Friday, October 27, 2006

In my quest to be more Christ-like, I accept that Jesus would not desire to punch a volunteer in the face.

Yesterday was a complete emotional roller-coaster all the way around. I had a really great, focused meeting with Pastor Scott here and as a result I'm going to start putting together some resources for the homeless folks that come through here (yes, I've started using the word "folks"). Then we got lots of phone interest in Andy's Club. I guess the flyers are being distributed finally at schools. Of the 3 parents calling for information, 1 followed through and signed her two daughters up! So our count right now stands at 5 with the potential for more if the other parents sign their kids up next week. Yay!

I got really emotional though randomly in the middle of the day. Owen's memorial service at the hospital was Wednesday night and I'm always upset when I can't go. He helps me to keep things in perspective. When I remember how hard he fought to live, I know I can fight to just work and make this a functioning situation. I've actually been writing this post in two sections. The second, now, coming after a 3 and a half hour meeting with all of our leadership about what we can do to make things really work here. So there are a lot of emotions on top of personal baggage and blech, now I'm just rambling and digressing.

Why did I almost punch a volunteer you might be asking? Because he was all up in my biznass and wouldn't give me 5 minutes to just print a stinkin' calendar. When I informed him I needed the computer for my JOB and it would just be literally 5 minutes if he would just stop questioning and judging my actions and let me do it, he said that, well, he really needed it because he was leaving for LA and he was the only one who could do what he was doing, which I guess was fixing all the network issues. I cannot handle people who feel their work is more important than anyone else's, especially volunteers who yes are here to help but should not be getting in the way! Ugh. It was intense.

Riding the roller coaster back up, I got a part in Guys and Dolls! Not the part I wanted most, but still exciting. I guess I'm just chorus but the director made it seem more glamorous. I cannot wait to get out of the church and have another community to be involved in. I haven't done a musical in a while, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Finally, I spent some of today looking for valuable Thanksgiving activities that aren't a hand turkey or some ridiculous Native American holding corn collage. But apparently there aren't any. The same Thanksgiving myth is on every web page, not including the fact that if we're being honest, smallpox blankets should be included in our construction paper cornucopias. I guess I will just do something that will really focus on what are we Thankful for and how things are different for these kids this year.

Any suggestions?

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be so hard.

I just got out of a two and a half hour meeting with my teammates addressing the fact that the Disaster Recovery office is essentially crumbling around us. Tons of people at different churches and volunteer sites are planning on or have already left, our bosses seem to have a hard time giving direction, there are no resources, and we are finding that the expectations we had coming down here in no way meet the reality of the situation. For example, we were told there would be no more short-term volunteers at this site after the summer and they have teams scheduled all the way through the winter. We were told that we shouldn't need cars but if we brought personal vehicles they would never be used for work purposes, yet all I drive is my car and I haven't seen a dime of reimbursement for gas. It just seems that while they were excited to get all of us, they weren't really prepared for it. Top that off with one very dramatic personality who is known to blow things out of proportion at times and you have chaos.

I feel that I am faring well in the situation. I basically do my own thing and don't ask for guidance or permission. The flip side of that is, I feel very alone in the work I'm doing. My bosses don't really check in with me so there is no one to bounce ideas off of. I'm trying to discern how much is an honest lack of attention and how much is me just saying "Well I can do it on my own to hell with everyone else."

Other people in the group are REALLY upset. They've been told that they are supposed to do a job but when they try aren't trusted with vehicles or the know-how. Trust was a big word that came up tonight. Our bosses are also in a really stressful place themselves and we're trying to honor and help that situation while also feeling like we're not supposed to be fixing that, they are and that's why they're the bosses.

It's complicated and there is no easy solution and someone's feelings will get hurt.

On the positive, sunny side, Andy's Club (the after-school program) has grown by 50% in just one day...which means we now have 3 kids. Yesterday was a good day, but I sense already some testing of boundaries going on. I'm trying to balance discipline with appeasing them so they continue to come. Whenever things start to feel rocky, I promise pizza and field trips and they love me again.

This weekend we're supposed to visit friends in Houma, Louisiana but there might be too much drama to go. I really want to visit though because the Cajun culture there is supposedly great and fascinating, and delicious.

In rambling other thoughts, I'm realizing that post-college, I'm greatly missing the many different activities I used to be involved in. Not so much the activities themselves, but the diversity in my day. That's why I really hope to do a play or volunteer somewhere outside of this so I can feel like I have a life that isn't 100% in Handsboro. I want to feel like I live in Mississippi not like I live in the church which happens to be in Mississippi.

Lots of Love!
Some images of "Home"




Me with my "Vader" Cup



The room I share with my fabulous roommate, Linda. Its teal and brown and fairly spacious. Yes there is a ladder in the middle of it. Why? I can't remember but it holds all of our make-up and what Linda calls her power tools (hair dryer, straightener, curling iron.) As you can see, I could use some flair for the walls, though. Perhaps some pictures or posters sent from loving friends at home?

This is some of our common room. I chose to photograph the nice couch. You may notice that our "kitchen" is an electrical disaster waiting to happen with a toaster oven, microwave, coffee maker, electric kettle and refrigerator all next to each other.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

$15,000 will get you alot of Pizza Parties

Another busy couple of days...The Presbytery meeting was on Thursday and luckily no churches were able to leave. It was a very interesting process for me to observe considering I'm about to enter the craziness. Firstly, it was super old-school, lots of bowties and sweater vests. Secondly, there was strict adhesion to Robert's Rules of Order via a moderator, something I am actually proud of because I feel that it allows room for all opinions. At the heart of the meeting though was the issue of some churches wanting to leave because the issue of homosexual ordination hadn't been settled to their liking. This is where things got interesting. Basically the churches in question were condemning the overall church for not taking a firmer, more conservative stand on the issue saying they were being unconstitutional. However, they seemed to have no problem going against the constitution when it came to property issues. Presbyterian rule says the Presbytery owns the building and the land, not the pastor or congregation. Therefore if they don't want to belong to PCUSA anymore, they can't try to take the property with them. This particular group was conveniently fighting this rule, saying it gave the higher governing bodies more power. In the end, it was decided that the resolution attempting to be passed wasn't specific enough and that committee would have to rewrite it before the next meeting in February, which might be enough time to have things cool down a bit.

Its very sad to me to hear of churches wanting to pull out. I know that I have very specific feelings on the issue and that many others are feeling the complete opposite way. However I feel like we should follow a model presented at the meeting by the Moderator of General Assembly (she's sort of a big deal) who came to hear all the various concerns. She told a story about a couple going through marriage counseling who were told to hold hands every time they fought and that that's what saved the relationship. Hopefully we in the Presbyterian church can hold hands while we're going through this rough patch.

The rest of Thursday was great because we had two whole kids at the after-school program, and they were all about it! There was some questions like, "Um...are we the only ones?" And so we encouraged them to bring friends. Basically, we'll do anything to keep these two kids coming. We've promised them pizza and field trips and parties, basically anything they want.

While I think the girls are excited and want to tell their friends, I also recognize that Thursday to Tuesday is a long time and the process of them telling their friends and the friends telling parents might get a little tricky. Therefore, I spent Friday preparing flyers to get passed out to the 6, yes 6 elementary schools of Gulfport. The first step in this was getting the flyers approved by principals. Well, you would have thought I was passing out the communist manifesto to the kids the way the flyer got scrutinized (although, it wouldn't be terrible for them to read some Marx). A secretary at one school told me she would pass it on to the principal but it might not be approved because they already had an after-school program there so it would be a conflict of interest. Seriously? Because from what I see and have heard of these programs its mostly, I hope no one gets hurt from now until when the parents come to get the kids. There's not really enrichment being offered.

Thursday night was Karaoke at the Gay bar in Biloxi. That's right the Gay bar in Biloxi. I never thought I would have occassion for that combination of words. It was super fun though. We were invited by another volunteer group called Hands-On who go every week apparently.

Last night and today were spent with board games, football and friends. A great combination. I'll give a shout out here to the New Orleans girls who I know are internet stalkers.

Then...I went to an audition. I know, WHAT?? Well I found the real Gulfport Theatre, not the one in Florida, and auditioned today for Guys and Dolls (to be put on the first and second weekends in February- mark your calendars). For those of you who have seen Waiting for Guffman, it was alot like that. While definitely not the most professional bunch, they seemed fun nonetheless and fairly easy going. I think as long as they do a chorus I should at least get into that. I would love to be Adelaide, but I'm afraid my age might be against me since she's supposed to be in her 30s. This is made more awkward by the fact that the youngest man there was probably 40. In fact I had to do a line reading with a 65 year old man basically accusing him of trying to seduce me. VERY uncomfortable, but I think I pulled it off.

More to come. Miss you guys!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006


If you build it, they will come...or not.

Yesterday was theoretically the first day of the after-school program and Amelia, my co-worker, and I sat and stared at each other until 5 when we decided no one was coming. We thought we had one of the neighborhood girls and perhaps one of her friends, but they didn't show up, after telling us they would definitely be there. I'm actually sort of fine with it because I know these things take time, but I just feel that since I'm sort of alone with this, I'm only ever reporting bad things to everyone else. Then people want to be helpful and offer suggestions which is great, but then I feel alot of self-doubt like all I do is sit around and think all day about how to make this better and why didn't I think of that? I know I am capable of doing this, but for some reason it isn't working. Oh well, faith and patience, faith and patience.

To make myself feel better, I took today off since I worked alot last weekend on the fair, and had an adventure. Thanks to the wonderful guidebook given to me by my brother and sister-in-law, I found Bellingrath Gardens (pictured above). Its the home and gardens of some guy that made a fortune bottling Coke. It was very interesting, but more importantly, lovely to walk around and very tranquil for my soul which needed some reminding that the most beautiful things grow slowly and in cycles. Roses and butterflies (and after-school programs?) come from something small and gross, but hopeful.

After that, I drove into Mobile to see what I could see. There was alot of interesting, beautiful architecture, sort of like if Savannah and New Orleans had a baby, but alot of it seemed abandoned and I'm not sure why. I found an awesome house museum (and those of you who know me really well, know I have a nerdy weakness for old houses, ESPECIALLY Southern ones) with a costumed tour guide. I got a one-on-one tour and so was able to ask lots of questions. It never ceases to amaze me, though, at these places how the issue of slavery is treated. Ann, my guide, kept saying that the family had city slaves which were the upper tier of slaves and were actually treated "quite well, with alot of dignity and respect." I didn't inform Ann that while its true that they may not have been getting beaten everyday, they still were only one-third of a person according to our constitution and while it was probably better for them to be inside rather than working in fields, they had no agency in that decision making process. I just feel like they could say, yes they had slaves and it was terrible but it was status quo, instead of trying to sugarcoat it. All in all, a fun relaxing day, though.

Tomorrow might be intense. We're going to a Presbytery meeting where several churches are expected to leave the denomination. For those of you not familiar with Presbyterian politics, a Presbytery is a governing body of a group of churches, hence I'm working for the Presbytery of Mississippi. This year, PCUSA revisited the issue of homosexuality- namely that ordained ministers must be in a faithful heterosexual relationship or be abstinate. Essentially, no decision was made and everyone just agreed to pray and think on it some more. Instead of being a moderate compromise, this decision only served to make both extremes angry. Therefore, 3 or 4 of the very conservative churches down here are leaving the denomination tomorrow and we're going to the meeting to see how it happens. As someone hoping to work within this system for a living, I'm extremely interested to see how this all happens. I'm not sure if there's any way at this point to save these churches, but I hope so.

Also, is anyone out there? I haven't gotten e-mails in a while! (hint hint, wink wink). G'night.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

What a Long, Strange Weekend It's Been

This weekend was intense in many ways. Wednesday and Friday were spent doing more advertising and shopping for the after-school program kick-off fair. Thursday was CPR day, which as boring as it was, definitely feels good to have. We did adult, child and infant all at once, and guess who started to cry practicing on the infant dummy? I just really can't handle the idea of a choking baby.

Friday was weird and autumn like and I started to get sad and needed to call Sam, who can't really talk on the phone. Also, my aunt sent me pictures of the shore house being demolished, and I had a good cry over that.

We learned that night too about some drama going on within the church. First some back info. We needed to put up some signs on our doors just saying "YAV living quarters, please respect our privacy" This was due mainly to the fact that volunteer teams were cutting through our living room to use our laundry room at all times of the day and night. Mind you, even with these signs up, I still had a volunteer walk in on me in my underwear while I was changing my pants. However, now certain members of the church want us to take the signs down because they feel unwelcome and all of a sudden after not caring about this space for almost 10 years, they want our living room for sunday school and bible studies. I personally think they just want to be nosy and possessive. Obviously we are not feeling welcomed by the congregation.

Yesterday, I worked on fair stuff most of the day. This included going all the way to Ocean Springs (about half an hour away) to find out the place we were renting the bounce house from was actually just down the street in Gulfport. Good thing I wasn't too mean to the guy at the first place when he couldn't find our reservation.

I had a really emotionally challenging experience yesterday with a homeless man that came to the church. We've had a lot of homeless people in and out and its always sad because we're not really set up to give them a place to stay. I was completely alone when this man, Jason, came by. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of Pastor Scott and he came right by. After feeding him some soup, we talked to Jason for several hours about all the terrible things he's been through. Basically he's lost everything and has no place to go and no family. I don't know how to deal with these situations, knowing I am so fortunate and have so much. There's so many people like this, that it gets overwhelming at times, and the only thing we can do is listen to them.

Today was the fair and I think it went really well. We had terrible weather, but despite that we had about 15 kids as well as random parents and stuff. The kids were great to watch because the neighborhood kids were mixing in with the church kids. It looks like we'll have a couple kids to start the program off this week with. The situation could obviously be alot better, but its as good as we hoped for to start with. Anyway, I'm looking forward to finally working with kids.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

I just got out of a meeting with the Mayor, well ok it wasn't a one-on-one, and I'm very worried for the future of Gulfport. He spoke at a dinner at the church tonight and explained for a half hour his very elaborate plan for the new downtown area which will include tons of cutesy shops and restaurants and be very nice and gentrified. When my roommate, Linda, asked about affordable housing he dodged the question and only said that the guy in charge of affordable housing in BOSTON was also working here. At that point I laughed out loud because really affordable housing in Boston is an oxymoron. He also casually threw out the figure of 80,000 houses in 5 years, even though they've only built 500 in the past year. My math isn't great but I don't think that works.

The rich white people here seem mostly concerned with traffic and parks to walk their dogs in. They should be worried though about affordable housing because who will serve them in their fancy restaurants when everyone below the poverty line has to move?

I'm angry.

In other news, our program made the Sun Herald today (The local Southern MS newspaper.) I don't know what it is about journalists though that make them feel the need to add their own special touch to things. I saw the article the woman from the church sent in and it was NOT what got in the paper, and that was the second time that's happened. Oh well, I guess the main point got across.

We've been handing out flyers around the neighborhood, which has been an interesting time. There seems to be a prevailing idea that any after school program is merely day care, whereas I think, coming from the background I do, I almost always think of an after-school program as something enriching and an extension of learning.

Alot of people have said they wanted to come to the fair and I started to get excited. Then I talked to Pastor Scott who informed me that its sort of a southern thing to be like "Oh yeah I'll definitely check that out" with absolutely no intention of coming. This is somewhat foreign to me as I think in the Northeast we would be like "Get the Hell off my lawn and no way I'm going to your stinkin fair" Only we wouldn't say hell and we wouldn't say stinkin.

The money situation right now is really frustrating for me. In order to get the money for the program I am the director of, I need to go through like five other people and save receipts . Its really frustrating.

I hope my blogs don't come off as all negative. There are really amazing things happening here everyday. I think I see Jesus everyday both helping others and getting helped.

Say prayers that people come to my fair!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

This was a really great weekend. Chock full of good times. On Friday night we watched a Gulfport High game where they beat the other team 48 to nothing. You have to love high school football for that kind of score, although the Bears basically did the same thing today. Then we had some late night beach time which was also great, although due to some wrestling, I have a sand-burn mark on my neck that looks very much like a hickie. Definitely an uncomfortable thing to be sporting when you live and work in a church.

Saturday, I went to the Baptist church (one of the millions) to have my car washed by the youth group there. I think I may have made a contact, their leaders seemed interested in having their kids volunteer for the after-school program. But then I looked super shady because I forgot my wallet and had to walk back to the church to get some cash for a donation. Oh well, I think they trusted me. I also went to a marching band competition which made me nostalgic for high school, but so glad to be done with and far away from that part of my life.

I began to feel, speaking of feelings, really homesick for Boston. First, during an amazing nap, I had a dream that I was walking around Boston in the morning, there was perfect autumn weather, and then I randomly bumped into my Zeta buddy, Bethany and we went out for Breakfast. Secondly, we saw the movie The Departed last night (sooooo good by the way) which was filmed in Boston, really close to places I used to live. Finally, we went to a sports bar this afternoon to watch the Skins/Giants game (my roommate is a huge skins fan) and the Pats game was on as well. It seemed like all the commentators had to say was what a nice day it was in Foxboro. Of course I move away and there is finally a nice day there.

On a side note, could Shockey be more embarrassing for New York? He's so gross and unpleasant looking.

A funny thing happened on our way back in from the movie on Saturday night. I think we were probably rolling in around 11:30 or midnight and we bumped into Pastor Scott, my boss in some ways, still working on his sermon for the following morning. At that point I headed upstairs and began making the visitor information cards I had promised to make, but due to some technology difficulties as well as lots of procrastination, I hadn't done it yet. In essence, it was perhaps a sign of things to come- I think Saturdays may turn into typical all nighters in my future career.

I delivered my first children's sermon today on the woman that touches Jesus's robe in the crowd and is healed instantly. I think it went well, but I'm not sure how engaged the kids were. I asked them some questions and they didn't really answer. I guess they could be shy too, and I am pretty tall and scary. Later tonight, one of the volunteers staying here told me he thought I had a gift- that it was a great children's sermon. I think this was really important for me to hear as I am constantly discerning how much what I am doing is for myself and how much it is to meet a deep need and fulfill God's purpose for me.

Ok tough theological question of the day- feel free to stop reading. Is the purpose of those disenfranchised in society to convey God to the world? In other words, are they almost a sacrifice so that we may see Her working (yes I'm trying to switch to Her as a pronoun for God as I'm learning that proper translations would have God be an It rather than a gender specific pronoun, yet It sounds cold so I choose Her to combat thousands of years of making God a man)? If there were no bad things happening to good people, would human beings need God? Would we simply praise without prayers of petition? But if there were only good and happiness we wouldn't know an alternative and therefore not know to be thankful for what we had. It reminds me of when my gender prof. said that if feminists got what we wanted, we would cease to exist, which is a scary thought for those of us who feel that is part of our life's calling. Therefore, I think there is comfort for those who are faithful in bad things happening to them. Without those events, there would be no room for the grace and mercy of God. While I certainly don't think this idea has enough magnitude to cover genocide or millions of babies starving or dying of AIDS, I do selfishly think that without Katrina, I would be lost in alot of ways. The loss of others has led to my fulfillment. But how do I tell them that and make them realize what a gift that can be?

Thanks for all the support thus far. Keep the letters and e-mails coming!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

So I got an e-mail today from the teacher at Gulfport High who does community service stuff with the kids and she says she can't help us because they're already doing two other projects. Seriously? She can't just mention it to a couple of kids? Aside from that, alot more unanswered calls and e-mails.

There have also been some misunderstandings about program expectations and who is making decisions. I guess there was little to no communication in the summer about the program so separate visions and ideas were created. Now we're struggling to combine those ideas into something that's acceptable to the church funding us. I feel that I generally have a hard time letting go of control in these situations and may feel unnecessarily defensive.

I just found out that one of my roommates has made some contacts with some kids that may come to the program. Yay! Maybe we're on the right track?

In a larger sense of things, this Amish school shooting is really troubling me. I think the causes of it are a real testament to the messed up gender relations in our society. However, the forgiveness and grace demonstrated by these people can be such an example for us. I guess that's the good that's come of it.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. I need to make 200 visitor information cards for church bulletins, but they need to be fed one by one and one side at a time AND there is only one computer hooked up to the printer AND that computer is also the only one hooked up to the scheduling system. I may be pulling an all nighter at some point.

I really need ideas for advertising if anyone's got them! More soon.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Today was tough. Time is running out on the deadline for our after-school program and we have no kids committed to either being in the program or volunteering to be mentors. Sigh. Worse, I feel like the community is just not really supportive. I feel like several locals have taken some small pleasure in the fact that I'm failing. Like when they ask and I have to admit no one's signed up, they say, "yeah I'm not surprised" as if I am asking kids to do something horrendous. I have made so many unreturned phone calls and written so many unresponsive to e-mails. Shouldn't they want to take agency in the rebuilding of their neighborhoods? Sigh. If high school teachers don't respond to e-mails or calls how else do I get to them?

On the plus side, we have multiple thousands of dollars and beautiful advertising materials (courtesy of Nickel Artistic!), as well as a bounce house and cotton candy machine reserved for our kick-off fair. These two things will make my day with or without kids especially since we have the bounce house from Saturday morning until Monday morning- yup definitely camping out in it.

But back to the negative. I have a hard time with common sense mistakes. For instance, when I contacted the Sun Herald today to find out why our ad hadn't been posted, they said they didn't know the date. When I referred back to my original e-mail (pasted below) I realized this was not the case.

Please post the following under the October 15 Free section.
Thanks!


Andy's Club Kick-Off Fair! Andy's Club, a new, free, arts and academic after-school program for 1st-5th graders is having a free Kick-Off Fair to learn about the program. Bring the whole family to enjoy the games, food, and fun! 3 to 5 pm at Handsboro Presbyterian Church 1304 E. Pass Road Gulfport. Sponsored by the Presbytery of Mississippi and St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Contact Brenna at 228-604-2424 for more information.


Also, why didn't she contact me when she didn't know the date? I mean if your whole job is doing the Gulfport What's Happening section, maybe you could make a bigger effort to know what's happening.

The worst sadness of the day came when I was canvassing the area churches to drop off informational post-cards. Although we are in the Bible belt and trip over a church every time we go outside, I only talked to two real live people in all the churches I stopped at. Here, at least is some good news. The one woman I talked to has a daughter that works at the local Christian radio station and says she bets they would give me an interview. While this will make me extremely uncomfortable as both a Presbyterian and Ms. Socially awkward, I will do it for the program and I guess make my Mama proud in the process.

Again, back to the negative. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to even find offices at most of the places. I don't understand how in an area so wrought with tragedy and devastation that a church wouldn't have someone there at all times. I was relieved for a second at the Catholic Church when I saw a chapel that was open all the time, theoretically. But you needed to know the code for the keypad to get in. I don't think Jesus should have a code and I don't think church should be a certain time. Are they afraid of people stealing if they kept the churches open? That idea then reminds me of the priest from Les Mis that catches Jean Val Jean (spelling?) stealing from him and basically says wait you missed the good stuff. With the rising homeless population here, aren't we called as people of faith to always be available and to share whatever we have? But I digress.

So I am now becoming a professional stalker. In the next two weekends I am attending a Gulfport High Football Game, High School Marching Band competition, High School play and a carwash. I'm also calling every youth group in the area tomorrow in the attempts to find volunteers. AND pounding the pavement putting postcards in every mailbox nearby. God will make this work...I think.

Now a funny story, if you have made it this far. I was searching out local community theaters after my roommate, Linda mentioned that she saw something about the Gulfport Little Theater. I did some researching and stumbled across the Gulfport Community Players. They had a great exciting website and so I e-mailed them right away offering to do whatever they needed, just because I felt like I was lacking that creative outlet and strangely missing a theatre community. I got an e-mail back right away saying yeah come by to rehearsal this week, we can use all the help we can get as it is about to get extremely busy what with tourist season and all. The "tourist" thing struck me as a little odd since everything touristy is knocked down here, but I guess there are some casinos and what not. In any case I made plans to attend rehearsal last night. We got back from a trip to Hattiesburg (sprung on us at the last minute) right at the time rehearsal was supposed to start.

I quickly tried to find directions and got very frustrated when mapquest wasn't working. I then looked at the map on their website and everything seemed fine- numbered streets really close to the ocean- so I started to pull back on the map looking for some familiar roads. When I pulled back far enough, the coast-line was not straight like that of Mississippi, but quite curved, like that of say, Florida. So yes I was invited to attend rehearsals nine hours away in Gulfport, FL. Sigh. I am not quite sure yet how I e-mail my new found friends back to tell them I'm an idiot. The good news is there IS a Gulfport Little Theatre, but it has a much less snazzy website. I'll call them tomorrow.

For my musical theatre friends out there, I'm currently listening to alot of Caroline or Change. My heart is singing its soundtrack.

Goodnight y'all! Say prayers that the children for my program will find me and that I will find them.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006


Welcome to my blog!

Where to start? For those of you new to my adventures, I'm living in MS for a year doing volunteer work. This blog is an attempt to keep everyone updated while also maintaining the essence of Brenna. Expect my usual sassy self.

Some things I am loving about Gulfport and my life:
The weather-its always warm!
The people- super friendly and thankful for our presence.
Food- Everything is spicy, just how like it and who knew fried shrimp was so delicious?
Football- Everyone loooves it. I hope you all saw that Saints/Falcons game.
My job- Creating an after-school program is proving to be just the challenge I was looking for.
My living situation- Fabulous roommates and I can feel free to express my faith on a daily basis. Great theological discussions.

Some cons:

The weather-Will it ever be cold? I miss my sweaters! Also have these people heard of opening windows? I swear all the energy of the world gets sucked to the air conditioners of Mississippi.
The people- Seriously you do not need my life story within the first five minutes of meeting me. Also, its apparently NOT acceptable that I roam around unescorted by a man. I've had several uncomfortable experiences due to that ideology.
Food- I unfortunately learned the hard way that the vein in a shrimp is really its poop chute. Yeah I'm done with uncleaned shrimp for a while.
Football- I'm trying hard, but I think if I have to watch another game I might scream, except aren't the Giants playing this weekend? Ok one more.
My Job- I'm not actually working with kids yet and I'm learning that in the South it takes a long time to get a call back.
My living situation- Our current situation allows for many strangers to walk through our space which is very uncomfortable for me. Also, my office is the next door down from my bedroom. I get very confused about when I'm working and when I'm not. I am also unfortunately a professional cockroach killer at this point.

The picture above is from our retreat to New Mexico. We got to meet all the Young Adult Volunteers (the program I'm working through) from across the country and see what they're up to. It was a great time for me to worship and meet lots of other kids who are both liberal and religious. We did lots of hiking, although I freaked out on the really big trail, and had an awesome bonfire the last night. At said bonfire, I was quite proud of the way I knew the words to all the "classics" such as Free Bird, Hotel California and House of the Rising Sun, but then equally shamed when I didn't know any of the christian songs. Oh well, those along with, sadly, many books of the bible, I am determined to get to know better.

Say prayers or think happy thoughts for me, more to come soon!