Crescent City AmeriCorps: an introduction

Myself, hard at work

For the moment you can call me Ignatius, and I will be your guide to life, as I have experienced it, as an AmeriCorps member working and living in New Orleans. Through this blog I hope to offer a glimpse into what life is like for at least one of the 85,000 or so individuals who sign up for AmeriCorps every year, draw back to curtain on the nonprofit world of which I am now a part, and also hopefully shed a little light on my adopted home of New Orleans, or Nola, as I have come to call her.

My goal is to be as honest as possible, so as a rule I will not use the real names of any individuals, institutions, or locations which may give away my identity, the identity of any of my coworkers, or that of my employer. I will, however, make reference to specific locations, businesses and events in Nola for the benefit of the reader.

That being said, if you are looking for a scandalous tell-all, you will probably be disappointed. The nonprofit world, my job, and occasionally the people I work with can be somewhat frustrating, but I do believe very strongly in what I’m doing, and honestly, what job isn't without frustrations.

Perspective is of course everything, as Ben Kenobi once said “what I told you was true, from a certain point of view,” so before I move any further, let me tell you a little about myself. This portion of my introduction will also serve as a handy glossary for most of the fictional names and locations I will more than likely be referring to during the course of this blog. As I mentioned initially you may call me Ignatius, Ignatius J. Reilly. I am in my mid twenties and I recently graduated with degrees in history and political science from what we’ll call Colonial University located somewhere on the eastern sea board. During college I was a member of the “1813 Society,” a very intelligent, very pretentious collection of eccentrics I desperately miss. I expect I will end up going to law school sometime in the near future, although where exactly that will be I have no clue. I was born and raised in Professorsville FO (Fly Over) where I was the eldest of four. I joined up with AmeriCorps this past summer and I work for a rebuilding non profit called Hope for New Orleans (HNO). At HNO I work in the office where I do a great deal of writing. My term is 10 months; however it is very likely I will renew at the end for an additional 10. I make $1,100 per month before taxes.

So what are you, the reader, meant to take away from all of this? For one I have had an incredibly sheltered and privileged life up until this point and my work with HNO is in many ways the first real job I’ve ever had. AmeriCorps, were I to be perfectly honest with myself, is my first actual foray into the real world, and as cities go, Nola is pretty far removed both culturally and climatically from what I grew up with. It would also be safe to say that this year has marked a stark transition for my social life. Taken together, I hope my relative inexperience, youth, and perhaps even anxieties will help to create a more complex picture for the reader of what life is like for volunteers here in Nola.

Let’s just hope someone finds it interesting.