My goals seem so impossible. While I tell myself to think well of people during my 6 hour shift, it is difficult to maintain a positive outlook amidst the psychological violence that Americans unconsciously commit to people in service careers such as mine. Yesterday I came home partially destroyed from the judgmental looks for very inconsequential mistakes, from the non-responsiveness to questions such as "how are you?", from the always time-crunched and fragmented communication that happens between co-workers. Yet this is the day to day world in the service industry - both in my experiences as well as in service professions far beyond coffee service. Still, it is in this environment I will continue to promise myself to listen, love, and pay close attention. It will never cease to amaze me how many people are blatantly able to ignore such a very simple question of greeting. Yet, the words, "How are you?" get ignored more times than I can count. "Yeah, can I get
My racial autobiography, 2008-2009: In the fall of 2008, I moved from Salem, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois. There, I started work in the all-black setting of North Lawndale College Prep High School. The first black person I started to see daily was Joe Berry, who was the tech coordinator at Free Spirit Media. He graduated high school some 6 years back at NLCP , and was deeply connected with the community in North Lawndale . I remember feelings of wanting to talk to him more about race relations (having studied it so much in college) but I felt like such an infant all over again. After all, I was recognizing that here I was making mental note of the 'fact' that I was building a relationship with someone who was culturally black. So, time went on and I made a few good moments of connection over chicken that he would bring in now and then. Though, I remember being jealous that last years volunteer, Jesse, had such a good relationship with him and that the two of them could talk ope