Insanity and Busy-ness!

Last weekend I went to my Great Uncle's memorial service. It was really nice. I met ( or maybe remet) our friend of the family Tom Carroll and his son Peter. Tom, my Great Uncle Charlie, and my Grandpa Gordon all lived together in a house and were best friends. Later my Great Uncle Charlie married my Grandpa Gordon's sister Kay. Anyways enough of the family history, it was really nice to see my Mom even for a short visit. I stayed at my Aunt Sara's house with my Aunt Diana, Uncle Kim, and my Mom. I also got the chance to go to a tag sale and pick up some fun stuff for the apartment. I was also happily able to see my extended cousins Marty, Cora, Jay, and Melinda. I look forward to seeing Cora and Marty when I (maybe with Josh too) go to Boston. Overall it was nice to see family even for a short time.

I am working with the InterFaith Coalition of RI. I'm really enjoying it. I feel like I want my interfaith work to remain an important part of my life. Somehow in the last meeting they asked me to be a member of the steering committee. Its really exciting. I'll be working with some of the biggest religious leaders in the state.

This week my supervisor left. It was a shock to both Lindsay and I. I was meeting with her one morning and then an hour later she was gone. She has left to work more directly with the volunteer groups she is already involved with. Supposedly there were also some differences in vision and working style. Lindsay and I never knew about any of it. To be honest it was upsetting and totally threw off our work for the rest of the week.

On Thursday I went to the Ben Folds/Missy Higgins concert. It was pretty awesome! It was outside in an empty ice skating rink in Kennedy Plaza. Missy Higgins was great and I'm listening to her more. She's kind of folksy with a smattering of blues and a healthy helping of rock. She also gave a great show and was very personable. I was really excited about seeing Ben Folds! He was starting to look a bit old, but still gave a fantastic show. He play music from his all new album which comes out Tuesday. I want to listen to the new album more before I make a final decision. In his encore he played old favorites like Rocking the Suburbs and Not the Same. He mentioned growing up in Chapel Hill and of course I had to cheer. Over all it was a good time.

This weekend I've just tried to relax. Cooking, watching the debate, and just hanging out around the house. I did go to the RI Unitarian Universalist Social Justice retreat. Sad to say it was a mistake. You would think in a 5 hr long meeting we would get something accomplished, but no not really.

There are a couple exciting things happening this week. Aunt Diana is coming up tomorrow with maybe a desk and dresser for me. We're going to hang out with Caitlin some. Then later this week Josh's folks are coming up for a short visit. Surprisingly they are driving up for a couple of days. I know Josh is looking forward to seeing his folks. It should be a good visit!

Much love!

Wow its September!

I've been very busy! I've started working at the Sleep for Science Psychology lab at Butler Hospital through Brown University. I've just started my training at the lab. Its very different than the Peer Relations Lab with Mitch, but I like it. Everyone who works there is very nice and seems to be passionate about academia, which is important to me.

I am also working on my graduate school applications. I am applying to:

1. University of Vermont
2. Catholic University of America
3. University of Georgia
4. University of Nebraska at Lincoln
5. UNC Greensboro
6. Southern Illinois University
7. St Louis University
8. Suffolk University
9. University of Toledo

Its time consuming, but its definitely as stretch.

Workwise, I've been busy. I had a wonderful experience meeting with most of the major religious leaders at a poverty reduction conference. It was fantastic! I met both one of the past as well as the present Presidents of the Board of Rabbis of RI. I met a couple UU ministers, a woman who is connected to the whole social service arena of RI, more important jewish people than I can count, multiple Episcopal ministers, and people representing the United Church of Christ (UCC). This faith based reduction of poverty group's goal is to reduce poverty by 50% in 10 years, and I'm going to help! This is a nationwide effort! During the past week they have been sending letters to politicians requesting that they devote the first 100 days of their term to poverty reduction. Obviously few politicians will not sign this pledge, but they may not work towards this goal in the way that I and others would think is appropriate (e.g. trickle down economics). Although it wasn't in my program plan, at least officially, for me to work on interfaith collaboration, I am, and all of you know that I love it! When I found out about this meeting and following press conference, I was so excited especially when talking about it to my supervisor we got goose bumps!!!

I've also been to 2 college volunteer fairs, one at Brown and the other at Salve Regina in Newport, both with Lindsay. It was a blast. Brown reminded me of Carolina and how much I miss school and college life. Walking around made me feel rather old because I realized that freshmen look the same everywhere. Brown is very into volunteer; they actually began Campus Compact. Salve Regina was very different. My closest comparison was Duke or Wake Forest. Everything was very beautiful and quiet, not much of a campus life. Newport was wonderful, absolutely beautiful. I want to go back and visit again; hopefully to spend more time on the beach.

I'm starting to get close with this girl, Lindsay, who I work with. We hung out some yesterday and I think we will definitely continue to do so. She is from South Carolina and we just seem to mesh well on things, music, politics, religion, and just kind of hanging out! It makes me feel like Providence is home-ish. I don't know if I'll ever feel that Providence is home-home because I know I'll only be here for a year, but I am happy and comfortable. Life is good...

I'm excited about everything and have been very busy!

Much love to everyone!