Today, I accepted my boss's offer to make my organizing position permanent. I told her I'd like to stay, potentially, for another year. Who woulda thunk it?! I left the office at 11pm tonight, having stayed late to prepare for our staff retreat tomorrow (and still not finished). Now I'm working on my lesson plan for my second to last class for the 8th graders at JRC. I question if this is really what I want to be doing. Yet the decision feels so right. It's exciting to be hired on without a short-term contract. I already have a different sense of legitimacy as an organizer.
I smiled, though, as I dismounted my bicycle thinking about my commitment to another year here because the poem by Langston Hughes, "Dream Deferred," popped into my head.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
While I had dreams of what to do with my time post-June, when I was originally going to end my tenure at LAC, for some reason each of those feels less urgent now. But I do wonder what will happen to them. If I'll ever leave Chicago... if I'll ever start to address my bucket list... if I'll ever start to live my 20s the way I dreamed of living them when I was in college. But alas, to look back and say that I learned and worked as a community organizer working on healthcare access issues for over 2.5 years, that ain't so bad. And after all, there's still plenty of time left in my 20s.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Update & Moishe House National Retreat
After a yearlong hiatus from blogging, I felt inspired to post the blog I wrote for the Moishe House (MH) blog here on my personal Chicago blog. Perhaps I will strike up this practice again. A short update, I finished Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps in August 2009. In September 2009, I began my stay at the Moishe House Chicago. MH is an international organization whose mission is to build and support communities for Jews in their 20s. There are houses in cities all around the world. I am still working at my job as a community organizer at the Lakeview Action Coalition (where I worked in Avodah, now I just have a bigger salary). I staff our healthcare campaign. I have also spent that last 8 months teaching a comparative religion course on Tuesday evenings for the 8th graders from Temple Beth Israel (TBI) and the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (JRC)at JRC, the synagogue where I grew up.
Tomorrow, I will tell my boss that I'd like to accept her offer to make my position permanent. I think I will likely stay for another year, with the goal of doing Adamahnext May. I never thought I'd be in Chicago this year, let alone for another year. But for now it makes sense to stay here -- continue to build my skills as an organizer. I'd also like to dedicate the next year to be intentional about doing more Jewish learning and exploration of the faith and my spirituality. And of course, I want to continue building and developing my relationships here in Chicago -- with friends and family. Perhaps, I will bring back my blogging tradition.
With no further ado, my reflection on the Moishe House National Retreat in Austin, TX this past weekend...
Back at home in the MH Chicago, I am exhausted and yet more excited than ever about being a part of Moishe House. We've just returned from our first MH National Retreat, this year near Austin, TX. It was a great weekend, full of meaningful programming, reflection, ritual, schmoozing, and of course, lots of eating.
It was incredible to meet all the other residents of MHs across the country. It often feels like here in Chicago we operate in a vacuum, but this weekend afforded us all the opportunity to get to know one another. I realized that I am part of something much bigger than just the community we've built here in Chicago. It was exciting to hear models from other cities (a special shout out to MH Boston!!), talk about programs that work and those that don't, and also to commiserate together on striking the balance between work, personal life, family, other commitments, and Moishe House, not to mention other struggles many of us share.
I feel inspired to develop new lines of programming around Jewish learning and to bring more ritual to some of our events. I also would like to be more intentional about reaching out to other Jews in the Chicago area and building our community. I think a first goal for our house will be to develop a strong sense of mission and purpose.
Before I close, I want to reiterate what we acknowledged at the retreat. First a big thanks to Jeremy and Aviva, the regional managers, for putting together a great schedule. The sessions were all meaningful, I felt our input was valued, and it created lots of great prompts and opportunities for us to share with each other. I also want to give a huge thanks to David Cygielman, the founder and executive director, for all of his sessions with us, but especially the session going through the MH budget, and of course his incredible dedication to the organization and his vision. It is rare and incredible to be a part of such an open and honest organization. I feel that, we, the residents, are truly valued and respected as major stakeholders and partners in the organization, in a way that I've never felt with any other organization.
To close, I feel grateful and humbled to be part of such an incredible organization. It really is a privilege to live in a Moishe House. We have the responsibility and the opportunity to make Judaism meaningful and pertinent for other Jews our age. And we are given incredible resources to build a strong community.
Tomorrow, I will tell my boss that I'd like to accept her offer to make my position permanent. I think I will likely stay for another year, with the goal of doing Adamahnext May. I never thought I'd be in Chicago this year, let alone for another year. But for now it makes sense to stay here -- continue to build my skills as an organizer. I'd also like to dedicate the next year to be intentional about doing more Jewish learning and exploration of the faith and my spirituality. And of course, I want to continue building and developing my relationships here in Chicago -- with friends and family. Perhaps, I will bring back my blogging tradition.
With no further ado, my reflection on the Moishe House National Retreat in Austin, TX this past weekend...
Back at home in the MH Chicago, I am exhausted and yet more excited than ever about being a part of Moishe House. We've just returned from our first MH National Retreat, this year near Austin, TX. It was a great weekend, full of meaningful programming, reflection, ritual, schmoozing, and of course, lots of eating.
It was incredible to meet all the other residents of MHs across the country. It often feels like here in Chicago we operate in a vacuum, but this weekend afforded us all the opportunity to get to know one another. I realized that I am part of something much bigger than just the community we've built here in Chicago. It was exciting to hear models from other cities (a special shout out to MH Boston!!), talk about programs that work and those that don't, and also to commiserate together on striking the balance between work, personal life, family, other commitments, and Moishe House, not to mention other struggles many of us share.
I feel inspired to develop new lines of programming around Jewish learning and to bring more ritual to some of our events. I also would like to be more intentional about reaching out to other Jews in the Chicago area and building our community. I think a first goal for our house will be to develop a strong sense of mission and purpose.
Before I close, I want to reiterate what we acknowledged at the retreat. First a big thanks to Jeremy and Aviva, the regional managers, for putting together a great schedule. The sessions were all meaningful, I felt our input was valued, and it created lots of great prompts and opportunities for us to share with each other. I also want to give a huge thanks to David Cygielman, the founder and executive director, for all of his sessions with us, but especially the session going through the MH budget, and of course his incredible dedication to the organization and his vision. It is rare and incredible to be a part of such an open and honest organization. I feel that, we, the residents, are truly valued and respected as major stakeholders and partners in the organization, in a way that I've never felt with any other organization.
To close, I feel grateful and humbled to be part of such an incredible organization. It really is a privilege to live in a Moishe House. We have the responsibility and the opportunity to make Judaism meaningful and pertinent for other Jews our age. And we are given incredible resources to build a strong community.
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