentrification. We are conscious of the fact that the metro stop is crucial in connecting the different parts of the city. Ten years ago Columbia Heights was unheard of and what people had heard about was violence. Now, it is a budding area with a vibrant community including an organic market on Saturdays. My part of the neighbourhood is far less built up and we have been given instructions that being out by ourselves at night is not wise. Down the street there is a school that on one side has a liquor store and on the other side as a strip club. I have an internal struggle everyday about what I am doing and how I am contributing to the neighbourhood in which I live. I am not comfortable here yet. And I hate that I jump at the opportunity for a ride home because walking the ten blocks from the metro to my door makes me nervous.
I am really happy though and I know that two weeks in I cannot make any judgments. In my next post, I’ll have more to say I’m sure and will have different opinions.
Until Next Time
Alyza
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