No te salves

A poem my casamate Maria shared with all the Southwest JVs at our Re-Orientation as a call to action in working for social justice.


No te salves / Don’t Save Yourself Mario Benedetti

Don’t remain immobile
At the edge of the road
Don’t freeze the joy
Don’t love with reluctance
Don’t save yourself now
or ever
Don’t save yourself
Don’t fill with calm
Don’t reserve in the world
Only a secure place
Don’t let your eyelids fall
Heavily as judgments
Don’t speak without lips
Don’t sleep without sleepiness
Don’t imagine yourself without blood
Don’t judge yourself without time.
But if
in spite of everything
You can’t help it,
And you freeze the joy,
And you love with reluctance,
And you save yourself now,
And you fill with calm
And you reserve in the world
Only a calm place,
And you let fall your eyelids
Heavily as judgments,
And you speak without lips,
And you sleep without sleepiness,
And you imagine yourself without blood,
And you judge yourself without time,
And you remain immobile
At the edge of the road,
And you save yourself,
Then…
Don’t stay with me.

the best!

Cooper was the best. Or at least, I thought so. There were plenty of times I was the only one who liked him. Anytime he did something good, he was the family dog; but anytime he did something bad, he quickly became "Carolyn's dog." I frequently claimed him as my own (even though I did little more to care for him than for any of the other dogs), just because he was some sort of get-well-slash-welcome-home-from-the-hospital gift in eighth grade. I spent a fair amount of time in the hospital picking out a name for this new dog and settled on "Bella," only to find out that there weren't any female dogs available. So the last of the litter was this chubby stick-of-butter-and-block-of-cheese-stealing fluff ball who never lost his puppy fur.

I don't mean to be dramatic (am I eulogizing a dog?), but Coop was special to me. This summer when I was studying for the MCAT, he came downstairs to the basement every day to visit me. He'd bring his huge stuffed dog and throw it around, then lay down for a bit next to me until he got bored. He kept going downstairs every day even after I took the MCAT, and he was pretty confused as to where I was and why I wasn't sitting in the same desk. He was silly and smelly, and you could rarely convince him to do anything he didn't want to do (I don't think he fetched a ball once in his life), but he was loyal and soft and cute!

R.I.P. Cooper

Hoya Saxa

Our basketball team may struggle from time to time, but this letter sent to the Georgetown community by our president, John DeGioia, makes me proud to be a Hoya. It doesn't matter whether you agree with this Georgetown Law student's position on birth control. What matters is that Rush Limbaugh's personal attacks on those with whom he disagrees are becoming the standard in political discourse in America, and it is not an environment conducive to progress. I'm not sure civil discourse was ever really the norm in my lifetime, but I'm proud of DeGioia standing up for this student's freedom of expression in an eloquent letter.

(Maureen Dowd also wrote about the exchange in her NY Times column this weekend.)

MARCH 2, 2012

Dear Members of the Georgetown Community:

There is a legitimate question of public policy before our nation today.  In the effort to address the problem of the nearly fifty million Americans who lack health insurance, our lawmakers enacted legislation that seeks to increase access to health care. In recent weeks, a question regarding the breadth of services that will be covered has focused significant public attention on the issue of contraceptive coverage.  Many, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, have offered important perspectives on this issue.

In recent days, a law student of Georgetown, Sandra Fluke, offered her testimony regarding the proposed regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services before a group of members of Congress.  She was respectful, sincere, and spoke with conviction.  She provided a model of civil discourse.  This expression of conscience was in the tradition of the deepest values we share as a people. One need not agree with her substantive position to support her right to respectful free expression.  And yet, some of those who disagreed with her position – including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels – responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student. 

In our vibrant and diverse society, there always are important differences that need to be debated, with strong and legitimate beliefs held on all sides of challenging issues. The greatest contribution of the American project is the recognition that together, we can rely on civil discourse to engage the tensions that characterize these difficult issues, and work towards resolutions that balance deeply held and different perspectives.  We have learned through painful experience that we must respect one another and we acknowledge that the best way to confront our differences is through constructive public debate.  At times, the exercise of one person’s freedom may conflict with another’s.  As Americans, we accept that the only answer to our differences is further engagement. 

In an earlier time, St. Augustine captured the sense of what is required in civil discourse: "Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance.  Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth.  Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us.  For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed."

If we, instead, allow coarseness, anger – even hatred – to stand for civil discourse in America, we violate the sacred trust that has been handed down through the generations beginning with our Founders.  The values that hold us together as a people require nothing less than eternal vigilance.  This is our moment to stand for the values of civility in our engagement with one another.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia
President
Georgetown University

Originally posted at http://www.georgetown.edu/message-civility-public-discourse.html

"Shame on Ceasar! ... Seniors! ... Cedars! I meant Cedars!"

A couple weeks ago for one of our community nights we attended a candlelit vigil/protest of the closing of the psych ward at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in L.A. This is the latest in a trend of psychiatric services being cut across the state, including MediCal cutting much of its coverage for psych services. Most of us work with persons with mental illness in some capacity or another, so we see daily how essential these outpatient and inpatient services are. I'm happy that one of the speakers at the vigil made the point of saying that without psychiatric care, many people would end up in prison or on the streets. Unfortunately, the decision has already been made, and plans are already being carried out to close the 60-bed psych ward at Cedars, but we attended the vigil to help make the point that mental health is just as important as any other piece of healthcare. As a psychology major, it's natural for me to consider mental illness as a part of overall health, but there is certainly still a stigma attached to disorders of the brain.

After the vigil, we walked around the massive block of buildings that makes up Cedars Sinai, chanting "Cedars must reconsider!" and "Shame on Cedars!" Try repeating that for about 20 minutes at a high volume. I kept saying things like "Shame on Ceasar!' and "Shame on seniors!" And my voice was pretty hoarse at work the  next day...

love is in the air

My favorite poem about love.

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

-Pedro Arrupe, former Superior General of the Society of Jesus

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happy valentine's day!

Quote for an Exhausted JV

"Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on you." My dad often cites this St. Ignatius quote when I'm stressed/burnt-out/lacking motivation. The idea of working as if everything depended on you seems kind of daunting, and I never really found the quote that comforting (sorry, Dad)...until this week when I hit a seriously low point at work and needed to find some solace. So I was looking around the interwebz for the exact citation of this Ignatian quote, and I stumbled upon some interesting findings. First of all, it turns out this particular quote is actually attributed to St. Augustine. But Ignatius did say something similar: "Trust in God, as if the whole course of events depends on you and not on God, but fully implement your plans as if nothing needs to be done by you, but only by God." In short, pray as if everything depended on you, and work as if everything depended on God.


Here's why I like Iggy's original quote (a quote which was later reversed because people thought it was an error, and also perhaps stolen from Augustine, but no one here is concerned about saintly plagiarism):


If I prayed as if everything depended on me, I would be quick to realize my shortcomings. Recognizing that I need God's help, I would pray for the graces of understanding, compassion, and wisdom. I would need to pray for the strength to carry on. I would need to pray for forgiveness. And I would pray with a sense of urgency.


And if I worked as if everything depended on God, then I would be working with inspiration much deeper than my own personal motivation. A Jesuit blogger says it better than I could: "If I work as if everything depends on God, then I will go forward with greater confidence and energy, since the work to be done is in more capable hands than my own. If the outcome is in God’s hands, then I will perhaps be able to persevere in the face of opposition and apparent poor results. If it all depends on God, then I will not hesitate to 'step out of the boat,' out of my own comfort zone, as I try to serve. And if God is in charge, then [God] will not allow my mistakes to ruin [God's] work, but will make all things work together unto good."


Now that is an idea I can take solace in. I shall carry it with me this week as I try to find peace amidst some challenging and painful realities about my own deficiencies.

TO DO, AMDG

One of the speakers at JVC Orientation in August offered a piece of funny and appropriate advice that I hadn't thought about again until recently. The Jesuits tend to cite their motto pretty frequently: ad majorem Dei gloriam, which means "for the greater glory of God." The idea is that every act, even those that aren't overtly spiritual, can be spiritually fruitful when done "for the greater glory of God"...so the suggestion to JVs for times of doubting the value of our daily work was to add "AMDG" to the end of every item on your to-do list. Well, to say that I'm going through a doubting Thomas phase at work would be an understatement, so I gave it a shot.

-Update CTP monthly stats for the greater glory of God
-Send notice of referral to Legal Aid ad majorem Dei gloriam
-make February check-in calls to graduates ad majorem Dei gloriam
-make CTP recruitment calls AMDG (and ASAP)
-enter clts into family center database for the greater glory of God
-enter B&R meals into db for the greater glory of God
-do laundry AMDG
-write recommendation letter for casamate AMDG
-write fellowship application essay AMDG


Only AMDG can make database entry seem exciting and glorious...