JonJon's Blog

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:01:10 -0600

Since I have only been to my site once I have not witnessed any connections between the class and my service site. When I went in for the orientation the person who was formally in charge of the volunteers told me that the Boys and Girls club relies heavily on government funding. In Urban Injustice David Hilfiker mentions that funding from the government for education in poverty stricken areas is scarce. I noticed that the Boys and Girls club could use some remodeling, because some parts of their facility are a little run down. I hope that I will be able to make more connections when I start going to the club more.

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:11:02 -0600

I am going to the Boys and Girls club for the first time this friday. It has been reall frustrating not being able to volunteer until now. I feel that I am very behind the people in my class. I hope that I will be able to complete the 15 hours we are required to do to pass this course.

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:05:00 -0600

The topic I chose to explore is gang involvement and how people are affected by it. There have been a lot of murders in Minneapolis and I want to know how connected these issues are. The main things I want to know is how are people reacting to all of the violence and what are they do to avoid gang violence. There are a lot of murders that have sprouted on the north side of Minneapolis and I want to know how a large a part gangs are involved with them. The most useful sources I have are articles from online. I think the most useful sources will be newspaper articles because they are current.

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:03:06 -0600

I think that my third essay will be one of my favorites because I am really interested in interviewing some people at the Boys and Girls Club. So far I have not set up any interviews yet because I still have not been contacted about volunteering at my site. One of the persons I plan on interviewing for the third essay is a friend of mine, which will allow me to conduct a good interview, therfore I will be able to write a good essay.

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:09:37 -0600

There has not been any change in the process of my site. I still have not been contacted back about making arrangements to volunteer. This is beginning to frustrate me because I am excited about helping out at the Boys and Girls club. Not only do I want to get started volunteering, but the next essay requires us to interview some one at your site, but if I have not been there yet, it makes it kind of hard to interview someone. The secone essay went well, I enjoyed connecting the readings we have done, becase you could find a lot of the same issues in the readings.

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 14:07:22 -0600

I have not been to my site for actual volunteer work, but I did do orientation last week. Visiting the Boys and Girsl club just for the short time I was there let me realize what I was getting into. I was able to get a look at what some of the kids are like I will be dealing with. I also saw a friend of mine there who is a volunteer/member at the club, and I'm looking forward to working with him.
I have enjoyed a lot of the readings we have dealt with this semester. I also like the topics of the papers so far because they are up to date with what we do in class. Last semester the papers we worte did not always go along with what we were doing in class. Overall I am very pleased with the way class has been so far. I did not exactly know what to expect in the begining, but now I am glad that I made the choice to take this class.

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:52:07 -0600

In Urban Injustice there is a part that focuses on education. This part of the book explains that the level of education in the ghetto is not high. There are lots of kids who do not even attend school. I they are not in school, especially at such young ages, then they do not learn the difference beteween right and wrong. Not only are they are not getting the lessons from school, but many of their parents may work all day. The kids in ghettos mostly only have street knowledge and knowledge based on what they see on t.v or hear from friends. When the street life is all they know, and are subjected to violence at young ages, then they really do not know any better. In chapter 11 of Our America, it is said that kids cannot differentiate between real life and the cartoons they see on t.v. The kids who threw the little boy out the window imagined he would get up and be running around the next day. Kids in the ghetto have become some desensitized to violence that it just comes naturally.

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 14:05:49 -0600

The two pieces "Hellhole" and "Jewish Community" I found were very different. They both were talking about neighborhoods in north minneapolis, but were at differnt times. The neighborhood described in "Hellhole" was the area of 6th and Lyndale, where a lot of stores were. It talked about how their community was where the most integration was. Kids of differnet backgrounds got along, and there was a strong sense of community support. The neighborhood described in "Jewish Community" talked about how the Jews were being picked on by gentiles. The area had been very much populated by Jews. The harsh conditions the Jews in that area were subjected to made them move into a more suburban area known as St. Louis Park.

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:04:38 -0600

I have chosen the Boys and Girls club so my service site. I chose this site becasue they deal with kids and I like to work with kids. The club also focuses on keeping kids off of the streets and doing positive things with their lives. I hope that I will be able to influence the kids I work with in a positive way. A fear I have is that I will not have a big enough affecr that I would like. I have a lot to offer because of past experiences. I know first hand what these kids are going through. They are introduced to sex, drugs, and gangs at very young ages. I have lived in south Minneapolis all of my life and they're are not too many differences of south Minneapolis and north Minneapolis. I was exposed to drugs and gangs at a young age, and I am still exposed to these things. I feel that sharing my stories and experiences with theses kids will help them in one way or another. I plan on driving to the club on fridays, my off days when I do not have classes to volunteer.

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 14:30:42 -0600

The part of the reading that I connected with the most was being an Insider or and Outsider. I think that this has happend to me on several occasions. The reading said knowing whether you are on the inside or the outside will play a big part in understanding your role in the community. I have done service before thinking that I was an insider, but soon realized I was an outsider, and vice versa.
I worked at a Hospitality House for service hours when I was in high school. I thought that I would be an insider because of the location of my service site. The site was close to home so I thought I would be able to relate to all of the kids I was working with easily. This turned out to be not true. Most of the kids I worked with could not understand english. When I figured this out I felt like an outsider because the kids would be talking in a language I did not understand.
I also did service hours for my church at Catholic Heart Workcamp located in Harts, West Virginia. When I was at this camp I first thought that I was going to be an outsider because I was coming from a different state. This was not true because everyone who was working at the camp were there for the same reasons as me, and that was to help those that are less fortunate.
The overall lesson I learned was to establish whether you are really an insider or and outsider, because it will determine how you react with the people in your community.