I'm currently steeped in the paper topic I chose for my policy class this semester, urban youth violence. A cheery subject.

So far, I've written 2 drafts of my research paper, interviewed a friend who grew up in Camden who was shot at 16 (and wrote a paper about it), and now I am reading scores of online articles and blogs to summarize for the next paper, due Thursday. It's intense.

But for me (and many, many other city dwellers), this is not just a topic that is to be researched and discussed at academic institutions.

This is reality.

Just last week, a woman we know was shot in the back and is currently paralyzed from the waist down. She is a young woman, with a small daughter and a family. She was shot over an argument about a place in line.

We hear similar stories 1-2 times a week in Harrisburg, and this is just a small city. I know the problem is even more intensified in some of the big cities. I'm reading a lot about youth violence in Chicago...from Sept. '07-Dec.'08 over 500 children were shot in the city.

When will it end- and how?

Obviously the whole "new year, new blog" thing didn't work out so well...at all. So it's almost a year later and I am trying this again. Why? Because I need to process and reflect, I need some more discipline at this point in my life when I am writing, writing, writing, reading, reading, reading.

I am back in Harrisburg and have mixed feelings about it. There are a lot of things I love about Harrisburg, but sometimes I am overpowered with missing DC, missing Discipleship Year (DY), missing the liveliness of my house, the BIG city, the Church of the Savior community. What an amazing place to be!

But I also feel I am where I should be- in grad school, becoming a social worker, studying away. Also in an impoverished area of Harrisburg, forming relationships and just being here. And also being in a place that is familiar, with a community that I left a year ago to pursue life in a bigger city.

Enough musings, it's bedtime. My head is aching. Good night.

A New Year, A New Blog

I have decided to start a new blog, in honor of the new year, a fresh start.
It is a good time; as well; a new era in our country, with a new president taking office!

This past weekend was monumental- from the concert at the Lincoln Memorial, to celebrating MLK Day to the finale- the Inauguration! I feel that I can't let all this pass without describing it, recording it, sharing it with anyone who is interested.

But right now, I am exhausted after little sleep all weekend (13 guests at our house, games, movies, singing, and then waking up early and walking miles around the city to each event)! My back and feet ache and my eyes are just about to close, but it is a good kind of exhaustion!

A demain!