Total Downer!

Welp, it seems as though I won't be able to blog about this topic as I wanted. On Friday, the activities director told me her superior shot down the blog. She said it had something to do with publicity issues, which is ironic because this is a class project; it's not like I was aspiring to be the next Julie Powell. But alas.

It came as a surprise to me because, as I mentioned before, I've blogged about far more sensitive matters while volunteering at a psychiatric hospital, writing about murders, accusations of sexual abuse and the like. There the administrators read my blog religiously, albeit tentatively, and I still never got a complaint so long as I protected the identities of those involved.

At the hospital, I'd interview people in-depth about their personal history. At the nursing home, I'd just play Bingo and make light chat with residents. But apparently that was too much to talk about.

I have two hypotheses as to the "real" reason why they rejected my request. First, that this is a small town, and so word gets around fast (also, little things tend to get blown out of proportion, as nobody has much to talk about). Second, that they were afraid I might mention a mistake one of the staff made. I admit, I came into this expecting some degree of inadequate oversight, but after just two days volunteering, I truly believe that this was no matter. The care there is excellent.

The fact that they shot down my blog shows some degree of insecurity in the administrators. And, partly, I don't blame them; they must take a lot of flack for stupid stuff. On an ending note, though, I pose to them this question: what do you have to hide?

An Introduction of Sorts

Hello! How are you? I'm feeling gorgeous. Anyways, here's the situation: I'm writing this blog about my experiences volunteering at a nursing home. The only problem is, the home's administrators have to approve my request to blog about it, and I haven't heard back from them yet, so here we are.

I will say that I volunteered today nonetheless, and that it was everything I hoped it'd be. Sorry that I can't say more at the mo'. The runup to this project has been hectic, though. I had to get a strep test recently; I was worried I wouldn't be able to volunteer for a week or more because of it. Luckily, though, it was only a sore throat, and it went away before I had to go in.

So. Why would I choose to volunteer at a nursing home, of all places? you may ask. Well, that's a good question.

I've always been fascinated by the marginalized--particularly people whose voices often aren't heard, who may even be accustomed to having others speak for them. As I mentioned in my "About Me," my last blog was about volunteering in a psychiatric hospital. Working there I realized just how much ignorance there is about mental illness. How I saw it, the people there were like how Alan Ball described his vampires on the HBO drama "True Blood": people who happen to be vampires. They're people, who just happen to be mentally ill--meaning there's not much difference between "them" and "us," mostly just difference we imagine. But I digress.

Volunteering at a nursing home, the strongest personal hurdle I will have to overcome is an aversion toward mortality in general: being relatively young and sheltered, I haven't witnessed, much less contemplated, sickness, aging and death. I hope to understand these phenomena as the residents do, thereby growing stronger as an individual. Then perhaps I'll feel as though I'm more than a volunteer--that I belong.