Week 23: Revising Guides and Snowy Hikes

I've written about having some slower weeks at work but recently I've been working on a long-term project: revising four of our Pro Se guides. Pro Se means people representing themselves in court, which is a lot of the support that the Florence Project provides. I've been pouring over our guides on appealing to the Board of Immigration Appeals (what detainees do when they want a second opinion on an Immigration Judge's decision), Advocating for Your Rights (the multiple avenues detainees can take to report abuses that they might have suffered in detention), DACA (what is DACA, some resources for finding DACA updates, and how to apply/reapply for DACA), and the Violence Against Women Act Cancellation of Removal Guide (how detainees can apply to remain in the United States because of abuse they might have suffered from an intimate partner). All of these processes are fairly complex and I'm helping make sure our guides are understandable, up-to-date, and well formatted. Formatting is not always the most interesting job but it helps my time in the office go by quickly. Plus, I can listen to podcasts while I work. These guides will eventually reach lots of detainees and will hopefully provide answers and guidance for some people. You can see our current guides at www.firrp.org/prose.

Thursday, I had another shift on the hotline, answering phone calls from people in detention. When I'm in the moment, I have a series of questions that I'm asking from the intake form and I find myself focusing on those questions so I don't become overwhelmed by the stories that are being shared with me. The ones that I feel most poignantly are the stories of people my age or younger. The differences between us really stem from where we were born. I'm grateful for their stories and I'm grateful for my housemates and other support people who provide a safe space outside of work to debrief and feel those stories more deeply.

Friday we as a house had our second book club meeting with the Presbyterian volunteers. Together, we're reading and discussing "See No Stranger," a memoir about radical love by Valerie Kaur. This week, and at our first gathering, we had deep conversations about love, grief, how we fight oppressive systems. I can't say that we've come up with all the answers but it has been good to be in an intellectually and emotionally stimulating space.

Saturday, our house and our friend, Grace, drove up Mt. Lemmon again. We hadn't been up there since our first week in Tucson and the landscape feels very different 5 months later. Summerhaven is now a winter wonderland! The roads were packed with cars and the hills bustling with sledders as Tusconans took advantage of the beautiful day and snow.

Jessie, Grace, and I struck out on a hike, what we thought would be a relaxed 4-mile loop. We ended about 3 hours later with wet feet, red noses, and big smiles. Even though we lost the trail a few times, we enjoyed the exercise and had fun tromping through the woods. Michaela and Andrea started out with us and then made the wise decision to enjoy some of the shops and drier trails in Summerhaven. They were even waiting for us at the end of the trail with our lunch!

We sank into the snow up to our knees every other step so the hiking pole was helpful. And, of course I had to try and climb a big rock when I saw one.

This is also MVS recruiting season! If you know anyone who might be interested in MVS but just doesn't know it yet, you can share my blog with them and www.tucsonmvs.org, which is where they can begin the application process. This is a very special and unique opportunity and we're excited to have more people to have their own experiences doing a year of service!