My Classroom!

 My morning commute from Compton.  Only 45 minutes.

 Working hard?  Before picture!

 Break at Manhattan Beach 

 My rat catching, IKEA navigating, bulletin board master.

 Name Tags

 Library

 Bulletin Boards - so many colors!!

Quotes above the board: "Make yourself proud." and "Never never never give up!" 

 Student pictures will be in the film strips on the wall.

 My creative sun - the windows were so bare!

 My "desk" with St. Ignatius quotes along the back wall.

 Word Cemetery and Alive Words

 Boxes above the cabinets for each student to build a portfolio 

throughout the year as more authentic assessment - hopefully!

 Library again

Pace Space!  For early finishers, students who haven't completed homework and 

students who need to step "out" of the class for awhile.  Dr. Knotts would be so proud!

Pictures!!

Summer of PLACE!  aka one of the best summers ever.

Not very long and no house pictures yet, but here's some stuff I've been doing this summer to have fun outside of lots of 4th grade observations and classes: 

 

My summer roommates at LMU: Hayley, Maria, Jen

At a Dodgers game!  they actually won!

 In San Diego for July 4th: Mark, Caroline, me, Maria, and Jessica.  

Check out the surfing/wave machine behind us!

Send off for the graduating Cohort: Armando, Chris, Mark, Erin, Beth, Hayley, me, John

Commissioning Mass with my whole Cohort 11, the bishop, Fr. Scholla, Fr. Mike

(former PLACEr!), and Fr. McGarry (the Provincial of the CA Province of the Jesuits)

Yolanda (former pastoral assistant at DM/Jesuit Wonder Woman),  

Nicole, Mr. Watkins, an amazing donor, me, and Liz. Liz (former 3rd grade at DMS) and 

Nicole (FJV in my position and former 4th grade teacher) inspired me to apply for 

PLACE and have been the most amazing supports and motivators I could have asked for!

Characteristics of Peace

 {Two peace quotes from CA capital building in Sactown}

This morning, I decided to wear the necklace I bought at a flea market with Jen and Lauren back in March.  It is a thin gold chain with a tiny gold peace sign.  Little did I know that this would be a common thread throughout my day. 

Friday is the last day of school for the 8^th graders and boy, are they making it obvious that they are done.  I kept having to remind myself throughout the day that I need to find my inner peace and only let my peace show.  The mantra that I have been using recently is one I learned sophomore year at SLU from a professor, Mark Chmiel.  It was written by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk:

"Breathing in I calm my body
breathing out I smile
dwelling in the present moment
I know it is a wonderful moment"

It usually works pretty well.  Also, last Friday, we had a faculty retreat and our secretary, Miss Espie's sister, did a presentation about positive energy and showing God's light to others in our everyday actions.  This reflection and workshop has been sticking with me the past couple of days and I have been trying to be more open and accepting, allowing positive vibrations to flow out of me instead of negative, whether is it something as simple as standing with a more open stance (arms down, palms open) or something that takes more work like affirming in my mind others around me instead of thinking negatively about them.  

peace and positive energy.

This evening, we went to the Catholic Worker house in Boyle Heights for their weekly community mass and dinner.  The priest was running a little late (end of the mass late), so one of the workers stepped in and said the mass.  The homily was beautiful and was a reflection given by him and other members of the congregation (including Paula!).  Some things that stood out to me:

1 Pt 3:15-18
Beloved:
Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
but do it with gentleness and reverence,
keeping your conscience clear,
so that, when you are maligned,
those who defame your good conduct in Christ
may themselves be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing good,
if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered for sins once,
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.

John 14:15-21

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Also, during the sign of peace, everyone hugged each other, which may seem weird and too touchy-feely, but it was so powerful.  All these people gathered together in God's name, people working and dedicating their lives to serving social justice issues in the way that they feel called to, embraced each other to share in celebration of God.  During the mass I was thinking a lot about what peace means.  Peace is a word we throw around a lot, but honestly, what does "peace" look like?  Is it attainable?  Hugging these strangers, warriors of the streets, previously homeless people who were taken in by the CW house, made me realize that if we put differences aside and come into relationships and encounters thinking the best of others, thinking that they are people capable of love (which everyone is), peace is attainable.  But when we walk around with shields, with weapons (as I write this in Starbucks, I just realized that there are police getting coffee - with guns ready in their holsters - what does this say their expectations are?? -- but also our own weapons of words), and with our own interests first, we are creating an environment in which peace will whither and die immediately.  

peace and acceptance.

Tonight I needed to go to Starbucks for the internet and as I walked I actually felt unsafe.  I don't usually get nervous in our neighborhood and crossing the bridge, but seeing a kid hop out of a car, smelling of weed and visibly high, seeing homeless searching for a space for the night, and getting a couple of creepy looks from guys, I got a bit spooked.  At first, I started to hum this song loudly, but then I realized I too sounded like a crazy person, so instead I started to say to myself, "God be with me, God be with me, God be with me."  Then I realized that while I always need God with me, so do these people around me, so instead, I began repeating, "God be with them, God be with them, God be with them."  There was something so powerful about praying for them and praying that they know God's love.

peace and unconditional love.

Once at Starbucks, the two men behind me started to complain and use the f word as every other word to complain about how slow it took in line (there was one person in front of me) and how time is money and they were so ticked off.  Once they got up to the register, they didn't even know their own order.  "I want that strawberry crap." was the actual order one of them placed.  And then their conversations with each other were so derogatory about themselves and about others.  I just kept thinking about how blessed I am to know God's love, very much due to the example of unconditional love that I have been amazingly blessed to feel and know from my parents.  And from my friends that love me. Now to figure out how to show this love to strangers and to be a symbol of God's peace to people I encounter everyday.  Smiling doesn't always work like I thought.  I got a really creepy eyebrow raise from a man tonight.  Needless to say I am going to be working on revising this approach.  

peace and patience. 

Thanks for reading.

Some picture rewards:

Spirituality night I led modeled after this:

 Greg's

 Paula's

 Mine

 Colleen's

Tucson over Memorial Day:

 We make great cacti!

 Sunset at Gate's Pass

 I am so blessed to have Jen as a friend

Ita in Tucson - it was crazy windy!

And a bonus: a Catholic Worker mass song I enjoyed:
The George Fox Song

There's a light that is shining in the heart of a man,
It's the light that was shining when the world began.
There's a light that is shining in the Turk and the Jew
And a light that is shining, friend, in me and in you.

Walk in the light, wherever you many be,
Walk in the light, wherever you may be!
"In my old leather breeches and my shaggy shaggy locks,
I am walking in the glory of the light," said Fox.
With a book and a steeple, with a bell and a key
They would bind it forever but they can't (said he).
Oh, the book it will perish and the steeple will fall
But the light will be shining at the end of it all.


"If we give you a pistol, will you fight for the Lord?"
"But you can't kill the Devil with a gun or a sword!"
"Will you swear on the Bible?" "I will not!" said he,
"For the truth is more holy than the book to me."


There's an ocean of darkness and I drown in the night
Till I come through the darkness to the ocean of light,
For the light is forever and the light it is free
"And I walk in the glory of the light," said he.

Picture Catch-up

Easter at Dolores Mission:

 {We made an Easter egg hunt for the kids; St. Ignatius has an egg!}

 {Easter dresses!}

 {cross on Easter morning.  during Via Crucis, the man playing Jesus was "nailed" to this}

{mural of Mary in the plaza}

 {cupcake from one of my students for Teacher Appreciation Week :)}

Every year, the 7th grade gets to go on a camping trip for 3 days (!!) and they needed a driver and an extra chaperon, so I got to go along!

 {park right on the beach in Malibu!}

Morning mountains.  We went hiking onto the top of these, which was gorgeous.  The kids complained a lot, but they enjoyed the beach much more after they were worn out.  It was beautiful to see the sun rise and set over the side of these ridges in the morning and evening.  The stars were also visible (actual stars! Not just the airplanes that the kids sometimes mistake for stars in LA).

We went creek stomping and the kids loved it.  A little too much.  We went twice and both times they got completely soaked from head to toe in the pools that collected.  Which is why they decided to dry their shoes over the fire.  Basically they smoked their shoes like a hot dog. 

Mr. S. (the art teacher) in the morning of the last day.  The other leaders and I understood the idea of not showering until returning home because you never can get clean and there is something special about that campy smell.  The kids however were waking up at 6am to make sure they could get a good shower in the morning.  Crazy!  Despite their good hygiene, we walked into mass on Friday morning and Fr. Scott made at least 3 comments about how much we smelled like fire and camping.

I loved getting to know the other teachers better on the trip and talk to the kids outside of the school setting.  So many personalities came out that I had never seen before and I realized how amazing their class is.  One student was really scared about being away from home and sleeping in a tent and the other students comforted him and did not let anyone pick on him.  The sense of community between the thirty 12 year olds was remarkable and I felt so blessed to be a part of the trip.  Some kids came back saying that it was the best 3 days of their lives.  Talking to the 7^th grade teacher, she said that many times the kids have not been in nature, had never spent the night away from their parents, and are often given so many responsibilities at home (like being the man of the house or sticking up for their moms) that they never get to just be kids, but they definitely let it show that they were 12 on this trip.

Saying Goodbye to ELA

It was sad realizing that we were the last of 18 years of JVs living in our house, so I took some pictures to commemorate the occasion.  Looking back now, it looks a lot more rough than I ever thought it did.  The laundry picture reminds me of buildings in Belize City.  It was a wonderful experience to live there though and really live in conditions much unlike those I'm used to.  Dealing with the noise of constant parties and barking dogs, hearing the metro and buses whiz by our house, not knowing the language being spoken around me, and living in an area that's not super safe to walk around in after dark, was eye-opening and humbling.  I feel like I got a small taste of what my students face everyday and what is "normal" for them.  

{juicy oranges from Celia's tree}

{air drying laundry in our "backyard"}

 {my room}

{"view" from my window}

PLACE Welcome Orientation

Another catch-up post:

In April, I went to orientation for PLACE Corps.  I am very excited to start the program, but also really nervous.  There are 28 people in my cohort (C11) – 21 girls and 7 boys, which is actually a pretty good ratio compared to other cohorts.  I knew one of the other girls from an immersion group that came to DMS from Santa Clara University, but otherwise I knew no one.  I know quite a few of the graduates of the program and current members because of DMS connection.  It felt a little like high school again, since I went into St. T. knowing (or at least knowing of) a bunch of upperclassmen because of Annie, but not knowing a lot in my class other than those from Lourdes.  They had a packed schedule for us, including lunch with our principals, barbeque with people from all past and present cohorts, bowling with the current cohorts (I’m still awful), a formal dinner with our principals and the Dean of LMU, mass, staying with one of the communities, learning about the program, going through our massive binder (3 inches, and FULL) of information about our next two years, signing up for classes, meeting each other, and signing our life away for the next two years.  Literally.  We received our calendar for the summer and it is so full of social events, classes, observations, etc.  I’m excited, and after the orientation, I was roaring to just start then and there, but it’s starting to sink in that I am leaving JVC really soon.  

The people in the program were a fun mix of people from all over, a lot from California, but not all.  I’m the first person to ever do PLACE from SLU which is cool.  I’ll have to go back and talk it up.  We got to stay in the PLACE Corps communities for the weekend and I was placed at Maria Regina in Gardena, where Mr. DeJesus, the science and Spanish teacher for DMS lives.  All the communities are about 9 people and are in former convents.  The rooms are really small and the closets are itty bitty.  As Diana, the coordinator of PLACE put it, nuns only needed 2 pairs of shoes and 3 outfits, so that’s the closet space they received.  The common areas were really big though, with a massive kitchen, living room and dining room, plus, there is a chapel complete with confessionals in case I need one at the last second.  Too bad I don’t have a 1-800 number to have a priest for these emergencies as well.   

 

At the barbeque, I was completely ambushed by some FJVs who had done PLACE Corps and heard that I was a JV.  It was amazing realizing that I am becoming part of a network of such inspirational, dedicated, and enthusiastic people by doing JVC and now PLACE.  

My Cohort, C11, in our "professional best":

 

 {Maybe the fuchsia dress was a little bold, but it was in the 80s all week!  I might as well take advantage...}