return to greatness

i've been back in boston since friday night (late, of course -- my flight got delayed and then i was a witness to some doings on the T so i ended up talking to the cops...). i'm excited because i am ready for tomorrow. i made arroz con leche for my kids because i promised them that i would bring them something delicious and that's pretty much my go-to dessert that always tastes good. and its pretty delicious this time if i do say so myself.

i've packed up my backpack, my uniform is pressed. and i am about to get a few hours of sleep to get ready to be at school for a few hours and then team meeting. and then i have a mtg about the DB (daily briefing) and another team event. dinner at chili's. but by the time i get there i'll already have eaten dinner since i can't really hold out that long. i'll probably just have a snack there. maybe not even.

black tie, cy style

so i went to a gala event for world unity, inc. it was pretty much one of those city year exposure things and they sent ten quick-emailing/responding corps members out to the even with a guy from external affairs. the food was good, we were too poor to bid on any of the items, but it was a pretty excellent deal for a friday night. i ate delicious things and had a good time laughing it up in uniform and chatting it up when the live auction got a little too pricey and i couldn't pay attention anymore.

there was a gospel choir and a tango show.

but seriously, the most important thing that happened this week was yesterday. i was leaving afterschool, saying a general bye from the doorway of the classroom and andre (the kid that spit on me, kicked me, and slapped my glasses off my face -- all in one day) ran up to me and jumped into my arms and said BYEEEEEE! i was in shock. i thought he didn't want anything to do with me. but then, what?! so yeah. it was a total joy.

also i finished all my RASL (research and systematic learning) data entry stuff today and i am all caught up on the last three weeks!!!!! it's so fabulous i don't even know what to say except for its a PITW that came to mind all at once about when you finish a task that it's like a release of energy (putting it in as soon as i find my handbook...).

oh and i turned in a DB (daily briefing) to be used for visitors at City Year Boston. should be a good document. it looks good this month for sure.

good things all around. and my team led PT this week at Copley Square and it was hot. we had incredible energy and enthusiasm for all the exercises, even when the corps didn't get the new ones we rolled out this week. we were patient and demonstrated everything over again. so yeah, go upromise!

short week!

so because of the holiday, there was only tuesday, wednesday and thursday to be in school this week. and because the taekwondo instructor decided that he didn't need CY corps members in his after-school anymore, we didn't go to after-school, we just went back to the office after school every night. which was good for me because every night so far this week i have been there till 8. sad, but true.

well on tuesday, i was there for step practice. and yesterday and today i was in the office working on the daily briefing.

daily briefing- (straight from the handbook) "serves as a tool to communicate any relevant, pertinent and timely information to the entire site. -- it is our daily newspaper -- keeping us, literally, on the same page. It is both an internal and external civic engagement tool (means we could potentially hand it out to people interested in CY; did it on the T today).

it is a tool to announce major events, share ideas, introduce visitors, and communicate about what's going on at our sites. It also serves as an engagement tool because external people can obtain a copy and learn more about service, culture, and events. remember: 'if it's not in the daily briefing (DB), it doesn't exist.'"

so i am on the DB team and every three weeks, kevin and i get together for a couple nights and hash out some ridiculous DBs because we love to set the bar high. so our DBs this week are so amazing that i might even make PDFs of them and get them up here on a link sometime when i get back into the office.

today in school i made a contract with two kids. they have been picking on each other since i got there and today i was finally like, let's be adults about this. it was hard to get them to listen to each other because they were really busy accusing each other instead of listening, but it worked out alright. they are being held accountable by themselves, their peers, myself, their teacher, and the vice principal. hopefully it will work. today was beautiful at lunch though. one of the kids bought a chocolate chip cookie, gave me a little and gave his rival a little. i wanted to cry at lunch, but i didn't. its things like that that make me think it is possible to change the way kids think, they way they look at solutions to problems and the way they can come up with their own viable solutions instead of resorting to violence. that is my goal this year. i am not there to make these kids smarter. i am there to let them see that they have the power to make a change in their lives and that are making choices that will affect them every step of the way. to a larger extent, there is a system and that does affect them as well, but they can either work with it, outside of it in a positive manner, or against it negatively. city year is a social change organization (from PITW#99) "seeking to shift attitudes, values and resources towards the common good -- with youth as its greatest resource. in everything that we do, we need to think about how we can release the power of young people."

pitw (putting idealism to work)- over 180 pieces of collective CY wisdom that guide our serve and serve as a reference for ways to implement our mission in our daily work.