BOO to YOU!

I love Halloween! I have never devoted so much time to the holiday but this year I felt that the entire month of October was all about Halloween.

A couple weeks ago I started the celebrations by going to a haunted house in the suburbs. It’s the infamous Jay Cees, which operates several top-notch haunted houses in the Chicago area.
Characters wove in and out of those waiting in line, revving their chain saws when least expected and sliding on the ground at your feet. I screamed a couple times, I must admit, but before I knew it I was asking them for pictures and even for hugs! It was great.

But the best Halloween activity was with Chicago Semester. Halloween fell on a Wednesday, which is the day that students have class. We were told there would be a costume contest, and while I didn’t put too much into a costume some of my friends did. My roommate, Stephanie, went as Pippy Long Stocking and my buddy, Nate, floored everyone with his costume. He had the crazy idea to dress up as one of the workers from our apartment building! He needed help with the wardrobe and makeup and we were happy to assist. Nate calmly took the CTA to class at 8 o’clock in the morning looking absolutely monstrous! His lipstick didn’t smudge all day and he easily won our costume contest. It was exciting knowing that I had contributed to his greatness.

I have had some new and invigorating opportunities through my internship recently. In my mid-term evaluation my supervisor inquired more about my specific goals and interests. She quickly realized that she could provide me some valuable experience in those areas. I have discovered that I would like to learn more about working with ex-offenders as they re-enter society. Toni, who works in the Employment Resource Center around the corner from our services, invited me to accompany her to a board meeting discussing housing discrimination and the recently released. There were numerous speakers and representatives of various agencies that work with the population and several ex-offenders were there to speak on their experience. I learned that in order for an individual with a criminal history to be eligible for public housing they must have a clean record in the last three years. For instance, if someone was released from prison and was then on probation for three years they could not apply for public housing for six years, three years after their probationary period ended! That’s crazy! I am so grateful that my Chicago Semester internship has allowed me to take advantage of such opportunities.

Love is in the air...

This is a very busy time with Chicago Semester—it is the time for neighborhood visits! As part of Chicago Semester each practicum group explores a different Chicago neighborhood which will later be presented during our Community Dinner.

My group is visiting Logan Square, which is where our supervisor lives. I was already slightly familiar with the area because I have gone to a church in the neighborhood a couple times. Just from my limited exposure to the area I decided that Logan Square is definitely a community I would love to live in.

What I love about Logan Square is its strong sense of community and obligation to one’s neighbor. On our neighborhood visits we toured a social service agency, a subsidized housing development, and an elementary school. The school system is particularly impressive because it strives to get the parents involved in the classroom. Because Logan Square has a highly Hispanic population it is beneficial to get the parents, many whom are new to the country, comfortable with the schools, which can be described as the foundation of community. I am so convinced that Logan Square is the place for me that I have already begun apartment shopping!

This week has also been exciting because both of my roommates’ had birthdays! To celebrate, we went to the Signature Room in the Hancock Tower for drinks. The view was so beautiful but the pricing was outrageous! The Hancock is definitely a place reserved for special occasions ONLY, albeit it must be experienced at least once by every CSer.

After our drinks a small group of us meandered around to enjoy the view and noticed a couple that had just gotten engaged. We watched them from afar as the waiting staff brought decorative desserts out for them amidst their exaltations. As I observed, I came to realize that the woman kept removing her camera from her purse, taking a picture of the dessert, returning her camera back to her bag only to reach for it two seconds later and hold it awkwardly in her hands. I decided that they really needed some pictures of the two of them together on such a special event. So, I went down to their table and politely interrupted and asked if I could help them out in the photography department. They jumped at my request. I took some cute pictures of them and even insisted that they take a kissing picture! My friends poked fun at me, but I am more than happy to throw my dignity to the wind to assist on such a joyous occasion!

I’m a sucker for cheesy romantic comedies too, so don’t even ask.

YAY for PUMPKINS!

This weekend has been so busy and so much fun! I went down south for a much needed stress-relief from my internship. Oh, it’s been so great!

This week has been stressful at my internship because getting clients signed up for “Befriend-a-Family” has proven to be more difficult than I anticipated. It literally consumes my entire workday—I have no time to see any other clients! When I am not assisting one, or two, or three clients at a time with applications I am polishing up completed applications or calling other clients. I find that I must re-write some applications that are not written neatly. I also must stringently review each “wants and needs list” for Christmas and white-out all inappropriate items written. For example, I had a client ask for a house for Christmas. While I understand that she is in need of a house, there is a fifty dollar limit in our program. While I make this very clear to every applicant, they continue to surprise me sometimes.

So, to get away, I went to a Smashing Pumpkins Concert! I’ve actually have had these plans since the summer but they couldn’t have come at a better time in the semester. My only concern was that the concert was on a Thursday night and was 2 hours away in Bloomington-Normal (Illinois State University). I didn’t know how I was going to get to work the following Friday! However it worked out great with my internship supervisor, who approved an extra day off the Friday after the concert. In return, I agreed to come in on Columbus Day. It is great that Chicago Semester allows us the freedom to work independently with our sites to create the best arrangement. I appreciate that I don’t have to abide by an unreasonably-strict set of guidelines so long as I ensure that I meet my “hours-per-week” commitment.

I went to the concert with my boyfriend, Josh, and our friends Shannon and Rudy, who are also dating. To prepare for the concert, Shannon and I crafted funky T-shirts for us with jack-o-lanterns on them. We thought we were really clever. The concert was a blast! It was just as much a laser light show as it was a concert. Oh, and the Pumpkins put on two encores. It was great.

The remainder of the weekend I spent in Champaign-Urbana. Josh and I went to a corn maze and had a great time. I am truly looking forward to all the Halloween festivities that are beginning to crop up everywhere.

On Sunday night after my return to Chicago my roommate Jackie took some of us to Nick’s Bar to support a fundraiser for her school. I know, interesting—a school fundraiser at a bar, but it’s true. Nonetheless, it was a fun way to wrap up the weekend in support of a good cause. I hope the 8th graders are able to raise enough for their end of the year trip.

It’s been a great weekend and I am now refreshed to take this next week of “Befriend-a-Family” head on!