Week 3, Standardized Tests

I could not go to my service learning project today due to near 12 hours a day of study for the LSAT. The bottom-line for me is that standardized TIMED tests are BS. Nontimed I can answer about 95/101 questions and score ridiculously high. Add a 35 minute time limit to each section, and that is reduced by about 15-20 questions. Going to law school and being a lawyer is all about being prepared, whether its doing endless amounts of Conn Law readings or working up case research, everything takes an extended amount of time. They say the LSAT is the best standardized test to gauge how you'll do in law school, but I question how being able to do 26 questions in 35 minutes really relates to how well I would do legal research or perform in trial. I guess what you can take away from this is: I'm really stressed out about this test that basically sets up the rest of my of life, and I don't think it's fair because it doesn't allow me to show my skills.

Elizabeth- Hope Lodge Week 3

Yesterday was my third time spending the day at the Hope Lodge, and I like it more and more every time I go. I am getting closer with the people that work there, and busier and busier as I am getting acclimated to all the things that need to be done. Since it's basically a home away from home for over thirty patients and their family, all the things that we do at our homes need to be done at the lodge. I spend a large portion of my time behind the desk, answering the phones (which is actually a lot more fun than it seems because I get to talk to the patients that are coming and help them figure out what they need to know, and they're always so grateful), and filing. But when I'm not doing that I'm finding it a lot easier to go up and visit with people, especially since they're already starting to get used to seeing me. What has made me most joyful this week about working there is seeing how appreciative the patients are. So many of them have been there multiple times and keep on having to come back for more treatment, and they are so grateful that they don't have to pay for housing.

J.C. Romero - Week of Sept. 26-30, 2011

Things are moving right along at my service learning site. On Tuesday, we finally started registering students for our computer classes. As of now, because I am the only volunteer working in the lab, we will be offering the classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30am-12:30pm (those are the hours that I work).

When I was registering students yesterday, I came across some really interesting people. I was able to speak to two folks that really stood out to me. The first one was an 80-something year old Irish Roman Catholic priest who spoke nonstop about his transition from Ireland to the United States in the 1940s. The other was 70-something year old African American New Orleans native. I would consider her a middle-class citizen.

She and I sat and discussed SO much concerning the changes that there have been in society (in the New Orleans community in particular) over the years. She amazed me with some of the things she said. We started off speaking about education. She couldn’t believe that penmanship is no longer taught in the schools. She was disappointed, as was I, that children in the 8^th grade do not know how to write in cursive nowadays.

Then we went on to discuss how we have become an “informal” society. I wrote down something she said to me—“I remember that going to Canal Street was a big deal! Everyone dressed up to go and walk on Canal Street back in my day. I don’t know what has happened,” she told me.

We then spoke about race and laughed at those that say that we are now a “colorblind society.” She spent a significant amount of time telling me how hard it was for her to be a member of society because she’s a black woman. The one thing that I can remember her telling me is that she applied for a secretary position (I don’t remember if it was in the 50s or 60s) and that the manager told her that she was EXTREMELY qualified for the position; however, she (the manager) had to wait to get permission from the Dallas corporate office because she was a black woman, so they would keep her information and get in touch with her eventually. As she (Mrs. “D”) was walking out, she noticed them throwing her application away. She said she was distraught by the fact that she was more qualified than many other applicants, but because of her color she wasn’t given the opportunity to fulfill the duties.

I know that none of this is new to us, but it’s just really nice to actually sit down with someone who has experienced the things we have read in books firsthand.

I am even more excited to work with this program because not only will I be helping individuals learn how to use computers and such, but I am certain that I will meet people from all walks of life that will teach ME things that I may not know and/or allow me to listen to some of their stories.

Happy posting,

J.C.

PS – Excuse my grammar! I wanted to make sure this was in before class!

Second week at Girls Hope

I started my second week working with Girls Hope and defintietly am starting to get a better understanding of the kids and adults living in the home. The girls all remembered me and were excited to see me back. I worked closely with a different 5th grader from last week and my experience with her was great. I felt like I was actually helping. Before working at Girls Hope I was nervous about how the girls were going to accept me as a stranger coming into their home and lives. I was able to express this with one of the "house moms" and she had some great insight on it. She felt the same way and has been able to obseve that the children have developed an attitude of accepting change and moving forward. With so many people in and out of their lives, they live by this in positive and negative ways. After spending more time with these children I have come to notice how hard it may be for some of the workers to leave after their expected time is up.

Claire Lavergne- Anna's Arts- week 9/26-10/2

Since blogging last I have had two more days at Anna's Arts. When I walk into the church most of the kids now know my name, and I have just about all of theirs down as well. When I am working with the kids one thing that always gets me is the way they talk to one another. I guess they have been influenced by their parents, older siblings, or other relatives, but many of the kids 4-10 years old speak crudely to each other. Sometimes they use bad language, but others it just rude like, "Her hair done be fake miss, that's some ugly weave," just talking about a classmate's hair. I know all little kids have grammatical problems when speaking, or pick on each other but just the way some of these kids speak astounds me... I can't even repeat some of what they say, and they're 7 years old! When each child is separated and working independently with a teacher or volunteer, with out distractions, they can get so much accomplished. Its when one of their peers walks by and makes a comment or throws something or acts out that they get off track. They feed off of each other's energy. That is why St. Anna's goal is to be able to work one on one with the kids at all times. However, because there are not enough volunteers to do this, St. Anna's often becomes a mad house. At first it scared me how off the wall things got, and the fact that you had to discipline the kids... I didn't feel like it was my place to do so. I think I've gotten over that now though, and I've learned to isolate the kid(s) that are instigating the problem by misbehaving. Every day at St. Anna's is difficult and exhausting, but at the same time its fun and exciting. I look forward to many more days here!

Food Deserts in New Orleans

NOLA Green Roots is a network of community gardens throughout New Orleans. They are teaching youth, low-income residents, and senior citizens hot to grow fresh fruits and vegetables at a low cost. Their gardens provide access to fresh produce and plants as well as lessons on satisfying labor needs, improving neighborhoods, building a sense of community and connecting to the environment (mission statement on NOLAgreenroots.com)

On my first day at NOLA Green Roots I collected some data for grant writing purposes (to show need). I spent a lot of time on the USDA Food Desert Locator-http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/fooddesert.html collecting data about food deserts in New Orleans. Over 131,000 people in New Orleans live in a food desert! Thats about a third of our total population, and many of those people with little or no access to food are low-income. I also generated some sample thank you letters for donors and created files for individual donors. I'm excited to see what happens next week!

Karin

9/21 Court Watchers Tom Hasty

This week in the Justice System:

Everyone thinks about the justice system as how they see it on Law and Order, or JAG. But the reality is that the justice system is a decently well oiled machine. There are no demon lawyers (for the most part) in the criminal justice system. Prosecutors and defense attorneys participate in mediations, which are basically a back and forth determining facts and degree of punishment. Public Defenders do a very good job to get their clients the best possible outcome, while state attorneys do the best for society as a whole. State attorneys are governed by guidelines to which they must abide in respect to suggested sentencing. There is a lot of wiggle room within those guidelines. For example, possession of cocaine is a federal offense with a minimum mandatory of a year. The maximum could be 10 years depending on the facts in the case. The degree to which a state attorney would pursue guidelines is determined upon various factors such as cooperation, severity of the crime, likelihood for the defendant to become an HO, or Habitual Offender. In a given day the Judge may hear about 40 cases in a New Orleans court. So, the idea that every case will be tried or even has the potential for trial is false. Whether it is fair or not, most cases are grounded on solid facts, therefore defendants who wish to take their cases to trial are very misguided. Also, jurors tend to the throw the book at defendants as opposed to the PD's and SA's trying to resolve the case for the best possible outcomes.

Bottom Line:

Take the plea.