March 1, 2020 at 8:48 AM
First Unitarian Universalist
San Antonio, Texas
I'm early for church by forty minutes, so I'm
sitting in the warm chamber that serves as the sanctuary. I liked Saint Mark's
Episcopal, but I thought I would look into the Unitarian Universalists today. I
found the congregation active in protecting immigrants who are crossing from
Mexico.
At a meeting at Esperanza Center for Peace and
Justice, I encountered several members of the church helping to plan actions to
support refugees from Mexico, including decriminalizing the act of crossing the
border. I have kept tabs on the movement to help refugees and undocumented
people, including a new law allowing immigrants to drive in New York.
Recently, the Trump Administration sanctioned
the State of New York by making it harder for citizens of the state to get
passes around security checkpoints at airports. I write these ideas as facts
because I cannot get on the internet to check them. This church doesn't have a
wireless signal.
Reported to Bernie HQ to go out to canvass, and
I was paired with Morgan, who drove the car. I was surprised that I could
download a canvass software called Minivan and punch in a number to download a
turf. It was so easy. I could go back and pick up the houses that we overlooked
because the houses were so hard to reach. It must have been a neighborhood with
high turnover because only one street had more than one house upon it.
We were sent to a barrio along Nogalitos Road
where orange trees grew in the yards of the wooden houses. I plucked kumquats
of a neglected tree and popped the sour small fruits into my mouth, no need to
peel. A few lots had newer houses under construction, the old house torn out
and replaced. We had to cross San Pedro Creek a few times, a waterway that
flowed through a concrete channel over a bed of algae. A bicycle path continued
along the creek, so the city has named it a greenway. The last time I worked in
Texas at Seven-Eleven, I always felt anxiety when I saw rivers that didn't look
like rivers, lakes that didn't look like Michigan lakes.
Morgan and I got to know one another. She was
born in Italy and came to this country, finding employment in publishing. She
has found landing jobs in the industry difficult because of what might be age
discrimination. So she has turned to gig employment and self-employment to keep
a roof over her head and a car on the road. She had an appointment to tutor a
child in China, so we had to wrap up our canvassing after three hours in the
field.
We had a good time in the barrio. We found a
hole in the wall bar and grill and we ducked inside to freshen up, so to speak.
I handed out literature for Tio Bernie to all the people enjoying a feed of
free tacos and spanish rice. Only two people, a couple sitting at a table,
refused literature. I got a few slaps on my back. "I have a Bernie bumper
sticker on my truck. Do you have another"? I wish we had brought a bunch
because I could have stickered all the cars in the lot.
We didn't talk face to face with the person we
were assigned to visit at the last stop, but her father came out. "Habla
Espanol", he asked me. "Si, hablo Espanol, pero mi vocabulario es muy
pequeno". "Habla Spanglish, amigo"? "Hablo Spanglish muy
excellente". He had a cold cerveza in his hand and I wish he had offered
me one because I was thirsty. Morgan could have dropped me off right there if
Papa was sharing his cervezas. Maybe if I had asked, “Cerveza, por favor”?
Morgan giggled because we were two men having a
nice time, neither quite understanding exactly what the other was saying. He
agreed to bring "todos al barrio" to the garden library nearby on
Grande Martes.
It was on her way, so Morgan dropped me off at
the Starbucks nearby Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. She drove and blew off
stress. She made only fifteen thousand last year, had no safety net, and
couldn't get an interview for a straight job. She couldn't afford even the
subsidized Obama care plans and so had no coverage. She felt like she could
take no risks. She hoped that Medicare for All could help her get the care she
needed when she needed it. She even had started a photography business, but
just couldn't ask the prices she needed to make the bills easier to pay.
If anyone could use a little Esperanza, it was
Morgan.
She was upset with me when we parted because
despite campaigning for Bernie for the last week, I was more into Pete or Mike.
"How can you campaign for Bernie and not totally believe in him"?
"Because campaigning for Bernie is the same as campaigning for the
nominee". She wasn't buying it. She gave me her card. She hoped to keep in
touch and make a spiff for referring me to her Chinese tutorial program. I
texted her last night. She has yet to make an answer.
I got all choked up singing this Shaker hymn in
church today, Simple Gifts.
'Tis the gift to be simple
'Tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just
right
It will be in the valley of love and delight
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right
2 comments:
Good read Will, as you are the best when it comes to blogging! We spent our morning worshipping at Central UMC in downtown Muskegon - our new Church home, celebrating first day of Lent singing last hymns with the words “Hallelujah” until 40 days are up. Then the Pastor will retrieve the word “Hallelujah” from the sealed box to celebrate upcoming Easter! Old Christian custom, made modern! Today being the first Sunday in March, was also Communion Sunday with pasty glutin free bread dipped in grape juice - always a humbling experience not always feeling worthy, but praise be to God. We are also serving on a 90th celebration committee to honor 1930 - 2020 years of Central Church's history - a prelude to 100 years coming up in the next 10 years! Today was a springlike day near 50 and joy not working but spending quality time with wife Cindy and both sides of my extended family of the past 25 years - yes, we celebrated and still celebrating our silver anniversary of 25 years, raising 4 children and now have 9 grandchildren, the blessed ones. You know, born sinful by nature but are loved with all our whole hearts. I believe I shared that we have family in San Antonio and make annual pilgrimaging trips and usually ending up in MIssion TX where Granma and Grandpa Holman are buried then off to South Padre Island or Port Isabel trying to beat all the “Spring-breakers! Please keep in touch good friend Will!
Another great one Will!! I absolutely had to LOL at the "Cervesa, por favor!" Love it!!
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