Settling

It's taken a while, but here's update number one on life in Pittsburgh!  Our first week here was orientation, during which the 16 of us got to know each other and started to get acquainted with the city.  Lots of team-building exercises, which were surprisingly fun as far as team-building exercises go.  The whole PULSE group this year is really quality people, and it didn't take us long to get comfortable with each other.  I'm living in the newest PULSE house, and no one had lived here for some time before us, which means that we had a few plumbing/mail/appliance issues at the beginning, which thankfully have now been resolved.  Each of the houses wrote a house covenant to refer to about chores, conflicts, house money, guests, or other issues that might come up.  My house is eating together four times a week (plus a community meal once a week with all the PULSErs), and it's a lot of fun seeing what everyone thinks to cook.
Since getting here we've figured out where the nearest restaurants and groceries and churches and libraries are to us. We've been learning some of the quirks of the city, like the Pittsburgh left (when a car in the left-turn lane speeds in front of the cars going the opposite way to make its turn as soon as the light turns green) and how on buses you always pay when you're farthest from downtown, no matter if you're getting on or off.  Pittsburgh is full of variety, and while I am easily confused by the counter-intuitive streets, at least there are usually cool murals or buildings to look at when I get lost.  One day I walked from downtown across the Monongahela River to my work.  Little did I know that the bridge I took would leave me on a roadway where to my frustration I could see my building down by the water, but I could see no way to get down the huge height difference and across several sets of railroad tracks to get there.
I started my job at Green Building Alliance three weeks ago.  During my second week the organization had a huge event for its 20th anniversary, so now that that's over things are falling into more of a routine.  I had very little previous experience with green building, so I'm learning a ton.  I've been researching topics for the website, working on the Green Workplace Challenge (a Pittsburgh contest to get businesses and organizations to do as many green actions as possible), and handling other various tasks as they come.  I just wrote a resource page about composting toilets, which I never imagined getting excited about, but they're super cool.  Haha.  I have a fair amount of discretion about how I spend my time, so I'm curious to see what other interests I discover and what direction this year takes me...  My coworkers are funny and helpful and incredibly good at what they do, so I have lots to learn from them too.  Last week I went to a networking event at a bar downtown, which was a whole new experience.  I've never had a full-time job before, never had to commute 45 minutes to get anywhere, and I've certainly never had to try to develop a professional network.  One PULSEr did suggest that maybe the Mennonite game is good training for networking.  Another said networking is like professional flirting, which seemed to me to accurately describe the weirdness of it.
The hardest thing about the past month has been trying to strike a balance.  I have a different schedule than I'm used to, and we've been so busy getting settled that other things have been neglected.  My hope for this month is to have more time for maintaining relationships, more time to be with my own thoughts, and more time to explore.  There's so much to do in this city (we already have a whole list of things we want to do this year), and even though we only just got here it seems like there may not be enough time to do it!  But in any case I'm thoroughly enjoying these new friends and this new home.

PULSE Placement!

Only a couple more weeks here in Indy before I pack up and head to Pittsburgh to start my year with PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience)!  I recently found out that I'll be living with three other women in the newest PULSE house on Collins St.  Once we all get there, we'll have a week of orientation to get settled in, get acquainted with each other, and start finding our way around the city.  We'll also begin to work out what it means for us to be an intentional community, both within each house and as a whole group.  This means setting the basis for finances, household expectations, group activities, and how individual needs or desires fit into community life.

We start our placements on September 3.  I'm spending the year volunteering with Green Building Alliance, a nonprofit that provides knowledge to businesses (mainly) who are interested in environmentally friendly building projects and connects them with the necessary resources.  I'll be doing research on green building practices, compiling and organizing information into resource pages for the website, and tracking green building projects already underway in Pittsburgh.  Green building is not something I currently know very much about, but I'm excited to learn more about what's possible and how it fits with what I do know about sustainability and chemistry.

I'll do my best to keep you posted on how things go, but I'm anticipating a year of meaningful relationships, professional growth, honed community living skills, adventures in the city, and maybe even the opening up of possibilities for where I'll find myself at this time next year.  Wooot!

(P.S. Almost forgot this, but I knew you'd all be jumping to ask...  You're still quite welcome to donate to PULSE on my behalf at http://pulsepittsburgh.org/ruth-maust/.)

Exercises in Being Alone

On coming back from Europe at the end of last summer, I had two realizations.  One, when I'm a tourist in a new city I search out all the most interesting events and locations so I can get to know the city and make the most of my time there.  I've certainly experienced Indianapolis in various ways over the years, but I've never put forth much intentional effort to explore it in quite that way.  Two, I've gone to a lot more places alone in Europe than I ever have at home.  I don't mean errands, but things like restaurants, bars, parks, events, etc.  In the U.S. I've been more likely to stay home than to go out if I can't find someone to go with.  I admit it's a somewhat awkward experience to sit down to dinner by oneself, but it seems like it shouldn't have to be.

Since I don't have a job this summer, I decided a good way to keep busy and get out of the house would be to combine these two thoughts and look for things I can do in Indianapolis even if friends are busy or if I just don't feel like coordinating.  I want to own my connection to Indianapolis, to branch out into new settings, and to practice being comfortable by myself.  Here's how it's gone so far.

1. Wine/beer tastings and local brewery tour.  I found two different wine shops that do free weekly tastings, plus a brewery where I sampled beers and got to learn about their whole production process.

Kahn's Fine Wines, which is in an
old insurance building with a
sweet vault in the basement

Mass Ave Wine Shoppe

Goose the Market

wine, beer, and meat (!)
tasting at Goose

Sun King Brewery

Sun King fermentation tanks and assembly line

2. There are several fairly new cafes each just a few blocks from home where I can go to read, write postcards, drink tea, or eat gelato.  Mmm.

3. A drag show, which was a fundraiser for the fight against HIV/AIDS and my first time in a gay bar.

4. Indy pride parade and festival.  Mostly just observed (it's quite a production), but I did get a "spiritual reading" and blessing at the festival.

5. Independent music and art festival, where local artists sold their handicrafts.  If you had happened to pass by, you might have seen me drinking rhubarb wine or in front of the stage learning an African dance.

6. Art galleries are always a win.

Steven Sickles

Christine Drummond

Unfortunately I don't know the artist for this one,
but I really liked it!

Paul Villinski

7. A huge yoga event at Monument Circle.

8. I am a huge fan of street food, and Indianapolis has been stepping up its game with food trucks all over the place.

On top of getting exposure to some new things, I was able to bike or walk to each of these, which is super convenient and leaves me no excuses.  Yay for exercise, sunshine, and being able to find my way around downtown better!  There are a few more solo adventures I'd like to squeeze in still if I have the time, but overall I'm pretty happy with what I've managed to do.

< Rant >

Before I vent a bit, let's be clear.  Yes, I am a feminist.  And if you're concerned, no, I do not hate men.

But.  To the people out there who are prone to hitting on women I have to say...  Gas stations are NOT the place to pick up women.  Neither is any place or situation where a woman has already made her disinterest clear.  Is it really too much to ask that we can leave home, run errands, and go about our business without being harassed??  

A quote I love from A Dress A Day: "You Don't Have to Be Pretty. You don't owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked 'female.' "  I think the same goes for a lot of other things.  Just because I am female does not mean I owe you my name, my age, or my relationship status.  I do not owe you gratitude for your "compliments."  I do not owe you a conversation at all.  And if you're demanding any of those things, it's not me who's being rude, it's you.

This is not to say you shouldn't strike up conversations with strangers.  On the contrary, I enjoy when people do that!  There's a lot to be said for intentions though, for people who take a genuine interest in me as a person, and for conversations that revolve around something other than me and my appearance.  If I can't tell whether you're being creepy or not, that's not really in your favor.  Gahhh.

</Rant>

Pink Menno & Hope

I thoroughly enjoyed being at convention with Pink Menno.  I had the flexibility to float around to various events and seminars I found interesting, plus the chance to try my hand at the Mennonite game and to make some new Pink Menno friends.  Pink Menno had a lot going on throughout the week: hymn sings, inclusive worship services, and seminars on the intersection of various forms of oppression, to name a few.  Since Pink Menno was once again not allowed in official convention space, these events were held at a nearby hotel in a room that also served as our meeting/hangout spot.

The convention itself did host conversation rooms on human sexuality and sexual orientation.  These were facilitated discussion spaces that helped keep conversations civil by laying ground rules and requiring small group members to paraphrase each other's comments before responding.  To my surprise, the group I was a part of in the conversation room on sexual orientation was more or less on the same page about wanting inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church.  Other groups were more varied, and it was good to get the conversation started among all of us who were there.  One queer friend of mine did say that while the conversation in his group was civil, it felt a little ludicrous to be sitting there hearing opinions on his sexuality, "as if we were discussing how they felt about me being white."

Pink Menno had good turnout to our events, and quite a few people were turned away from the sexual orientation conversation room after it filled up.  Not everyone who showed up to our events agreed with our stance, and there was at least one instance of (literal) Bible-waving.  Most dissenters just ignored us or gave us disapproving looks when we handed things out in the convention center.  At one point convention staff instructed us to leave the convention hall where we were handing out fliers with our schedule of events (none of our events being including in the official convention materials, of course).

As the week went on, Pink Menno leadership felt as if the church was getting a little too comfortable with our presence, that as long as we kept to ourselves and didn't cause a fuss they could tolerate us.  We don't really want to be tolerated and eventually ignored though.  So on Friday we did an action during the morning delegate session.  We trickled one by one into the delegate space, some of us carrying photos from the Strangers No More project or posters using quotes from sermons throughout the week (like this one using a quote from Rachel Swartzendruber Miller during one of the youth worships: " 'You matter; you're an equal.'  BUT I can't be ordained as a pastor in the church."), and all of us wearing pink.  We stood amid the delegates for several minutes and then were given the chance to make a statement.  The moderator, Dick Thomas, made a thoughtful reply, and then we all sat down for the remainder of the delegate session as a sign of respect for the discussion of the resolution on immigration.  It felt really good to be more public with our hopes and frustrations within the church and to be able to do it in a conscientious way.  All the feedback I heard after the action was positive!

There is most definitely a lot of work still to do.  Too many LGBTQ people still can't come out to their own communities.  Another gay teen committed suicide this past week.  It's great that we reached youth at convention who had never before heard that it might just be ok to love queer people, but the fact that they could make it to high school without having a clue that inclusion is even out there is worrisome.  So our small steps within the Mennonite Church are just that, very small.  Still, I was pleased by the progress I did see, and I'm hopeful for what's next.

Phoenix 2013

Every two years, Mennonite Church USA holds a week-long convention.  This summer's convention is being held in Phoenix, AZ, beginning on July 1st.  I grew up going to these conventions with my family, and later, my youth group.  The most recent one (Pittsburgh) was the first I had missed in as long as I can remember, so my last one was Columbus in 2009, when I was fresh out of high school.  At that time, I had an opinion on immigration but not much to back it up.  I had very little awareness of church politics.  I would have called myself a supporter of gay rights, but I had no openly LGBTQ friends.  I hardly knew what Pink Menno (http://www.pinkmenno.org/) was until convention week was over.

Four years later, much has changed.  Now I've spent time on the US/Mexico border and in Central America learning about immigration, its causes, and the lives it impacts.  After having attended a Mennonite college, I'm more in tune with various struggles within the church.  And this time around, I'm attending convention with Safe Space, EMU's club for support, advocacy, and dialogue among people of all sexual orientations.  We'll be working alongside Pink Menno to create inclusive spaces and to foster storytelling as a means of understanding one another.

Convention is quickly approaching, and I'm hopeful for what will happen there.  I look forward to connecting with people and seeing firsthand the intersection of several big topics I care tremendously about.  I'm a little hesitant too though.  From the friends of mine who went to Pittsburgh two years ago, I heard a lot about how tiring/angering/saddening a week it often was, how frustrating it was when even in "conversation rooms" people refused to listen.  I pray for patience and an open heart for myself, and for everyone there may it be a week of learning, reconciling, loving rather than shoving our opinions down each other's throats.  That would be ideal.

Cross-Cultural Continues

This past weekend, between hitting up Guanajuato, a huge Mexican grocery and restaurant (Indianapolis people, they have massive tortas for $4.  Do it.), going to church in Spanish, stopping in at a Latino festival, and visiting a largely Hispanic indoor market, I found myself wishing my Spanish and/or cultural bravery were not so rusty.  How easily I forget what it feels like to be a minority or to fumble around in a language that's not my own.  Even in these places, how easy it is for me to use English and know that someone else will compensate.  And how easy it is to come back to the rest of Indianapolis, to the familiar, to where I don't stick out.  :/