My community
Beth She's from Alabama, and went to Spring Hill College in Mobile. I told her that she automatically got a bonus five points from me when I first met her for being from Alabama because of Mr. Lentz. "Score!" she said. "That's the first time being an Alabaman has helped me when I meet people." She works at the St. Frances Community center. She's a neat freak. I like to go past her room because just relaxes my mind, with its soothing colors and clean floor. She asked to be in charge of the bank account and paying the bills because it would drive her nuts if she wasn't. That was fine with everybody else. She's the one who suggested we have "business meetings" after dinner on Sunday, and I think it's a great thing for our community. Anybody can put up an issue on the white board through the week and then we'll discuss it at the meeting. That way it doesn't feel like I'm just bitching people out about stuff. She's the short one of the house, because she's 5'4" and Michelle's the next shortest at 5'9''. Yeah for tall women!
Chris Well, I've written a lot about Chris already. He's from New Jersey and went to Xavier University as a film major. He works at the free AIDS clinic downtown, and he walks to work even though its two miles away. He really wants to get into the art scene and the community around here. And if I write anymore about him, I'll just start whining, so on to the next housemate.
Emily She's my roommate. She's from Columbus and was a poli-sci major at Beloit. She spent last year teaching English in Poland. I love Emily so much. So much so, actually, that I keep thinking that this can't last. She's the most humble person I've ever met. I'm always babbling on to her because she never interrupts with her own stories, but really listens to you. So she's heard about some of the worst things I've ever done and still seems to like me. She was raised Catholic, but considers herself agnostic and pro-choice now. I haven't really had a conversation with her about it yet. She's a paralegal at a housing aid center.
Jon Jon is also from Jersey. He was in JVC last year, in Washington State. It's really good that we can draw on his experience. He's also a handyman extraordinaire. His girlfriend Laura got a job in Baltimore and is moving to an apartment a few blocks away this weekend. She's really sweet. He likes to talk a lot and laughs at his own jokes. He's a biology teacher at St. Frances.
Michelle I would say that three people in the community are extroverts. Jon and Chris are "the life of the party" kind, and Michelle is the kind to keep up all her connections. She is still friends with all the women from her girl-scout troop. She got engaged the day before she left home and is getting married next October. So she has a lot going on this year. She is unhappy with her placement because she feels like she's not really doing anything there, and keeps going back and forth about quitting. Right now she seems happier with it. All the women in the house congregate in her room to talk.
So we didn't want to decide the rooms until we saw the house. We knew that there were five rooms and six people, but one of the rooms was in the basement and we heard various things from former volunteers about how livable it was. When we got there the basement room looked fine. Emily and Chris both wanted it, so they drew straws and Chris won. That meant two women had to share. Emily said she wouldn't mind sharing. I had asked Beth at orientation if she would mind having a messy roommate, "Yeah, I would actually," she said. And Michelle said she really needed her own room. My feeling was I wouldn't mind sharing if the other person didn't mind, so by default Emily and I shared. But it's worked out great. We got the biggest room, with a terrace door, we're both messy, and we covered one of our walls with brown paper so we can draw and paint whenever we feel like it.
So there's my community. I like it a lot, but I'm starting to go crazy being around them so much, so I'm very happy that I'm going to Washington tomorrow to visit Russell.
