Unexpected Home 2 comments

This entry was tagged Austin Water to Thrive and posted on by

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it when I was 13. The novel follows protagonist Taylor, who, realizing that she needs to escape her small hometown in rural Kentucky, buys a VW Bug and vows to drive until it breaks down. She ends up in Tucson, Arizona, and through a strange series of events finds herself caring for a three-year-old girl who she calls Turtle. There are a lot of reasons this book could be on my mind lately – besides the Southwestern aesthetic that characterizes both Tucson and Austin (my home for the summer), it touches on perennial themes like immigration rights, environmental responsibility, and coming of age. But most of all, it is a book about building a new home in a foreign place. Taylor draws together […]

Blog Inception 1 comment

This entry was tagged Harrison Center Indianapolis and posted on by

My internship with the Harrison Center has held countless surprises, lessons, and memories. Looking back on all of it (the good and the not-so-good), I wouldn’t change how any of it played out– mostly because everything I’ve learned has been one more puzzle piece I can add to my unknown, post-graduation future. One of my most unexpected epiphanies didn’t make itself known until my last couple of weeks in Indy but it greatly affected that span of time. I didn’t anticipate becoming apathetic to writing– blog writing that is. I know it’s a bit meta and ironic with this being a blog post but between the Harrison Center and the freelance writing I do for an addiction recovery center, this reliable use of my Creative Writing degree has grown less appetizing. Upon reflection, I think what’s deflated my love for blog-writing-as-a-career, has been the way it has zapped my energy […]

Lessons from “Naptown”

This entry was tagged ArtMix Indianapolis and posted on by

This blog post comes to you in two parts. Firstly, one of the most awkward friendship-based situations, in my opinion, is listening to friends talk about inside jokes without being in on it. It’s fun for a couple seconds, of course, because there’s excitement and laughter, but then again, there’s accidental exclusion. So to prevent that possible feeling, I would love to share some of the jokes and lessons from this summer.   Me and Katy, a previous CAPS Fellow who now works at ArtMix, welcoming guests to the Art and Home Tour.   1. The Byrd Family Though the Indy CAPS Fellows grew closer day by day through dinner time, there was some general, low-key disconnect due to everyone knowing one another to varying degrees. One day, one Fellow showed up late to dinner and the light-hearted dramatics that ensued afterward centered around a husband showing up late to […]

Recognizing the Phase and Naming the Stage

This entry was tagged Chicago Ingenuity and posted on by

Alright, it’s week eight in your internship. The end of summer is approaching, and you’re a couple weeks from finishing. What should you do now? You’ve asked the questions, given your input, and tried to be the best intern you could be, but what happens now? I feel like there’s a shift that takes place over the course of an internship. I think you could consider the ‘shift’ like a series of stages. Stage one is what I like to call the “oh s**t” phase; you’re just figuring things out, and you’re not sure yet if you’ve got what it takes to handle it yet. And, from what I’ve learned, the only way to get to stage two (the “I get this, but not that” phase) is to be confident in your own ability to succeed. In stage one, I was afraid of letting my supervisors down and letting Ingenuity […]

The Summit of the Summer

This entry was tagged IREX Washington D.C. and posted on by

700 fellows. 48 sub Saharan African countries. 3 days. 1 incredible experience. To say that the past two weeks working at IREX has been an adventure, would be an understatement. On July 29, all of the 2018 Mandela Washington Fellows from 27 institutes across the country descended onto downtown Washington DC for the annual Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit to close their fellowship experience. This summer, my internship working with the YALI (Young African Leader Initiative) team involved pouring over spreadsheets, looking through passports and tax back forms, and running errands all over the city. While I learned tons from my co workers, especially with technical skills in excel and salesforce, I eagerly awaited getting to meet our fellows in person. Last Sunday, all of the YALI team packed our bags and moved into the Omni Shoreham Hotel, where the Summit was to take place. The days were long and tiring […]

Finding New Growth in the Garden

This entry was tagged Chicago Growing Home and posted on by

This week is my last week at Growing Home, so naturally, I have been taking more time to pause and reflect on my CAPS journey. Last week, I spent time in our Learning Garden which serves as a hands-on experience for kids to touch and taste the produce we grow. The garden is the responsibility of my department to maintain, so I’ve spent a lot of time in that space over the summer pulling weeds, pruning beets, and harvesting all kinds of vegetables: tomatoes, radishes, green garlic, kale, swiss chard, and a few strawberries, (getting to sample a few along the way, of course). While working in the garden, I was surprised to see how tall our pea plants had grown from when we planted them a few weeks after I started my internship. These plants, which were once pea-sized seeds, had climbed to nearly 3 feet in just a […]

A Hot Commodity

This entry was tagged American Red Cross Indianapolis and posted on by

My confidence is often borderline arrogance; however, I mean it when I say I’m a hot commodity at the American Red Cross. Not only do they literally want my blood, but my skill set has garnered a lot of attention throughout the region. I’ve been working as a Regional Communication Intern for the Red Cross, meaning I maintain their social media accounts, graphic design, and video. The last one is my focus, passion, and something that the Red Cross was very interested in. I think it’s important to stress that I am currently their only staff video editor in the state, as it is responsible for all of my stress. My supervisor, Duchess has been very supportive of my editing passion since she interviewed with me, and I’m very grateful to have her constant encouragement and understanding of the process. I receive plenty of support from everyone in the office; […]

Caught in the Experience

This entry was tagged Indiana Humanities Indianapolis and posted on by

As the summer internship comes to a close, I want to reflect on the experience I had at Indiana Humanities, a statewide non-profit that encourages Hoosiers to think, read, and talk. Over the past couple of weeks, I was fortunate to work big events and go to places that no other internship can offer. The Next Indiana Campfires Series is a program unique to Indiana Humanities. This program combines treks into nature with literature and campfire discussions. The series won the Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for Public Humanities Program in 2017, a national award given to the best humanities program in the nation. I was able to take a canoe trip down the White River while engaging in a conversation about literature. My co-intern, Julia, and I shared a canoe for the trip, and it was a bonding experience. I never thought that a four-hour canoe trip would change […]

Focusing In

This entry was tagged CoCoDA El Salvador Indianapolis and posted on by

The majority of my time spent in Indy after my trip to El Salvador so far has been focusing in on what project I want to work on for the remainder of the summer. After some deliberating with my supervisor, we decided that I would work on researching ultraviolet (UV) water purification processes and their potential compatibility with water system projects that CoCoDA has been implementing in Central America. I didn’t have many, but one of the concerns that I had going into this internship process was that I would end up just doing busy work for the summer. This is work that could potentially be useful, but in the end is just a made up task to keep me busy. In this scenario I still would have done all the wonderful learning and reflecting that I knew would come with the CAPS style internship, but without really contributing to […]

Traveler/Tourist: Reflections on Two Weeks in Uganda

This entry was tagged Austin Uganda Water to Thrive and posted on by

One month before I left for Uganda, I called my parents to share the news: “Hey, remember how I’m going to Austin for that internship this summer? Well now they’re letting me go to Uganda first!!” They knew that I was excited about the chance to work with Water to Thrive (W2T), a nonprofit that builds wells in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they were somewhat concerned about the two-weeks in the African bush with such limited communication. I’d already been studying in Europe for five months, so they had been looking forward to my return to the U.S. On this call, I didn’t tell them that I’d already booked my flights to Uganda, nor that I didn’t know if I’d get any funding. I had made up my mind to go. And nothing, not worried parents, nor homesickness, nor the crazy logistics of getting there, would stop me. My role on […]

Compassion Fatigue

This entry was tagged Chicago Concordia Place and posted on by

One morning on my commute to work, the woman sitting next to me on the train struck up a conversation with me, as we are often on the same train for a portion of our respective commutes. I took two things away from that conversation, the first being that I am fooling no one in my efforts to seem like a seasoned Chicago 9-5er, as she immediately intuited that I am an intern. The second thing I took away was her reminder that I am looking at the next forty years of my life in the workforce. I’m not sure if that piece of sage wisdom was supposed to terrify me (40 years of working seems pretty daunting), and at first it definitely did. With time, however, I’ve come to regard that statement as crucial in my personal journey to find a career or goal to work towards in my […]

Where Do I Go From Here?

This entry was tagged Chicago Heartland Alliance and posted on by

Since this is my first blog, I’ll introduce myself. Hello, I’m Alicia, and I want to be an advocate for human trafficking survivors. It’s always a little awkward for me when I tell people my career aspirations. Human trafficking it’s exactly a light dinner conversation people expect when they ask me, “what do you want to do after graduation?” It may seem like I’m being unnecessarily specific, but I’m actually expanding my options. In high school I wanted to be a psychologist that specializes in healing trauma caused by human trafficking; however, VU has helped me broaden my career horizon while still centering it around human trafficking survivors. I could work as a lawyer, a policy maker, a researcher, an FBI intelligence analyst, or a caseworker. This why I find myself interning under caseworkers at Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant Community Services (RICS). While this internship has been interpersonally and […]

Savior Complex: It’s not about you, it’s about the community

This entry was tagged Chicago Erie Neighborhood House and posted on by

As a recent graduate from Valparaiso University in Social Work and Spanish, I have begun to experience life in the “real world”. From various job applications to calling insurance companies, I am learning what it means to be an “adult”. In this time of transition between my next job and the end of my college career, CAPS is filling the time with experiences that have opened my eyes to understanding the complexities of being a part of a non-profit organization. While this is not the first non-profit organization I’ve worked for, I have had the ability to see more of the “behind-the-scenes” aspects, such as the logistical planning and important meetings, such as meetings for fundraisers. In addition to these invaluable experiences, I’ve also come to discuss and explore what my calling is in this work that I do, but also understanding one essential aspect of service work: I am […]

“But Do You Have Friends?”

This entry was tagged Chicago Heartland Alliance and posted on by

“I get to do this every day.” This thought has echoed within my mind repeatedly over the course of the last few weeks, carrying through the Chicago view from my apartment window, to the neighborhoods surrounding my brown line L commute, to the community-style lunches enjoyed by my department each day that bring together different cultures, flavors, and perspectives. I am reminded of it when I hear and learn new languages from my office desk, and when I witness the kind of joy that can only come from a two-year old ready to run outside to play. And though my first few weeks in Youth and Family Services have consisted more or less of blindly stumbling around while simultaneously trying to pretend that I actually know what’s going on, I remain thankful that I stumbled into Heartland.  During these first few weeks in Chicago with Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant […]

Living the Dream: Is This More Than a Metaphor?

This entry was tagged Harrison Center Indianapolis and posted on by

When I was just beginning my CAPS placement process, my dream of what this summer would hold was a filmy concoction that I excitedly stirred; my recipe grew as I poured in stories that previous fellows had told me, sprinkled in the advice of every person that would answer me, and threw in a dash (or two) of anxiety for good measure. This past Wednesday marked exactly one month (it’s felt like two weeks!) that I’ve been interning at the Harrison Center as one of their many summer Cultural Entrepreneur Interns. I can confidently say that my dream had as many holes as it did substance and that I didn’t even need to cook it up (but who am I kidding– I’m definitely already gathering the ingredients for what I imagine the upcoming school year will bring). One of the many epiphanies I’ve acquired and tucked away has been that […]

The Vocation of Silent Heroes

This entry was tagged art ArtMix CAPS Fellowship disabilities Indianapolis vocation and posted on by

My family has always found me to be creative, whether that meant eating hot dogs like corn-on-the-cob at a young age or creating marvelous stories in school through my writing. Even though I, too, find myself to be creative to some extent, I would have never imagined working for an arts organization. Wait a minute- it’s not just an arts organization. It’s an art organization for everyone and anyone. You may be thinking, Felicia, of course, anyone can do art, or at least, they could try to… why is it so special? But that’s where you’re wrong, imaginary conversationalist. I would venture to say most people think that spaces (whether outside, in school, at work) are inclusive and welcoming to all people, that is, until you are the person excluded by happenstance or purposefully. And this is where ArtMix comes in.  ArtMix meets people with disabilities where they are at, which […]

Two Weeks in El Salvador

This entry was tagged CoCoDA El Salvador Indianapolis and posted on by

Companion Community Development Alternatives (CoCoDA) is a small organization with far reaching effects. CoCoDA partners with local organizations and communities in El Salvador and Nicaragua to accomplish community building projects. To do this, communities dictate which projects to work on and CoCoDA facilitates the project process and provides resources for the project’s completion. They occasionally plan trips with external organizations (many of these being universities) to help in the implementation. The organization originally peaked my interest because of it’s thoughtful approach to volunteering in a world where international volunteering has been somewhat sensationalized in the form of short term volunteer trips. I wanted to learn more about the effects of crossing cultural boundaries with good intentions, and how to minimize any possible negative effects. Spending two weeks in El Salvador with CoCoDA showed me that CoCoDA is among the unfortunately small ranks of organizations that realize that good intentions are […]

Rose-colored Bubble

This entry was tagged Indianapolis and posted on by

I call Indiana home, but not by choice. My mom grew up in southern Indiana, and my dad thought the combination of her and the low cost of living was a great deal. I used to think the state was just boring, as expected of an eight-year-old surrounded by constant road work, potholes, and soy. Ignorance was bliss, because I didn’t start to notice the greater flaws until I started to question and explore my identity. My domineering feminist phase revealed that the “Midwest charm” includes casual misogyny and a severe lack of women in leadership roles. The feminist phase evolved into love that I had been taught by society not to accept. I know other kids have it a lot worse, but it is less than ideal being gay in Indiana. I thought it was just a regional thing at first, then I went to college and not much […]

Got Questions? Ask Them!

This entry was tagged Chicago Ingenuity and posted on by

When applying to be a CAPS Fellow, I had a limited understanding of what that meant. I knew from former Fellows that it meant interning at “real” job, travelling to that “real” job, and spending my summer gaining some experience. But, just what exactly was that job? Where would I be going? Staying? Doing? To be honest, those questions are hard to answer. The best way to understand it is to experience it. The first day I started at Ingenuity was the first day that I really understood what that non-profit does, and, really, I don’t think anyone could have explained it to me beforehand. There’s a process, I’ve learned, that comes with entering a new space (a new workplace). It’s a whole new environment, and, to do the job right, you need a lot of context for why your colleagues do the work they do and why. Before arriving, […]

Finding Community in a New Place

This entry was tagged Chicago Growing Home and posted on by

Living in a new place can be an exhausting process of navigating the unfamiliar. The first few days are usually filled with trying to get comfortable in a new space. For me this included finding where to buy groceries every week, the route I would take to my internship every day, and a good, nearby coffee shop. These small forms of comfort and routine help create the space for an unfamiliar place to become a community. On the morning of the first full day at my internship, the crowded processing room was full of applause, as everyone celebrated accomplishments and got motivated for the day. During the morning meeting we discuss the theme of week, which for my first week was “community”. As a result, I spent time that week reflecting on community and what it meant to me in the context of my recent, unfamiliar surroundings. In new places, […]