The J-O-B

Here are the details about the actual job I have (well I will officially have it once my background check is complete).

I will be working with the Victim Support Team (VST) at the Seattle Police Department. The VST is a civilian team that responds with the police to a domestic violence call. The VST is called by the police once the scene has been secured. We are there to offer resources and help safety plan. My job comes in after the weekend when we are sort of a bridge between the DV survivor and the SPD. Apparently it is called system based advocacy.

Another part of the job will be my time with the JustServe team. I think there are about thirty of us and we will have a week of training before our jobs start and then we will meet on Fridays after that to discuss things. We will be discussing issues of violence and racism and how to address the pipeline that sends a disproportionate amount of youth of color into the prison system. This will be an interesting dynamic because my site is the only DV site.

Anyways, those are the details :)

. . . And We're Back

I am sorry for the long absence my beloved fans. Life here in 'just graduated from college and don't really have a lot going on land' has been pretty rough. My first excuse is that I was pretty busy sitting on the couch thinking about leaving the house for about a week. My second excuse is that the week before I left to help Ms. McK with her wedding I decided to cram FIVE interviews into one week. That my friends is the subject of this new post.

. . .

So, I have a job. It's a pretty big deal. Allow me to share with you the process leading up to this joy.

After graduation I saw a job posting on the El Centro de la Raza website. The job looked real sweet, but it was only offered through AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps is basically the domestic version of the PeaceCorps. This is also code for 'work really hard in a really challenging environment and live on $1,000 a month'. My particular team within AmeriCorps is called 'JustServe' and has an anti violence/ undoing racism focus.

Anyways, let me spare you the boring details and get to the part where I get the job. I filled out an application, went in for an interview with the AmeriCorps people, it was stellar, they gave the number of four different sites where they think I should interview, I called them and had three interview on Thursday and one on Friday.

Let me start off by saying 'never, ever, ever have three interviews in one day'. By the end of the day I sounded like a stupid girl with little depth because my brain could just not function anymore to create cohesive thoughts.

The part that was challenging about these interviews is that most of them were in situations where I would be working youth of color and at risk youth. The fact that I am a white female makes a difference in these situations and the people interviewing me wanted to see if I got that. Some people addressed it directly others asked me awkward questions trying to ignore the elephant in the room. It was hard to walk the fine line of expressing that I understood that white privilige is real and that it might affect my ability to be effective in the role and trying to not sound defensive. It was exhausting to realize that while I may seem to 'get it' in my mostly white SPU world, there is a lot I still have to learn in the real world.

I realized that this is probably reality for people of color who feel they are constantly trying to fight stereotypes that most people don't even realize they hold.

I think I might stop here and share with you a little video from illdoctrine (I have a little crushy crush on this man)