Life in "Capitol City"

One of the really neat qualities of Juneau that makes it a welcoming environment for a newly-transplanted individual such as myself is it's geographic isolation.  Darwin noticed this in his galapagos finches, I've noticed it in the Juneau community.  His conclusions were biological, mine are more sociological:  There are about 40 miles of road in Juneau.  The only way to connect to the rest of Alaska, Canada and the US of A is by plane or ferry.  We're surrounded by water on one side and the Juneau Ice Field on the other.  There are a few implications to this:  First of all, everyone seems to know everyone else, if not directly, then through a friend or family member.  Second, I've found that I see a lot of the same people around town, from friends to co-workers, clients, and other generally familiar faces from commuting.  The third, which contributes to the previous two, is folks generally stay in town on the weekends, and involve themselves in the community in a much more intensive way than, say, the metropolitan Boston area, where there are over 20 different towns within the reach of a 30 minute drive.

I love it.  There are tons of community events in town such as barn dances (swing and contra dancing), free yoga classes, community theatre productions, slam poetry, live folk and bluegrass performances, and the list goes on.  If you want to be anonymous, take a hike, literally (a few pics to follow of some of those hikes).

This great community feeling draws a stark contrast to the Cruise Ship business that floods Juneau in the summer months.  Droves of Alaska-sweatshirt-wearing, camera-carrying, neck-craning tourists file out of cruise ships from May through September, asking questions like "What is the elevation of Juneau?" (Hint: You were just on a boat, in salt water).  Am I sounding a bit critical?  Somewhat hypocritical I suppose, especially since I've only been here for 2 months, but the sentiment seems to pervade many of the permanent residents.  The cruise ships and tourism bring a lot of revenue to Juneau, which is great, but at the same time, it seems that the cruise ship vacation attitude exploits the intrinsic beauty and value of Southeast.  I will be spending a year volunteering in Juneau, an only be able to scratch the surface of what Juneau has to offer: its culture, its nature, its people.  What can you experience of any city in 10 hours?
I happened to run into a former co-worker from Manhattan who was in Juneau on a cruise.  We talked for a short while about Juneau, how her cruise was going, etc.  She asked me, in a very thick New York City accent, "What is there to do around heeah?  You got this street and that's it.  Whattaya do heeah in the winter?"  I couldn't even begin to answer.  The same way that you could never really get to know the personality of any individual in 8 hours time, you cannot truly experience and absorb the culture of a new community in a short stop off on a week-long cruise.  You can come back saying, hey, I went to Alaska, got this cool sweatshirt, saw a glacier, got a picture in front of a stuffed brown bear and saw a bald eagle in a cage.  I did the same thing in parts of Europe: stereotypical college, study abroad tourist.  It is because that I had that experience that I appreciate the opportunity to be in one place for a year, immerse myself in the community, make myself a part of Juneau as much as Juneau will become a part of me after this year is over.  A year gives me the time to pause to ponder (as they would say at Holy Cross), think about my impression on this community, and its impact on me.

Now that the Cruise Ship season has officially ended, I am interested to see how the community of Juneau looks and feels.

Until next time...

A look back across the Mendenhall Glacier onto the Juneau Icefield

Canoeing on Windfall Lake on a weekend hiking trip with the organization at which I volunteer.

Windfall Lake

Windfall Lake, early morning

Life in Juneau

There are, on one hand, a number of aspects of JVC Northwest that will make this year of service in Juneau unique, and at the same time, a number of unique aspects of Juneau that will make a year of service with JVC Northwest equally distinct.

One of the four values of JVC Northwest is simple living.  Depending on the geographic location, community, and individual, simple living can take a number of forms.  Personally, in my community, and in Juneau, simple living has manifested itself particularly through energy usage, diet, simplicity of time, and relationships.

As a JVC NW volunteer, I commit to living in solidarity with those whom I am serving.  Financially, this manifests itself in a simple budget that allows our community, as a group, to all pitch in from our living stipend to cover rent, utilities and food, and a small, individual stipend for personal discretionary use (toothpaste, a bagel/coffee now and then, etc).  The cost of living in Juneau, which is only accessible from the rest of AK/the USA by boat or plane, is quite high, so many foods and items that are relatively inexpensive and taken for granted elsewhere in the lower 48 (meat, fresh produce/vegetables) are much harder to acquire up here.

To save money, and to try to live a simple lifestyle, we use as little energy as possible in the house.  This includes keeping the heat usage to a minimum, being conscious of how much hot water we use with dishes and showers, and making items such as soap, shampoo and other cleaning products which are much cheaper to replenish and are more environmentally friendly in terms of ingredients and packaging.
This higher cost of living applies to all of our food as well.  We are lucky to have a CostCo in Juneau, which allows us to buy in bulk at reasonable prices, but we still have been forced to cut many luxuries from our diets.  That means usually a lot of rice, beans, lentils and oatmeal, among other things.  As a community, we have prioritized healthy diet choices over the absolute cheapest option.  We are lucky to have a bread-baker in our house, so we have fresh bread all the time, which is also more cost effective.  By no means are we starving, conversely, I feel that I am eating healthier than I have at almost any time in my life (I'm never going to write-off Mom's cooking though).  We are very lucky to have a supportive community that is familiar with JVC Northwest.  There are a lot of former JVs (FJVs) in Juneau who generously donate to us on occasion, providing some of those things such as fruit, meat and other luxuries that we are not always able to get our hands on.  We have a neighbor who fishes regularly, and gave us some delicious, fresh halibut and flash-frozen salmon recently.  Aligning the diets and food preferences of 7 people in conjunction with a tight budget is an additional challenge, but it is in these little challenges that will lead to the most personal growth for me:  Communication, reevaluation, prioritizing what is really necessary and important in life.  Among many other things, I will carry these experiences along with me in life after JVC.

One of the applications of simple living that I am enjoying the most right now is the simplicity of time and relationships.  We don't have any internet/wifi or cable in our house (I'm currently sitting in a bagel shop in downtown Juneau called Silverbow Bagels).  I have a cell phone (no smart technology as of yet), and we have a TV in the house, so we're not completely void of technology.  Obviously, my priority is to my volunteer site, but outside of volunteer hours and community activities/meetings, my obligations are pretty limited.  I am able to read for personal enjoyment (didn't get a chance to do much of that during my 4 years at Holy Cross), go hiking, trail running and engage in community events around Juneau.  There is a great folk/bluegrass music scene here, and I'm looking forward to getting into some of the barn dances in town (swing and contra dancing), I'm teaching myself the guitar (a slow process - sometimes frustrating, but enjoyable), and occasionally stopping in for tea with one of our support families in town.
Basically, the fat has been cut out of my life.  Time has gone the way of my meat consumption: from sirloin steak to venison if you follow my metaphor.  I find myself becoming more intentional in how I choose my activities, how I spend my time, and how I approach my relationships with friends and loved ones.  Instead of dropping a quick call to someone as I'm on the run, I try to set aside a dedicated time to be fully involved in a telephone conversation.  Texting is a nice way to keep in touch here and there, but cutting out quantity while improving quality of conversation has been thoroughly refreshing.

A deluge of text, I know.  I have some more pictures to put up later, including a camping trip with my volunteer agency and some other hikes around Juneau.  If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

City in the Clouds

Note:  This is my personal blog and as such does not reflect the views of JVC Northwest, Americorps or any of its employees.  So now that that's been said, on with the first amendment.

To start, I should probably give a little background of what this Blog is all about.  I'm a Jesuit Volunteer participating in a year of service as a JVC Northwest/Americorps member.  What does that mean, for those of you not familiar with the program?  Basically, I live in community with 6 other Jesuit Volunteers (JVs), who all volunteer at various social service agencies around Juneau, AK.  We live in a house together with a simple budget, in solidarity with those whom we serve, and incorporate a spiritual component to our service.  That usually consists of a community/spirituality night once a week, and may include any type of spiritual practice, from meditation and reflection to yoga, a sunrise hike, or a prayer service.  JVC Northwest is a Catholic organization, founded by the Jesuits, but does not limit its participants to only those of the Catholic faith.

Ok, how did that sound?  You can find more info on JVC NW's website.  Great, so on to Juneau, AK, and all of the wonderful things that I've encountered here so far.

After a week of orientation outside Portland, OR, we took our leave of the "lower 48" and hopped on a plane to Seattle, and then on to Juneau, AK.  A "city" of 30,000, and the state's capitol, Juneau is located in Southeast Alaska in the midst of the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest national forest.  The city was founded for the purposes of mining gold, an industry still in existence in the Juneau area, along with the remains of a number of since closed gold mines.  It's amazing that downtown Juneau exists where it is.  It is pretty much built into the side of the mountains that rise right from the Gastineau Channel, which separates the mainland from Douglas Island.  The large majority of Juneau residents live out in "The Valley":  Mendenhall valley, one of the few flat areas in Juneau which was previously occupied by the Mendenhall Glacier, which has receded slowly of the past few centuries.

I could probably keep going about all the little bits of Juneau that I've found.  I remember when I was in the process of applying to JVC NW, I wished that previous Juneau JVs had kept better blogs so that I knew what to expect.  But having gotten here, begun volunteering, and started living a simple lifestyle in community with my fellow JVs, I realize that it's not always that easy to explain all of the in's and out's of a community.  What I can try to do is offer a few reflections on what I've noticed thus far about the community, and some cool pictures, because I know at this point in reading, you're probably ready for a little more action outside of JVC philosophy and Juneau, AK history, although I hope to incorporate some of that as I go along.

A distant view of the Mendenhall Glacier from Douglas Island 

Most of the community (Sorry AJ, I got you in another one)

Perseverance Trail, behind downtown Juneau

A look upriver on Perseverance Trail.  It's hard to differentiate where the peak in the distance ends and the clouds begin!

Coming down Perseverance Trail towards Juneau.  There's an old goldmine directly on the bottom of the slope to the left

Mount Bradley (everyone calls it Mt. Jumbo) on Douglas Island

A big ol' piece o' driftwood on the North side of Douglas Island

A beaver pond next to fish creek on North Douglas.   That little thing floating in the water is a beaver, which was eyeing me curiously while I was standing there.