You probably won't believe me when I say this, but I have been racking my brains for days trying to think of what I wanted to say next on here. I have many thought-trains that I am currently interested in, but as I was saying to some friends the other day, that is not sufficient qualification for them to be forever enshrined in print (even if it is more like the far more transitory html). What I realized, though, is that those of you who actively follow the chronicle of my life are overdue for a here-is-the-very-mundane-details-that-form-the-context-of-my-life-and-stories sort of update. Not the most thrilling or thought-provoking, but the people have a right to know.
So here's the skinny on the job sitch: I am working for a non-profit organization that serves runaway and homeless youth. What my job is mostly about is establishing different sites in the city where youth in crisis (defined as anything from being locked out or lost to being molested, abused, or homeless) can go and make a call and get picked up by a volunteer and taken to the shelter. My job is to fit the pieces together. So I am in charge of scheduling tabling events at festivals and school visits so that youth know about the availability of these services. I am responsible (at least partially) for recruiting and training sites so that employees know the protocol when someone comes in. And I am in charge of recruiting and training the volunteers to know how to respond to and transport youth in crisis. So, that's at least the next year of my life.
How is the job itself? It's very hard to say, considering I've only worked there for a grand total of five days. I think a lot of the trouble right now is the inevitable bumps and troubles that come along with being in a new place, like the fact that I feel absurd for never knowing where stuff is or who needs to sign what or who has the authorization to do what. But, overall, I'm excited about the prospects, most of all about the prospects of working for an organization that I can believe in, doing something that's going to use my gifts. It's super-cool, what I've been looking for for years now. Inevitably I can lose sight of the opportunity I have and what the impact of what I'm doing will be, say around 3:30 in the afternoon when times seems to slow down to a crawl. But that would be true, at least as far as I can tell, no matter where I ended up working. And besides, it's nothing half a Snickers bar couldn't fix.
So that's the bread and butter of my days. I have to say, the one thing that takes some getting used to is not having essentially unlimited free time, except on the weekends, of course. Now I wonder why I'm in the middle of two theology books, a novel, and about 3 different volumes of poetry and wondering why I'm not getting anywhere in any of them and the reason is that all of a sudden, most of my time is being spent at work, doing things that other people want me to do. It's very strange. You can laugh all you want, as my mom did, and say "Welcome to my world, kid." But it's just different. I don't even think it's bad yet.
All this has given me plenty of food for thought regarding what I ultimately want to end up doing. I think the new American dream is work that is so enjoyable it doesn't even feel like we're working, but is still lucrative enough to pay all the bills and buy a nice steak every Sunday. Maybe that's just me. I feel, tho, that I need some kind of ultimate goal in terms of Career I Really Want to Have Someday to help guide my present actions, because otherwise I feel so lost in the wide world that all of my actions seem without intent, lost in an unguided universe.
So here it is, kids, the Grand Plan, or at least the Grand Plan as I formulated it while I was taking a shower yesterday. Ultimately, I want to buy a very old, very beautiful church building that is up for sale because its congregation is too small to support it. I want to renovate it and turn it into a Spirituality and Arts Center where people from all sorts of faith traditions can come and connect with God through the arts. And I mean all of them: drama, painting, ceramics, mixed media and the whole kaboodle of visual arts, music, writing, and of course dancing. I want there to also be a heavy focus on community formation, a group of people with whom to ask questions that are really tough, a group of people to trust. I am trying to figure out right now if this all would require me to take some sort of pastoral role, which could be weird, depending on how you define pastoral. Also, I think I will need some sort of degree in theology and arts and counseling...cause those sorts of degrees pretty much grow on trees nowadays. So, to work, I say! to earn exorbitant amounts of money with which to pay for all of these degrees so I can do what it is that I really want to do...maybe. Unless this isn't it at all. Sheesh, I need to start taking longer showers.
S.
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