Hopson Cottage Blog

Friday afternoon, I left work early, hopped in my car, and headed north to Bard for two jam-packed days of friends, food, and reminiscence.  It was a gorgeous weekend, though the evenings were much colder than at home, where it rarely drops below 70 degrees.  I attended my first Board of Governors meeting, at which I was shocked to learn about Bard’s consideration of a satellite campus across the river, and at which I met a number of really interesting and supportive alums whom I chatted with over a delicious lunch at Leon’s house.

After lunch I was off to cheer on the women’s tennis team (I didn’t bring my tennis equipment to Baltimore and often find myself regretting it on warm days), who defeated SUNY Farmingdale.  The match happened to coincide with a reception celebrating 20 years of Stevenson Gymnasium, where I happily munched on chips and guac while chatting with old friends and new alum-friends.

Next, Dad drove down from Albany to take me and a friend to dinner in Rhinebeck, where we enjoyed delicious food and rousing political discussion (if you know anything about my family, neither of these should come as a surprise).  Back on campus I visited a dorm that is now home to about 10 of my favorite people and stopped by the photo moderation show to congratulate a friend.

At the end of such a crazy day at Bard, there was really only one thing left to do: head to Tivoli to catch up with my friend Julia, with whom I share a love of wine, cheese, words and stories.  We sat at her kitchen table watching her fish swim upside down under his filter while we ate pear slices with brie and sipped red wine (our wine and cheese dates began a few days after my 21st birthday, which was exactly one month after hers).  It was the perfect cap to a crazy and wonderful day.

Sunday morning at Bard means one thing for me: brunch at Luna 61 in Tivoli.  So I gathered four of my favorite women, and we sat in the front window eating and laughing and enjoying.  It was poetry, and on my way out of town, I stopped at the farm stand to pick up some Asian pears and some Annandale Atomic.

Tonight I worked my first outreach event.  My boss’ husband owns a sports promotion and advertising company, and he paired up with a local community group to project tonight’s Steelers-Ravens game onto a 32 foot screen in a huge park.  Along with two other staffers, I sat at a table and chatted with people, handed out information, and put together packets of info about health care options for the uninsured.  It was actually kind of fun, even though many of our visitors were more interested in a sympathetic ear than information.

I’m spending a few hours each day at our new hotline, which we set up to field the increasing volume of calls from people who have caught our new ad campaign and want to know about the state’s new medicaid expansion.  It’s a great way to learn about all of our different programs and get a feel for our client base.  Every day I get calls from senior citizens who need drug coverage, young women with children but not pediatrician, workers with families that remain uninsured.  It’s heavy, and it’s hard, and it’s amazing to leave work and feel like in some small way I migtht’ve spent the afternoon getting someone insured.

Tomorrow, I am attending a press conference to announce (and unveil) a new ad campaign starring the Baltimore Ravens. (Yes, some of them will be there.)

The background:

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley recently signed legislation that expands the criteria for Medicaid eligibility, making about 100,000 people newly eligible to receive benefits. Our office, as one of the top coordinators of health care for people who are eligible for public benefits, are the contact agency for Baltimore City. Now that the program exists, we have to get people enrolled, but before we can do that, people need to know about the expansion. That’s where the ad campaign comes in. We’ve got a radio spot, 26 billboards and a number of posters for bus shelters and other public spots. Each ad stars a member of the Ravens advertising the new program, which will affect people whose income is less than 116% of the federal poverty level.

Thus far, I’ve seen the administrative and outreach ends of what we do, but this will be the first time I get to be a part of the publicity piece. My boss has been really nervous for the past few days, putting finishing touches on the campaign- she must’ve called me into her office 12 times to review the newest billboard draft! (That’s right, I contributed.) After tomorrow, I’ll be working on compiling an expense report for one of our projects so that I can write a detailed grant proposal for the next phase.

For those of you interested in the more subtle nuances of my Baltimore existence, check out my personal blog.

I’m so sorry!  I thought I posted this yesterday, but my roommate (who apparently has my blog on his google reader) informs me that it never made it up.  Here it is:

After a full week “on the job,” I couldn’t be happier. I have had the chance to shadow some of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. The outreach teams are made up of workers who drive around the city finding the people who are most likely to fall through the cracks. Low-income pregnant women, people with chronic illness but no insurance, the homeless. They find these people. They follow up and they follow through. They carry out their work with such dignity.

Since I’m still in my orientation period, my days usually consist of meetings (or press conferences) in the morning and outreach work in the afternoon. Before lunch, I often find myself in a room full of people who divide their attention between the subject at hand and their Blackberries; I sit quietly, taking notes and flipping through whatever pamphlet or brochure or packet has been handed out. I wear hand-made name tags that few people read because most of the people in this field already know each other. Sometimes I am introduced to so-and-so from the Department of Social Services or Department of Health, but I sheepishly say “No, I just started” when asked for my business card.

I love it. I adore the people who work in my office, people who never fail to wish me a happy weekend, or ask how my day is going, or offer to teach me to use the mail machine (who knew ?). They are warm and passionate and wonderful.

Though this morning I was riddled with anxiety, pacing around my apartment, too nervous to eat, this evening has brought a huge sigh of relief. The job is great. My co-workers are amazingly warm, welcoming and kind; one of them even left a welcome gift on my desk this morning! My boss is as great as I remember- laid back, funny, and flexible. She made up a schedule for me for the week so that I can really get a feel for how the organization works. She knows I’m interested in public health, so rather than have me behind a desk all day, she’s sending me out with myriad outreach teams that work with the homeless, pregnant women, and recovering substance abusers. Wednesday I’m sitting in on a meeting with the Baltimore Ravens! My little brother, who last night informed me that I’m now his Baltimore sports source, is quite jealous. A few members of the team are doing promotional spots for us (”us” as in “the organization that I can now officially claim to be a part of”), so we’re doing a photoshoot and press conference.

My day started off with lots of paperwork: tax forms, insurance forms, confidentiality notices, the usual. I wasn’t the only newbie today, so it wasn’t quite as nerve wracking. The three of us got to chatting as we filled out forms; one of them will be working as an outreach counselor in the addiction services unit and the other will be working in-office on referrals. I hope to share many a lunch break with them in the days and weeks ahead. It’s always nice to have someone else who is still finding a niche. After two hours of orientation, we headed out to have our ID photos taken. First of all, the man who took our pictures and formatted our IDs spelled my name incorrectly, which happens all the time and doesn’t bother me that much, but he also took a frighteningly bad picture of me. Such harsh lighting!

It is such a good feeling to come home from my first day and sit in my living room feeling genuinely excited about what tomorrow holds. I’m going in early to review some literature about different low-income insurance policies and then I’m off to a meeting at City Hall with my boss. I’ll be the one sitting a few feet from her, quietly scribbling down notes and watching the clock so she’s not late for her next appointment.

Life is good.

From the Desk of Multi-Woman,

Lately, I’ve been moving about campus as a Bard College community member as well as the Director of Multicultural Recruitment and Retention. On Thursday, August 14, the Director of Multicultural Affairs organized the second annual ALANA (African-American, Latin-American/Hispanic, Asian-American and Native-American) Student Reception & Dinner here at The Cottage. The BBQ Club served up burgers with the pasta salad and cookies as we all got acquainted with one another. Alumnus Paul Thompson ‘93 came up from NYC to speak with students about all that is good n’ groovy at Bard. I know I’ll be bumping into these same students in the Campus Center and the performing and visual arts venues on campus as the year progresses.

I held two orientation sessions at WXBC for the First-Year students. About nineteen souls swung by and got a look-see into the station in the basement of Ward Mansion.  Now, I’ve been doing radio since 1994 and can do this DJing thing in my sleep. What radio does and continues to do for me is improve my speaking and editing skills (brevity is a virtue, I say), boost my confidence as a public speaker (being born with the gift of gab is a plus!) and educate me about jazz (a national treasure), a part of my heritage as an African-American. At this time of year, like everyone else in academia across the nation, I’m wringing out the last drops of peace n’ sanity before everyone comes back to the campus. It’ll be my first full year here and I’m pumped. As I keep you informed with what I’m doin’, you do the same.

Ciao!

Last night was my first night alone in my apartment.  I moved in on Saturday with help from my dad, who couldn’t wait to try out his new airbed and stayed on my living room floor.  By Sunday afternoon I was on my own, but not before Dad and I took care of all of the tasks that required two sets of hands, brute strength, or a height above 5′ 1” (such as hanging my new shower curtain).  He’s such a trooper.

Luckily, I am not alone in this city.  Two friends came over last night for cookie-baking, fire-escape chatting (they LOVE my fire escape!), and a crazy magnet-infused game of pick-up sticks.  Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  The two of them will also be instrumental in decorating my room.  One of them offered to build me a bookshelf, and the other makes wall monsters with painter’s tape.  (I love being friends with artists!)  I’ll post a picture upon completion.

Alex is (hopefully) moving down this week, once he hears from a company he interviewed with last week.  The job sounds perfect for him, so cross your fingers!  But until he hears back, he’s staying in Albany, so I’m down here on my own, unpacking, exploring, and trying to find a good grocery store.  On tap for the next week: open a new bank account, get a parking permit, test out the bus and metro lines to see which will be more convenient for getting to work, call cable and internet companies to set up installation  (I’m writing this from my friend’s house).

So while hundreds of my friends and former peers spent yesterday moving into their rooms at Bard, I spent the day thinking about how far I’ve come since the first time I moved into a dorm.  And how much has happened since the last time I moved out of one.

Count down to the new job: 7 days… and counting.

Hello All, my name is Julian. I’m a junior at Bard, currently studying in Johannesburg, South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) as part of Bard’s International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE) Program. Studying abroad as part of the Human Rights Exchange has given me a lot to think about, not only in terms of what my education and experience at Bard means, but also, in a larger sense, how I think of my identity in terms of physical location.

South Africa is an interesting place to be. Having just ended Apartheid in 1994, the racial and economic conditions in the country are still stratified in a strange way. The economic poverty in much of the country has caused an increase in crime in many areas, and Johannesburg in particular is greatly invested in security measures that dictate much of your daily interactions with people, buildings, and institutions. For instance, to enter or leave campus, you have to walk though metal passways that require an I.D. scan to function.

Being here has contextualized much of what seems “liberal” or “progressive” to me about an institution like Bard and connected this with relatively limited security. Economics help to create a culture of security. But the topic of security functions only as a euphemism for a larger shift taking place in my experience here.

I, along with other students here, are being forced to place our experiences at home in the context of a country that thrives in spite of what we accept as part of our daily experience. Leaving romanticized and exoticized interpretations at the wayside, my experience here has taught me to relate to the students from South Africa and Zimbabwe outside of a “Me/Other” understanding. Many of the American students here have clung to other American students, and that seems interesting to me, especially given the “liberal” backgrounds they so often speak of with such pride. My immediate response to the security was one of criticism and how “problematic” it all was, but I learned I have to make the effort to gain a deeper understanding that will allow me to place my criticism in context (or dispel the criticism altogether). Anyhow, I need to work on a paper due tomorrow, so I will update soon enough with some more of my thoughts and experiences here in South Africa thus far!

To learn more about Bard’s opportunities for global study visit: http://www.bard.edu/globalstudy/

Hi, that’s me above chatting with the first year students as I explain the importance of not losing the packet I’m about to hand over since it contains personal mailbox information and what they’ll be doing for the following three weeks.  My fellow admission colleagues and I had a lot of fun seeing the students that we had counseled, interviewed, and visited across the country and globe finally arrive on campus as first year students.

I remember my own introduction to becoming a Bardian back in August of 2001 as I arrived at the Bertelsmann Campus Center for registration.  I was excited and anxious about beginning my four year career as an undergraduate and embarking on the three week intensive exploration of Language and Thinking as part of my orientation to liberal arts education.  So, I could relate to the 500 plus students that arrived on August 9th for Bard’s Opening Day and registered as new Bardians of the class of 2012 (as an ‘05 alum I still can’t believe we’re talking about 2012 already!).

Thankfully, the day was gorgeous, giving students and their families a glimpse of the best the mid-Hudson Valley landscape and Annandale-on-Hudson campus has to offer.  Montgomery Orchards, which borders our campus to the South, donated a large basket of their wonderfully juicy Saturn peaches so that visitors could get a taste of what the valley has to offer as well.

Fresh produce, cheerful Bard staff, and blue skies kept students and families smiling during  a day with the potential for a mixed bag of emotions.  Students met their roommates face-to-face for the first time,  after having chat with them online before arrival, negotiated decorating styles in their dorm rooms, said goodbye to their parents for the semester (or at least until school breaks and Family Weekend), and began deciding what being a student at Bard meant for them.   As the Language and Thinking Workshop wraps up this week and students meet with advisors and professors for counseling on registering for classes (which begin on Monday- Yes, Labor Day), I am starting to reflect on how quickly the whole experience flies bye.  So, I hope that the newest members of the Bard community are able to fondly remember their first day of college when they look back in four years.  Right now though, I’m sure they’re still just enjoying exploring our campus.

Check the time stamp.  It’s 7:15 am.  This is awful.  I did NOT get enough sleep last night.

I’m in DC, where Alex and I are getting a bunch of his stuff out of his old (and now cockroach-infested) apartment.  He graduated from American University in May and has been subletting his apartment off-campus for the summer.  Apparently these people don’t mind the critters, because they’re all over his formerly pristine kitchen.

Yesterday we met up with our landlord to sign a lease and hand over our security deposit.  Then came the fun part: moving my bed up three flights of stairs to our new apartment.  I really like the neighbors and the space- it’s open, bright, clean, but it’s still a third floor walk-up.  So my bed and some other random stuff is in, and today is Alex’s day.  He has an interview in Baltimore at 2, so we’re headed back there shortly, but not before we load up the van with what’s left of his stuff.

Next week everything else gets moved in.  This should be fun.