Exhausted!!

OH MY GOODNESS!

I was planning on writing yesterday, but I didn’t even get back to my apartment until nine o’clock.  And now, it’s nine thirty and I’m EXHAUSTED! But I’ll give you a quick overview of what’s happened in the last 48 hours (really? that’s all? it feels like it’s been at least seven days that I’ve been here!)

We did a photo scavenger hunt that sent six groups to six different neighborhoods around chicago. I was sent to Little Italy which is located on the (let me talk this through I’m still getting used to the directions here) south west part of chicago, even though it really seems to be in the central west part of chicago it is below Madison Ave, so therefore it is considered south. The other neighborhoods that other students went to were Andersonville, Chinatown, Wicker Park, Hyde Park, and Pilsen. After we all went to the different locations we were sent to, we picked up food from the different areas. When we came back, we talked about our areas and ate everything from Hummus to Quesadillas to Egg Rolls to Italian Ice (and MORE). Moral to the story: SUPER FUN! and informative! I feel a lot more comfortable riding busses and the train and walking around neighborhoods I don’t really know.

Six other girls and I found a way to work out, which was something I was nervous about before I came. (That really has no significance besides the fact that now I am a member of Bally’s Gym and it was only $30 a month!  Ellie, an Urban Studies Student, said she investigated gyms in Logan Square and some costed up to $200 a month. Chicago is an expensive city!)

We had a speaker come in today, Jody Kretzmann. He spoke about community planning and how so many institutions and people focus on all the negatives when it comes to trying to rebuild a community. He showed us an application in order to get welfare. I am not even kidding, the only positive question on there was what is your age! The rest were, what skills do you not have, are you lacking a GED or High School diploma, what skills do you have that are useless, what disabilities do you have, what job experience do you lack. It’s ridiculous. These people are already obviously “down,” way to keep it that way! And what is so frustrating is that it could so easily be changed. Try asking: Do you have a GED? Do you have any work experience? Those may not be the best questions but it seems as though they are trying to put a negative spin on it. Jody Kretzmann’s entire point though was that the most successful community rebuilding is done by starting out with people’s assests, by seeing the glass half full, rather than half empty. It seems so simple and natural, but it’s such a revolutionary idea! (P.S. He never explicitly said it, but he described this movement he was apart of, and I’m pretty darn sure it was Freedom Summer. OH MY GOSH! This man is amazing!)

Well, now it’s almost ten and I haven’t even written half of what has happened! But as I said before I’m tired, and I have some reading to do. I’ll try to write tomorrow, but I think the best things is to not make any promises! I have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow!

well…

talk later!

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