Questions

So, a week or two ago I got a very thoughtful email from the person who is currently in the position I will have next year, introducing herself and offering to answer questions I have about the next year of my life. It's certainly something I want to take her up on, so I've been trying to put together a list of questions I want to ask her so that I don't have to keep bothering her with one thing at a time. Trying to come up with an exhaustive list of questions that you have for the future is sort of like trying to collect all of the oil in the Gulf with an eyedropper- you know it's important work, but you just don't really feel like you're ever going to get anywhere near finished. I guess if you're doing things right, you might never be finished. Asking questions about the future, that is.

As I'm putting together the list of questions, I find myself often wondering what that list says about me as a person, and how the JV answering my questions will judge me based on the questions I do and don't ask. I imagine you could learn a lot about someone based on their list of questions about the future. Specifically, here I'm thinking about ones that can actually be answered, like in my situation, not things like "When will I die?" (although that list would probably be very telling as well). So I'm trying to start using the questions I'm coming up with to decide what I really value. It seems sort of counter-intuitive- wouldn't it be a lot more productive to decide what you valued and then make sure you ask all the questions that address those things? Ideally, yes. But I'm not convinced that very many of us really know what we value. At best, I think we know what we feel like we should value, or that we wish we valued. But how close is that list to the list of things that we really do value? It would probably be very depressing to look at the list of the things that you actually seem to value and compare it to the list of things that you wish you valued.

For illustrative purposes, I've found that my list has way more questions about gyms and tennis courts than it does about churches/parishes and volunteer organizations. I guess, upon reflection, that isn't all that surprising to me. But before this epiphany, I would have definitely ranked faith higher than exercise in terms of my values. I also didn't have any questions about relationships, friend or otherwise, or how they met people in the area. I don't know if that's because I just assume it will happen for me, or if it's not something I value, but that certainly shows that it's not something I've been concerned with so far in my preparation.

I guess there's not a whole lot substantive to take out of this post, so I'll try to enumerate the things that might have been worth saying:

1. I'm still relatively new to introspection, and quite bad at it.
2. I'm excited about NOLA and trying to get all my thoughts together and ask the right questions so that I'm prepared for the next year.
3. We might not really value what we think we value, or at least as much as we'd like to.
4. You can learn from questions without answering them.

I'm going to start concluding all of my posts with quotes that are related to something. Maybe the post, maybe NOLA, maybe God, maybe the world. Here's the first: "You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions" - Naquib Mahfouz n

Getting Started

Surprisingly enough, "getting started" in JVC happens long before you actually arrive for the first day of work. I guess before I get too bogged down into details, we'll start with a useful key that will help explain some basic acronyms, and from there we'll go to more general information.

• JVC- Jesuit Volunteer Corps. This is the organization that I'll be working with for the next 1-2 years.
• JV- Jesuit Volunteer. That's what I am, and that's what everyone else working with JVC is called.
• NOLA- New Orleans, LA. That's where I'll be living for the next 1-2 years while I'm working with JVC. I will be living in a house with like 5 other JVs, and rumor has it that the house I'm staying in in NOLA is a duplex used by JVC, so I'll actually be living with like 11 other JVs. I'm taking a slow transition from being an RA.
• OPD- Orleans Public Defenders. That's the office I'll be working at in NOLA.

So, here's the basic deal: way back in January I applied to join JVC, which is a national volunteer placement agency affiliated with the Society of Jesus (read: Jesuits). Once I got accepted into the domestic program, I started looking at possible placement organizations that are partners with JVC. After sending JVC my preferences, they gave me interviews with some of the organizations, and that process continued until we found a placement that the JVC, the host organization, and I all thought would be a good match. For me, that happened in mid-May and it happened to be in the Orleans Public Defenders office in NOLA. I will now spend the next year working there and living with other JVs in a house in NOLA, and if I like it I can apply to do it again.

My first day of official work is August 18th. By August 10th, however, I have to be in Houston to do orientation for JVC. Even though I'm working at OPD, I'm still a JV and I still do a lot of retreats, orientation, and training with JVC. It's more than just a year working at an office- the year is an experience designed to focus on social justice, community, simple living, and spirituality. Which is cool, because right now I think that those are all things that I value, and I expect that increased exposure to them will only increase my ability to appreciate them.

So, I'm basically free until August 10th to do pretty much whatever I want. My only responsibilities to the organization until then are to figure out what I'm going to bring (simple living, remember, so probably not all that much) and do some fundraising before I get there. I have to raise at least $500 to help cover the costs of recruitment, screening, etc. before orientation begins. So, if anyone has a cool idea of something that might make a good fundraiser that doesn't rhyme with "shma-bake sale," I'd love tips. Right now my fundraising page with JVC is https://atl.etapestry.com/fundraiser/JesuitVolunteerCorps/CelebrateLA/individual.do?participationRef=2315.0.120310468, so if you could donate (or know other people who might be interested), any help would be greatly appreciated.

I haven't yet decided if I'll have my cell phone or my laptop while I'm doing JVC, which doesn't really affect you except that if I don't, I won't be able to text or Facebook chat or anything to keep up with you. My house will have a phone, so if you need to get a hold of me that option will still be available. I'll have internet access at work if nothing else, so you can email me at nathan.fennell@gmail.com and be sure to get a response within at least a few days. But the best way to keep up with what I'm doing and what JVC is doing in NOLA is probably going to be this blog. So check it out from time to time. And if I'm not updating it, send me an email and guilt me into keeping it up better. This will -not- be a vanity blog about my personal daily exploits, so don't worry about having to read pages of pointless musings and internal debates about what tie I should wear. This will just be about calm living, unconditional loving, and Cajun food. You know...the Bayou State of Mind.