(Somewhere in one of the keys on our way back to Miami, Friday night. This is also our new album cover. Be expecting our first album to drop in August. Also shout out to my fantastic Site Coordinator taking this photo! You read her blog here!)
Why hello there WordPress world! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?? How have you been? I hope you’ve been doing swell. So sorry that it’s taken me since November to write to you. A lot has been happening down in the Miami YAV/ Dwell world since the previous post. How about I give you a quick little run down of everything that’s been happening in the life of P.Q.
Where to start though…. So much has taken place over the past 5 months…
How about we start with the thing I’ve dedicated most of my days with, work.
Work has been pretty calm lately, but before that it was actually pretty insane. If you’ve forgotten, I work at a nonprofit called South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice (SFIWJ), and this year for the second time we put out a report for Worker’s Memorial Day, which covers worker related deaths all throughout Florida. Last year it was just South Florida, but this year it was the whole shabam so that took an incredible amount of work.
Through working on the report with my boss, Jeanette, I’ve gotten to learn so much on how deadly it truly is out there for workers. Like it’s incredibly dangerous even if you are following the safety rules. For instance, just last week a street cleaner ran over a worker while he was working on one of the highways, which is super horrifying because it happened at about 10:30 in the morning.
With that being said, it is so terrible for workers down here in Florida that it used to be number three in the country, but has only been bumped down to number four because there has been a huge spike in worker deaths in New York since the previous year. That just goes to show how important it is for workers to have safe and healthy work conditions, which is one one of the issues SFIWJ deals with.
Not only has the topic of worker safety been a huge in my life lately, but also the topic of worker rights. It’s been such a gigantic issue that I literally had a dream about it the other night where worker rights were being discussed when it came to Uber.
Another interesting way my thought process has changed is that whenever I watch action movies now I can’t help, but think about all the workers that might be injured whenever some huge building goes up in flames. So I guess the whole “A year of service for a Lifetime of change” really is really paying off… Congrats Blake, and everyone at the YAV office! **Claps hands**
Through my site placement I’ve been able to experience, and learn so much. Some of these things are:
- Learning about misclassification of workers, and how huge of a problem that is.
- Learning about the struggle poultry workers go through, and how back-breaking labor intensive those jobs really are. I love my chicken, but not if it comes to what kind of pain the workers have to go through.
- I’ve also gotten a chance to pull back the veil of politics, and take a look in on it. I’ve never had any involvement in that world so that’s been really fascinating.
- Through attending meetings where there are multiple social justice organizations I’ve been able to see how true the words of “there is power in numbers” rings so true.
- These are just a few things, hopefully i can write about ’em more later!
Here’s a photo of my fearless leader, Jeanette, leading a training for airport workers.
Besides work though I’ve gotten to do some pretty astonishing things. For instance, just last month all of the YAVs in the southeast region went to stay at a beach house on the Gulf Shores of Alabama, which was pretty great in itself. While there I got to reconnect with so many lovely people who I haven’t seen since Stony Point, and the airport where we all flew off to our sites.
That weekend was filled to the brim with reflection on how the year has been going so far, and truly let me just slow down time for a second to take in everything that has happened so far. Another huge part of the weekend was the fact that people that were there knew the struggle I was going through, and helped me see how my problems might seem huge to me, but in reality there were more people on the struggle bus than just me. It was a true weekend of rejuvenation and reflection, which I think everyone needed.
(It was like this pretty much all weekend, which was basically paradise. Also shout out to Abby for taking this sweet, sweet photo! You can see what her YAV experience has been here!)
After the relaxing weekend my YAV house joined the Nashville YAVs where we travelled up north to Selma, Alabama where we got to see the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge, and reflect on the injustices and Selmas that are still happening throughout the world. An experience that will be ingrained into my memory, and last me for years to come after this YAV year.
(Photo cred: Michelle)
I also got to go to an event with The Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) with people from all different parts of the U.S. in February with Quinten. There were other YAVs, and YAV alums there (hey Kalli, T.J., and Mary Sellers!), which was super cool. It gave me a chance to see how the current YAVs are doing, and it also let me connect with the people who have finished the YAV program and to see how their experience was.
FTE in itself was one for the books. It was basically a chance to get away from it all for the weekend to Camp Allen in Texas where I got to discern, and reflect on what’s next in my journey. Through doing that hopefully I’ll have a little more clarity on what path to take next.
(My small group presenting on something probably totally groundbreaking.)
(By the time this guy finished his speech and presentation I’m pretty there wasn’t any heart in that room that wasn’t fired up, and ready to change the world.)
One devastating part about Miami life is that there isn’t glorious Whataburger nearby. Luckily, the driver we had for taking my group from the airport to the retreat center was a God-send, and hooked a brother up!
(It was a good solid 2 months since I had the amazingness that is Whataburger. My taste buds were square dancing with how good it was.)
Another wonderful thing that has been happening is the influx of people whom I love coming to visit me over this past year. So shout out to Jessica Hume, Kevin East and my parents for coming out!
I’m super pumped for the next batch of family and friends to come too! Yeah, that’s right I’m talking to you Mindy from NOLA, RTQ, Catherine, and my parents who are coming over the next couple of months! My place is still open to whoever old friends wants to come so just give a boy a holla if you want to! We have a lovely futon, and an abundance of chickens to look at in the morning.
(Jessica, and I conquered the everglades that day. We also saw like two manatees! Yeah that’s right, Luke!)
(My parents trying their first cuban sandwiches, and let’s just say they were hooked!)
(Kevin might of only been in Mi-ami for less then 36 hours, but he definitely made a life-long friend with that goat in the back while slurpin down some milkshakes from Robert is Here)
I’ve also been trying to soak up everything Miami, and southern Florida has to offer, which of course means a whole lot of aquatic fun. So far, I’ve gotten to Kayak, Paddleboard (newest addiction, and I’ve only lost my glasses once!), and just swam a lot in the Atlantic. The house actually went down to Key West this past Friday where we reflected on our year, got to see the Sunset, and met with a feeling of renewal.
(Last Saturday, Phil, who’s in the middle and a board member, took Quinten, Natalie, and I out to go Kayaking. Not pictured here is mustachioed Quinten who was the photographer of our aquatic adventure)
(Just touching the Southernmost Point of the continental U.S.A. NBD. Photo cred: Michelle)
If you also haven’t noticed I’ve had a whole lot of reflection time this year, which has made me think about what I exactly want out of life, a job, relationships, theology, love, and everything inbetween. Hopefully though, all of this discernment and reflection will truly be a torch in the darkness that is the path that lies ahead as I start to decide what’s next, and what exactly to do. It’s truly frightening because only the future knows, but I guess that’s kind of where the fun is, right?
These are just a few things that I’ve gotten to experience and felt. There are so many more to come before I leave. Hopefully I can post about them too in the upcoming months before my time is over. Because I’ve barely been posting on here, and I have way too many photos I’ve taken I’ll try to start posting a whole lot of pictures on my instagram account, which you should follow if you want to see what all I’ve been doing this year!
Until next time WordPress world!
(The sunset in Key West right off of Mallory Square. Not pictured: the veteran sword swallower who was literally right behind us. And yet again this amazing photo is thanks to Michelle!)
