Life is very good right now. I've started my new job, and I'm very excited to be assisting four accomplished journalists with their book projects. I'll be working on a number of topics, including immigration, education, political philosophy, and economic policy. I've already had opportunities to be involved in the design and planning of new projects as the organization looks to bring on a "food fellow" who will write on agroecology--the urgent need to feed the growing masses and preserve the shrinking planet at the same time. I've also made good on at least one resolution from a previous post: I joined a gym near my office, where I plan to do all manner of de-stressing, muscle-building, dessert-ameliorating, sweat-inducing exercises. And I'm currently thinking I'll do all of that in the morning before work. We'll see how it goes.
In other news, I recently returned from yet another round of traveling. My first "trip" was local, but long overdue. I hiked across D.C. on Upshur to the end of a quiet residential street and into Rock Creek Park. I had a nice time convening with nature and temporarily escaping the city. The following week I went to Lake Tahoe to see my grandparents and lots of loved ones I've not had the opportunity to bug in a long time. (Incidentally, in so doing I avoided both an earthquake and a hurricane back in D.C.) And finally, I went with Jimmy and friends to New York City for his roommate's wedding. Though the travel logistics got tricky and stressful at times, the wedding was beautiful, the food was bountiful, and Jimmy and I had a great time on the dance floor. See a few choice photos in the previous post.
This coming week I'm looking forward to meeting more of the journalists and academics I'll be rubbing elbows with at my new job. God- and coffee-willing I'll also make a few trips to the gym I paid so much for. I'll also spend the tail end of the weekend planning for next week's food stamp challenge, hosted by my previous employer, Arizona Community Action Association. Check out this year's blog or the online chronicle of last year's efforts,"Challenging Preceptions". I'll blog at least once here and on ACAA's blog about the experience of eating on the budget afforded a low-income household of one by SNAP, formerly called The Food Stamp Program.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Wireless at last!
Hooray! At long last, our house has wireless internet. I have been living for the past year without regular access to internet at home, thus this site has been a sad excuse for a blog. I hope to post more regularly now, even if each post is shorter.
Updates. My fellowship experience is complete. I am more grateful, humbler, and wiser than when I first began. I also have some of the most wonderful new friends there are.
I am enjoying two-week+ vacation beginning last Thursday! I went the wedding of my friend Caroline in Sarasota, FL, and after a week "getting me life together" in D.C. (read: doing laundry, securing internet service, and catching up on sleep), I'm headed to Lake Tahoe in CA/NV to visit my grandparents, cousins, and Uncle Matt.
I secured a new job! I'll be providing research assistance to fellows writing books for a nonpartisan think tank in D.C. I look forward to meeting new work buddies, honing research skills, and learning new policy areas.
I'm working on getting my life together in a broader sense--ensuring that the way I use my time reflects my priorities, and that I stick to a path that makes me happy, contributes to the world in a positive way, and keeps me in a state of constant self-improvement. Some of the little things on my to-do list include: Cooking for myself more often and with whole ingredients. Attending church regularly. Reading and reflecting on good books. Taking a yoga or modern dance class. Making some time for my creative, crafty side. Getting out into nature--the National Arboretum and Rock Creek Park are high on the to-visit list. Volunteering with children--I miss young souls not yet jaded by the craziness in Washington.
And now a song.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
spots
The world exists in tiny spots
where we can only see a portion of what is there
and we long to know more
what we could understand about ourselves if we opened them up to peer inside
where stars and fireflies point us to homes beyond humans
She cries subtle tears that slip between
where Her nose and soft cheek meet
like sun spots on photos made facing the west in the late evening
he spews dropletts of spittle and yells at Her gathering strength
the last swallows of earl grey in a perfect, white tea cup after a long conversation and three lumps of sugar
punctuation at the end of a sentence it took ages to imagine and courage to write
he flips a dime in a fountain with all the other wishes
and of every freckle on Her face, her son loves the one on Her temple the best
a red light appears and a Poet pours words in a microphone
dark circles on the sidewalk mark the travels of gum chewers and litter bugs
or forwarnings of rain before it's really started
the first drop of blood in a long fight
absently, She twists the gold stud in her ear
the world suggested by the depth in your Best Friend's eyes
means that spots never tell the story
of time and trial and truth.
CML 6-13-11
for a Friend.
where we can only see a portion of what is there
and we long to know more
what we could understand about ourselves if we opened them up to peer inside
where stars and fireflies point us to homes beyond humans
She cries subtle tears that slip between
where Her nose and soft cheek meet
like sun spots on photos made facing the west in the late evening
he spews dropletts of spittle and yells at Her gathering strength
the last swallows of earl grey in a perfect, white tea cup after a long conversation and three lumps of sugar
punctuation at the end of a sentence it took ages to imagine and courage to write
he flips a dime in a fountain with all the other wishes
and of every freckle on Her face, her son loves the one on Her temple the best
a red light appears and a Poet pours words in a microphone
dark circles on the sidewalk mark the travels of gum chewers and litter bugs
or forwarnings of rain before it's really started
the first drop of blood in a long fight
absently, She twists the gold stud in her ear
the world suggested by the depth in your Best Friend's eyes
means that spots never tell the story
of time and trial and truth.
CML 6-13-11
for a Friend.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sacré-Coeur
These past two or three weeks and this weekend especially have been hard for me. I am working to manage more relationships than I've ever had the privilege of juggling before. I am working to find my place in an organization and with people who I respect but am struggling to truly understand. I am working to love and care for my close friends while loving and caring for myself. I am working to preserve my optimism while I watch broken politics make broken policies.
This poem is about one of the best moments of my life in one of my favorite places in the world, Paris. I wonder if taking mental vacations can give us as much perspective as real ones. I am in desperate need of a little perspective. As a note to the reader, every line in this poem starts with a different letter of the alphabet, beginning with A.
Alto saxes croon over cello cases
Boldly splayed open like expectant ladies
Crowds have climbed up
Draped now on stairs, statues, and lovers
Engrossed in separating sun from sound
Film and camera steal moments of the late afternoon
Gaping giantess of Sacré-Coeur looks on
Homes rise up like crooked teeth
Ivory piano keys
Jingling stars fall from loose pockets
Kaleidoscopic lenses capture colored flecks of hurry
Lengthening shadows
Millions of glass windows wink back at us
Narrating plucks on his guitar
Orange eye peeks over a jagged horizon
Prayers flow down the stairs and swirl around our ankles
Quiet echoes dance between us
Replaying favorite lyrics on our lips
Secret memories
Troubadours pour the last of their thick melodies
Under the bruising ceiling of night
Violinists slip their bows across
Waiting friends and taxis and stiff drinks
X marks this holy hill, drips down a reverent face
Yellow lights bleed back into purple sky
Zealous worshippers make their way down holding hands
Hoping for a moment in the coming week that makes me as whole as this one did.
This poem is about one of the best moments of my life in one of my favorite places in the world, Paris. I wonder if taking mental vacations can give us as much perspective as real ones. I am in desperate need of a little perspective. As a note to the reader, every line in this poem starts with a different letter of the alphabet, beginning with A.
Alto saxes croon over cello cases
Boldly splayed open like expectant ladies
Crowds have climbed up
Draped now on stairs, statues, and lovers
Engrossed in separating sun from sound
Film and camera steal moments of the late afternoon
Gaping giantess of Sacré-Coeur looks on
Homes rise up like crooked teeth
Ivory piano keys
Jingling stars fall from loose pockets
Kaleidoscopic lenses capture colored flecks of hurry
Lengthening shadows
Millions of glass windows wink back at us
Narrating plucks on his guitar
Orange eye peeks over a jagged horizon
Prayers flow down the stairs and swirl around our ankles
Quiet echoes dance between us
Replaying favorite lyrics on our lips
Secret memories
Troubadours pour the last of their thick melodies
Under the bruising ceiling of night
Violinists slip their bows across
Waiting friends and taxis and stiff drinks
X marks this holy hill, drips down a reverent face
Yellow lights bleed back into purple sky
Zealous worshippers make their way down holding hands
Hoping for a moment in the coming week that makes me as whole as this one did.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
All the wrong questions
This is going to be brief, but I feel I need to say that the more time I spend in DC the more angry I become. The divisiveness of Arizona's politics made it easy to draw a proverbial line in the sand and to see clearly who stood with you and who stood opposite you; but here the boundaries between what is clearly just and what is clearly unjust are less obvious. We can't pin the city's discrimination on just a few individuals who have found their way into the limelight (Arpaio, Brewer); we end up taking a harder look in the mirror. And if I had to name all of the blemishes we see when we do that, I would call them collectively Failure to Challenge the System by asking questions whose answers actually matter.
At the risk of oversimplifying the issues, here's what we're currently asking (a.k.a. the places where I believe we are only spinning our wheels and, in some cases, furthering race and class oppression):
*How can we convince decision-makers that poverty and hunger are problems where they live?
*How can we preserve nutrition program funding?
*What are the most compelling ways to tell the stories of low-income people to people who need to hear them?
*How can we best help the "new poor" and the "donors turned recipients?"
*How can we get food into the hands of the people who need it?
*Where is the common ground between liberal and conservative interests in hunger alleviation?
These are the wrong questions. They lack all of the important pieces of a just and sustainable campaign to ACTUALLY end hunger and poverty. Here are the questions I think we MUST ask before being involved in or party to any real change:
*Why don't the race and class backgrounds of our legislators mirror the backgrounds of their constituents? If we have to "sell" hunger and poverty as important topics to legislators, do they actually represent us?
*Do nutrition programs do what they say they're going to do? To the extent that they do, how can we grow the effective pieces? To the extent that they do not, how can we change, consolidate, streamline, and connect programs AND INVEST IN POLICIES AND PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS ROOT CAUSES OF HUNGER?
*How can advocates create significant and increasing space for low-income people to join and lead the conversation? Why is a conversation about programs for low-income people, especially low-income people of color, led by class-privileged, white people?
*How should the anti-hunger movement balance the needs of newly poor households and households who have been experiencing deep poverty for a long time? What are the essential differences in types of capital accessible to the "new" versus the long-time poor? Again, why do the needs of the formerly middle-class have more political weight than the needs of low-income families?
*Why do people need emergency and/or subsidized food in the first place? How would they prefer to procure food for their families?
*What is it about our political and economic systems and the interplay between the two that keeps poor people in poverty? Will "common ground" messages and solutions EVER advance a just process to ENDING poverty and hunger? How can we use the power we do have in our current political and economic systems to change their very nature?
The confusion lies in the fact that the people asking all of these questions are people interested in ending hunger, which I think most would agree is a positive goal. As Jim McGovern (D-MA) has often said in public, he's "never met a member of Congress who is pro-hunger." Anti-hunger work is one of the few human service issues that receives significant bi-partisan support. Yet, the intents, the assumptions, and the envisioned processes behind each of the two lines of questioning are worlds apart. One maintains systems of power and one challenges them. One addresses the problem and one investigates why the problem exists. One assumes poverty is inevitable and one proclaims the promise of high quality of life for all. One is about charity and one is about justice. And I believe strongly that one has easy answers but will lead us toward ineffective solutions, and one has far more difficult answers but will lead us toward becoming a truly hunger-free nation.
At the risk of oversimplifying the issues, here's what we're currently asking (a.k.a. the places where I believe we are only spinning our wheels and, in some cases, furthering race and class oppression):
*How can we convince decision-makers that poverty and hunger are problems where they live?
*How can we preserve nutrition program funding?
*What are the most compelling ways to tell the stories of low-income people to people who need to hear them?
*How can we best help the "new poor" and the "donors turned recipients?"
*How can we get food into the hands of the people who need it?
*Where is the common ground between liberal and conservative interests in hunger alleviation?
These are the wrong questions. They lack all of the important pieces of a just and sustainable campaign to ACTUALLY end hunger and poverty. Here are the questions I think we MUST ask before being involved in or party to any real change:
*Why don't the race and class backgrounds of our legislators mirror the backgrounds of their constituents? If we have to "sell" hunger and poverty as important topics to legislators, do they actually represent us?
*Do nutrition programs do what they say they're going to do? To the extent that they do, how can we grow the effective pieces? To the extent that they do not, how can we change, consolidate, streamline, and connect programs AND INVEST IN POLICIES AND PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS ROOT CAUSES OF HUNGER?
*How can advocates create significant and increasing space for low-income people to join and lead the conversation? Why is a conversation about programs for low-income people, especially low-income people of color, led by class-privileged, white people?
*How should the anti-hunger movement balance the needs of newly poor households and households who have been experiencing deep poverty for a long time? What are the essential differences in types of capital accessible to the "new" versus the long-time poor? Again, why do the needs of the formerly middle-class have more political weight than the needs of low-income families?
*Why do people need emergency and/or subsidized food in the first place? How would they prefer to procure food for their families?
*What is it about our political and economic systems and the interplay between the two that keeps poor people in poverty? Will "common ground" messages and solutions EVER advance a just process to ENDING poverty and hunger? How can we use the power we do have in our current political and economic systems to change their very nature?
The confusion lies in the fact that the people asking all of these questions are people interested in ending hunger, which I think most would agree is a positive goal. As Jim McGovern (D-MA) has often said in public, he's "never met a member of Congress who is pro-hunger." Anti-hunger work is one of the few human service issues that receives significant bi-partisan support. Yet, the intents, the assumptions, and the envisioned processes behind each of the two lines of questioning are worlds apart. One maintains systems of power and one challenges them. One addresses the problem and one investigates why the problem exists. One assumes poverty is inevitable and one proclaims the promise of high quality of life for all. One is about charity and one is about justice. And I believe strongly that one has easy answers but will lead us toward ineffective solutions, and one has far more difficult answers but will lead us toward becoming a truly hunger-free nation.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."
Yesterday was the celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Social media were alive and bubbling with some of Dr. King’s most powerful words. I watched a You Tube video of the “I Have a Dream” speech (which is not what it was actually called, by the way—see my earlier post). We who were born after that speech, after King’s death, have little concept of how recently those events occurred, but the video of that speech and that march on Washington is a reminder that it was not as long ago as we would like to believe.
We as a whole society have made important moves toward racial equality, but it is still true that, all else being equal, a white man with a felony on his criminal record has an equal or better chance of landing a job than a black man with no criminal record. It is still true that, while we may have elected a black president, many white people were only willing to vote for a black man who denounced the preacher of his home church and had, until that point, made every effort to avoid talking about race, a fact that proves only how salient yet taboo the topic remains. It is still true that massive income, wealth, education, and health gaps exist, and that most refuse to acknowledge the roles of historical and present-day institutional racism that perpetuate and sometimes widen those gaps. It is still true that people who live in predominantly black neighborhoods have less access to the social capital and local businesses that provide living wage jobs in other neighborhoods and less access to healthy food, pharmacies, and public transportation; at the same time they have more access to liquor stores and fast food restaurants and live closer to facilities that dump pollution into their air and water. It is still true that when I searched the term “food stamps” yesterday, one Google image was of an old food stamp picturing Barack Obama and the quote: “Now we finally have a president to put on the food stamp!” It is still true that some people exhibit overt racism in a country that promises “liberty and justice for all”.
I do not have the education or experience to even begin to write with the eloquence and relevancy of Dr. King, but I want to be an ally to oppressed people--to stand with them and fight alongside them in defense of our common humanity. I want to be an instrument of peace—when peace is defined not simply as the absence of conflict between people, but as the presence of justice for all, cooperation between all, and mutual, abiding respect.
I have a dream that my children will never learn the racial stereotypes that I was conditioned to believe were true.
I have a dream that a word or action taken by a person of color will never be attributed to his or her race but to his or her person alone.
I have a dream that white people would own their own history and mobilize as thoughtful allies.
I have a dream that white people would stop using the term “reverse racism” and recognize the imbalance of power in our society.
I have a dream that people with class privilege would stop falsely characterizing and criminalizing the recipients of public benefit programs, especially recipients of color.
I have a dream that the faces in movies, on greeting cards, on children’s toys, etc. would reflect the diversity of color in our world.
I have a dream that more organizations would take a harder look at the color of their employees and take more seriously their commitments to equal opportunity employment and anti-racism training for employees.
I have a dream that the history taught in schools would be the combined history of all people in the United States—the injustices and the shared triumphs, the brilliance and the oversight, the silence and the courage.
I have a dream that we would stop excusing the racists at the center of white history by allowing them the same racist views and practices employed by majority white society at the time.
I have a dream that we would be able to use the word racism to accurately describe scenarios without activating the debilitating defensiveness that overtakes so many of us.
I have a dream that violent tragedy, like the one that occurred in Tucson, would inspire neither fear nor polarized rhetoric but a critical, nuanced analysis of the ways our culture engenders violence, rejects and punishes those with mental health issues, and freely distributes weapons that make us bleed and cry.
I have a dream that we would begin to see ourselves as a whole human race and appreciate how our freedom, happiness, health, dignity, success is bound up with that of every other human on the planet.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had prophetic dreams for the future of his country, and the combination of those dreams and several bold steps resulted in real change. What are your dreams? What common steps can we take to move those dreams forward?
Dr. King said: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” I believe that time is now.
We as a whole society have made important moves toward racial equality, but it is still true that, all else being equal, a white man with a felony on his criminal record has an equal or better chance of landing a job than a black man with no criminal record. It is still true that, while we may have elected a black president, many white people were only willing to vote for a black man who denounced the preacher of his home church and had, until that point, made every effort to avoid talking about race, a fact that proves only how salient yet taboo the topic remains. It is still true that massive income, wealth, education, and health gaps exist, and that most refuse to acknowledge the roles of historical and present-day institutional racism that perpetuate and sometimes widen those gaps. It is still true that people who live in predominantly black neighborhoods have less access to the social capital and local businesses that provide living wage jobs in other neighborhoods and less access to healthy food, pharmacies, and public transportation; at the same time they have more access to liquor stores and fast food restaurants and live closer to facilities that dump pollution into their air and water. It is still true that when I searched the term “food stamps” yesterday, one Google image was of an old food stamp picturing Barack Obama and the quote: “Now we finally have a president to put on the food stamp!” It is still true that some people exhibit overt racism in a country that promises “liberty and justice for all”.
I do not have the education or experience to even begin to write with the eloquence and relevancy of Dr. King, but I want to be an ally to oppressed people--to stand with them and fight alongside them in defense of our common humanity. I want to be an instrument of peace—when peace is defined not simply as the absence of conflict between people, but as the presence of justice for all, cooperation between all, and mutual, abiding respect.
I have a dream that my children will never learn the racial stereotypes that I was conditioned to believe were true.
I have a dream that a word or action taken by a person of color will never be attributed to his or her race but to his or her person alone.
I have a dream that white people would own their own history and mobilize as thoughtful allies.
I have a dream that white people would stop using the term “reverse racism” and recognize the imbalance of power in our society.
I have a dream that people with class privilege would stop falsely characterizing and criminalizing the recipients of public benefit programs, especially recipients of color.
I have a dream that the faces in movies, on greeting cards, on children’s toys, etc. would reflect the diversity of color in our world.
I have a dream that more organizations would take a harder look at the color of their employees and take more seriously their commitments to equal opportunity employment and anti-racism training for employees.
I have a dream that the history taught in schools would be the combined history of all people in the United States—the injustices and the shared triumphs, the brilliance and the oversight, the silence and the courage.
I have a dream that we would stop excusing the racists at the center of white history by allowing them the same racist views and practices employed by majority white society at the time.
I have a dream that we would be able to use the word racism to accurately describe scenarios without activating the debilitating defensiveness that overtakes so many of us.
I have a dream that violent tragedy, like the one that occurred in Tucson, would inspire neither fear nor polarized rhetoric but a critical, nuanced analysis of the ways our culture engenders violence, rejects and punishes those with mental health issues, and freely distributes weapons that make us bleed and cry.
I have a dream that we would begin to see ourselves as a whole human race and appreciate how our freedom, happiness, health, dignity, success is bound up with that of every other human on the planet.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had prophetic dreams for the future of his country, and the combination of those dreams and several bold steps resulted in real change. What are your dreams? What common steps can we take to move those dreams forward?
Dr. King said: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” I believe that time is now.
Monday, December 13, 2010
December Update
Hi Friends,
I’ve been told by some (ahem…Anna) that I need to update my blog, so here we go…
Things at work have been going really well. My project—to improve SNAP outreach to likely eligible Latino households—has been moving along nicely. I’ve had 22 interviews with community groups and am on track to meet my goal of 40 by mid-January. With the help of some of my interviewees I’ve gotten into contact with some great grassroots people who are telling me incredibly interesting stories about their lives, their dealings with different immigration and racial profiling issues, and the ways that community resources are meeting or not meeting their needs. I think in the last week I’ve really honed in on the right questions to ask and possible next steps for creating collaborative partnerships with and across interested stakeholders.
I wouldn’t say that my findings have been shocking, though some of the more nuanced issues, which I won’t go into in detail here, have been really interesting. By far, the biggest barrier to families not accessing SNAP is (unfortunately) an obvious one for Arizona: fear of reporting and deportation. A close second, though, is misinformation. There are certainly ways that undocumented people, by volunteering information about their immigration status to a DES worker, can get into trouble applying for public benefits, but there is also a large amount of misinformation circulating in the community around SNAP eligibility rules and possible repercussions related to their ability to gain legal residency if/when comprehensive immigration reform happens. These issues have bearing on SNAP enrollment but are also large barriers to SNAP recertification and to the resolution of problems what families that are eligible have been wrongly denied benefits as a result of an error on the part of DES or an incomplete application. I would file all of these issues, from fear of deportation to fear of appealing wrongful rejection, under the category of ignorance of rights. From what I’ve heard in my 22 community meetings, partners with resources and partners with access to likely eligible Latino families need to come together to reinvigorate a wide-reaching, multi-faceted campaign to educate Latino families of mixed status on their rights.
Outside work I’ve been having a nice time enjoying the mild Arizona winter and doing some traveling. Over Thanksgiving I went to San Jose, CA and then onto Oakdale, CA to see a few members of my dad’s side of the family, which was a treat. We (over)ate from Wednesday to Sunday and made a 24 hour-long visit to Yosemite National Park to frolic in the fresh snow and do some wildlife watching. My sister was able to join me for the latter part of the week, and we caught up and slipped around on the ice together. It was great to see everyone and get away for a few days.
Since then I’ve done some shopping (though sadly not for anyone on my Christmas list), bought and decorated a 7-ft Christmas tree with Matthew, attended a corny but enjoyable holiday performance by the Phoenix Symphony, and traveled to Nogales for work and pleasure (the work was a SNAP outreach presentation, the pleasure was the chile relleno I had afterward….). I’ve been slacking as far as working out at the Y goes, but I continue to enjoy attending the UCC church downtown on Sundays. Pastor Steve is a really brilliant preacher, blending academic study of the Bible with ease of speech and accessible, powerful metaphors for a combination I find easy to listen to, easy to understand, and always quite moving. Today I followed up church with a trip to Papago Park, a regional park with a nice picnic area and some well marked (if not too exciting) hiking trails, and a stroll through an arts festival in Mesa, where I bought my office Secret Santa gift!
I am really looking forward to going home for a few days in late December. In particular, I’m looking forward to seeing my family, gorging myself on Christmas cookies, and hanging out with friends I’ve been missing a lot as of late. I think the holiday will also be a nice break during which I might gain some last perspective on my work project before writing it up in January. At the point I go home I will have also completed all the interviews for the policy site placement phase of the fellowship and will, hopefully, have a good sense of where I’ll be working for the first half of the next year. Exciting things to come! I’m hoping for something with a lot of Hill interaction, a healthy dose of research, and good job prospects.
I will likely not writing again until going home on the 23rd, so Merry Christmas to all! I’m eager to relax, reflect, and get started on 2011!
Marie
I’ve been told by some (ahem…Anna) that I need to update my blog, so here we go…
Things at work have been going really well. My project—to improve SNAP outreach to likely eligible Latino households—has been moving along nicely. I’ve had 22 interviews with community groups and am on track to meet my goal of 40 by mid-January. With the help of some of my interviewees I’ve gotten into contact with some great grassroots people who are telling me incredibly interesting stories about their lives, their dealings with different immigration and racial profiling issues, and the ways that community resources are meeting or not meeting their needs. I think in the last week I’ve really honed in on the right questions to ask and possible next steps for creating collaborative partnerships with and across interested stakeholders.
I wouldn’t say that my findings have been shocking, though some of the more nuanced issues, which I won’t go into in detail here, have been really interesting. By far, the biggest barrier to families not accessing SNAP is (unfortunately) an obvious one for Arizona: fear of reporting and deportation. A close second, though, is misinformation. There are certainly ways that undocumented people, by volunteering information about their immigration status to a DES worker, can get into trouble applying for public benefits, but there is also a large amount of misinformation circulating in the community around SNAP eligibility rules and possible repercussions related to their ability to gain legal residency if/when comprehensive immigration reform happens. These issues have bearing on SNAP enrollment but are also large barriers to SNAP recertification and to the resolution of problems what families that are eligible have been wrongly denied benefits as a result of an error on the part of DES or an incomplete application. I would file all of these issues, from fear of deportation to fear of appealing wrongful rejection, under the category of ignorance of rights. From what I’ve heard in my 22 community meetings, partners with resources and partners with access to likely eligible Latino families need to come together to reinvigorate a wide-reaching, multi-faceted campaign to educate Latino families of mixed status on their rights.
Outside work I’ve been having a nice time enjoying the mild Arizona winter and doing some traveling. Over Thanksgiving I went to San Jose, CA and then onto Oakdale, CA to see a few members of my dad’s side of the family, which was a treat. We (over)ate from Wednesday to Sunday and made a 24 hour-long visit to Yosemite National Park to frolic in the fresh snow and do some wildlife watching. My sister was able to join me for the latter part of the week, and we caught up and slipped around on the ice together. It was great to see everyone and get away for a few days.
Since then I’ve done some shopping (though sadly not for anyone on my Christmas list), bought and decorated a 7-ft Christmas tree with Matthew, attended a corny but enjoyable holiday performance by the Phoenix Symphony, and traveled to Nogales for work and pleasure (the work was a SNAP outreach presentation, the pleasure was the chile relleno I had afterward….). I’ve been slacking as far as working out at the Y goes, but I continue to enjoy attending the UCC church downtown on Sundays. Pastor Steve is a really brilliant preacher, blending academic study of the Bible with ease of speech and accessible, powerful metaphors for a combination I find easy to listen to, easy to understand, and always quite moving. Today I followed up church with a trip to Papago Park, a regional park with a nice picnic area and some well marked (if not too exciting) hiking trails, and a stroll through an arts festival in Mesa, where I bought my office Secret Santa gift!
I am really looking forward to going home for a few days in late December. In particular, I’m looking forward to seeing my family, gorging myself on Christmas cookies, and hanging out with friends I’ve been missing a lot as of late. I think the holiday will also be a nice break during which I might gain some last perspective on my work project before writing it up in January. At the point I go home I will have also completed all the interviews for the policy site placement phase of the fellowship and will, hopefully, have a good sense of where I’ll be working for the first half of the next year. Exciting things to come! I’m hoping for something with a lot of Hill interaction, a healthy dose of research, and good job prospects.
I will likely not writing again until going home on the 23rd, so Merry Christmas to all! I’m eager to relax, reflect, and get started on 2011!
Marie
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