The Beginning of BTA

The City Year Basic Training Academy (BTA) ball has certainly started rolling. On Tuesday, we kicked off the start of the program with a service day in a park near Boyle Heights. We had to essentially landscape a stretch of hillside that was covered in trash. Laboring under the hot sun for hours is not my image of fun. However, when we all came down from the hill, scratched, bleeding, sweating, and dirty, I felt so proud of how great the hill looked. I wish I had before and after pictures to illustrate the difference. I now know how to take loppers to devil bushes!
When we walked in on Wednesday morning, we were told to get up from our seats, go to the other side of the office, and find a balloon with our name on it (while the song "99 Luft Balloons played in the background). When we popped our balloons, we would find out the "Crazy Team" we were going to be on. These teams are how they are dividing the group until our CYLA retreat. On the 10th, all of the corps members will be taking buses to Big Bear, a retreat-type place on the other side of the mountains. This is called our BTR, or Basic Training Retreat. There, we are assigned the groups that we will work with for the remainder of our year of service. The retreat is from Wednesday until Friday, and we're told that it is one of those times that City Year has that one does not want to miss. The Crazy Team that I was assigned to was called "It's In Your Hands." All of the 8 Crazy Team names are based off of City Year's "founding stories," which we are able to read in our CYLA Idealist Handbook. After some team building activities, we were to go back to what is called the Martin Luther King area of the office. Clearly City Year has an obsession with having a term or acronym for just about everything.
Next, we heard from a speaker named Dr. Fernando Guerra, a very influential speaker, professor, and political person in the city of L.A. What I was able to take away from the discussion (despite my ADD) was that Los Angeles is a city with such a strong demographic shift that an area that was once populated by a middle-class white community could be taken over Latino immigrants within as short of a span as 20 years. This is something that is key for us to understand as CY corps members because knowing the history of area that we’ll be assigned to and how it looks to be changing helps us integrate more realistic idealism. Which brings me to the next thing that sunk in – Underpromise and Overdeliver. It seems like a no-brainer, but how many people actually execute the meaning of that message? Dr. Guerra also spoke to us about how although capitalism and economics are the root of all evil, these concepts are bittersweet because they are also the roots to lots of growth and progression in cities. We were forewarned that not everyone in our designated communities will be open to change. He told us that an old black couple that has been on the block for years, will not be happy about Latino immigrants taking over the neighborhood. Just because someone is from a minority race does not mean that they aren’t racist or discriminant. He warned us that our energy, hope, and ideals may be unrealistic and too far-reaching (but I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that part). For my own purposes, after Dr. Guerra’s talk, I reaffirmed my vows to not ever come near politics. The very word already scares me as it is.
Today, we were loaded with information on standards, the structure of the program on a monthly and daily level, and team building. Some of the highlights of the standards:
No jaywalking, swearing, littering, spitting, or listening to music/ipods while in uniform. No gum chewing. Have a positive, “can-do” attitude. (And my personal favorite…) Give your seat up on the bus to someone who needs it. I learned that power is made up of spirit, purpose, discipline, and pride. I learned that the civic dangers are futility, expediency, timidity, and comfort. I learned that CY’s four parts to idealism are to imagine, recruit, inspire, and transform. I was a good sponge today, soaking up most of the information.
One thing that I’m learning about is dealing with the disability of being deaf. One of my Crazy Teammates, Mariana, is deaf. Each day, there is a translator that will come in to aid her in her participation in BTA. She is an extremely vibrant human being; full of expression. It is a challenge though, with all of the sorts of games we play and lectures we hear, for her to be able to take it in the way that the rest of us are able to.
I’m absolutely beat, so that’s all for now!