Seattle generally has a thick encompassing grayness
hanging overhead. Lately though, a different sight has been seen when
looking skyward: blue skies. Along with these illusive blue skies have
been some incredible sunsets as well.
I feel as though Midwesterners, like me, know a thing or two about
sunsets (as that is often the only pretty thing on the horizon), and so I
was surprised at the beautiful sunsets gracing the western skies. I was
not the only one amazed by the sky one particular evening.
When I
snapped this sunset picture, roughly four or five others around me had
to snag a quick pic as well. There are even some of the mountains
peaking out in the background to finish off the picture.
On another day, my Mennonite Voluntary Service housemates and I were
able to visit each other’s placements to get a better idea of what we do
all day. It was intriguing to see the different atmospheres in which we
each work.
We started out at Rainier Health and Fitness, April
Kamagambe’s MVS placement, and saw the Silver Sneakers (seniors’ class)
getting their groove on. Rainier Health and Fitness is a gym that
partners with Urban Impact to make fitness accessible and affordable to
all income levels.
Then we made our way to Centerstone, which is my placement. We have a
food bank that runs three days a week, and an energy assistance program
that processes small grants for low-income families to keep their heat
and lights on.
Traveling down the hill, we went to Ria Jewell’s MVS placement at Art
with Heart, which publishes art therapy books for kids going through
trauma. At Art with Heart we were able to do an art project called
“found poetry,” where you black out all the words you don’t want and
leave some words showing and in the end you come up with an interesting
poem of sorts.
Later, we went all the way downtown to visit Liz Core’s placement,
Grist, an online environmental magazine, before we stopped for a lunch
break. When we stopped for lunch, we chose to eat at a lounge 17 stories
in the air. It was an incredible lunchtime view! We could even see Pike
Place Market from above. It turned into a lovely day and clear weekend.
It is incredible what beautiful places there can be in a big city.
Sometimes you just have to catch the moment just right, or know who to
talk to!
After our lunch stop, we went on to Jon Mark’s placement at Northwest
Immigrant Rights Project. This organization provides immigrants and
refugees with legal help. We rounded out the day by heading to the
University District Food Bank where Erica Miller serves. The U-District
Food Bank is a small, but busy food bank that also provides food for
home-bound clients and weekend packs for schoolchildren.
Most of us had a pretty good idea what each placement did since we’re
always talking about work at the house. But after seeing the locations,
it gave us a better understanding of what we’ve been hearing from each
other over the past few months. I know many times we said, "Oh, that’s so-and-so!" or "This makes so much more sense!" or "You’re commute is horrible!" It helped us get a better idea of what each person does all day long.
