Getting Settled into NEWARK ACTS

In the last few weeks as an intern at Newark Acts, my emotions have ranged from excitement, apprehension, curiosity, and downright frustration. Coming in, I was clearly behind some of my fellow interns because internship prospects were diminished somewhat due partly to my summer job at a camp in Maine, where I had little access to phone reception and internet. Along with that, I had very little free time to talk with potential internships. In the end, it may have been better if I had not been to the camp as to better prepare for my internship, but for all the complications it created it for me, the experience I got from working at the camp put me in a better mindset to live in a community and remain disciplined.

Despite setbacks stemming from my summer job, it appeared I had a good chance at internship working at HOPES CAP; I, along with another intern, became increasingly excited to work at that site. Unfortunately that internship fell through, as neither of us could take the internship due to financial complications despite our increased enthusiasm for it. After this drawback, the other intern quickly got another opportunity that I was ineligible to do. This second setback made me somewhat frustrated, because I was genuinely anxious to get started at an internship and do some meaningful work. Afterwards several days later I got an interview with another place, which I thought went very well. It is a matter of if my skills and temperament make me the ideal candidate for job which I have heard is uniquely difficult at YCS. But with continued perseverance, hope, enthusiasm, and no shortage of luck, success may be around the corner.

Along with my struggles to find an internship there have been other challenges I face as an intern at NEWARK ACTS. One challenge is living in such a tight community. In high school and college I was pretty much a solitary student. I had a decent number of friends, but much of my time I was alone and private. Of course, I had lived in a family, but that can only prepare one so much for the kind of community I am currently living in. To begin the family I was born into had preconceived rules and chores given to me by my parents. For almost all decision making I was left out, as with most children in families. In this community, where all of us were born into different families, we have to come to together as equals and decide how the house is going to run. This is a difficult task, and for a solitary person like me it carries its own obstacles. There is one strength of mine that has made communal living easier for me than some others is that I do not have a very combative personality. In most instances I look for a quick mutual solution to a conflict. I prefer a less stressful peaceful coexistence as opposed to needing to assert my way of living and doing things.

One overall positive experience I have had at Newark Acts was gaining familiarity with the area around Union City and Newark. I had never lived in such a diverse place with so many different cultures. I grew up largely in New England in areas that were less diverse. I had some experience with cities when my parents moved to Buffalo after I graduated high school. My visits there gave me a taste of city life. Then in College I lived just outside of Queens. But living in Union City, and working around Newark is something quite exceptional. It is also very curious seeing the contrast between the unique diversity of the area and the growing gentrification. It is an almost strangely poetic scene of so many clashing aspects of American life and culture so close together, giving one insight into the complexity, past, and future of American life. I am glad I am at the center of it.

Drew