beginning

well! I was reluctant to have one of these at first but here goes anyway.

my housemates (Beth, Keri, Paul, Rachel) and I moved to Hartford a little over a week ago and we began our jobs this past Monday. so far, I like the city a lot- it's very small (125,000 people) but there seems like a lot going on and so much diversity (and speaking of which I would love to learn Spanish). we live in the 2nd and 3rd story of a very big and very old house across the street from trinity college- on the first floor is our landlord Emil who plays his records (music from 1950-1975 only) loudly on the weekends and has shown up at 3 a.m. to try and fix one of the toilets. our neighborhood is a mix of lower-income minorities and affluent (at least by comparison) caucasian students- so in other words, almost exactly like fordham. there are so many bodegas! I was worried that I'd left them behind when I left the Bronx.

my main job at the Community Meals program is to socialize. I hang out with the participants and I'll rarely have to cook or clean. there are about 80 regulars, all of whose names I'm hoping to learn within the next few weeks- they all seem to know my name already! and they are all so gracious and sweet. I'll also be helping them with whatever miscellaneous things they need- clothing or toiletries, making calls to caseworkers, parole officers and so on, finding temporary housing, those kinds of things. I'll also be training and managing all of the volunteers (as well as large-scale volunteer events throughout the city for corporate employees), and spending time at the Senior Cafe (a meal program for senior citizens on the weekends), and Peter's Retreat, a home for people living with HIV/AIDS.

today I spent time with a girl who didn't look any older than me but who is 4 months pregnant and has a 9 year-old son. she was lamenting being pregnant in the summer heat but she was smiling and so friendly. I also spent time with a man who was reading the Time article about mother teresa (it's amazing- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655720-4,00.html) that our house read and talked about on sunday, and two other men that talked about the struggle of finding jobs when they don't have cars to get to and from work, and debated the freedom of an average homeless shelter versus the structure of a recovery shelter.

I think a lot of people wondered why I was volunteering in Connecticut because it is the richest state per capita in the whole country. well, that figure comes from concentrations of wealthy CEOs who live in towns like Greenwich and work in the city. in reality, there is so much poverty and so many of the forgotten poor- no one expects them to be here and they're easily dismissed. Hartford is such a glaring example because the city is so small and the disparity of wealth is so concentrated: streets with huge, beautiful mansions a few blocks away from dilapidated row-houses and abandoned buildings. as I was picking up the dining room today after lunch I found a real estate magazine that advertised beautiful New England properties worth millions and a design magazine with ideas for how to decorate those mansions. it broke my heart, because there's a good chance that the person looking at them doesn't know where he or she is going to sleep tonight.

I'll never forget the advice I heard a social worker give to a group of volunteers when I was in high school: "Pay attention to what breaks your heart. " I've been trying to do that and I feel like that's why I'm spending my year here.