The last week or so has been quite busy! Maybe life just got a little slow in the deepest of winter, but now that spring has mostly sprung, so much is going on again!
As you may have guessed from previous pictures, last Tuesday I went to Albany to represent the interests of low-income individuals and families to legislators (in New York, they're called assembly(wo)men and senators). New York, like most states, is facing a budget crisis. Unfortunately, some (*cough* Gov. Paterson *cough*) feel the best way to alleviate that crisis is to redirect federal stimulus money designated for job creation programs into the holes that already exist (hmm, that doesn't sound particularly stimulating, eh). This is quite short-sighted as these, and other social service and educational programs, work to give people with few financial resources the tools to build life skills and become more self reliant. We suggested alternative sources of funding to fill the budget gaps in ways that would not continue a cycle of poverty for families on welfare, like temporarily reducing a significant tax credit on stock trades that goes directly into the pocket of the infamous Wall Street, and policy changes that would not cost money but would allow families more hope of getting off welfare, like allowing classroom hours at accredited universities to count as a part of the 30 required work hours for welfare benefits. We didn't get to speak with any actual legislators, but meeting with their staff was at times interesting, at times frustrating. We also marched, briefly, before the meetings, but didn't exactly attract a lot of attention.
What did attract a lot of attention was the March for America rally I had the chance to participate in. The march, which attracted at least 200,000 people (and I remember hearing a few higher estimates in the news coverage I caught afterwards), focused on the importance of immigration reform in the United States featured many speakers, both of the community activist and elected official variety (which we were a little puzzled by...didn't they have some bill to vote on? like, a kind-of-big-deal one?) including President Obama (via video, not in person). I went with my friend, Sarah, who is a Lutheran Volunteer Corp member in DC, and her roommates, although I had originally intended to find other representatives of my agency (200,000 people is too many to try to navigate through to find a group of fewer than 15 people). We started at the front, but it was so crowded we opted to move farther back and listened to the speakers while sitting in the grass and people watching.
In between, I helped chaperone a field trip for the agency as a part of a new program through New York Cares. Once a month, a group of 14 kids and 5-10 volunteers will go to some attraction in the city. Last week (in place of the snowed-out February trip), we went to the National Museum of the American Indian to browse the one (as far as I know) branch of the Smithsonian to end up between the Hudson and East rivers instead of closer to the Potomac. We heard "story time", which honored female American Indians as it is National Women's History Month and then made (relatively) traditional dolls. Maybe I was just being a bit pessimistic going into it, maybe it was all the dreary rain or the semi-poor organization, but I was a little surprised at how attentive the kids were, especially for a mixed-age, mixed-gender group doing something like going to a museum for a cultural heritage none of them are descendent of and sewing doll clothes. Although I did have to threaten to confiscate a couple video games.
Time seems to be flying by rather quickly lately! I guess it always moved a little more briskly than I would have liked, but I always had that nagging feeling that I should be practicing for my lesson next week or working more aggressively on that huge paper due at the end of the semester to make me fully aware of each passing day. Now everything seems to be on a much more rolling deadline, and life is much more flexible than most professors and syllabi, so time can crawl or sprint on its own without outside pressure constantly reminding me of its passage. It makes spring much more enjoyable, sans looming semester ends and with just summer weather and all the possibilities it opens buzzing on the horizon.
Pictures, the next field trip, some community bonding, and whatever else happens in between next time!
and in case you have more time to fill: new ways to hunt bedbugs
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