Week 2

This week started off with a bang, but then sort of died down. Monday morning, the entire advocacy department went to a protest outside of City Hall. This coalition called Real Rent Reform (a.k.a. R3) organized a civil disobedience rally to pressure the local legislators to repeal something called "vacancy decontrol." Armed with megaphones, and accompanied by dancers and a marching band, the protesters voiced their cries of discontent, and 13 were arrested for blocking the doors of an office building.

Basically, here in New York, landlords have little to no active regulation regarding their activity. This gives very little restrictions when it comes to rent and evictions. They've been able to (illegally) double or even triple tenants' rent for various reasons (i.e. painting, minor repairs etc.) without notifying them in advance. The law says you can only raise someone's rent by 1/40th for major alterations such as modernizing kitchens of installing new air conditioning. But because of these unscrupulous landlords, many people loose their homes because they can't pay for them anymore. To fight this practice, about 200 people flooded the park outside of City Hall to join in the true American way. I must say, I sympathized, but I didn't like the anger and hatred that they conveyed in their speeches. But then again, I thought, maybe they should be angry. Families are loosing their homes.

Paige was cracking me up during this whole thing. She definitely showed her true San Francisco colors as we walked over to City Hall. With an air of sophisticated professionalism she told us "Now, we're not going to participate in the protest..." and as she produced a large Habitat for Humanity banner from her purse, she promised us that, "...and we're not going to identify ourselves, we're only going in civilian wear..." while she gleefully accepted and dawned a t-shirt from a passing R3 representative, "...we're only going to observe." She concluded, and finally accepted a whistle from the R3 rep.

You can view a video of the protest here. Try and find me in the crowd!

The rest of the week was pretty monotonous. I mostly just worked on finished up my research for Matt's curriculum. After work, Anson and I have been running. At the very least, attempting. We’ve been only going for a quick mile or so. The Spartan-300 workout Jonathon has been doing with the other guys just doesn’t sound very fun (by sound, I am literally referring to the agonizing howls and groans I hear from downstairs when everyone works out.) Tuesday, no one was at the office for some reason, and I was falling asleep on my keyboard, so I went home early to take a nap. Later on, we watched a documentary about charter schools in New York. It made me rethink my high school experience. I’m gonna elaborate on that later. This post might be kind of long already. We didn't have the boys over on Wednesday evening. For that, I was relieved, because I was unbelievably tired from all of our running around and staying up late. Thursday, I went to lunch with Lauren Majewski's childhood friend, Mandi, a graphic designer who lives in Brooklyn. While I would say she is very Brooklyn, she is very, very Parma, OH as well. It was cool, we talked about music and why we were in New York. We also had our Bible study, again. I don’t think I went into it last week…but there’s four of us: Mike Robinson (our leader), Jon Kwan, Anson and I. It’s been really cool reading Isaiah with them and talking about how it relates to our lives. I wanna go more in to these things, too. Again, another post. One day. I promise.

Friday, Matt and I met to discuss the progress of the curriculum. I had finished looking up various statistics for his program's appendix, and had accrued numerous articles to give examples of current events regarding the housing crisis. He seemed pleased with my research, for which I was glad because half the time I honestly wasn't sure what to look for. After that, he asked me how things were going for me as whole. I admitted to him my insecurities about working in an office, and the newness of a 9-5 schedule, to which he greatly empathized and offered encouragement. In response to my feelings of tediousness, he challenged me to recognize the purpose behind my work and to recognize the intersection between justice and faith.

I’m not just looking things up. I’m not just writing things down. I not just learning about the politics of New York City. I’m helping to piece together a puzzle of knowledge for faith-leaders to use to inform their congregations about the injustice around them. I’m going to help Habitat elevate the conversation of foreclosures, and mortgage rescue scams, and rent stabilization in the religious community of New York City. Hopefully, with God’s help, this educational experience Matt is planning for the fall will start to stir the political agenda regarding the Housing Crisis.

After work on Friday, the NYCUP interns and I all went to this high-rise office near Time's Square to hear a presentation about the Nomi Network, along with a bunch of anonymous socially-conscious entrepenuers, who we overwhelmed with our attendence. In short, it's a non-profit started by these two fashionistas from the West Coast which bridges the private, public, and non-profit sectors through enterprise and education to end human trafficking in Cambodia. They mainly sell purses crafted by liberated slaves, and send 100% of the profits to Cambodia to keep women out of brothels. The purpose of the meeting was to network, recruit, and brainstorm new ideas to expand their orginization. I must confess, I was slightly tired by this point, and didn't want to go, but it was cool to see how God is using these two girl's love for fashion to fight injustice in Cambodia. Very encouraging.

Once again, I had an amazing weekend. Once again, I got a delightful amount of extra rest. Some of the interns went home on Saturday, but the rest of us took the ferry to Governor's Island and rented bikes. We rode around for a couple hours, enjoying the weather and one another's company. Around 5ish, Melissa showed us around her neighborhood in Chinatown and we got bubble tea and tempura. We went in a couple shops, and bought some Chinese sweet bread. We reached out to a couple homeless men here and there. We gave each of them business cards to the Love Kitchen, where they could get a free dinner.

Some of the girls wanted to window shop in SoHo. Mike, Anson, Stephanie and I were on the same page, however: we just wanted to sit down after biking and walking around all day. We chilled in Starbucks on Broadway for 20 minutes, while the other girls shopped til they dropped. We had an impromptu, and unfortunately very short, game of hide-and-seek in a three-story Hollister where two shirtless male models stood guard at the doors. We got dinner to go at a Mediterranean place, and ate it on this park in the sky in the Chelsea neighborhood. It used to be a subway line, but it was turned into a suspended walkway lined with wild plants. Finally, we went home and watched the Book of Eli.

Sunday, some of the interns lead worship at Casa Promesa. Bethany and Mike were on guitar and vocals, while Anson tore up the piano and Jon played the flute. I decided to head back over to Riverside Park, again, and go read or something. On my way over here to Starbucks, an elderly toothless homeless man approached me. He told he was diabetic and had stomach cancer, and needed some steamed vegetables to eat. He begged for money, so I went in the cafe we were standing in front of to "get some cash", but really I just looked at their menu and subsequently offered to treat him to lunch. He declined, and stormed away when I told him I don't give out money.

My time in the park was really peaceful. It’s so beautiful there. I sat in the sun and prayed and read Irresistible Revolution. I didn’t have a pen, so I couldn’t write anything. But overall, I’m really glad to have had some time alone. Too bad I woke up on Monday with a cold!

Prayer Requests:
-Healing. I've got a sore throat, runny nose. I don’t know where it came from! Rebuke it from afar, my friends, in Jesus’ name.
-Coolness. It’s so hot here. I’m not used to the humidity, and it makes my experience here slightly less enjoyable because I’m perpetually sweating.
-Focus at work. Like I said earlier, I’m not used to the 8 hour shift, and it gets so old reading articles and executive reports all day.
-God’s eyes. That has been the cry my heart lately, just to see things the way He does. Whether that is a situation that I’m uncomfortable in, or a person who I may be weary of, I want to look at things with God’s holistic and transcendental perspective.