Hail 2009
The end of the day and the grant application is not done and due tomorrow!
I didn't get enough sleep last nite. At 3:33am the doorbell rang. I stayed in bed because sometimes somebody just rings the bell as they are walking by. It rang a 2nd time. I crawled out of bed. walked through the apartment to the front window and saw a police car on the sidewalk and police tow truck, flashing lights. I did a quick inventory of my overdue parking tickets as I opened the window and looked down a the cop waiting by the door. he asked if I was Julia Lopez and I said Yes. He asked if I could move my van so they could tow the car that was behind me. I looked at the car and the whole front end was smashed.
I floated through the day. I received mail form DCED saying that our grant report was rejected and if we don't provide what was missing in the next 30days that that would delay the receipt of the grant money from our last ap that was accepted and that we have already been waiting to receive for the last 5months. it is confusing how bureaucracy doesn't work sometimes...most times.
I met with John, my executive coach-sounds so weird to say:-)-today about
balancing groupings of the myriad of tasks,
scheduling grant writing-how can I do that and not always be on the tail of a deadline,
Dead Line...hmmmmm,
prospects for fundraising,
the budget ,
and making sure I take a break-3 to 4 day weekend?
I need the ocean.
Tormenta de Luz
Time to work on the proposal now.
5:37 PM
Gathering support materials for our proposal.
Tryin' to make the argument without bullshitting:
teaching art can be job training+ create social changelistening to white boy and white girl singer songwriters;
I'm Yours slightly reggae-ish-too many times
ugh...and what kinda name is mraz?
tomorrows payday
grateful that I can actually get paid on payday
things that are hard to explain
my wrist still in pain
youthX trying to get off the corner
and the ED writes a letter for his probation officer
about his community service hours
for prison or for school?
haven't started my homework for NELI
Swine Flu
Obama's 100th day
my sister closed on her new house at 1pm today
first home owned
no time to celebrate today
gathering support materials for our proposal
11:10am
I was watching the clock of my car radio as I tried to figure out the quickest way to West Philly! Down Erie, left on 15th, right onto Broad, left on Lehigh then left on 22nd, right onto Girard then all the way to 34th. I got to 38th street parked at a meter on the corner of Chestnut across the street from the 7-11.
The meter didn't take nickel or dimes and I had to buy a fake vanilla cappuccino-the only thing I could stomach-so I could ask for quarters from cashier.
I had enough quarters for 1hr and 40 minutes. I told myself to chill out, being late is not the worst thing that could happen in my ED life. I go through the maze that is the Leadership center at 3814 Walnut Street. I finally get to the receptionist and apologize for being late. She tells me that the meeting had been canceled. I hold my breath. She says she emailed me on Monday and called. Then I realize that we had been having issues around our web domain and emails. We also have been having difficulty with retrieving our voicemail messages (I'll tell you about our jack leg phone system later) So I never got the messages.
I walked over to the Barnes and Noble on 36th street. I didn't want to waste the quarters. Sat and had a burnt bagel that was still edible, looked at the flat screen monitor and read bits and pieces of news about the swine flu and Obama's 100th day.
I arrived at 8:20am and there was an elderly black man leaning up against the Centro building wall. My first thought was that he was homeless, just chilling and maybe I should stay in the van until Adelina arrives. I didn't want to be alone with the guy should he want to come into the Centro for shelter from the rain. What an idiot I am! Of course I am going to get out of the car and open the door, say good morning to the man and ask if he's ok. Damn,,,I hate when that happens...that thought of possible dangers! Anyway, I approach the door and the man asks if he can get a food voucher and if today was the right day. He follows behind me not leaving me much space to open the gate, I get a little antsy and I ask him to move back a little. He comes in. I ask him if he has his ID. He asks if he should sign in on the form that is on the clipboard on Adelina's reception desk. I say no because that was the "KFC chicken distribution" sign in. (I;ll explain that one later). He fills out the voucher form and I xerox his ID and make a copy of the form. I tell him we distribute chicken on Tuesdays and that it has always been on the same day. Why I said that I don't know! He thanks me and was on his way. I told him to have a safe day and to try and stay dry.
It was too late to call Don Alex to open up today so that I can make my meeting at UPenn on time.
I will have to be a half hour late waiting for Don Francisco to come in at 9 so Adelina doesn't have to be alone in the office. I still feel bad for having to cut Don Alex's hours. I was trying to figure out if I should increase his time adding on one more day...but I have to wait to see if our cashflow can get a little more stable.
Its 9:03am-gotta go! UPenn wants to know how they can support the Latino community and I am going to tell them, even though I will be late!
Vashti, my partner in crime, sister, colleague, and sometimes misery loves company cohort, won Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award and was so kind to take me with her on an out of the country (sort of) trip, to see an old college friend in St. Tomas! 6 days away-June 07, one month before my one year anniversary at Centro. I had been on the go in non-profit world, leadership transition, crisis intervention mode and was runnning on empty. It is a very good thing when you have amigas in the struggle to force you to take care of yourself!
My wrist t is killing me! I got one of those IMAK ergoBeads wrist rest to aleve any stress while I am typing and have no idea if it is working. I know that my wrist is sore and last nite I had to take 600mgs of rite aid brand ibuprofen to get a good nites sleep!
Since I began my work as an Executive Director for Centro Pedro Claver, I have always thought it would be a good idea to document my, what has turned out to be, carnaval like travels through the world of EDdome. It doesn't help that I am an artist so there have been many psycholdelic moments and visualizations, and performances, and...
I haven't figured out how to structure this blog thing yet but one thing I do know-
The story is important! The day to day joys and struggles are important! Being and artist and trying to do this is important!
Especially if you are the first Puerto Rican hermana I running an organization in a Puerto Rican and Black neighborhood, that had been directed by white men of god for the last 27years!
I have been here since July 2006. I'll try to start with today and when it moves me or is necessary, I will bring up experiences and/or lesson learned from the last two years.
All suggestions are welcome!
Lets get it started...
Hail 2009
