For Stacey

On September 17^th, 2009, the world lost a tremendous presence.  Those of us who knew her lost a vital source of strength and light in our lives.  I lost my mentor and friend.  Stacey Morgan was so much, to so many people.  I’d like to share with you what she became to one idealistic young college graduate who was at a strange place in her life, just over two years ago.

I was out of college and not sure what to do next.  I’d graduated with a degree I wasn’t planning on using.  In a sort of crisis, I’d looked to the Peace Corps, and when I decided that was TOO MUCH of a solution, I found AmeriCorps.  National service would be the buffer between me and the big crazy world, while I took some time to serve other people, learn and figure out what kind of a career I wanted.

So… as luck would have it, the first (and only) program I interviewed with was Multicultural Communities in Action, the AmeriCorps program partnering with CommonBond Communities.  After my initial interview, it was time to find a site where I’d best fit for my term of service.  I went to Cathedral Hill Homes to talk with Stacey Morgan, the Advantage Center program manager.

And it clicked.  Immediately.  I sat down and interviewed with this spunky, hilarious lady who had this incredible curly red hair that I was instantly jealous of.  And I was like, “Yep.  I want to work for her.”  I did not regret that decision.  Not once.

Stacey was unbelievably open and supportive from the very beginning.  She had a complete teamwork mentality, and would never hesitate to drop one of her countless current projects to help out her (rookie) staff.  She would not let us sink.  I remember—and this happened more than once my first year—I would be running Homework Center at Cathedral Hill, and would have 9 or 10 kids, Kindergarten through fifth grade… and I would be literally up to my elbows in children needing help with math and science and telling me so-and-so was hitting so-and-so and needing a snack and the bathroom and “Jen I’m bored,” “Jen, can I use the computer?” “Jen, Jen, Jen!” and I would be ready to pull my HAIR OUT BY THE ROOTS because I’d tried EVERYTHING and the children JUST.  WOULD.  NOT.  FOCUS…

And then, Stacey would get there, coming from a meeting or running an errand… and she would see the look on my face, and without saying a word, would simply take off her coat or put down her bag, and would try… something else.  A little youth work technique or trick that, even though I’d tried everything I could feasibly think of, I just had not known.  And, of course, it was the one thing that worked. 

I was always in awe of that… her unshakeable confidence.  She knew SO MUCH about her job, and the residents, and the kids.  She had an amazing capability to gather a group—even a group of unruly seven-year-olds—and could get them to listen, and work together, without them even fully realizing it.  I wanted to learn how to do that, what she appeared to pull off so effortlessly.  It made me work that much harder to be better at my job. 

Stacey taught me so much.  She was my mentor in all respects.  She helped me figure out where my true strengths were, she listened to me voice my insecurities about my future career choices and life in general, she helped me through the grad school application process… and she entrusted the Cathedral Hill Advantage Center, with all its programs, to me for an entire summer while she embarked on her own much-looked-forward-to adventure of being a mom.  If I ever questioned her confidence in my abilities, she'd laugh and give me a look that clearly said "I'm not stupid.  Neither are you."  And I would work so very hard not to prove her wrong.

The two years I spent under her direction as an AmeriCorps member at Cathedral Hill are indescribable to me in terms of value.  I valued her empathy and her strength, her wisdom and warmth, her leadership and her friendship.

Stacey gave me a thank-you card during our farewell dinner on my last day at Cathedral Hill, not too long ago.  There is a quote on the front of it that impacted me then and has stayed with me, and I’d like to share it with you:

“They came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world, and after awhile they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do someday.”

I like to think that when she picked the card out, she saw me in that quote.  I see her in it, too, except for the very real, obvious truth: Stacey never SAT.  She ran, danced, hopped, skipped, cartwheeled and roller-skated… celebrated… through everything she did.  

And Stacey, I will never forget the good and true things you taught me.  You did those good and true things every day.  Thank you.

So.  Welcome to my little corner of the blogiverse!  It hardly ever rains here.

If my life of late could have taken the form of a want ad, this is how it would have read:

"Self-proclaimed flaming liberal bleeds-blue tried-and-true hippie activist seeks adventure and something... well, something DIFFERENT.  Loves sunshine.  Loves political drama.  Tolerates Republicans if they don't go stomping around on the Bill of Rights."

In retrospect, should have included: "Gun-Totin' Obama-Hatin' Creationists for GW, please take your crazy elsewhere."  Alas, the ad people charge by the word.

Arizona was a toss-up.  And there are plenty of things about this state that I'm coming to like.  A lot.  For example: the sun is nice.  (And, it'll be a whole lot nicer in January.)  The mountains are lovely.  And I've met some great, intelligent, totally sane and reasonable people who genuinely love this state and don't want to see it spiral downwards into a cesspool of hate-mongering and intolerance overseen by the crazies mentioned above.  

What do we do about those nut-jobs?  Well, I can offer up a few suggestions, but they may or may not be constitutional.  Anyway, you'll just have to keep reading and we'll see if anything comes up. 

So, here is the first step... well, MY first step.  My personal vehicle (however small and insignificant it might be) from which to bring irrational and harmful agendas/policies/issues/what-have-you's up front for discussion.  I want this blog to be a platform where free speech and voices of reason are welcome; where all rational-thinking beings can express their frustrations, have epiphanies, rant and rage against the ideological insanity that tends to engulf important issues in this country like the plague, and be comforted... there ARE still optimists in the world (and quite a few hippies, too).  

We'll see what this experiment yields.  I'm going to write about subjects, political and not, that interest me, piss me off a little, and issues that make me absolutely want to cluster bomb parts of the state of Arizona--and all of the worthless, racist, intolerant and ignorance-cancer-infested parts of other states, while we're at it--back into the Mesozoic era (...and that's a little evolutionary shout-out for ya'z). 

Keep fighting the good fight!  I sure as hell will be.

~Jen