Bye Gina

Nowadays as soon as I enter the Opp Center and walk into the kitchen, I get some sort of news or another from Ellen. It's almost like she's waiting for me to get there just so she can tell me whatever it is that there is to say. One time it was the Jesse was no longer working there. This time it was much bigger: Gina has left the Opportunity Center and has started a new job.

This was a huge shocker. Gina was unquestionably the heart and soul of this place. It will never be the same without her here, in my opinion. As I've said before, to me she is the ideal person to work with homeless: tough but sweet, respected but friendly. Apparantly she took a job elsewhere for more pay. I can understand that, and I felt that people around the Opp Center did too. "Gina wasn't gonna be around forever" I heard one client say. George said he would have done the same thing if he was in the same position. Overall I felt that there was no resentment about it, just understanding.

Peter, the head of the center was around and I wanted to ask him about it. He didn't say much, but I did get Gina's number from him so that I could call her and say goodbye and wish her luck. Peter expected to find a replacement in a week. But honestly, there's no replacing Gina.

Other than that things were relatively calm. Not a lot of food available today, mostly just pastries and ramen. The supplies were awfully low... no sugar for coffee, not hot food to give out, etc. I helped George for a little while and talked more with Ellen. She told me about her 25 years teaching kindergarten and how she finally left over "philosophical differences" with the principal. Although it's cool to hear about her life and I think she's a good person, there's definitely something off-putting about someone continuously talking about all the good they've done. They are clearly reaching out for praise, and though I usually oblige, I definitely am resolved not to be one of these people. To me, the ideal is to serve, to do good, because that is one's nature. I want service to be in my core, to simply walk the walk and let everything else take care of itself. Like a rose which gives lovely fragrance... it gives something wonderful, just by its nature, effortlessly, unconditionally.

Harmonica Man

This week I arrived at the Opp Center and immediately got the news from George that Jesse will no longer be working in the kitchen. Unlike the last time where I heard a staff member had gone to jail, this time it was good news... Jesse had gotten a permanent job with the Church as a painter ("buildings, not pictures" was Gina's comment). I felt happy for the guy but was a little sad that he wouldn't be around anymore. It also meant more work for me during my shift, which I hoped I could step into.

George and I did a full cleaning job of the kitchen. We closed the doors after kicking everyone out (which was hard to do since people cling to the place and often spend the whole day there, like a cafe). Once they were out George mopped while I cleaned all the counter and table tops. It was pretty hard work, and by the end of it I was tired.

After that I just hung around the kitchen serving black rice/spanish rice/pasta plates and also chatting with people in the courtyard. I ran into one guy named Bob. I'd never met him before, but he seemed like a very nice guy, one of those mannered and together people who you wonder how in the world they were homeless. As I was serving Bob a plate, he mentioned that he wanted help looking up a video on youtube, which I told him I'd do. We went into the computer lab and he handed me a card with a youtube video URL. I typed it up but unfortunately the flash plugin wasn't installed on the lab machine, and since you can't download anything on these machines, we were out of luck. This was my first encounter with the restrictiveness of the lab machines. A lot of the clients have been complaining about being blocked from a lot of content. I understand why they do this, but youtube? These people aren't reading slashdot, they just want to check email and be entertained. It brings to mind a message on the bulletin board I had seen some previous time I was in the lab, which said something like "Are you upset/frustrated with the restrictions on these computers? Then call this number to join a petition to allow for your rights to all parts of the web". Doesn't seem so bad of an idea anymore.

So unfortunately Bob couldn't watch the video. It turned out that it was a video someone had taken of Bob, who was a blues musician. Bob plays harmonica outside some restaurants in the area as a regular gig, and he wanted to check out a performance someone had recorded of him. I wanted him to see it as well... you could tell it was a source of pride for him. And the caption for the video said "...Just close your eyes, turn up the volume, and listen to some of the best New Orleans blues harmonica alive". I was very impressed and told Bob I was going to watch it as soon as I got home. I also told him I'd print out some copies of the URL which he could hand out on strips of paper to promote himself, which I'll bring to him next week. He smiled and thanked me 5 times.

Food And More Food

When the Opp Center is busy, as it usually is on weekday mornings, there is almost non-stop action. All kinds of stuff is going on... the kitchen is buzzing as people saunter to the counter for food and plates are being warmed up in the oven and microwaves, the lounge and computer lab are full of web surfers, the courtyard is littered with groups of homeless people chatting, sitting around in the sun, etc. As I make rounds around the center, I say hello to the people, chat here and there with those who are up for it. Many of the clients know recognize me; though they don't know my name I got a lot of "hey there you are! Haven't seen you in a while around here!" comments, which feels nice. I like feeling a part of this place, and the people knowing me has a lot to do with that.

That also is true with the staff. Besides Gina, I'm now also pretty comfortable with George and Jesse. Although sometimes I have to swallow my pride and do menial undesirable tasks at the request of George and/or Jesse, overall we get along fine and I believe I have their respect.

A elderly lady, Ellen, was at the center today as a morning volunteer (on her way out as we got there). Ellen is sort of a fish out of water, a suburbanite Jewish elderly lady serving food and fraternizing with rough-edged homeless people. You can sense athe gulf when she interacts with people. Anyway, Ellen gets to talking to me about her story: she's a Holocaust "survivor" and her family escaped Nazi Germany when she was 4 years old. In reality, she never really saw much because her family "ran early" and avoided the struggles of many other Jews in Germany during that time. She framed her experience as a Holocaust survivor as a a bridge by which she relates to the people who come to the Opp Center. I thought it was a little naive, especially since she had basically avoided real trauma and instead had an immigrant experience. She brought up her experience frequently, saying how she understands discrimination, etc.

I worked in the kitchen for a while, making laundry soap bags, and handing out food. We had some hot food: fish fillet, pasta, and chicken wontons. Good stuff. Then some Stanford students came out with a bunch of sandwiches, chips, veggies, and a big tub of orange juice. So right after a lot of the clients (mostly the males) had just feasted on fish, then got right back in line for ham and turkey sandwiches. When I mentioned this to Jesse, he just looked at me and shook his head...

I had a run-in with one of the clients, Anthony. I was behind the kitchen counter and he had some food on a plate. He picked off the food and slid the plate to me a sort of rude way, and told me to throw it away. I told him he should do it himself, but he just walked away. Later on, I asked him why he walked away and he said, "Do you know who I am? I'm Anthony. Don't talk to me like I'm a child." I just told him I meant no offense. I am happy to serve him; in fact, that's why I come to the Opp Center, to help him and others out. But I will not accept disrespect silently. That's the message I hope to somehow get to Anthony in the future.

Another female client, who I call "diva" saw me and said "Hello Prince!" Diva is homeless but tries to dress stylish and walks around with a phone headset in her ear. She calls me Prince for some reason, and took me to meet another volunteer lady, who seemed sort of confused about why we were being introduced. I was confused to, but I think Diva just wanted me to meet this volunteer because she was brown, like me. A Opp Center love connection.

Diamond, another client with a perfectly shaped afro and who wears a bunch of jewelery around his neck and hands, was chatting it up with me. He and Jesse often talk about this or that sermon that they heard in Church. It's fun watching them, they get really animated about the sermons. Whenever I ask Diamond how he's doing, he says "I'm blessed".

Opp Center Feb. 21 - Spiritual Warfare

This is my first posting of work in the Opp Center of the quarter. I've been sporadically going to my Wed 10-12pm time slot but I'm now going to try and get back into it regularly. I've also started, with Dawn, a computer skills training course in the computer lab. That runs on Mondays, and we had our first class last week. I will describe that in a soon-to-come post.

Today I came in and got to work in the kitchen. George was working there and shortly after I got there Jesse came in. George is a chubby black guy with short hair who mashes his words together, making it sometimes really hard to understand him. He had me get to work serving up some vegetable rice and pasta bowls for clients. It seems like Whole Foods comes a bit earlier in the morning on Wednesdays, and this food I was serving was some of what they brought. There were also nice bread loaves, bagels, and the usual fare of ramen and coffee, etc.

After the food, I helped Gina with laundry... I washed a bunch of towels that I guess were for the kitchen. I got my first chance with the laundry room, which is awesome. It was also my first real introduction to Philip, the guy who runs the opportunity center. He seems like a nice enough guy, maybe a little too business-like. I think Gina is the ideal personality for a place like this... a big heart, sweet person, but commanding of respect and stern when she needs to be. I also find it interesting that Philip, who seems to be of African (continent) descent, is managing a place with many African Americans as the needy clients. I wonder if some of the clients think, "hey, how did this African guy get to be the boss here? Don't they have it worse than me?"

The most interesting part of the shift was after I put the laundry in. Me and Jesse started talking religion and spirituality. Jesse is a big black guy with dreadlocks to his shoulders. He has a ghetto way of talking and a real raspy voice. In other words, a person you wouldn't expect to be into spirituality if you first saw him. Anyway, we got into it because he was talking out loud in the kitchen about how he had seen this video in church the other day. The video showed young children strapped with bombs and given guns talking about how they hated Americans. I gathered that it must have been something about radical muslims preparing for Jihad. He stressed how shocked he was to be seeing young kids who "were just ready to die" and "they weren't just thousands, this was millions" and "they were not playin'". After that we got to talking about how those kids got that way and that their minds must have been manipulated at very impressionable ages. He was reading a book called "Spiritual Warfare" and when I asked him about it we got to talking about religion. We talked about how minds can be poisoned to do and think evil things... I mentioned the horrific stories of Japanese soldiers in the Rape of Nanking. He told me the story of how he used to be homeless and a "nobody" and how one day he believed that the Holy Spirit entered him and rose him up to get his life together. He made some pretty deep comments about how he tries to "observe his anger" and can feel it rising inside of him and how he now tries to fight it.

We talked about religion and he said that "the world needs God more" and I countered by saying there's too much talking about God and how "we need to stop talking about God and start being God". This was a part of a series of statements about how I thoughtGod was inside each individual. I saw that it was hard for Jesse to accept that... whenever he talked about himself, he would insist that it was Jesus or God (something external) coming to him and releasing him from his actual bad self. We both agreed that religion wasn't in the Bible (which he had with him), that the book was just words and that real religion was experiential. He said emphatically, "you have to SEE Jesus" and talked about how one of the clients had visions of future events and that that was a gift from God to prove that God had come to him. He said something similar had happened to him, that he had experienced time when he knew God was present, like when he was on a bus recently and wanted to say something to a neighbor but held his tongue. Then that person made some comment that invited Jesse to say what he wanted to say... he interpreted that as God stepping in and requesting him to say what was on his mind.

My favorite thing that Jesse said was how he likened his spirituality to playing the Mario Brothers video game. He talked about how when he started playing the game he couldn't jump properly and couldn't "dodge things" but thanks to Jesus he could now play the game of dodging the evil inside of him effectively. He now had control over the game (himself).

When I was signing out, Gina repeated how I was a good and natural volunteer and that she liked that I had no agenda. As it happens, that's exactly true, and I told her, "my agenda is to serve." She said that's great and thinking that I was something special asked if I had a girlfriend. When I told her, she said "well that's good, and she's a really lucky girl". Yes she is!

Opp Center Week #7 - Kitchen Drama

Working in the kitchen at the Opportunity Center is really intense, and this week was no different. When food is around, you see a different side of many of the homeless people. They turn from private, mysterious loners to aggressive, greedy, pushy consumers. This pattern is not across the board; some clients are quite calm and even considerate when food shipments come in. But the majority of the clients let their hunger empower their greed. This week I got a taste of it.

Since Gwendolyn left, I have been helping out George in the kitchen. George is himself homeless, but somehow got the job of running the kitchen. He is generally a good worker... though he doesn't keep things as clean and organized, he is generally on task and responsive. I would say he does a satisfactory job. One thing he does not have that I liked about Gwendolyn is that he doesn't pay attention to the details like she did. For example, small things like presenting the food nicely and keeping the counter clean make a big difference on how the clients treat the food and the kitchen in general, in my opinion.

Anyway, today we got a big shipment from Whole Foods. Several boxes of sushi, pastries, salad containers, cookies, and even a few sandwiches which are the gold standard. George starts putting out the sushi and I set out some pastries. George is not particularly concerned that people aren't asking for the sushi, but want to see what else is there. He just continues to pile up the sushi in a way that says "I am telling you what you're going to get, and right now it's sushi." Not very welcoming. He probably wouldn't have even put out the pastries had I not.

At some point a client asks for sandwiches, which he swears he saw in the cart as the food was coming in. He keeps asking George to look in the boxes for the sandwiches. George insists that there aren't any. Do you want sushi or not? The client keeps persisting, and so does George. I know something is up because I was pretty sure I had seen the sandwiches in a box myself. When I get a chance I ask George why he isn't giving out the sandwiches. He says he's saving them. When I ask for who, he says himself.

My first reaction was that that was completely unfair and selfish, but I didn't raise an objection. I'm not really sure if Gina knows/should know about George hoarding the best food for himself, because I wonder if it's something that is taken as a given. After all, George is in need as well. Regardless, George has his backpack in the back counter and is stuffing it with sandwiches and other choice items when no one is looking. There is also one of the clients on the other side of the counter who he hands a big garbage bag and keeps handing him food to put in it as he sort of stands off to the side, trying not to be conspicuous. I wonder if he is a hoarding partner, or is simply helping out a guy he knows.

Also noteworthy was that I got yelled at by a client today. It was the loud-mouthed lady whose name I don't remember at the moment. Anyway, she asked me for the margarine tub, insisting it was in the fridge. I looked there once, and didn't see it. She persisted that it was in there, and I told her it wasn't. Then I checked again and found it on one of the harder-to-see shelves. When I gave it to her, she yelled out "this is what a college education gets you!" and other such lines. Another client tried to stick up for me and to calm her down, but loud-mouth continued to yell and called her a bitch. I didn't take much offense, even when Gina came by and asked me if I was ok, as volunteers may take that sort of thing harshly. I said I was fine. Looking back on the incident, my only regret is that I didn't thank the woman who had tried to stick up for me.

Night Outreach Walk

This week I missed my regular slot again due to comps, so I decided to "make it up" by joining the Night Outreach gang on Friday night. It was a small group: myself, Erica, Alex, Miles, and a MS student in Education whom I don't remember the name of. Let's call her Jen. None of us brought food and only Miles had a dining plan, so he went to a hall to load up on food that we could hand out. While we waited for Miles the rest of us started talking about our experience at the Opportunity Center. I got the feeling that not everyone was getting the exposure that I was... Alex mentioned how she files mail a lot during her shift, often because it's just not very busy. I consider myself lucky for having a pretty busy shift.

Miles comes back with bunch of food, including a couple burgers, hotdogs, and donuts. We all get in Erica's car and drive into downtown Palo Alto. Typically the group splits into teams of 2-3 and take areas of University Ave. to find people. Since our group was small, we split into two and took opposite sides of University. I was with Alex and Erica, two veterans of the night walk. Since this was my first time, I thought I'd let them take the lead, but they didn't seem to want to assume that role.

We ended up serving three people, Tom, Victor, and Wally. Tom wasn't very talkative, but the other two were. Victor was an older guy who had lived in Palo Alto for many decades. He took an interest in where I was born, because he said that a lot of people say they were from the Bay Area but aren't really. He said it was rare to hear of someone who was actually born in Montain View, which I guess makes sense. A lot of people think of themselves being from the Bay Area but aren't really from here, mostly because so many people come here from outside. But Victor just seemed to be proud of calling himself a Bay Area native. He was also quite polite. He asked each of us seperately our background. He asked me what I thought were differences between Berkeley and Stanford students. I told him it may be because of the bias that I wasn't really seeking to serve while at Berkeley, but it seemed like the students at Stanford are ironically more enthusiastic about service, such as the Night Outreach group. He said he agreed, that Stanford students are more generous. I wouldn't say I agree for sure.

Next we met up with Wally, a guy originally from Detroit who had come to California looking for a job. He complained about how expensive it was to live in Palo Alto, and that the $600 he had come here with had gone very quickly because renting a room was almost double from the $20 or so he would pay back in Detroit. He said he was planning on returning. When I pointed out that being here has its benefits, especially weather, he agreed, then added in my ear that the women here are better looking as well. He seemed very upbeat for being obviously poor and unhoused. One noteworthy point is that each of the people we served were very gracious with the food we were giving them. Unlike at the Opp Center kitchen where it's a mad grab and people get pushy, when on the streets these same people become a little more appreciative. When I handed Wally a hotdog, he unwrapped it and immediately started eating it. It was clear he was hungry. But then shortly after he stopped eating and told me that I had accidentally given him an extra weiner, and offered to give it back. I was blown away. Someone in such need practicing equity! I told him to keep it. It turns out that the weiner accidentally slipped out of the bun of Victor's hotdog, whom we had served earlier. I felt terrible for Victor, but we couldn't find him to give him more food and apologize.

On the street that night there happened to be a group of Hare Krishnas who were chanting. Our group had all met back up and were talking to one homeless guy when they came by. I explained what they were doing to the rest of the group, none of whom were familiar. The homeless guy we were talking to started getting into a spiritual discussion, expressing his belief that atheists were ignorant. I find it very interesting that most homeless, people who have so little, have such strong faith. I guess it makes sense because they need something to keep them going.

As we were walking back to the car, Miles, another veteran of Night Outreach, was telling his stories for the night. He had met with a woman whom he knew from before, who was drunk and wandering the streets. He recalled how she had not said a word to him for the longest time until one night some time ago when he met her on a walk he had gone with crutches due to a hurt leg. I told him it was definitely the heart that he showed serving even while hurt that probably got her to open up. Anyway, Miles was saying how on she was now a few months pregnant and struggling to find a place to sleep on a regular basis. Her boyfriend was demanding she sleep with him in exchange for letter her stay at his place, and though she told Miles she was determined to not go there, Miles sensed that she was resigned to going back there simply because she had no other choice. Very sad. Jen mentioned how it was so hard to hold back helping these people more than with the food we were handing out... that one person had given her the impression that she wanted Jen to put her up for the night. Jen said it was a good thing she didn't come with her car or money, since it makes it easier to say no.

I'm continuously impressed with the Stanford students I come across from this group and in general. They just seem very sincere and enthusiastic about service. Between this group and Engineers for a Sustainable World and a couple others that I have come into contact with, it just seems like there's a lot of energy towards doing good.

It made me think about something Paul Farmer talked about when he came to Stanford recently. Most research institutions like Stanford or Harvard (where he's from) are set up to do about 2/3 research, a little less than 1/3 teaching, and the rest service, in terms of resources allocated, etc. Essentially, these institutions are really set up well to create knowledge (research), and disseminate it (teach), and that's what they are good at. And these are great things. But he was saying that there must be a model change/paradigm shift to include service into the fabric of what the institution does, to allow students who are interested in service (and there are a lot) to become agents to effectively serve instead of simply going abroad with some program and being a "spectator to poverty." To train these students, a change in thinking must be made by the research institutions in their role in serving humanity. I found it encouraging to hear such a prestigious person making this challenge, and hope Stanford hears it.

Opportunity Center Week #5 - STOP

This week I wasn’t able to make it on my normal Wednesday 10-12 slot due to comps. I instead dropped in on Friday to meet with the STOP people who were going to be holding a computer lab workshop later in the day. When I got there, the girls from STOP had set up a table where they had bread, cheese, meat, chips etc. for a sandwich “picnic”. It was awesome. All of the members of STOP (Students Taking on Poverty) were younger girls. They looked very innocent and bright-eyed and shy, but they did a great job serving. I learned a little bit about STOP talking to them. They are a new organization who was looking to do various service activities. This picnic was their first event. They have a person who will be coming in to give workshops in the computer lab. I’m not sure what they will be teaching, but Dawn and I plan on meeting up with him to discuss working together to build our tool to help clients connect to employers online.

I met up with Gina who was in the clothes closet helping some people. We started talking about my exams. She really seems to have an interest in my program, asking me often about what I'm studying and how it's going. Apparently her husband is also an engineer. Earlier she remarked to me how personable and social I was, which was a sharp contrast to her husband, who “wanted nothing to do with” the Opportunity Center. Too bad. I think he would be proud of how Gina conducts herself there. Gina also mentioned how she had considered, at some point, pursuing a PhD in philosophy. I would not be surprised one bit, she seems more than capable.

When I asked her how it went with the Wednesday rush without me this week, she mentioned that Gwendolyn was no longer working in the kitchen. She said something about how the organization she was working for redeployed her or something, but I couldn’t really follow. When I think about it now, it seems possible that their past issues may have played a role.

Right as I was leaving, I helped a young girl and her mother unload a bunch of toiletry supplies into the kitchen store room. Apparently this girl had run a drive at her junior high school to donate the supplies to the Opportunity Center. What generosity and initiative from the young girl. I was really impressed and told her she was really awesome for doing such a thing. When I was her age, helping others was one of the last things on my mind.

Opportunity Center Week #4 - Jackpot and Cadillac cont'd

Today we got a "jackpot" delivery from Whole Foods, as Gwendolyn referred to it. Several boxes of pastries and packaged vegetables and dips, and multiple boxes of sushi. There was also an enormous box of really tasty red and green grapes. Because of the huge windfall, we didn't even regulate on the sushi... it was a complete free-for-all. After the rush, we still had tons of sushi, which we put in the fridge.

When I came in today I found that the computer lab had been set up, and people were inside using it. I was very excited and wanted to spend some time in there in case clients needed help. I told Gina, and she said it was fine for me to hang out in there. When I told her I'd also help Gwendolyn out in the kitchen if she needed it, she said it wasn't necessary and that she wouldn't need any help. I found that comment a little weird, since during the rush time, there's no way Gwendolyn could handle things alone. Anyway, one comment led to another, and eventually Gina went over to talk to Gwendolyn about how I will now be working in the computer lab instead of the kitchen, and that Stanford volunteers are not supposed to be helping her out because they work with the Opp Center and not Gwendolyn's organization, etc. It was all pretty unnecessary, and the episode made it clear to me that Gwendolyn and Gina had some issues. I could see that, since Gwendolyn seems a little hard-headed, much like the lady Thelma in New Orleans that was very set in her ways. Things seemed to be getting territorial at the Opp Center between the kitchen and the rest, but I assured Gwendolyn that she should just find me if she needed help.

The computer lab is really nice. The computers have fast Internet connections and they are set up nicely in a room with tables along all of the walls. In total there are about 7 machines, like a real computer lab. I hung out in there for a while, and told the people in there to ask me for any help they needed. But I was surprised to see that people knew what they were doing. I didn't get the sense that anyone who was using the computers needed any help/training, but I guess more investigation will be required to determine that for certain.

Cadillac was around so we started talking some more. He started telling me more about his family and his background growing up in Texas, which seemed pretty normal. He had a father that he looked up to and respected, lived in a house with brothers and sisters, etc. I don't think I got to understand how he became unhoused and living in Palo Alto. He mentioned that the land his family owned in Texas has an oil rig set up on it, and the oil company maintains the equipment and gives the family money for the oil extracted. Caddy gets checks every once in a while for about $22. That's really low, and I wonder if the family is being taken advantage of.

Continuing with the theme of spending money on unnecessary items, Cadillac showed me the paperwork for his novelty license plate, "OG Raidr", which he hasn't been able to claim because of unpaid parking tickets. Caddy has a trailer or some storage container attached to a truck, which is his main possession. He talked about how he has all of his clothes arranged in shelves in the trailer for easy access. He said he chooses to live in his car instead of with a sister and her boyfriend because if he goes there to charge his cellphone, they would make him pay part of the power bill. It's interesting how people living on the line economically pay attention to every penny of expense.

When I asked him about how/where he sleeps, he talked about a time when he used to sleep in the little corner behind a Carl's Jr. drive-through window. He joked that it was a good spot because he would get a wakeup call when people came through for breakfast. He now sleeps in a supermarket parking lot, where I presume he parks his vehicle. He said he had relationships with most of the workers at the market, who all know him and let him be. He did have to avoid a certain supervisor, however, that gave him a hard time. I wonder if homeless people ever get a good night's sleep when they're always on the lookout for someone harrassing them or telling them to move, since they have no property of their own. I wonder if they even know what it means to have a good rest.

As I was getting ready to leave I saw a long line outside the clothes closet. Apparently people were waiting to get winter coats that had been donated. The jackets were nice, hooded with the water-proof microfibre like material, and thick. They were all identical, black jackets. I smiled to myself thinking that the homeless in PA will all be wearing that jacket this winter, almost like a uniform for "Team Homeless." I wonder if they would respond to that idea with pride or shame.

Opportunity Center Week #3 - Cadillac

Today was another very busy day in the kitchen. It now is clear that Whole Foods does a regular delivery during my shift, and that draws a rowdy mob to the window. Most of the clients know that the food's coming in so they hang around, waiting.

Typically Whole Foods gives us several boxes (about 2 hauling cart fulls) of pastries, packaged fruits and vegetables, dips, and soup, as well as fruit on occasion, and of course, sushi. We lay the pastries out on large cookie sheets for people to just come and pick up. Sushi is dealt out by us by hand, since it is a hot ticket item and we want to prevent hoarders. Each person only gets a single sushi pack. One lady asked if the fish on her sushi could be cooked in the microwave. Although it seemed to work, the kitchen ended up smelling for a while. We decided to not make a habit of cooking people's sushi for them.

Today I got to spend some time with Cadillac, who had dropped into the center. I first met Cadillac a couple weeks ago at a Night Outreach event on campus, called "dinner with the homeless." Dave "Cadillac" Wormley and a few other local unhoused individuals came in and gave their stories about what it meant to be homeless. Caddy asked a series of interesting questions to us (the students) including "what would you do if you were homeless right now?". The best I could come up with was to contact friends/family near whereever I was for immediate help. In the medium term, I would stay with a family member until I found a job, which would be my first priority since it will allow me to get on my own two feet.

The other big idea he brought up was that he wanted to set up a system to connect unhoused but skilled people like himself with potential employers. For example, Caddy is a bicycle repair expert, and he would like to publish that for private or business people to see. The group brainstormed about potential solutions, and we considered the idea of possibly designing a web-interface, as well as working with Craigslist. Another volunteer, Dawn, was really enthusiastic about making it happen, so she and I will begin a needs-finding investigation to see if we can come up with a solution that works for the local unhoused individuals (as well as potential employers).

Anyway, Cadillac was there today during my shift, so we starting talking about what's been going on with him. One thing I noticed immediately was that he seemed different than he did at the dinner, where he seemed a lot more formal and proper. At the Opp Center, where he's in his element, he was much more loose and open. We talked about his cell phone, which he really seems to prize. He recently purchased a headset for it, which he was proudly sporting, and talked about how he wanted the wireless kind but couldn't afford it. Although it seemed to me that he wanted to buy it anyway. He also showed me all the features on his cell phone, where he has subscription to ESPN content. He can view all kinds of sports stats, news, and even video highlights all on his phone. I thought this was all crazy given that he doesn't even have a home, but I held back my judgements. The easy reaction is to call Cadillac wasteful of his resources since he's poor and should have better uses for his money. But I think it comes down to human nature. Rich and poor, all people are irrational to some extent, lack discipline. I think that Cadillac having sports on ESPN or buying beer (which he had in his bag) are just ways for him to feel more normal or satisfy his own guilty pleasures/psychological needs. I think he's smart enough to know when to draw the line, so I think it's ok.

He also talked about his family, which seems pretty big. Most of it is back in Texas, where they even own property that his father had passed down. He spoke about his family and his father with a lot of pride. It also was apparent that Caddy is a pretty intelligent guy. His nickname "Cadillac" comes from the fact that his father drove one and so did he, and he knows a lot about cars in general. He also knows a lot about bicycles. Currently he is working as a bicycle repairman, from what I understand. He's been fixing bikes for 30 years, and it is clear that he knows what his stuff. I take him to see my bike and suggest improvements. He talks about re-painting it and also ways to get a chain guard on it, which I was told by the bike shop was impossible without paying a lot of money. I hope I get a chance to get Cadillac to work on it for me.

I hung out with Michael for a while. He's just a quiet guy who everyone seems to respect. He also seems really smart, almost like he's educated but just decided not to try in life. When I ask Michael where Rodney is, he tells me that he had broken parole earlier and was now back in jail. I was taken aback by that a little. This was a guy working with me, and though I thought he was a little shady, found him to be pretty nice and would probably have trusted him. Apparently he got caught stealing.

While me and Michael are talking, an older guy in a wheelchair named "Quasar" comes up and starts chatting with Michael. Quasar has a boombox and is playing some 60s Temptation-style music. Really nice stuff. It looks like he records radio onto a cassette for his own use, something I used to do a lot when I was young. Anyway, he has this song that Michael's "just got to hear" by the Dramatics. I don't remember the song's name, but it was really nice. I throw in that the Dramatics did a song with Snoop Dogg once, "Doggy Dogg World". Michael doesn't believe me, but we get it verified by someone else.

Opportunity Center Week #2 - Kitchen Duty

This week I helped Gwendolyn in the kitchen for most of the day. Gwendoln is a short-haired, no-nensense black lady sent from another local service organization who apparently will be running the kitchen during my shifts. We were serving burritos that we would warm up in the microwaves, pastries, and the everyday noodles, oatmeal, etc. In the middle of the day we got a bunch of stuff dropped off by Whole Foods: salads, fruit bowls, rice bowls, and the grand prize, sushi plates. Apparently they are a hot item at the center. I was shocked at how much really high quality food they were just giving away... these are items yuppies in PA routinely overpay for at the market. It felt great seeing the clients take the food. I got the impression that some of them come to expect to get such luxury items... not very humble or grateful.

Towards the end of the day Gwendolyn and I are talking about how a few of the clients come in and just eat all day. She was bothered by these people and showed frustration at having to serve them. Then she got into how she herself had been homeless for 7 years, so she knows what it's like to be in need. That's why she had little tolerance for the greedy people. The conversation got emotional and she even shed some tears relating her story of her past. As I could not possibly relate, I just nodded and tried to understand. Still, I personally do not feel compelled to treat the greedy clients different than the humble ones. But since I was in Gwendolyn's kitchen, I didn't want to undermine her. For example, at one point she told people we were "out of water" because she was tired of clients taking the jug she would fill from the sink tap and pouring a bunch of it into their own large containers. I thought this was ridiculous, given that there was a faucet right there in the kitchen. But not wanting to cross her, I turned a few clients down. Later, I regretted it when Gina came by asking why clients were being denied water.

One client picked up a burrito from the tray and while unwrapping it asked me what was in it. When I told him it was bean and cheese, he suddenly got mad that there was no meat and threw it in the trash. I told him he shouldn't be wasting food like that, and he said that he couldn't put it back since he touched it. I told him with some firmness that that's fine, but next time ask before touching the food. He sensed that I was upset, but I told him I wasn't mad at him, but mad that food had been wasted. He thought for a while, then came back and thanked me for "putting him in his place." He said I was right, that he shouldn't be wasting food and sometimes he needs someone to be firm with him on these sort of things.