Public Policy?

My midterms are finally over after three weeks as is the beginning-of-the-semester chaos. As the semester wears on, I usually become more accustomed to it and adjust gradually. Everyone reacts to a new schedule/way of life differently and I tend to adapt slowly I guess.

In addition to classes and my research assistantship for the Roosevelt House, I added five hours of volunteer work a week about a month ago - not just because I love it but because one of my classes requires it. In Hunger in America, we are expected to deal with the hungry in very personal and real ways. I observe interactions at a senior center and give out food at a food pantry every week. Both locations are in the South Bronx and I have become surprisingly close to the people I have met in those places; to those who come to socialize and get food and to the staff. I think I am just more receptive to what one can gain from volunteer work than before and perhaps, what one gain from not being afraid to be attached to people. My heart is actually in it now.

And the funny thing is, both my volunteer and research work are intimately related. Both have inextricable ties to 1930s America and the time of the Great Depression. As I look at pictures of FDR and others who tackled the problem of hunger, I am also creating a visual memory of the present day hungry. Public policy is something I am becoming increasingly interested in as well as public outreach. The pictures I am selecting for a future exhibition at the Roosevelt House will be used, after all, in a public outreach effort. Every day I find myself being more and more drawn to Wall Street. I think I will have to visit this weekend...