Methodology that Counts in Poverty Alleviation

I was looking for methods of finding common indicators about poverty, and found this. I LOVE this article’ methodologies. If I was independently wealthy, I would just go around the US and do these for folks. But first I’d need some more statistics training and some GIS skills.

Developing a Regional Poverty Profile 

Poverty is relative to localities. We can tell when people are starving in other countries, but in America, poverty is hidden and part of perception. It is hard to measure something in peoples perceptions.  If we can’t measure this real poverty, how do we know our programs are going to be useful by those who they are intended for?

Here is an example of how to use this regional poverty profile in poverty alleviation. In their example study, they showed that being poor, not-so-poor, and not poor mean slightly different things in the three communities. In one places, not being poor was strongly statistically associated with being involved in a trade. They showed 83% of non-poor households were professionals or traders, whereas in the other comparative areas, only %52-53% of the not-poor were professionals or traders. In the other contrasting area, owning land and property was much more prominent means of acquiring “well-being.”  We would be able to see what the people who live in poverty think would work to make their lives better, not use the top-down method of the school, or IWD telling folks how get a “good job,” what that job is, and how to improve their lives.

“Different ethnic groups may have different value systems that, among other things, could influence their perceptions of well-being and poverty.” By building on their existing perceptions we can be sure to have programs that work for the people they are intended for.

Using their quantified knowledge WITH real measures of  industry/sector or work, hours, wage, property ownership, plus access to affordable food and public transportation we could see if something like having a bank account or a car is really a measurable asset to the relief of poverty. We could also know what types of employment would actually benefit folks – not make assumptions that all jobs are good for all populations. “Jobs” are good on the aggregate, but it isn’t “a rising tide floats all boats” for folks in poverty. This can help find the right river for them to put the boat into.

 I think this is especially great on a neighborhood level, both in the flatlands of DBQ and all the way out to Dyersville/Ashbury. How do they define well-being differently than the flatlands? What would benefit their economic success differently, and how do you quantify it? I just love this paper! I hope the ISU people can use it as a base and build policy ideas around it.

This method could also be used to include data that it leaves out, like the source of income for people in poverty, how they spend their money, or measuring the economic inequality of an area -which is a little controversial because Americans don’t really want to know this and feel bad about them doing well.

Stupid Iowa

Seriously, this place is not growing on me. I've had some amazing and worthwhile experiences while here, its true, but even with them, I just don't like this place. As an anthropologist, I try to tell myself "this is just part of the process." Malinowski hated his trip to the Trobrian Islands. Even Darwin disliked the indigenous folks he ran into when traveling on the HMS Beagle. And I don't like Iowa.

Now, to be fair, Iowa is just a place. It is made of dirt and rock and water. Basso, in "Wisdom Sits in Places" he say "sensing places, men and women become sharply aware of the complex attachments that link them to the features of the physical world." I have been in Dubuque for only the winter. I haven't even seen the ground because it's been covered with 41" of snow (this is the total for the year, 21" above normal). From a social level, I've made friends. I've found things to do that keep my mind working. I haven't been especially lonely. But I have been treated inhumanely by the institution of the state.

The ENTIRE time I've been in Iowa I've been fighting to get food assistance. It has wiped out my savings, been a huge waste of mascara because every time I have to deal with the state, it costs me tears, and between and hour and an hour-and-a-half to regain my composure at work. Its cut into my sleep struggling to make sense of something that is not at all intuitive. Why is it so hard to get a little help?

For example, when I went to apply for food assistance back in November they asked about my "rent" so I put down what I thought it was going to be. I had not even paid it once yet because I'd been in town 2 weeks, and while I knew we'd split the utilities, I wasn't sure on how much they cost. This time they asked me about the house v. utilities. I don't calculate my rent this way. I just know it is normally between $219 and $300. But asking me about things I don't know, and don't have anyway of really knowing  for sure makes me feel like I am lying, then they think I am lying, but I'm not. They have to know something to help me that I don't even know exists. I have never been told how much the house costs. This makes it very upsetting. It was being forced to lie.

Another example is how there is no flow chart to know what to do in this process. It is a main reason I had to appeal the decision last time. I couldn't provide the information they wanted in the time they gave me, but there is nowhere written, in the application or any of the other communication, an explanation of their time line they are using. They have information I don't have and are using it against me. What information is given is how to appeal a decision. I didn't know I had any other options. All I really want is some help, and I need some food.

They continue to have information I don't have access to, and can use it against me. For example, when I was "in court" on the phone for my appeal. DHS had two representatives and I had just myself. I didn't even know why I would have needed someone in my defense. They knew what to expect because they had done it before. They had "the code" of their behavior and could even site it. I wouldn't even know where to find the Iowa code for social service agencies. It was unfair.

Then, today, when I talked to my new case worker, I explained the situation to her, so we could work together and ask the right questions. I explained to her that I had been denied in January, and when I was "in court" the judge said the quickest way to resolve the problem was to re-apply, even though a decision hadn't been made about the case.  I didn't want her to do something and get in trouble for it. She asked who the other caseworker was so I told her. When she called me back she said she had talked to the other caseworker and gotten "her notes." I know it is paranoid, but this means they had time to gossip. I don't know at all what the other caseworkers deal was, but she was not clear or helpful last time. Again, their were two of them and just one of me. They see each other every day, and I've never met either of them. It is very easy for them to gang up on me, and I wouldn't even know about it until something came up down the road. I'm not saying they will, but I have no other explanation of why the woman went from being nice when I first called her back, to sounding so frustrated with me.

And getting upset about it doesn't help, but telling myself not to get upset makes me more upset. Why shouldn't I be upset. I'm being interrogated like a criminal because I asked for help. But I can't help it, I need something they are withholding. Then, when I do get upset, I can't hear and remember things as well as if I'm calm. It isn't just me being stupid. "Several studies have  demonstrated that emotion can influence attention by both capturing attention and altering the ease with which emotional stimuli are processed when attention is limited [5,6]."  I could deal with it better if I had more information, like a flow chart of what to expect, and what my responsibilities are.

I could also use help if I don't have the answer to a question so they didn't think I was lying. What if "no" or "you figure it out" it was intentional to help brainstorm solutions, or at least let me, the client, explain the situation to the extent I feel is necessary, and then we can interpret the story together.

One last note, I asked about other available resources. I was upset so I couldn't communicate well, but I wanted to know if they had any information on nutrition to go with the food card. I am worried about nutrition, and I'm worried I won't get enough assistance to cover all of my food expenses.  I was wondering if there was information on how to budget up the assistance for nutrition. But I didn't know how to ask this very well. I asked if there was some information on "budgeting" which is not really what I mean at all. But she said there wasn't information in the office like that and sent me to the website. While the website doesn't have this information, I was glad she didn't just say "no." I think it is odd that there are so many groups out there teaching about food production to help people in poverty, but their isn't even a flier on nutrition at DHS where state food assistance comes from. It is a strange gap between food and nutrition. WIC focuses on nutrition, but general relief does not. It is like someone gave up on the adults and is just focused on the kids.

So, this is the state. There is a reason I don't like it, and don't feel secure here. I see so much injustice. It hurts even more when the injustice happens to me and I, being a capable and reasonably smart adult can't do anything about it. I know my job here is structural change, but just dealing with the structure is so frustrating and draining, how can I get around to doing the work? Its just taken me an hour and a half to organize my thoughts and calm down. And hundreds, if not thousands, of people in town have a similar experience each day instead of working. This is an economic issue, not just an issue of kindness and justice.

Words that make me cringe

I promised myself I would write another blog about the jargon of the non-profit word, and my VISTA site, but this is just my internal discussion.

I have been thinking about jargon for the last few days because I have had to begin changing my lexicon as I begin to work at my site. I also want to make sure I write down and recognize jargon as I pick it up so that when I am describing to others my work, I can be clear to NOT use jargon words when possible. The reason is that, as I wrote earlier, when dealing with people who are coming out of poverty, jargon words act as a barrier to them, at times. The jargon of "help" from service providers can make an unpleasant experience more intimidating. To be more inclusive, we must use more inclusive language and I want a guide to maintain my own self. Like I wrote in my previous blog, adapting to the job means changing myself. This isn't bad, but an anthropologist's job is to be able to explain to other people a culture, and language can be very powerful tool or a hindrance to that task.

The other thing I found out today about myself is that I unconsciously cringe at some language. It isn't because I disagree with an idea, but the way it was presented, because of the jargon, biased me.

So my boss and I were talking about my role and opportunities that we had identified between our program and another program we are connected to. I will talk more about this SWEET program later. My boss comes from a management and especially retail environment. He has been involved for years in the chamber of commerce and in his new position at my site been building up professional business relationships. But that word "professional" is almost a jargon word itself.

Professional to me means someone who wears a suit. It means they show up to meetings, use a computer, have agendas, and is skilled in some behavior or activity. Business professional means fluff. It is a word that makes me cringe. When I think of a "business professional" I think about a person who comes up with ideas and then tells someone else what to do. Usually it has to do with how to make money. I cringe just thinking about it. It is a person (usually male) who's good ideas aren't from the employees, but something that looks good on paper. I just don't relate to it, and in a way it is the reason I became an anthropologist. I want to change what it means.

I want a "business professional" to be an anthropologist, in a way. I want them to be leaders who let the sales people, customers, and producers of the goods come up with the ideas. I don't want the top down approach in the 21st century. I think about Sam Walton. His great idea was to pay people a living wage with benefits and buy big enough lots to get the lowest price and pass that along to consumers in poor neighborhoods. He wore a cowboy hat. But his idea got so big, and was so successful, after his death, a room full of business leaders in suits run the company now. I want business leaders to be the guy in the hat, not the suit. Suits make decisions based on numbers. Hard hats make decisions based on people.

But this is my internal stereotype. And I know it isn't always fair. I still know that "big business" is not all roses. There are businesses that don't make decisions based on sustainability, responsible stewardship of the environment, or its human cost. I also know that a lot of work has been spent, not just on re-branding corporations to look more friendly, but some really are more friendly. My internal bias still causes me to cringe at the word "business" or "business community."

This goes back to my discussion of jargon. The non-profit, especially private non-profit, world has adopted a language of business. I have a list of the words I have been keeping, but let me high-light a few: assets, investment, capital, production, entity, ask, development, cost, target, and mission.

As I become more educated about what I do and my "mission" at my service site, the language can change me, but do I want it to?

Anthropologist, VISTA, or Employee?

Usually I start at the beginning, but to make this more readable, lets start at the end with my questions, skip to the beginning and end somewhere in the middle.

Is it cheating to use my VISTA title as a resource when doing anthropological research on poverty? Poverty is a state of being without resources. Using the jargon and title quickly navigates the system, but also is an inauthentic experience because it is not like that of which my participants have. When I play my card as a VISTA to my advantage so I can quickly get to my work as an employee, am I sacrificing my anthropology? If I sacrifice my VISTA experience by not playing by the culture of poverty rules, am I doing some possible harm to my project because I don't have the same investment in the programs' successes?

So, what am I? Anthropologist, VISTA, or employee?

Just to be clear, I am not an "employee" or "staff" of my site organization, I am a program lead. I just want to be clear on this. I used "employee" as a word people can relate to, a term of indentured-ness, not because I am paid by them. When I say employee, I mean the applying knowledge, instead of creating it side.

I love anthropology. It isn't just a scientific style, it is my adopted learning style. If I want to understand my new job, in a new place, I must understand its culture. I also feel very blessed that I work for a place that respects data and wants to have the science back up its mission. When both allocating and applying for grants in a world of non-profits, you need data and stories to back up the work. It gives us a competitive edge. I see anthropology as the perfect science to fulfill this. But at times, I have to stop being a scientist in observation mode and do work. I have to make phone calls, and I have to attend meetings. But I am trying to balance 3 identities.

Part of this blog is to let my friends and family know what I am doing in Dubuque, but also I am keeping this as my field notes for the next person who may come help this organization. I also hope that it will be passed along to any student or person interested in the foundation's organizational culture, and those interested in re-creating the success the programs here in Dubuque seem to be having in fighting poverty.

So let me explain what I have learned so far and where my questions come from.

I work as a Volunteer In Service To America (VISTA). We are not staff of the organizations we work with, we are volunteers. Our stipends are paid for by the federal government because we are doing the hard task of ending poverty in America. We are receive a stipend but for all purposes we are volunteers in a war. I try not to look at my paychecks at all because it scares me to see how little I make with a college degree. At the same time, I, as a scientist, think that experience is very important. For us to really understand the challenges people in poverty face, we have to experience them for ourselves. If we want to make the system more effective for those it is trying to help, we have to be able to describe the system from the client's point of view, not us the service providers.

The traditional anthropologists who deploy to the tribal nations in Africa, for example, are not expected to be one of the people, like how Richard Borshay Lee describes in "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari." In his article, he describes how when studying the substinance culture of the !Kung tribal group, he provided his own food and housing so not to disrupt their natural habits by a new person to feed. An anthropologist is encouraged not to adopt too much of another culture or they may be accused of "going native," meaning they adopted most or all of another culture's habits and effectively joined them. This can be dangerous for an anthropologist who, as a scientist, is a cultural interpreter. To lose yourself in another culture could make you loose your impartiality, something science appreciates. If you go too far, you may also lose your ability to communicate with your audience.

A VISTA is not a staff person, but not everbody understands the distinction between my position and the organization I am working with. People expect you to know their rules (the rules of the middle class and in this case, the organizations cultural rules), behave in socially acceptable ways, and be representative of the organization, which in my case is a foundation. Many donors and high-powered people walk into the office, and I have to be capable of leaving a positive impression with them. I asked my VISTA leader at the state office today how I should make sure to represent my unique position in my e-mails and in my introductions to people I work with, or will be working with. I want to make sure, the same way an anthropologist would introduce themselves ethicly to a population for study, I am clear about my special position.

Anthropolgists when doing field work are not supposed to mis-represent themselves. Part III in the American Anthropology Association code of ethics states we "in both proposing and carrying out research, anthropological researchers must be open about the purpose(s), potential impacts, and source(s) of support for research projects with funders, colleagues, persons studied or providing information, and with relevant parties affected by the research. Researchers must expect to utilize the results of their work in an appropriate fashion and disseminate the results through appropriate and timely activities." That sounds like a different way of saying a lot of what my job description is. I will also be utilizing others work and my own work and making sure there is communication. But I am also a VISTA.

While most people on the street may not know what a VISTA is, it is benefit to me if people and organizations I am working with understand my distinction. My self-identification also has the added benefit of raising awareness about the VISTA program so more people become aware of how their tax payer dollars are being spent, and the types of opportunities there are to serve America.

So, while I may be doing anthropological research on poverty, I am also an insider to the culture of poverty, on paper. I make very little money, and due to the VISTA contract agreements to have no outside paid work, have no opportunities for relief from this position. I am not just a researcher, I am living the life. It reminds me of the book "Black Like Me" by Howard Griffin. He was a journalist who went undercover as a Black man in the 1960s in the south and wrote about his experience. He was part anthropologist, part journalist. But I am part Anthropologist, part VISTA.

The VISTA experience is, for lack of a better term, going undercover. From what I have inferred from the pre-service orientation style, and from my own knowledge of leadership and learning styles, the VISTA program is set up for many people in service to have an exploratory learning experience to really walk in another's shoes. "Exploratory learning" is a style of learning that doesn't focus on textbook experience, but where there is freedom to uncover relationships between things and ask questions. It is a more intuitive and individual style of learning. It is like giving a child an aquarium with fish and plants living in it, and letting them generate the questions for study and experiment. It is not done without supervision, and with some guidance, but the focus isn't just on memorization and tasks. I've not read that this is exactly how it was meant to be, but it is what I have observed.

At pre-service orientation, no matter which group you were assigned, the set up was of round tables. On those tables were colored placards, markers, colored pencils, an array of different types and colors of pipe-cleaners, and for my group, playdoh. This was both used as an ice-breaker because people could decorate their name-cards and make them unique, but also used as a tool. There are several types of learning styles identified today. Some people see or read something and remember it. Some people retain the most information if they hear it. Some people remember the most information when they write it themselves. Some people remember information best if they repeat it over and over again. What was given to us for us to have access so we could use our hands and our brains while retaining information. It was also to play with. At one time we were asked to break into groups. There were groups for our preference based on what we liked to do most. Our choices were: tell stories, dance, sing, or do visual art like painting, drawing, and sculpture. We each re-told a story about success with our chosen art.

Another time, during the pre-service orientation, we all sat in group and shared experiences and reflections on the information that had been given to us via lecture earlier that day. We were expected to use the information, and also practice healthy communication styles when talking about something deep and personal like experiences in crisis and poverty. Not everybody had yet had a personal experience with things like being hungry, being evicted, or not having enough money for essential items like tampons or toiletpaper. It was a time to have a conversation with both sides sharing and being honest with a group of strangers. This is also an exploratory learning strategy. You can't control the conversation, it will turn and turn. We had a moderator to keep it moving, keep any one person from dominating the conversation, and to initiate questions at times when the converstation slowed. It wasn't a series of yes or no questions, and it wasn't the person with the most education passing along information.

For a VISTA to have a meaningful and deep experience with poverty, there has to be this personal involvement. We must live the life and at time identify our own advantages and disadvantages so we can help lessen those for others in the future. Anthropology, as a science, would at times balk at this strategy.

But at times I am an insider. I have to act like an employee. I am a project leader. I am not just a scientist or student of the culture, I have to engage. At times I am forced to represent one of my three cultures. I must represent the culture of an organization even when I am not fully a part of it. I am not staff. I don't make a paycheck like they do. I don't have local knowledge. To be more specific, I must be a good representation of the program I work for and the parent organization. Let me explain more about my particular VISTA position and site.

I am the Project HOPE coordinator, Americorp VISTA. I've described what a VISTA is, so let me describe what the Project HOPE position is.

HOPE stands for Helping Our People Excel. Project HOPE encourages and facilitates
collaboration, communication, and advocacy among referral resources,
education/training providers, employers and people in our community to
dissolve existing disparity and ensure equity in employment and
economic opportunity." Facilitates is a jargon word that means call for and host meetings between parties, keeps notes and minutes on the meetings, and passes along communication between parties. It means they know who needs to know what and makes sure that all those people get information they need. It also means at times helps research resources. Resources are things like grants. Grants are money. Usually this means money for things like materials. Materials can be many things, but usually it is paper for fliers, aide of a computer and someone who knows something about graphic design, money for food at events, and may even be for renting space for meetings. It usually doesn't mean money for paid staff, and most the programs are run by volunteers at some level. At times facilitation can mean mediation between partners.

Partners are people who are working together. In this situation it means groups with often different purposes. We have an array of groups who are partners in Project HOPE. There are banks and financial groups from the area. There are people from social services like the Multi-Cultural Family Center. There are neighborhood associations involved. There are labor groups. There are governmental groups. There is a groups from educational institutions. There is even a group that is made up of the same people as from the other groups but a separate entity. I know it sounds redundant, but actually it isn't. Because some groups spend money, some raise money, and some have niches they can't break out of because of their internal constitutions, or external legal standing, they must work in the way they do, there must be several organizations, even if they have similar people on them. There isn't so much overlap that it is dangerous, but it is an anomaly. Given some time, and some upcoming interviews I will try and map these relationships, but that is in the future.

There are several successful and yearly projects that are going on. While the projects may go even if there was no Project HOPE, for them to go on without someone facilitating the collaboration, that would lead to a danger of duplicity in some things. It would also put people back in their niches and leave gaps in services allowing people to fall between the cracks and not get help, even when it was available. There are some successful projects that are also dependent upon the Community Foundation to keep oversight on, financially. This is also a mediation of sorts. I don't directly do this, but my job is not to directly do anything.

Direct service is another term needed to be understood to understand the nature of the work and this organizational culture. Direct service means dealing with people. Social workers who meet with individuals, trainers who teach classes, and the people who can touch those living in poverty, they do direct service. It is the grassroots in a traditional sense where you go to your neighbor's house; person to person contact. I don't do that. I love that stuff the most. I organize from a grassroots perspective. I don't want to know just how many people graduate from any of the programs offered, I want to know where this person comes from (geographically) and I like to ask, when someone drops-out, where do they go? I mean really, where do they go? Are they on a street corner? Are they living in someone else basement, and if so, which basement? But it isn't my job to track that person down.That would be the job of a trainer, social worker, or mentor. My job is to make sure there is a mentor, job coach, or teacher and make sure those people tell me, and I can tell the people who have invested a lot of money and energy and love, where did those people go. My job is also to make sure there are fail-safes so that if I disappear, there is a structural safety to continue to make sure there is a mentor, teacher, or coach.

This is where my personal question about bureaucracy come is. Did I grow up to be a bureaucrat? I work within a system, a careful system. But I don't do direct service, or I am not supposed to in my job description. This doesn't mean I don't get to talk to the people I am trying to help, but I am one, sometimes two generations removed.

I was thinking about my conundrum and I think I came to the justification or reason that my "grassroots" are not people, they are organizations. This fits the day-to-day of the job description but also is helping me see how my old habits will fit into my already conscious frame. This job is about organizing organizations.

If it gives you a headache, try being me and balancing it.

But, I'm also an insider to some parts of poverty culture. On paper, and in my heart, I am a VISTA. I took an oath of poverty in a silent way as part of my oath of service to the USA. I was called by VISTA to this program. The programs we facilitate must work, and they need to work for me. I have something at stake in their success. As a new person to the area, I need to make sure that I can navigate the system and leave a clear trail behind. I do this by exploratory learning within the confines that the VISTA program sets in the way of a VISTA assignment description (VAD).

But sometimes being a VISTA feels like I am cheating too.

Continuing my documentation of the process for getting food assistance from the state, I got a phone call today from a caseworker at the Department of Human Services. She was reviewing my paperwork and was calling to do a phone interview to follow-up. I was very relieved that it was before Thanksgiving, but was at work and on my way to a meeting, so I was in a hurry. I know better than to be late to a first meeting (see future writing on hidden rules of the middle-class). It leaves a bad impression. The meeting was about funding, so in my head, that had high priority.

She was nice on the phone, but I was in my foundation work role and treated her differently than using new cultural rules I am trying out to test. She went over my paperwork. I had missed a few things like she wanted more information about my housing. I have a month-to-month with my roommate, not the house owner. I own a car. I had written down my income wrong. When I explained my job situation and explained I was a VISTA she became warmer. Not a lot warmer, but was more willing to talk to me about the situation, even though I was in a hurry. I used jargon she was familiar with and moved quickly. I even agreed to e-mail her some information, although my origional plan was to negotiate the system sans technology. I was hoping to have the whole thing worked out before the Thanksgiving holiday, but I ran into more obstacles than I had thought. She wanted some sort of proof of my VISTA contract and pay information. I have an e-mail with enough verification, but I have some of my early science in it and some personal information that I don't want her to have, so I had to re-email my state VISTA leader, which I quickly did when I heard our business appointment had been postponed 15 minutes. But my VISTA leader was gone and I got an auto-reply about her being back in the office on Monday. While the reply did have a cell-phone number for her, I don't know if it is my self-worth question, or formal politeness that has me also not going to do the follow-up until Monday. I don't want to wait. I don't. It only is more of my savings that gets eaten as I wait, but I also am from my own culture. I have money in the bank. I'm not going to starve, and my own bad habits tell me that I can wait until the last minute. When it is priority, I will deal with it. But priority then, and even now, is to get my job done. The job means this writing, but also attend the other meetings I had planned for the night, or back into research mode? What identity should take priority, and by whose rules does that choice get to be made?

I guess I've come to call what I am doing, "Experimental Anthropology." Experimental Archaeology is when scientist reconstruct or try to reconstruct historical or prehistoric technologies to see what energy it took to create, or reconstruct how objects would come to be how they were found. I am trying to create a cultural experience that was found (culture of poverty) to test data on poverty in the U.S. and reconstruct pathways that have been successful to also test the data and find ways to improve it.

Anyone want to comment?

I will write more about the organizational culture of my new position another day. I have some other great stuff I have learned about the culture of poverty from research done in my office, but also internal communication styles, habits, and behaviors of the office my desk sits in.

New Job, New State

Well, I've started settling in here in Iowa. I had a great friend help me move in and it didn't take long, or was too hard. I spent 2 days in Calmar, Iowa with my friend Kayla (the friend who helped me move) to learn some stuff about Iowa. My anthropology nose was sniffing some stuff out, so I wanted to remark on it before I talk about my new home.

So, beer koozies are a big deal here. It is pronounced Koo-zy, not cozy, like I have always called them. They are those beer holders that keep your can or bottle cooland are soft. People here get them for all sorts of events, especially weddings. They will have their name and the date of the event screen printed on to the devices. It helps to know whose beer is whose, like those wine glass charms keep people from drinking your wine. They may keep your drink cool, but they aren't used because you are sipping on one beer all night; people here drink a lot. There is an alcohol culture that is at work.

A second thing I learned about NE Iowa is about a thing called "touring". Touring is basically drunk driving down unpaved roads. It is considered fun because people here also are allowed to "have one for the road" or literally served a beer on their way out the door. The only reason this is allowed to happen is because there are so few police and sheriffs around. You are unlikely to get pulled over on the unpaved roads, and people will just take them and get lost. Usually a car full of people, not just individuals. We didn't go touring, but it is so common it has that term associated with it.

Thats mostly what I learned in NE Iowa. So, now onto my place in Dubuque.
I think I really scored with this room I am renting. It is right on the bluff. From the front room, you can see both Wisconsin, Illinois, and downtown Dubuque. We sit right on the bluff. We are at the very edge of the bluff and while our street address is 3rd st., because of the hill, you can't get to the house from 3rd st. You have to go down an ally behind the houses.

The house was built in 1906 and has been cared for. It isn't as nice as many of the restored victorian homes on the bluff, but it has been cared for and is quite nice. My roommates are Kandy-the house marm. She is the one the lease is with, but she rents out the rooms. She runs the house and I like that she is direct. I need her to keep harping on me to keep the lights off, but I like her and she is clean and wants to keep things nice. Her boyfriend is, well, i forgot his name already, but I think it is Matt. Then, just today, I met Jeremy, the other guy who lives in Wisconsin, but rents a room during the week so he can work at a factory in Dubuque. I met him only briefly, but we talked about deer hunting. In Iowa, the season starts this week.

The house may be haunted. When I have more evidence of this, I will make this argument, but for now, it *may* be haunted.

The landlord lives next door. Paul and his wife used to live in this house, but they restored a house next door. Paul was a 4th grade teacher and his wife was a nurse. They are both retired now. I really hope they are democrats but I'm not sure. Mostly because they had a picture of Sara Palin on their fridge, and I'm not sure if it was humorous, or they actually like her. We already talked about having a street Christmas party in December because the couple also owns the house on the other side of them, and a new tenant just moved in. The woman is a teacher herself now, and was in one of "Mr. K."'s grade school classes.

I live in the "quite" room. It is the quietest of the rooms and I have plenty of closet space! I have been sleeping on a inflatable mattress, but I will get a better one next week when Kandy gets a new bed and I get her old one.

So, that is my new house. I will post pictures from the deck of the view later.

I went to the UU Fellowship on Sunday. I met some nice people there and can't wait to get more involved. I might even sing in the choir, not because I am good, but because I am so bad I hope to improve. They knew the woman I will be working for. They spoke highly of her. I hear she is the mayor's wife and a very kind woman. I look forward to meeting her so she can suggest more books for me to read.

So, I also started my new job today. I am at the orientation now. I came through the Land of Lincoln. I'm not officially in Chicago, but I plan on going to get some pizza on Thursday night, before going back to Iowa. I'll probably do some site seeing too.

Before I left Dubuque, this morning, I stopped by my new office. It was fancy. The office is in a restored old building in downtown Dubuque. The office is new and classy. It takes a fancy electronic key to get through the doors, when it isn't open. I get an office (no window of course) and I got a name tag. People were really nice in and around the building. I talked to the maintenance workers who were still doing some work no the place. They were also setting up for Christmas, and the place will be spectacular this weekend in time for the Festival of Trees. People there were wearing suits. It kind creeped me out. Not because it was bad, but because it was so fancy. When I think VISTA, I think of dirty work like building stuff and walking the streets. Maybe it was just Monday, but ooh-la-la, people were classy. The first quote I need to put up in my office is one to remind me that the real work I want to do, can't be done in an office. There will certainly be important office work, phone calls, e-mails, and meetings, but I look forward to having an out-of-office experience.

I love anthropology and plan on using it in the job. Anthropology is a field science.

So, this is it so far. I have to say, it is sure nice to be surrounded by people who love volunteering, service, and who are so committed to solving poverty. Not as many extroverts as I would have expected, but a lot of the capacity building of VISTA jobs are thinking and writing, so that may be some of the reason for it. Also, the line was so long at registration that it sucked a lot of the energy of folks.

On that, I will mention something I felt good about. So, the lines really did take like an hour to get through. I had made it through the first line, and heard rumors there were cookies at the end of the line. I had some very nice people from Michigan, who held my spot while I went to explore. I was just going to get cookies and water for the people I was talking to, but when I got to the cookies, and thought of all the other hungry folks in line, I just grabbed the whole tray of them and took them down the lines of the people I know had been waiting so long. I had to make 2 trips because it was so popular, especially by folks who had been traveling and were hungry. I'm glad I did that because I think it made people a little more calm about the line, and there were some legitimately hungry people. We were all waiting in a line, not even sure if it was the right line, and of what would happen when we got to the front of it. I hoped it help people feel like they were in a good place and someone was concerned about them. But enough of me patting my own back.

G'nite.