DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

So here I am on a Sunday morning. The sound of chiming cymbals and slapping hands accompany the voices of a cheerful congregation singing “Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God Almighty” all with their hymnals parted to page number one for the first hymn of the service. As I scan the sanctuary, I observe half a dozen of beautiful, ornate hats, some big, some small, some tipped ever so slightly to one side, but each one unique. Other heads are adorned with tightly coiled chignons while some wrinkled faces sport neatly trimmed salt and pepper mustaches. The air lingers with the scent of floral fragrances and the spice of men’s aftershave. It’s Sunday morning and I’m in service at a small Baptist church not too far from my dorm. You could probably tell from my above description, the congregation represented a particular demographic. I scan the crowd again, I think I may be one of two people her under the age of 35 (myself and three year old asleep in his mother’s lap). Despite the obvious age gap between myself and ninety percent of the people in attendance, I am nonetheless enjoying myself.

I once heard a New Orleans native joke that everyone in the city is related. As I stand here in this church, I realize how much truth there was to that jest. Here I am, a newcomer to the church, a newcomer to New Orleans and an obvious deviant from the normal member based solely on age and yet I feel so much at home. When I walked through the doors this morning, dozens of curious eyes met mine and warm smiles shined towards me. Their kindness shown through warm embraces, bright grins and “God Bless You’s” in sweet Louisianan accents melted what little uneasiness I may have felt being in a new place.

There’s just one week left in this Duke Engage program but yet I have been feeling more homesick than ever. With each day that nears my departure, my longing for North Carolina, my family and home grows stronger. Today, though, as I stood in service at the small Baptist church I felt strangely at home. With my homesickness suspended for a few hours today, I basked in the warmth of kindness from strangers turned friends and let myself enjoy the company of spirits. Despite the generation gap, or two, a family we became this morning, connected by the God within all of us. Thank you Pleasant Zion. You made me feel so at home when so far away from home.
 

Hey guys,
So I’ve joined the bandwagon…You can see my new posts at musiqlova17@blogspot.com.

Take care!
 

Yes, before you ask, I did steal the title of this blog from the children’s book by Judith Viorst. This is not a weak attempt to plagiarize, it’s just that this simple phrase so accurately sums up my awful day last week. Bad days- we all have them, it’s just the nature of life. And I know these blogs are supposed to be reserved for some insightful, enlightening reflection of my civic and cultural engagement here in New Orleans, today’s blog will simply be my belated vent of last week’s terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. That is my disclaimer, continue reading if you must. 

So, this day actually started wrong from the time I opened my eyes. Instead of being awakened by my alarm clock, I was alerted by the loud sound of Stevie’s Cherie Amor (my ringtone) which sounded more like a siren than sweet melodies to my groggy self. I answer. It’s Felicia, the other intern who works with me at Providence. She asks me if I was up for work yet and I calmly tell her I’m not going to be hitching a ride in the carpool today, that I’d instead be walking to Tulane for work, a few blocks down the road. After she hangs up I look at the time on my phone and realize its 8:20am. I have to be to Tulane by 8:30! I hadn’t dressed, eaten breakfast, nor wiped the crust out of my eyes. Plus the walk to work would take at least 10-15 minutes. Quickly, I sum all the energy that I could possibly have in my body on at 8:22 in the morning and begin a mad dash to get ready for work. I barely had time to eat breakfast let alone, comb my hair so I sprint out of Loyola with disheveled hair and a cup of yogurt in tote. (I didn’t even make it out of the front door before I had a huge yogurty decoration on my polo.)

After running (*by running, I mean walking briskly- It’s too hot for all of that) down Freret and Willow I finally make it to the location I was supposed to meet my supervisor for work. (I forgot to explain earlier, but the reason I was supposed to meet my supervisor at Tulane instead of my usual location is that my company was bringing in volunteers for the week and their work required the usage of Tulane’s computer lab.) I was dismayed to look around and see that the volunteers were running late. I guess a normal person, would be relieved that they’d gotten there before work actually started but I was kind of upset. Here I was, sweaty, disheveled and disgruntled- for no reason at all. The volunteers show up more than an hour late, they had gotten lost in the city. During that hour waiting for them, I learned that instead of spending my day in a cool air-conditioned computer lab with the volunteers, I’d instead be outdoors surveying properties that my company was in the process of redeveloping. It was only 10 am but already in the nineties and I was wearing a dress shirt, some black slacks and some black shoes. I began to sweat just thinking about myself walking around in the heat with black dress pants on.

So anyways, the volunteers finally arrive and they were a group of energetic adolescents. Since I was having a bad morning, their energy and eagerness annoyed me- though in retrospect, energetic and eager volunteers are the best kind.

As soon as the volunteers we settled, we headed out to the “target area” to take begin our day of surveying (basically taking a huge inventory of the neighborhood my company is going to be redeveloping). Luckily, I was able to change my clothing into a more appropriate gym shorts and t-shirt before going out and also, I spent most of the day in a car instead of actually outdoors. Despite the which, as the day progressed, my irritation increased. Surveying isn’t so bad. We just take a look at the house/ vacant lot, determine its existing condition, structure type, etc. and record it. However, this isn’t the easiest job when the house you’re trying to survey is on the busy Canal street and not many people were appreciating the fact that as we approached our target house we slowed down to a 5 mile pace or simply came to a complete halt in the middle of street. I’m usually not that much of a complainer but this day I was especially tired and hungry. We worked through lunch and not to mention, half of my morning’s breakfast had ended up on my shirt. So I was starving.

Nevertheless we finished up the workday and got quite a few surveys done. When we returned back to the computer lab I was completely wiped out. In retrospect, my workday wasn’t so bad, it’s just that I hadn’t mentally prepared for it. I came in expecting a nice day in the AC and was thrown out into the streets of New Orleans, literally.

I really hope this blog didn’t come off too whiny. I really am not the complainer. And now that I read back over this blog, I see that my day wasn’t really bad at all. We got a lot of surveys done, and between numerous Facebook and Youtube breaks, the volunteers got an enormous amount of work done. Also, my boss rewarded our hard day of work with dinner at Jacque-Moe’s- a New Orleans favorite- where I saw Nicholas Cage! Finally I got to see a celebrity here! So, again in retrospect, my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day wasn’t so bad after all.
 

Hello reader!
So as you may have pieced together from my previous blogs or just read straight from the Duke Engage mission statement, the purpose of this program is to create opportunities for students to pursue an extensive civic engagement via internships anywhere in the world. And if you’ve ready anything from my past two blogs you’d know that I intern in New Orleans with Providence Community Housing a housing developer for the community (hence the name). But anyways, this blog today will not be about my job- which I do love and readily enjoy ( to my lovely supervisor who may be reading this now). I’m just going to tell all you readers out there about other fun things I’ve been involved in while in this beautiful city. I see that in my other posts I haven’t mentioned one recreational/ social activity that I’ve done during my more than four week stay. So ladies and gents- I’ll give you what you’ve all been waiting for- a recap of my exciting life (outside of work, of course)!!! In case you’re bad at detecting sarcasm, I am only joking. I’m sure none of you have been waiting anxiously for me to post this blog, let alone any of my blogs, but if you’re reading this right now you must be somewhat interested in my life. So here goes. 

This summer 17 strangers were placed together in a beautiful mansion- also known as Loyola University and asked to live together for 2 months. Watch as people stop being nice and start being real. Real World: New Orleans Duke Engage Edition

Just kidding, Duke Engage isn’t exactly like MTV’s Real World. There are no cameras that follow us around and we actually have real jobs that we must go to everyday. But as far as fun things to do, New Orleans is definitely a place that never sleeps. So being a chronic napper like myself I find most waking moments in the city exciting and enjoyable. There past four weeks have been jam packed with all sorts of fun “extracurricular outings”- many of them Duke programmed and lots others are just organized by us. Duke Engage directors advised us to be brief with our blogs so since I’ve already surpassed the recommended 250 word limit, I will try to give you all a concise yet thorough recap of many of the fun things I’ve found to do in the Big Easy. I apologize in advance for the randomness that may accompany the following memory recall and stream-of-conscious writing.

Lets’ see…During these four weeks I have ridden the historic St. Charles streetcar a approximately 20 times before I accidentally wash my $55 bus pass that I left in my pants pocket, I’ve been Frenchman street- a great place in the French Quarters to chill and hear great live jazz (Snug Harbor) or to dance to reggae music with a bunch of drunken middle aged adults (Café Negril), I have yet to spot a celebrity but I’ve been given firsthand accounts from fellow Duke Engagers about their encounters with Bow Wow, Reggie Bush and New Orleans Saints, and Amanda Bynes to name a few, I’ve gone to my first club and partied past 3 am (The Republic)- I still get tired just thinking about it, I’ve eaten some of the best po boys at local “holes in the walls” ( Sol’s Seafood, Louisiana Supersaver), had world famous ham sliced and on a plate (Mother’s), walked down famous (or infamous, depending on what time of day it is) Bourbon St. on a Friday night seeing a diverse mix of tourists, locals, young and old- many drunken, some just crazy, but all having a good time, I’ve went to Free Jazz Wednesdays in Lafayette Park with some friends and got to see the famous Trombone Shorty and the Orleans St. jazz band, had my crawfish broil only to discover that I don’t like boiled fish and definitely don’t care for expending so much energy to be rewarded with such a small bit of meat, I’ve seen the New Orleans Lakefront and taken pictures in front of the beautiful scenery, got in front of an audience and danced backup for some friends ( good job Shantel and Sam) singing at an open mic night, “toured” the Ninth Ward on a tour bus and Bon Jovi as a guide (yes, this day was a surreal as it sounds), bargained with vendors at French Market, eaten beignets and $2 dollar orange juice at the famous Café Du Monde and this weekend I will be going to the best music event in the nation- or so the woman on the radio station said, Essence Music Festival to finally see my first share of celebrities.

So while my internship is the main reason why I’m here in New Orleans now I must say that I’ve had many other experiences outside of my job which have supplemented and enriched my “extensive civic engagement” that the creators of Duke Engage promised me I would have. So to all of you prospective Duke Engagers out there reading this- know that this program is not only extensive engagement its intensive fun as well. One of my fellows Dukies also here with Duke Engage made a very true comment the other day. A lot of the things I am learning about myself are actually happening right in the dorms, with new friends and on these “extracurricular outings on the weekends”. Thanks to all these experiences- I am working and definitely enjoying myself as well. And if you’ve noticed, this blog was posted before a little bit past 5pm. So before you even ask- Yes I’m at work!
 

When in New Orleans do as the New Orleanians (is this even a real word- somebody spell check please) do. For almost a month here I’ve tried to abide by this mantra. I’ve taken the St. Charles trolley, partied on Bourbon St and eaten way too many shrimp po boys for my own good. Despite my living in New Orleans for the past four weeks and my attempts to be considered a local, it’s still very apparent (most times immediately) to the natives that I am not from here. I’m not sure what it is that gives me away but I’m thinking my distinctive North Carolinian drawl, my tendency to sweat bullets as soon as I step into the thick Louisianan air, the overly eager look in my eyes as I wander through the French Quarters or my inability to pronounce New Orleans but instead New Or-Leens all land on the list of “foreigner” tell-tell signs. Either way, my inability to “fit in” has drawn a considerable amount of attention to myself. One of the first questions people ask me after realizing that I’m merely a “clumsy tourist” is “Where are you from”? When the person doesn’t seem too sketch I respond honestly saying “North Carolina” in my perfect (yes perfect!) southern drawl. The second question they ask is “So, what are you doing all the way down here?” Again, if I feel comfortable knowing this person is not a crazy stalker or serial killer I tell them that I am a summer intern with the Duke Engage program volunteering with Providence Community Housing. I then proceed to give them a brief spill about my job and Providence’s mission to create affordable mixed income housing in New Orleans. And like clockwork every time, the person usually thanks me for my willingness to donate my summer to better the city.

I will admit, during the first few days I was quite taken aback by people’s gratitude for my services, however menial I may think them to be sometimes (especially every Friday afternoon around quitting time.) And at the risk of sounding egotistical I also must say that it makes me feel good inside to know that someone beyond my friends at school who are jealous of my trip to NOLA or the program directors of Duke Engage consider my time here as valuable and beneficial. The most meaningful appreciation that I’ve been given is from the curious grocery store owner or the man standing behind me in the po boy line after learning about my intern. People often remark about the kindness of strangers and over my four weeks here I’ve become amazed at how the sincere interest and gratitude of complete strangers makes me feel not so strange in this unfamiliar place. So while I am pretty sure that no one is ever going to mistake me for a Big Easy native, I nonetheless feel at home and welcomed here.

I’m not sure what all it is, maybe the Louisianan accent that’s almost as beautiful as my North Carolinian one or maybe the smiles that make the appreciation received from NOLA natives all the more special. Or perhaps it’s just the glint of hope that I feel these people have in me and my compatriots in our efforts to make this city a better place. So no matter how tedious my job may get some time (this week I had to help organize a city parcel survey for over 6000 units the Lafitte-Treme neighborhood) I just remember that I have to push just a little harder, no matter how tired I may get. I’m still working to earn the thank you given to me the day before by the guy sitting next to on the trolley as well as the kindness of countless other “strangers” that I’ve encountered.