Personal Finances

Having read over my last few entries, I'm beginning to feel like an angsty teenager. Not in the "my life stinks" kind of way, but more in the "I'm still figuring out what to do with myself" frame of mind. The most recent development in this "what do I do" phase is figuring out my budget for my summer campaign internship. Each Cole Scholar was required to write up a budget with an educated guess as to what our monthly apartment rent would be, what our food per diem would be as well as daily travel expenses. I have never felt more grown up than when I scoured the internet looking for furnished, short-term lease apartments for rent. Well, that is until Tracy Tucker in the Politics Department handed me my Cole Scholar business cards. I'm old. Dude.
One of the best things about the Cole Scholar program is that they finance your living expenses while you're on the campaign trail. In order to ensure that they are paying only for our work expenses, it's crucial that we track our expenses over the two months of our internship. It's both an exercise in discipline and living in the Real World. So while I feel old, I also feel a little more experienced and little better prepared for non-Oberlin life.

Chicken or the egg, does it really matter?

As the end of the semester rolls around, I can't help but think what a strange experience the transition from spring semester to summer is. Unlike the summer vacations of my youth, I am now expected to work all summer, to pump up that resume, to attain "real-life" experience. Oy vey. I'm not really sure what a real break looks like, since we're always supposed to be looking out for our future by taking extra courses, finding jobs to finance our education and getting internships in fields of work we're interested in. On top of that, a good college student should always be keeping their eyes open for a good networking opportunity.
Community service often becomes another tactic in the effort to improve one's resume. At my fancy schmancy college prep high school, we were required to complete ten hours of community service per year since it would look great on our college resumes. While I admit that I began volunteering for an urban improvement organization in the summers to fulfill this requirement, I ended up completing much more than ten hours of service per year. It was just so much fun! The ulterior motives involved in students committing themselves to community service work beg the question: does intent matter? As long as good work is getting done, as long as parks are clean, kids are read to and families fed, does it matter why those volunteers are there to improve the lives of others?
This is not to say that all who volunteer are only interested in their resume. There are many students who simply love to immerse themselves in the surrounding community and to help that community any way they can. Furthermore, who is to blame when community service is used to make a person look good; is it the system or the students?

How to Help?

I mentioned in my last blog entry that what attracts me most to politics is the ability to connect with members of a community while having the power to change their lives for the better. Working in the Bonner Center for Service and Learning, I have seen the great work that volunteers do here in the greater Oberlin community. America Reads tutors teach children how to read, Bonner Scholars organize events such as the Day of Service to motivate the entire campus into community service, and students work with Lorain County residents for free tax filing and to find affordable, equitable housing. Of course, those are just a few of the things that Obies do that the Bonner Center has either initiated or facilitated. These projects change the lives of those in the community they reach for the better without the pomp and circumstance of a political office in control of the operation. This contrast prompts me to pose a question that I have yet to find the answer to: What are the benefits of working in the community through a political framework rather than through a non-profit organization or other local resources for financial, educational and health assistance? Why, besides ego, would you choose one over the other?