Street Sense is a newspaper written and sold by homeless people in DC - vendors buy copies of the paper for 50 cents and then sell them for a suggested donation of 2 dollars, so that both the paper and the vendors are supported. When I go to the metro or the grocery store there is often someone selling the newest issue, which I usually buy but recently haven't actually had time to read. Today I'm cleaning house and almost threw out the paper I bought a few days ago without reading it, but I decided to take a quick glance at the cover story and then got sucked in! Here are a couple of the stories I found particularly inspiring.

The cover story, first of all, was about a Detroit-based organization called Enchanted Makeovers, which redecorates homeless shelters across the US to make them more welcoming. What a great idea! The founder, Terry Grahl, says that she especially wants to create places where women and children can feel comfortable and be healed. She has also established a couple other projects to work towards this goal - the Sacred Sewing Room project and Capes for Kids. The first project works to transform bare shelter sewing rooms into cheerful, better-equipped work spaces, and the second provides homemade capes for kids "to help channel their inner superhero, strength and imagination." Check out the website to learn more!

The next piece that caught my eye is a short one with just a couple paragraphs titled, "What Constitutes a Good Day?" Good question, what does make a good day in your opinion? To this author, Scott, every day is a good day. In spite of being hit by two cars, he is alive. In spite of struggling with alcoholism and a broken past, he has complete trust and hope in God, which shines through in these few paragraphs! When talking about how he has prayed to be released from his desire for alcohol, he says this: "Sometimes God will put us in a battle empty handed. So that when we get the victory, we will know that it was him that got us through, not ourselves." This struck me as a really great insight. He continues, "I walk with the favor of God daily. To be awake to see fireworks is a good day. To make a child smile is a good day. To sell papers in the snow is a good day. To stand and wash cars is a good day. So every day is a good day!"

Today is a good day! 
Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (NKJV)

We are learning SO MUCH! It's great! 

Dylan has officially begun his first semester as as student teacher. He's thrilled to be working with a middle school math teacher who was voted the best teacher in DC for the 2013-2014 academic year! He's also working in a fun environment at a relatively new charter school with a small group of three other math teachers. They've been doing get-to-know-you and communication activities these last couple of days and have professional development activities for two more weeks before students come.

I had the privilege of meeting with one of the professors I'll be working with this semester as a graduate assistant at the downtown offices of his NGO - The Public Law and International Policy Group. PILPG does pro bono legal work with groups in conflict or post-conflict countries, helping them draft new constitutions or incorporate reconciliation and peace-building processes in their communities. I think this is fascinating and central to sustainable development and I am so excited to get started! I will be working with the Syria team.

While Dylan had a bit of a holiday the last two weeks, I've been finishing up my first grad school class (Economic Theory) and working at a language immersion summer camp for preschoolers. The second half of my econ class was all about macroeconomics (the first half was micro). We learned how the government can affect the economy through fiscal and monetary policy, about the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, and about the difficulty involved in making accurate economic predictions and therefore good economic policies. We also discussed long-term economic growth and the success of some countries (mostly in Asia) and the disappointing progress in others (mostly Africa) due to investment, or lack thereof, in human and physical capital and technology. 

On a much less academic note, at summer camp I have practiced changing diapers, playing make-believe, and doing various crafts involving paper plates, paint, markers, and glue. I have also used my French much more extensively than at any point in the last five years, which is great! I'll be working at the summer camp until the end of next week.

I don't have a lot of pictures from these activities, but here's one of some of the kids listening to a presentation by the Tooth Fairy!