Despite not being a cumulative representation of the summer, we hope you enjoy the moments we did capture!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32628528@N07/sets/72157624485638483/

5 WCSC students + 2 Mennonite hymnals + the Chinatown Metro stop at rush hour = $28 and a great time!

This week after seminar on Wednesday afternoon, several of us (Kelly, Sarah, Mike Bruner, Steven and I) decided to go busking — making music on the streets for money.  We had sung a few hymns together over the weekend, and thought it would be fun to see if we could get paid for it!

So we staked out the perfect spot, under an awning over the entrance to the Chinatown Metro, a popular stop at rush hour.  The five of us stood in an arc next to the escalators, hesitating and nervous at first, but eventually we all got into the music.  After a song or two we put out a hat and slowly started getting dollars and change from passersby.  We sang popular hymns like “Amazing Grace” and “Be Thou My Vision” as well as more upbeat songs like “Hamba Nathi” and “Over My Head” from Sing the Journey.  The most popular ones were those we knew by memory, as we were able to engage better with our passing audience.

A number of people said things like, “God bless you,” as they passed, and many smiled and thanked us as well.  After an hour and a half of singing, we collected our $28.23 and treated ourselves to frozen yogurt from Tangysweet!  It was a successful and fun experience overall, and we hope to do it again sometime!

-Elizabeth Speigle

part of the group with the greatly esteemed Dung Repository (click for more photos)

The afternoon visit proved a pleasant (albeit warm) historical experience, and a good way to get out of the house.

Every day, I leave my internship at 424 C St. NE around 5 pm. I walk for about a half a mile down Massachusetts Ave. toward Union Station. The people I pass are always alone and overwhelmingly white. Most are dressed to a tee in power suits, heels and designer sunglasses. They often are disconnected from the world they pass through. Many talk on cell phones or listen to music, unaware of the homeless woman asleep on the bench or the security guards they pass by every day.

However, as soon as I pop off the Brookland metro, everything is different. I am now the minority. African-Americans surround me. Many people are out and about enjoying the summer evening with a son, daughter, husband or grandmother. I say hello to older adults, enjoying the breeze on their 10th St. porches and those I pass on the sidewalk smile at me. I have become especially attached to an elderly gentleman I’ve passed twice coming off the metro. He walks with a cane and his dentures come loose when he says hello. I hope to see him again so I can slow to his pace and have a real conversation with him.
I shouldn’t be surprised by this incredible contrast. Kim warned us about the difference between white Washington and black DC, but it still saddens me. I have to admit, though, I’m playing right into this dichotomy. I conform to the standard of those around me. On Massachussetts Ave, I am in my own world. On 10th St., I am part of the community around me. I wonder, is there a way to bring these two different realities together? Can we learn from each other and erase the disconnect that is Washington, DC? I hope so. Let’s see if I can be an agent of that change, however small, in my time here.

Grace: Peace Activist, Colman McCarthy – Colman arrived late to teach his inner city high school peace class, so Grace jumped up and started engaging them in a discussion about their passions.

Fetsum: Asian American LEAD (after-school program) – One of his students rejected the other intern’s offer to check his homework because, he said, “Mr. Fetsum is a teacher.”

Christa: Teen Center at LAYC: Helped with tutoring, made fliers and PowerPoints for the teen center programs this week.

Andrew: Community IT Innovators – 5 servers went down in one day, so Andrew got to observe his coworkers handling some tricky public relations situations.

Jasmine: Capitol Hill Group Ministry – “I learned how to give a surprise drug test.” Jasmine made a bunch of home visits to families and individuals with HIV, mental illness, and/or substance abuse problems.

Bryan: Servant-Leadership School – About 40 people showed up for the opening of the 2010 Servant Leadership classes, including EMU grad Rebeca Barge and other DC volunteers.

Sanjay: Promotores (Mentorship) Program of LAYC – One of the kids receiving services is preparing to go to jail for the next year. On Friday Sanj has been invited to participate in a conference on gang violence.

Lindsay: American National Standards Institute – Lindsay has been updating a Wiki about trade in China and India and polishing the Chinese-English translation of an important report.

Jess: Interfaith Immigration Coalition – She finds herself comparing this internship to her previous internship experience. She feels she’s making a more significant contribution, but the work itself is more mundane.

Corrie: DC Rape Crisis Center – Helped to run a Women’s Power group–the highlight of her internship so far.