Final Thoughts on "Doin' Good in the Hood"

(For real, I wrote this on Saturday on my flight home from New Orleans. I have just been super busy and unable to upload until now..enjoy) As I write this I am hundreds of miles up in the sky, flying over Louisiana. Another week of doin’ good in the ‘hood is over. A few highlights from yesterday and then some concluding thoughts, although I’m sure I’ll be in Panera again in 2 days to write again… Yesterday I went with the other workers to a health fair for National Hispanic HIV Awareness Day. It was an interesting event. It was held in the parking lot of some church in one of the black neighborhoods on the other side of the city. There were groups there doing HIV tests and flu shots and giving out information on a bunch of different community health programs. I sat in on one of the HIV tests and was really impressed with how the worker went through that process, treating the man with dignity and combining the testing experience with education about HIV/AIDS and how it is transmitted. After the health fair, I finally had a po-boy! Woo! Truth be told, it was not that exciting compared to some other New Orleans fare, but it was good. Then I went out to do outreach again in a different neighborhood, the “hood of hoods.” While we were out this time, two of the workers passed out condoms and I handed out a card with St. John’s information on it for people to get more condoms and free HIV tests. When we had given condoms to one woman, I went to hand her the card saying “we also offer free HIV tests at our office.” Response: “Oh, I already got it – full blown AIDS.” Dang. It took me by surprise because it is really uncommon for people to just come out and tell you that. (The workers I was with told me later they hadn’t ever gotten that response before.) It left me feeling two things. First, it’s just sad to know that the city and the problem are both so big that it is seemingly an impossible disease to stop. Second, it was more motivation to keep doing what we were doing. Sure, it is quite awkward hearing about a stranger’s sex life, but I would much rather stomach that than Monday’s encounter any day. After outreach, I went back to Bruce and Deborah’s and hung out for a bit before round 2 of beans and rice. Excellent. After dinner Deborah and I had another really good talk about the race issues. I talked with her about a challenging video we saw in my Diversity and Oppression class last week. I continue to be so grateful for Deborah’s openness with me about a topic that is really hard to talk about sometimes. When we finished dinner, I went with Deborah to a tribute concert that was being put together to celebrate the 75th birthday of a woman who began a community choir that toured the world. She also has been in a few movies and started a gospel music festival in New Orleans. Deborah sang in the first community choir when she was 19 and the group did a reunion concert with some other groups. There are few words that can bring the experience justice. This was my first real-life gospel choir experience and it was so sweet. The music was so full of energy and life and there was hand-clapping and foot stomping and amen’ing. I took a little bit of video to try to capture some of it. The quality isn’t great, but the woman in the gold hat is the one whose birthday we were celebrating. I can only hope to have that much love, energy, and gusto when I am 75. She is the one in the gold hat below.

Moving into some reflections on the week as a whole, one of the differences this week was the interaction I had with a lot of people in the community. Last time, I was with the same crowd for the whole week, but this time, I saw new people every day. I was much more immersed into the life and culture of people than last time. I walked their neighborhoods doing outreach, went to choir rehearsals and concerts, and drove their streets. Again, things that are difficult to put into words and sometimes better left for individuals to figure out on their own. I think last time was a lot of me realizing my own prejudices and assumptions about people who were different than me. But this time, with those realizations in mind, I was able to start getting rid of them and building a new framework for how I see the world and the people who live in it. When I was talking to Deborah about race issues, she talked about how she has learned never to assume anything of anyone she doesn’t know – good or bad, black or white. She shared how she has come to learn that white people can be kind and black people can be rude; and how it all goes back to your spirit – if you are mean-spirited, it doesn’t matter what color your skin is. And mean-spirited people come in all colors. I was a little disappointed not to have gotten more formal clinical time with people this week, but in hindsight, I think the foundation laid by some of these more overarching principles is even more important. I remember last time I was writing my post-trip post and really struggling with the “now what” question of how I would use what I learned. I have a few things in mind for the “now what” question at the conclusion of this trip..but am not quite sure about them yet. What I do know is that I am comforted to know I will be back again in January with a group from school. I am already excited for more learning and experiences and New Orleans fare. Lastly, I cannot say how grateful I am to those of you who read and support and encourage my “project” of throwing myself into the hood and seeing what goes down. I appreciate your willingness to read and listen and to allow yourselves to be maddened and saddened by the same things I struggle with while I am here. These experiences continue to change me and I hope that it has created an opportunity for positive change in each of you.