September Hours: 6.25 hours
9/14/19
Cumulative Hours: 6.25 hours
Anna's Place
Anna's Place is a social justice organization affiliated with St. Anna's Episcopal Church in New Orleans. All the clientele are black African American youth. I had my chance to become Jean Piaget through observation. They children were grouped by age. The Yellow Group is the youngest. They have big puppy eyes and are eager to talk to strangers. They are affectionate with camaraderie and hugs. This age group has yet to indicate to me how they pigeonhole me according to any racial schema.
In contrast, the Red Group:
“Where are you from?” one pre-teen fearlessly asked.
“I’m from…” I named a U.S. city.
“Oh,” she said, disappointed. I think she wanted to hear me say Vietnam or China, and an explanation as to why my skin color was so drastically different from hers. Through sight, perhaps she coded me as a foreigner.
For some white and black Americans, the racial schema codes Asian Americans as foreigners. Asian Americans are Americans. However, many white Americans refuse to accept those who look Asian American as genuine American, but code them as foreigners. The term "American" is reserved for those who possess white skin and light colored eyes, the expression of the recessive phenotype.
Even though all the clientele were black, the volunteers were a diverse group and easy to tell apart just by using our racial schema. There were white individuals - guess which group they belonged to: volunteer or clientele? There were many volunteers from Loyola, because in the late morning, some were standing around, eager to look for ways to be helpful.
I played four-in-a-row. I lost twice.
“I won,” she said. She is A, a female between 9 and 13.
The game involved brain power. The best strategy is to win in a zigzag pattern as opposed to arranging an orthogonal pattern. Your opponent will view this and block your win. But a zig zag is much more difficult to catch and you can deceive your opponent if they are not careful.
I sat in the music class. The Green Group were antsy when Mr. Leach tried to explain the lyrics of a song. They were silly. But they enjoyed the name rhythm game, which involved clapping and snapping. Even I made a mistake. Mistakes always end with giggles.
The gardening class was fun. The Yellow Group used rakes and other tools much bigger and taller than their small bodies. They looked at worms and picked out plastic. The shovels were fought over. They voted on which vegetables to grow. A. wanted to grow roses. But the gardening instructor explained that it’s not the season for roses. Even better, we cannot eat them. Little V. wanted green beans, but it wasn’t the season, and she settled on peas and beets. I would have voted on kale. When can I plant cilantro to put into pho noodle soups and tacos? I am getting homesick and I miss the food of home.
Gardening is one of the solutions from public health advocates given the food deserts of underserved communities. Prevention of diabetes and other chronic diseases start early.
The business class was offered for the oldest group. The instructor discussed the history of the Blockbuster and Netflix rivalry. Now Blockbuster had just one store. Technology is a game changer. Nokia v. iPhone. Guess who won? They drafted ideas for their business. What was the problem? What was their solution?
Finally, I participated in an art class. All the young students from the Yellow Group were placed in Arts because “It takes a certain skill set to do Dance or Drumming.” the coordinator explained to me.
Two older students from the Green group were also in art. Mr. Timothy with a sunshine smile and wavy white hair led the class. One was very introverted. But A knows how to draw.
S. was very kind. He was chastised during the music class. But in art, he was calmer.
“Do you want to paint,” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
He handed me a brush and a paper with an outline of three birds to color.
“You paint this one red and this one blue,” he instructed.
Cute V. was eager to show me her work-in-progress, a heart she painted in solid red. She waved at me.
*
What is the point of community service? To be connected to the less fortunate?
I tried to prepare for the long day with breakfast but it wasn’t enough because I was so starved by noon. My liver was performing gluconeogenesis in high gear.
Thankfully, the Chef exhorted to Ms. Te’Ara, “the food’s going to get cold.”
Preach on, brother.
Lunch was red beans and rice. So good. I was so hungry, I could not wait for a millisecond to put hot sauce on it like the kids. I shoveled the tastiest rice and tastiest cajun links into my mouth. I knew I had to eat this every day. Never mind the arsenic in the rice and its inhibition of my pyruvate dehydrogenase complex....for now. Let me enjoy the sweet dopamine release from the umami receptor stimulation.
A round trip Uber transportation cost a hefty $14. Public transportation is practically non-existent here in downtown New Orleans. The bus spot is a spot with secondhand tobacco smoke, a Cytochrome P450 inducer. No one should hang out there.
