AnneEndres

Anne Endres
8 March 2009
PSY 350
ASB: Day Two Reflection
Dear Journal--
Today was a much more relaxed day work-wise and it was pretty nice. First of all, I got a lot more sleep, which is always a plus. It was wonderful receiving over eight hours of sleep, especially after only sleeping a few hours Friday night. Also, instead of working all day (like we did on Saturday), we spent our day more leisurely, officially beginning at 12:30PM when we had our group meeting and then traveled to Nashville’s Frist Museum for the Visual Arts. There, we dined and viewed exhibits. After dining in the café, we had about two hours to explore the museum. One of the current exhibits features Safe Haven Family Shelter in Nashville. This exhibit brought a more positive light to homelessness and I enjoyed that aspect. Safe Haven is the only homeless shelter in the greater Nashville area that provides job training AND interim housing. Just like Nashville’s Campus for Human Development, Safe Haven offers classes in composition and art; however, Safe Haven’s artsy classes focus more on photography and visual storytelling. The homeless people at Safe Haven took the pictures featured throughout the exhibit and attached short poems that painted pictures of their thoughts and feelings.
Although today was great in regards to relaxing after yesterday’s extremely full day, it was sad to still see homeless people on the streets of downtown Nashville tonight. At times I was tempted to give them a dollar or two, but at the same time I realized that they probably would not have put my donation to good use. Instead of using it for food or another necessity, they may have used it toward feeding their addictions, whether they be drug- or alcohol- related. It’s unfortunate, yes, but at the same time it’s heartbreaking to know that you can’t really help them despite your intentions.
On a lighter note, I’d definitely say the best part of my day was visiting with my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Linda. They live in Nashville and took Brian, my boyfriend, and I out to eat. We went to this taco restaurant across the street from Vanderbilt University and it was much tastier than our meals at the Nashville Rescue Mission (no offense!). After we finished our delicious tacos and cheese dip, my relatives took us around the streets of downtown Nashville and we got beignets at Wild Bill’s. Boy, were those pastries tasty! Aside from the tasty treats, it was really nice getting to visit with my relatives. Plus, I think they like Brian! Wahoo 