Drag with Intent, March 27, 2013

Today was the day we dreaded; the day we had to leave the hostel by 6:40am. Despite our fatigue, we made our way over to GLIDE by 7 sharp to begin helping with the preparation for breakfast. While most of the group helped with serving the food, I got to go in the back and help out with some other food prep. Over the next two hours I got to work exclusively with raw eggs, boxed cereal, and green peppers. We had arrived much earlier than many of the other volunteers who showed up over the course of our stay and the staff had to individually help each new recruit find their place in the hustle of the kitchen. It was nice to be able to see how the food we were making was being put to good use and the thought that all of it was going to be used really put the amount of traffic that GLIDE assists on a regular basis. We will be spending a good deal of our day there tomorrow, serving breakfast once again and adding dinner onto our schedule as well. 

That afternoon, we made our to the San Francisco Suicide Prevention Project at a secret address to help them get settled into their new digs and prep envelopes for an upcoming fundraiser. Around 2,000 letters were sent out in total and I was able to assist in building a shelf to help organize the suicide resources for outreaches. It was a non-IKEA purchase, so it really stretched by handyman skills to their limits. The SFSPP provides resources to a wide variety of people in need of either grief support for a recent loved one who has passed or is struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression. While the center itself rarely has visitors, the task force makes sure to get out into communities in order to best serve the populace. I was able to see two of their annual reports and, being the business major, looked through them to see what had changed over the years and saw a dramatic increase in the amount of grants and services provided, which seemed a natural progression for the group to undertake. The staff there was very welcoming and gracious and was able to speak to us about what the program did and hoped to accomplish, which was a stark contrast to how we had been greeted elsewhere. This is not to say they were not grateful at GLIDE, but merely that they were very busy and it was clear that they were accustomed to having many volunteers come in and out of their program throughout the course of the day and don't really have the time to take each group around and give them a tour. I'm excited to work at GLIDE again tomorrow, though I do hope to be able to serve meals this time. 

Our final stop was perhaps the most thought provoking of the day: the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence  To the untamed eye, one might think that these drag queens were enacting their revenge on the Catholic church by dressing up as what can only be described as a nuns at Marti Gras This dramatization if not done with malicious intent, however, and comes from a mindset that inspires many people to this day to devote their lives to the church. The SPI hope to interact with others in the community to diminish guilt, intolerance, and suffering while providing care, support, and outlets for connection. It is true that the SPI are not affiliated with any church, their members go through a rigorous initiation process that models itself after a religious institution with its own bylaws and customs to follow. This was, to me, the most intriguing space we had visited thus far as it brought into question the oft assumed concept that a connection with queerness automatically disassociates one from their spiritual self, especially so when one takes into account the majority of the arguments being used against queer issues. Growing up in a splinter Christian religion, I had always learned my spiritual self was part of my identity, but the permissibly of a spiritually queer identity was left unexplored. This ragtag group of nuns managed to carve out a space for themselves, where their calling to a greater good could manifest itself in a community that needed help. The entire organization is run through the effort of the unpaid members, but its effects are far reaching and have done a great deal for the community. In the past the Sisters responded to a large upswing in STD rates by researching the various diseases, creating a pamphlet with easy to understand language, checking in with doctors to make sure of the factual accuracy of the information, and printing and distributing thousands of these during a parade, and all of this within a span of six weeks. Though the logistics of their operations are complex due to the limited availability of funding, the Sisters were able to give out over $80,000 in grants last year, accumulated through fundraisers and donations, to the community. Their idea was Drag with Intent, using their performance to better their community. As the theme for the trip is "be the change you wish to see in the world," these nuns showed the way be putting effort in without wishing to gain anything personally outside of joy from helping others. It is that attitude we should try to embody while doing our work in the future.