hometown Mineola, Texas
education International Relations & Global Studies,
Hendrix College
Our House staff since August 19, 2011
I work in the Learning Center with
our adult students, forming course
curriculum, scheduling classes, &
bringing in volunteers for events like
practice job interviews.
When I mention my job to people, I
often feel an immediate change in
attitude & get comments like, “Wow,
you must see some tough things,” or
“That must be hard going.” There’s an
instant feeling that where I work &
who I work with aren’t normal. While
it’s true that most people don’t work
in shelters, it’s mostly like any other
job interacting with clients. We work
with real & regular people with the
standard spread of personalities you
would find in any company. There’s
happiness, hardship, success, & setbacks like in any human relations
position. A big obstacle for our clients
is the mostly-pejorative “special”
status they receive when others discover their homelessness, & most of
those stereotypes just aren’t true.
The Dairy Queen in Mineola,
Texas, the 2nd-cleanest DQ
in the state. Funny how proud
I was of that. I still love DQ!
Always ask questions of yourself. Clarify your vision of what
you want the world & your life
to be, commit to that paradigm,
& then challenge that vision.
At the same time, don’t take
yourself too seriously—it leads
to self-importance.
For everyone to be happy,
peaceful, hard workers that
mind their own business, take
care of their own & their earth,
& have a full range of their
own free will.
And that Sonic burgers would
suddenly be only 10 calories.