Experiencing Simultaneity
Over the past few weeks I’ve felt excited, nervous, joyous, scared, passionate, confused, ambitious, courageous… sometimes all in the same day and sometimes all in the same hour! It’s such an incredible city with so much to explore and so much that prompts self-exploration. I am tested daily on how I react to different situations, which I think is an incredible opportunity.
Jordan updating the Community Events board at the New Orleans Women's Shelter
My experience at the women’s shelter has been so many things. I love it here! I am the Employment Program Coordinator and have been leading group and individual workshops on resume writing, collecting lists of transferable skills, cover letter writing, mock interviews and job search strategies. It’s been an amazing opportunity to get to know the residents and some of their stories, motivations and hurdles. This shelter is a transitional shelter, so there is no cap on how long residents can stay. There are fewer than 20 residents, which poses obvious conflict for me. I field about 25 calls a day from women and girls seeking immediate shelter and I have to refer them to other shelters or complete screening forms to add them to the waitlist. I constantly struggle with the pros and cons of different types of shelters. Is it best to have an overnight shelter that sleeps 150 people so that fewer people are sleeping under freeways at night? Or is it better to have a transitional shelter that creates a space for women to empower themselves through case management, employment programs, and parenting classes so that they can live outside of the shelter sustainably? A few weeks ago I attended a Domestic Violence conference and in one of the workshops we watched a documentary on women who have been incarcerated and are on life sentence for killing abusive partners in self defense. One woman explained how she was asked, “why didn’t you just leave?” She explained how she had filed over 45 police reports, but all the cops were friends with her husband; she called the one shelter in the area, but they were full; she had nowhere to go. When she tried to leave, she ended up sleeping in her car with her children and then returning back to the house. This made me livid and sad that I could be one of those people on the other line at a shelter telling a person there was no room.
Jordan working with a resident in the Employment Program
On a lighter note, I love what I am doing and try not to let what I’m not doing immobilize me. The women here are incredible and I love my co-workers! The family vibe here is strong and we are all constantly looking out for each other and sharing stories about our days and lives. I also really love my house mates, nine women who have become my family very quickly! We tend to get home from work and debrief while cooking communal dinners of curried lentils, sweet potatoes, okra, and of course, red beans and rice (a local custom on Monday nights). This session usually ends with long long conversations questioning everything from the inherent problems of being a white, temporary volunteer from another city, to deconstructing the discourse around the term ’social justice’ work, to sharing horror stories about the structural inequality that Hurricane Katrina exposed.
This is all just one side, though. We also love to go out and dance and discover new jazz venues in hidden pockets all over the city! On any given night one might find us dancing onstage with the legendary Dirty Dozen Brass Band, joining them in singing “My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now”; participating in the Second Lines on Sundays; enjoying a free dinner at the Hare Krishna Temple; soaking up a spoken word performance at JuJu Bag Coffee House; taking the streetcars to local theater productions of the Angola 3 and the Laramie Project, or just lounging on the couch in the living room talking.
It’s also been a pretty busy time with so many Jewish holidays packed into one month! I’ve been learning a lot about pluralistic Jewish communities and love hearing all of the different ways my housemates observe and celebrate these holidays with their families and friends. We are lucky to live in such a vibrant Jewish community in New Orleans. Several families have hosted us for dinners and break the fasts after services. My roommate and I were invited by a very warm and gracious family to have dinner with them for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I am overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude to be a part of and help build such strong communities here. I feel like I am learning and growing every day and am enthusiastic about the adventures to come!
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