Leslie and Tony against the world

Everytime I read the blogs I am even prouder of the job Hamline students are doing!!!I miss all three of you and desparately need your energy and input to make the class in New Orleans happen next summer.Hey how about bringing some of the kids here-maybe for their Spring Break!!!Make sure they can stay in touch with you guys so we can mentor them as an ongoing thing.I am increasing sorry I wasn't able to stay with you guys for this once ina lifetime ride but perhaps my work was here at home.I was hoping to be able to tell you that the course was in place by the time you got home.Well, I guess that could still happen...Perhaps Hamline students could work with Xavier's Upward Bound Program next year too.Don't forget to get copies of the music cd the students create as well as their films also the documnetaries.Once again I am so proud of you all as I hope you are of me.Can't wait to have you guys home.Stay strong and fire on!!!

Love,

Lurelia

3 weeks left!

I just can not seem to get my mind off of that. I am building sucha bond with my co workers and the kids here that I cant believe that I actually have to leave soon. Anyways, last week ended with a little stress. Our scheduled trip to the aquarium last friday almost did not happen. The bus never showed up, and the kids had worked so hard to earn this trip so I had to make sure that it happened. In the end everything worked it self out and the trip was great. Now thta was friday and I am going to skip to monday. It was a great day, in my music class we were doing a unit on gospel music. I was very skeptical about doing it because I am used to not being able to mention anything that has to do with God in the classroom setting. My co teacher, Tawain, is from New Orleans and she assured me that everything would be fine, so she led off the first part of the lesson. To my surprise every kid in the class had grown up in the church, was apart of the choir, or they were very strong in the gospel genre. That made the class go by easy, they could recite different songs, and the different lyrics while also deciphering the meanings. Today I was also able to monitor two of the older kids, Tawain and Jarron, who I had requested be bumped up to Junior counselor status. I dont know if I mentioned this before but I see a maturity in these two that I have not seen in the other kids. THey do all of their work in a timely fashion, they pay attention very well, but also the kids look up to them even the kids in their classes. I bumped them up to the positions and in the classes with the younger kids who are the most hyper active the behavior has made a positive change. Tawain and Jarron have both admitted that they were apart of gangs, but they are so responsible in their everyday actions that I have been talking to them about life, violence and many other aspects of their lives. THey are very open with me and they speak to me in a mature fashion about everything. I am trying to implement the ability to help them be leaders in a more positive way instead of being a follower in a gang. They are responding so well, in the last week they have stopped talking about gang life and are asking me more questions about my life and even college. They are looking at life past the south, and what could be possible for them. I am not teaching these boys how to be leaders, they already know I am just a resource for them. ANything they ever want to know or if they want someone to listen I am here, I do not have the answers for them, I can just be present.

TOny

Leslie's Still Here... 7/16/06!

Leslie's Post

**These few words I have written no where begin to describe the experiences I am having down here. You have to see it to believe it.**

Again, I have had problems getting Internet access and time to blog, so a lot has happened since the last time I've blogged. First and foremost, the kids I'm working with are absolutely amazing. It really has been a beneficial opportunity to extinguish my stereotypes about natural disaster victims, impoverished neighborhoods, and the overall ideas of what it is like to be living in the black community.



I cannot emphasize enough how much I love these kids. I never thought that I was here to pity them, but the closer I become to them, the more I realize how much I used to subconsciously feel pity for them. Now it is not pity, and I am so proud of them and respect them to the highest regard. These kids are amazing and I am sad that I will have to leave them soon.



Through talking to residents down here that are my age I have come to a conclusion about these Hurricane Katrina survivors. Hurricane Katrina really had nothing to do with their oppositional, behavioral, psychiatric, and emotional problems. My friend Nicole said, "Hell, I'm sure they liked getting evacuated at least they got to go on a vacation." The poverty was in existence prior to Katrina and the hurricane is only what brought it to our attention. The children we have the most problems with have been in public housing and foster care prior to the hurricane. Actually, we have a lot of problems with a little girl from Kansas City, who is in New Orleans for the summer to stay with her father. Her issues do not stem from Katrina. In the Critical Media Studies course, the teacher showed a picture of 50 Cent holding a gun. She asked the kids how many have seen a gun in their life and in every single class every child raised his/her hand. Many have witnessed and experienced domestic violence, shootings, drug use, being raised in single parent homes, and struggles to make ends meet. All of these were factors that were in place prior to Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was what brought them into light however. One thing that struck me was when we asked the children what they wanted to do as a community service project a little boy raised his hand and suggested that we clean up all of the syringes and needles in his neighborhood.



The camp emphasizes a resiliency model and that kids are usually able to bounce back from things. However, that is not to negate the kids that are unable to bounce back from tragedies. It is not just Hurricane Katrina that is causing some of these kids problems, it is the accumulation of traumas, instability, and lack of opportunity throughout their lives. There have been instances in which the police have come to escort kids out, and kids being sent to mental institutions.



The kids are very in touch with what is going on in the relief effort and it seems to discourage many of them. They wanted to do a community service project for the elementary school down the street- we need the key for the barbed wire fence which we should be getting next week. Last Friday we went on a field trip to the iMax movie theater and the school bus we took over there was not in tip-top shape. A 7th grade girl "M.R." got on the bus and sarcastically said, "I bet this piece of crap was one of the ones that was under water!" Another child said, "Where'd you rent this bus from, FEMA or something? Is that why it's so bad?" Because there were so many school busses lost in the storm it is very expensive and hard to find busses to rent. We did not rent with a credible company this time and will not be renting with them again. The bus stalled on the bridge going over the Mississippi river and started rolling backwards. I saw the kids' affects change immediately when the bus started rocking backwards down the road. I was terrified myself but the counselors tried to calm all of the children down. Looking over that body of water in an unsafe vehicle hit close to home to them. Kids were holding hands with one-another praying and others whipped out of their cell phones and making calls. The bus eventually started rolling the right way but the entire atmosphere on the bus changed. A girl near me I noticed had stopped her previous conversation and had her head a fixed gaze with her head leaned up against the window. For a moment it made me better able to conceptualize what it must have been like to evacuate.



Something that I have noticed down here is that in the poor areas of New Orleans, the entire demography is make up of black folks. Immediately upon entering Uptown and the French Quarter, the demography becomes nearly all white. It is just a concrete example of the role that race plays with class and how much these two are interrelated. Out of the nearly 100 children at our camp-site, there are 2 that are white, 1 is Mexican, 1 is mixed, and the other 96 or so are black. Our camp is located in a very poor neighborhood. I have never seen such a concrete representation of the relationship between race and class as I have seen down here and I am ashamed. We have a long way to come to live in harmony with one another, because here I can see that the lines between black and white are still clearly defined. There's also tension between those that are darker black and lighter black. I learned about the "brown paper bag" test. It means that any boyfriend or girlfriend you bring home has to have a skin tone lighter than a brown paper bag because if you are a light black, you only date light blacks and vice versa.



I will write again soon. The things I am seeing and experiencing down here still need a lot of processing and analyzing. Again, this summer is like none other and I cannot imagine being anywhere else this summer! I am already obsessing about returning home just to finish my degree so I can hurry up and move on down here!!!

**Leslie Thompson** =)

July 13th

Well Hello to everyone back at home. Today is thursday July 13th, and tomorrow we are going on our first field trip to the Imax and the Aquarium, I already visited those the last time that I was here but it is pretty cool that I am able to take the kids there. I am a little nervous about taking them, because we have been dealing with a lot of behavior problems, especially in my homeroom. Yesterday, I got really stressed out about the events that were occurring, and I almost lost it, but there are some very influential children in the class who could see my frustration and they stepped up to all of their classmates and told them to calm down and start the lesson. Yesterday at the staff meeting we were talking about whether or not to keep some of the older boys back from the field trip, due to the disrespect that they have been showing. Personally, these boys are very strong mentally, although a few of them cant read, they have a very strong presence and they definitely are received very well by their students. I voted to not hold them back because I know for sure that these said young men are involved very deep in the street life and are in gangs. I feel that this camp may be a road block for them and the streets, that intervention that is keeping them from doing things that are not very healthy for their future. I know people may be thinking, how do I know this about the young men? I have seen them display signs and rags depicting their affiliation. Growing up in Minneapolis and having family members who are gang affiliated I heard a lot of talk from people who pretend to be affiliated, but the kinds of things that these children are talking about leads me to believe that they are in fact experienced when it comes to gangs. I personally am going to have a talk with them about leadership today in class. I am not going to make any accusations about their lifestyles, but I believe that these boys are so influential to their classmates, and they are always respectful to the teaching staff here, I just believe that when they are in their personal circles they are making some decisions that I would think of as not very good for the future. I am going to give them some leadership positions around the camp and hopefully I can instill the mentality of being a positive role model. Well I am going to go start the pep rally for the day, and keep a positive mindset that today we will be a better day then yesterday when it comes to behavior I love these kids and have faith in that they respect me and trust me also.

TOny

My chest burst with pride!

I was the one one the other end of the phone when Tony called and I couldn't have been happier.When this opportunity fell into my lap I immediately thought that Tony would be fabulous!!!Not a surprise!!!Although I have returned home I think of those I left behind including my heart in New Orleans-Perhaps my task was meant to be a short term one and I couldn't be prouder of the work that Hamline's brightest stars-Tony,Leslie, and Eric are shinning on a very dark situation.They have all been light for those of us who know them back here at home.
No one has any idea just how hard and how much work this task involves-I can at least guess.The three of you are in my thoughts daily.I look forward to welcoming you all home in August and continuing to work with you to keep the issues of New Orleans and its yougest most vulnerable citizens on the world's radar.All my love,enocouragement and pride are with you all.

Lurelia Freeman
Post-Bacc

TOnys Posting!

Wow, I am ever so sorry that this is my first time blogging since I have been back here in NOLa. It has been absolutely crzy, with so much hard work and just a rollercoaster of emotions. Well I will just give an update of things since I seen most of you at the meting back on June 15th. Well three days after that meeting, I received word that the job that I had lined up for the summer had fell through, so this was June 17th at 11 a.m. when I found this information out, and I was bummed for about an hour, but then a weird thought popped into my mind to try and see if I can work for Gulfsouth even though the program had started. Well on June 19th I was on a plane back to Nola after I had left only 2 weeks before. It was crazy trying to come up with the money for it, but I borrowed from a lot of people and I am here and I am so glad that I made it to work for this incredible organization. We had a rigorous training schedule the first week, that included incredible meetings with people who have vbery distinguished backgrounds, some of the things that I have learned about the hurrican and the state of things are absolutely incredible. We met with the councilman at larger Oliver Thomas and he definitely inspired my life to pursue more leadership positions. Other than that we met with many professors who definitely brightened my life in the speeches that they gave. When camp started I bonded with these students automatically, they are so precious and smart at that. It is just very hard with having to be the cool teacher but also the strict disciplinarian, and it has been oh so emotional for me, because I am seeing so many kids that are innocent and young, but very affected by the world and what it means to be an African American, and especially one after Hurrican Katrina. These children have experienced things I could never imagine, and if we judged by lifes experiences they would be more mature than many of us instructors. The other day during the lesson, we broke into a deep discussion about hurricane Katrina and what they saw, and some of their stories just gave me chills. I am definitely feeling a calling to be a social worker in the future, but also I know that I have got to be more involved with the youth of NEw Orleans during the recovery. These children latch on to me, and they know when I am tired hapy and sad, they are affected by all of my emotions, that is why this experience is somewhat draining because I am trying to always be happy but I also want to be a strong figure to these children at the same time. They really respect me, maybe because I am the only black male at this site, but still I feel I can affect these kids, but most of all they are teaching me so much about my life, happiness, and the environment thats around. I deal so much with negative comments where the kids say they feel hopeless about the area they are in, they dont believe the government will ever care, or that the violence will stop. I, everyday try to be a voice of reason that lets them know that as long as they stay strong and keep involved with the community and their school work they will create the change. Overall, I promise to blog more about my experience here so keep checking, but I did want to give some credit to Operation Reach for their care in theis situation. The staff for operation reach has been so supportive of all of us, they put us up in dorms where we have our own rooms, we are well fed, and I must repeat that one we are well fed. We have a lack of supplies for the kids, but we are being FLEXIBLE with all of that. SO I just wanted to give people back home feedback on how great this experience has been.