Watch out - gorilla crossing!

One of my guys came back to visit me today. He has long since stopped coming because he started taking classes at a trade school. I helped him write essays for financial aid applications to begin there, several of which he received, and we worked hard together before he left.

When he first began with me, got some clean time and started to make plans about school, he kept talking about "attacking" his schoolwork with everything he could, with such strength that would completely change his life. He said, "Look Miss Sarah - I got enough things going against me. I'm a felon, and I'm black. I need to start stacking the cards in my favor. I'm goin' in there to attack like a goRILLa, (with the emphasis on the second syllable)." As I'm also in school, he frequently used that description as I told him stories about it.

Throughout the past year, he'd drop by for lunch on occasion, and we'd greet each other by raising our hands over our shoulders in a flexing gesture and growling: GoRILLa. He's at the top of his class, and he has gained a lot of respect, especially for himself. We'd swap stories about projects or classes we were taking, and this characterization would frequently came into our descriptions.

To do your best at something, to attack it vigorously. I hope that for all of us.

Six months later

I can't believe it's almost over, after six months. All the planning and worrying and hoping before my practicum, then the practicum itself - still working, taking a class, taking a pay cut, missing family events... Now it's over and I've been granted a two month reprieve before a new semester begins.

I've been reflecting on the first saturday that I was working in this new schedule, and a doctor stopped me to help a woman he found in the highway. I wondered if today would have a similar experience, kind of like bookends. When this first started, though I was anxious, I was incredibly and suprisingly relieved to be away from my current position, and I realized how completely involved I was with my clients and their world. It was scary to realize how wrapped up I was with the homeless circuit, because it was hard to get away from. It was actually kind of draining, and as I started this practicum, I felt revived, like wind had been put back into my sails. I started to remember other interests I have and feel like I could do something about them, an emboldening fire that drives me when I'm really amped about something. I felt that fire several times during my project, doing a little anti-payday lending work, organizing with other professionals, asking questions, thinking about the direction of my career. I like that fire, put trust in it and gravitate towards it. It was good to be reminded.

There are so many ways to work for social justice besides being 'with' people in their pain and their efforts to overcome and recover. It's good to be reminded, and I look forward to beginning new ways.