Yesterday marked my first full week in NOLA as a JV. There are tons of things to talk about, and I’m not really inculcated enough into any of them to give a very comprehensive account. I think that, for purposes of simplicity and concision, I’ll break down the experience thus far into 3 sections: work, community, and the city. I guess I should probably mention some things about orientation in Houston as well, so I’ll start with that.
Orientation: We were in a gorgeous retreat center called Circle Lake, outside of Houston. There were really nice cabins and the grounds were outstanding- lots of little walking paths, gardens, lakes, and wildlife. It was really peaceful. That’s where I met all of my fellow JVC-South participants, and fell in love. It was one of those places where I really felt like we were all there for the same reasons, and a lot of us seem to be in about the same place in life. That said...my community is definitely still the best. As an unbiased observer, I can say that with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. Actually, we were kind of “that guy” collectively sometimes, but that’s just because we got along so well. We had some good talks by staff and presenters, also some less-than-good talks from the same, but lots of time to reflect and meet each other and do some community-building stuff. As much fun as it was, though, after 4 days of it I think we were all ready to get to our placements.
The City: I don’t really know that I’m able to comment too much on the city right now, even though we’ve been making a pretty conscious effort to go out and see as much of it as we can. I think that the biggest things that I can say about it so far are that the layout is a little confusing, being the Crescent City and all, and that the people here are super great. It’s like the traditional Southern and European hospitalities are working together to make most people here really friendly. I was a little bit worried that being in a big city would make that harder to find, but it seems like that was unfounded. There are so many beautiful houses and buildings; even in middle-income places you can find really sweet architecture. As my roommate Catherine put it, a lot of them look like beach houses- they look like they have themes and stuff.
Community: As long as I’m talking about one of my roommates, I’ll move on to a little discussion about the whole community. So, my house has 6 people: Ali, Brian, Catherine, Hillary, Lindsey, and me. The other side of the duplex is a different community, where Alex, Marecca, Maya, Nicky, and Steve live. So far we’ve been getting along really well- no major drama and we’ve been hanging out a lot, both within community and cross-community. We’ve gone out a few times to listen to live music, played some sports, gone for a run, gone to mass, meandered around the city, and just hung out around the house so far. I imagine there will be a lot more of all that this year. I’ve probably been the least accessible member of our community because I’ve been working so late, but whenever I’m home I’ve been doing what I can to spend time with people instead of going off and doing my own thing. Not that it’s really a sacrifice- I like these people a lot.
Work: I don’t really think there’s any way to describe my work without using the words “overwhelming” and “hectic.” And it’s not one of those things where that will change as I get more used to the work. I think that, in reality, it will get more overwhelming once I’m better at what I’m doing, because I’ll have more responsibilities. Right now people are going easy on me because I’m the new guy. Of course, “going easy on me” still involves working some 11-hour days, but there’s always so much to do and so few people to do it. And in a lot of cases, failure means that someone spends time in jail that they don’t have to. Or doesn’t get their medicine in jail while they’re there. Or goes back to jail instead of being free to go. Friday was my first experience where I realized that if I, personally, didn’t succeed at a very specific (and difficult) task, a person was going to jail. I was thinking that as I sat down and talked to him, and made phone calls trying to straighten the situation out. It’s a lot of responsibility to have on your third day of work. But everyone I work with is a generally excellent person- they’re motivated, they’re educated, and largely smarter than me. They keep me pretty much at capacity, which I’m very grateful for, because I realize how hard it is to give someone enough work to keep them busy, but not so much that things aren’t getting done. I have yet to make my first truly massive blunder, so be prepared for the post where I work my head through that whole experience. Don’t get me wrong- I’ve made plenty of mistakes. Just none that have cost anyone years of their lives yet. I figure it’s probably inevitable though. That’s all part of the job though. Starting today I have my own “cluster,” which means that 3 court rooms are essentially mine. For the next year. And all of the clients that work in those court rooms are also mine.
This is pretty long already, and I realize it’s very cursory, but I don’t want to write a novel here. I’ll try to be better about keeping this updated so that I don’t have to write 1000 words to say pretty much nothing next time.
“God’s salvation is open to EVERYONE.”- Priest at the gospel mass we went to today. I found it to be a useful reminder that as little as we know about how the world works, we know even less about how Heaven works. You never know who could be on their deathbed and see angels.
