Wired!

So much has happened since my last post, on our first day here, but one thing hasn't changed; we're still very, very tired. And very busy.  By now, though, we're beginning to get used to it.  Our collective exhaustion has metamorphosed into a strange kind of energy, a tense, focused drive to get where we need to be and do what needs doing.  It feels, at least to me, that we've been plugged into the energy wires that run the cable cars, and we too are buzzing like electrified blood cells through  the veins of San Francisco.

Today, we powered through over 1,200 envelopes and invitations in just under two hours as part of a mail stuffing project for SF Suicide Prevention, a organization and phone hotline for people in crisis.  The invitations were for their annual fundraising event, a comedy gala that raises $50,000 to $80,000 (on average) for the organization to help people in need.  It seems oddly appropriate; laughter is, after all, the best medicine, so it's fitting that someone's joy would raise money to help people who feel hopeless, anxious, or alone.

Yep, nobody does service like Hamline does service.   We also worked the breakfast shift this morning at Glide Church, where Micah and I packaged food and sliced green peppers at a furious pace.  Glide is definitely one of the most chaotic places I've ever been, in the living, breathing heart of an old building, narrow hallways packed with people rushing like ants through their daily routines.  Today, and yesterday at lunch prep, I tried to send as much life out with the sandwiches and chopped vegetables as I possibly could.  Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to heading out to the front lines to serve meals and greet people; from what I've heard from other group members who served today it's intense.  I'm (mostly) more excited than nervous, and looking forward to tomorrow!

For the rest of tonight, we'll be heading back to the Castro to meet the Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, an organization of benevolent, philanthropic drag queen nuns.  Only in San Francisco.  Then it's back to the hotel to reflect and rest up for tomorrow.

We're already halfway through the trip, and I'm really not ready to go pack.  Last night, Lyle, at the Night Ministry, told us to try to take a little of the good San Francisco vibes with us back home, so we can feel welcome wherever we go.  Even though we do have to leave eventually, I think the trip has already changed us in profound ways, some of us physically.  Some people might be coming home with a little more ink or a little less hair than when we got here. . . just one of the many positive side effects of exploring queer in the community in sunny, psychedelic San Francisco.