A Story From Chicago - Violence Prevention

I saw this on Soong Chan Rah's blog:

Hi!

On Labor Day I met the boys who stand in the window and say, "Hi."

Somehow, before I met them, the two brothers and I started a game where we say an animal name to each other and then make the sound. This often happens 4 or 5 times a day. The younger one really like monkeys and frogs, and the older one loves ducks and dogs.

Mom came outside with the boys on Labor Day when I was home by myself and I walked across the street and met her, her brothers-in-law and the boys. It felt nice to make an actual connection (not that, "I'm a duck - quack quack quack" isn't super meaningful and grown up, it just was nice to use multiple word sentences).

They're moving in less than a month. Which is kind of sad to me.

It's not like I became bff with this mom, or her kids for that matter. But I am sad that we've moved rapidly from saying: "Hi!" --> "I'm a frog, ribbit ribbit, ribbit" --> actual grown up conversation in the last month that they'll be living here.

I want to build community in our neighborhood. It's hard though. Our neighborhood has one of the highest turnover rates in the city (which is partially why I waited in line for more than two hours to vote on election day, everyone was new to the neighborhood and needed to register). When a community is constantly in a state of change, how do you create a sense of belonging and community ownership?

One of the best protective factors for kids against drug use, teen pregnancy, gang activity, delinquency and crime, is a sense of connection to their school and neighborhood. I don't have the resources or the know-how, to help parents not have to move so much. But I do like to help people get to know one another and create a sense of welcome and belonging. That's something that fits with my personality and gifts.

So the question I'm thinking about is, how do you instill pride and connection in a community that may only be your community for a short time? Do you have any ideas?




PS - This is related to the animal sounds, not so much community.

I'm trying to squeeze in as much Spanish practice as I can before classes start on the 28th. Today I was listening to this podcast, "Showtime Spanish" while I was doing data entry at work, and I learned that dogs in Spanish say, "guau guau" not super useful, but fun.

Peaceful Dwelling Places

My (twin) coworker Steven loves to quote Isaiah 32:18:

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.

That's my prayer for our house on this day after Labor Day, for the school year, that this house will be a peaceful dwelling place, secure and undisturbed, a place of rest.

We all have somewhat stressful lives outside of the house: work, school, clients, ministry students, and customers. We do important work, we often work long hours, our hearts often have a hard time leaving work.

But this house is a place of renewal and rest.

Thank you God!

Noel's First Soundbite

Noel, Theresa, Wanda, and Valerie went to the fair together today.

I was hanging out with High School work friends so I missed the fun, though they brought home Sweet Martha's - YUM! (and a pronto-pup hat, and a can holder from Chevy, (2 other things I've always wanted ;o))

Noel got interviewed by KTSP, he sounds pretty intelligent, like maybe he's in policy school or something. Here's a link to the story:



KSTP TV - Minneapolis and St. Paul - GOP Gubernatorial Hopefuls Debate at State Fair

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Saying Goodbye

I'm on my way to Bri's funeral. I thank God for the gift of her life.

Bri - You were too young. We love you and we miss you. One of the sweetest kids we'll ever get to know.

one year down - 9 million to go

Since my last post (from this morning) was kind of on the negative side, here's a positive post:

I'm done with my first 12 months of seminary!

The paper is turned in!

Two of the books that we read for this class were really good, and for many of you blog readers (Harmans, Kelsey, Richard, Harvey, Karla, Leah . . . I'm not sure who else does urban ministry or urban education and reads this:) ) really relevant to our work and life.

The first is Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson. It describes the moral code that lies behind some of what is seen as senseless violence and behavior in innercity Philadelphia. While the culture and the code is somewhat more concentrated in Philly than in Minneapolis or Saint Paul, the information is good.

The second is is Unequal Childhoods by Annette Lareau, which describes class differences in childraising and differing parenting styles in middle class, working class and poor families and how these parenting styles prepare kids for adulthood in the class that they were born in. This was a particularly interesting read for me, working in a ministry that is so diverse socio-economically. What I liked about this book was that Lareau surveys and tells the story of African American and White families at each income level.

There's a benefit of my seminary education, book reviews for you!

I have no idea if I have two years or four years or six years left. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up and whether I'll be Mastering the Art of Community Ministry Leadership(MA), Mastering Divinity(MDiv), or getting PhD or DMin. (of all the initials D.Min. sounds the stupidest). But it feels good to be done with a year!

So Holly and I are on summer vacation (from school our professional lives are kicking into high gear).

I'm off to bring Matt and Em to the airport, then Kassie and I are going to Garrison Keilor at the fair!


Peace,

Katie

Are People Crazy? A sort of angry rant.

So, I'm generally a fan of the President. I don't think that that's a surprise. I get that not everyone is.

That's OK!

But are people crazy?

President Obama is going to give a speech on September 8 telling kids to work hard in school. Seriously, not a very controversial topic as far as I can tell.

Yet people are calling this "Socialist Brain Washing" I don't understand it.

I didn't know that "work hard in school" was a leftist message.

Then, this morning I saw a post on Soong Chan Rah's fb about Southern Baptist Pastors praying for the President to die.

WHAT!?!?!

Disagree with the President. This is ok. This is good. Disagreement and dialogue refine us and make us more wise.

But to wish someone dead. . . and to publicly say that this is God's will that you're just praying in agreement with him. WHAT!?!?

These two stories make me so sad, angry and sick.

Back to School!

Kids in Minneapolis went back to school today. Pray for teachers, parents, kids, social workers, coaches, advisors, administrators, and the school board everyone in the school system.

We have two brothers that live in the first floor apartment across the street from us. Each day when I go out to my car or walk to the garden they stand at the window and say, "Hi!" It's really sort of odd. These two little boys, who have a tv and lots of toys in the apartment spend most of their day looking out the window hoping that one of the people outside will say "hi" back to them. Wanda told me that last week, a squad car slowed down as it drove through our neighborhood, and that the cop inside the car rolled down his window to say "hi" to the window boys. It's become a game that every adult in our neighborhood plays.

It started with just the big brother, then the baby came along, now Mom even comes to the window sometimes. I don't know their names, they never play outside. When we try to engage them in more conversation the language barrier gets in the way. The oldest brother has got to be kindergarten age or close to it now. I'm excited to see how school impacts him and his family.

I also promised about 2 months ago that I was going to do some research on performance pay for teachers, which is something that I haven't done yet, but will do. I have one more paper to write for Street Culture, The Poor and Urban Ministry , then I get my "summer vacation" from seminary (we don't start fall quarter until the end of September!) So forgive me and know that I haven't forgotten.

tangent: I was doing homework at the global market on Saturday and discovered "Obama Scented" lotion. It kind of smelled like Old Spice. Weird.