hump day

yesterday was insanity. Drove out to Forney at 6 in the am to pick up a kid, then I supervised the visit with his biological parents, which did not go so well. It really PISSES me off to see how much shit these kids have to deal with and yet the courts still allow these parents (if you can call them that) to see their kids. Not only do the courts allow it, but it is required. I acutally get paid to go pick up these kids just so they can come see their shitty ass parents. Anyway, this kid is only 4 years old, sweetest boy i have ever met, and yet his dad treats him like crap even while in the presence of CPS (Child Protective Services) workers. I read the case on this boy and because of confidentiality I cannot share, but it broke my heart.

Anyway, after all that, i jetted to Arlington for a 2 hour orientation about my internship, then I had my 2-5 class. It is a policy course titled Socially Oppressed Groups. The professor is amazing. I have worked with many professors in my life and this professor had my attention and my respect from the moment she began. first thing she asked us to do was to go around the room, say our name and a statment about what we think of discrimination and oppression. It was completely amazing to hear what everyone had to say. There were about 30 students in the class and the backgrounds and thoughts and ideas that each had to share was truly spectacular. Throughout the class, the prof said things like "I want you to be critical of everything I say" and "it is ok to ask questions and challenge me, I want to keep my mind working also". She was just wonderful. Every book that she assigned for the semester sounds so interesting. I am a bit scared of the grading because 70% of the grade is a minimum 20 page term paper. Scary. But, we can do the paper on just about any topic dealing with socially oppressed groups that we would like. Another part of the class I found very interesting was the statements the men had to make. Social work is definitley a female dominated field, but there were 4 guys in this class and the things they had to say really impressed me. Very open minds in this class. I am looking forward to it.

Well, between my 2-5 and 6-9 class, I had dinner with one of my good friends who is in both of these classes with me. We had some great conversation, it was good to catch up with her. Then, we headed to our evening class titled Violence in Families. The prof seems cool also. The first thing he did was have 3 people in the class read different case studies and police reports dealing with violence in families or domestic violence. Then, he had us go around the room and say a short statment about what stuck out for us while hearing the case studies. It was a very powerful excercise. Many people addressed concerns for the chlidren involved. then we went over the syllabus for the course which is very overwhelming. There seems to be lots of work involved, but again the readings sound really interesting. Well, after that, we watched a very uplifting (sense the sarcasm) video entitled "Death of a Bride". It was about a Dominican woman who was shot on her wedding day by a posessive ex-boyfriend. It was a very powerful video, a true story. It showed her life before the boyfriend, after the boyfriend with her fiance, the trial after the shooting, and how all this affected the family members. It was very sad and hard to watch, but also very educational. After the video, there was much discussion about what everyone thought about the situation and how we might help the surviving family members if they ever came to us for help.

On monday, i was not ready for this semester to begin, but after those two classes, i remember again how much I truly love learning. The drive home yesterday was pretty bad, i was very exhausted, but I made it. YEAH!! today, I started my internship. It was pretty great. I met with my supervisor and she showed me around and filled me in on all kinds of things. I just kind of familiarized myself with the agency and the people there. My supervisor told me I could head out early today (about noon) and just get myself ready for tommorrow. I see my first few clients tommorrow. I am so petrified. I hope that I have the skills and trust in myself to truly help these kids. I came home and Leslie, Andy, and I watched Antwone Fisher, which is a great movie. gives me hope that I really will be able to help the kids that I will begin working with. It is based on a true story. It is amazing to me how resiliant the human spirit can be. Antwone had so many hardships in his life and no one to guide him past those and yet he turned out to be an amazing young man.

I am about to head out to arlington for another class tonight. I am heading out early so as to miss some traffic and to make it to the campus computer store to buy really cheap (academcially priced) copies of windows xp and norton antivirus for the computer jay sent me. This weekend, i will set it all up and have myself a kick ass computer. I am so excited. well, off to another class. peace out.