Housemate Profiles

Accurate representation of Dan's non-marketable skill

Name: Anna (on the far right)
Placement Organization: Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
Job Title: Legal Assistant
From: St. Cloud, Minnesota
Number of Piercings: 6
Number of Siblings: 7
Favorite Kind of Cheese: Brie
If she were a kitchen utensil she would be: a wooden spoon
Non-Marketable Skills: Rocking out in the kitchen to any music that comes out of Jamie's iTunes
Favorites: Scarves, Red Wine, Coffee, Toast, Beer, Fresh Air, Spinach
Role in WITH OR WITHOUT DAN:  Vocals, Guitar, Keys?, sex appeal, alpha uterus

Name: Jamie (second from right), J. Ho., JaHofmeistah,  The Hoff
Placement Organization: St Paul Reformation Lutheran Church
Job Title: ("I don't know!" "Whatever you want!") Intra-Congregational Organizer for Wingspan Ministry and Isaiah Core Team
From: Kentucky
Number of shoes she owns: "I don't know! I'm not gonna count!" *starts singing* "Don't waste my time countin' shooooes, I got better things to do and so do you!"
Favorite Kind of Dinosaur: Long-neck or pterodactyl, or impersonating a velociraptor
If she were a building, she would be: a school
Non-Marketable Skills: Rubber arms, velociraptor impersonations
Loves: capes, chocolate milk, and singalongs
Role in WITH OR WITHOUT DAN: Ukulele, vocals, guitar, cape provider, resident composer

Name: Emily, or E. Ham, or Bear, or Emmuska (on the far left)
Placement Organization: Lutherans Concerned/North America
Job Title: Special Projects Coordinator ("that's how they introduce me in emails to people who don't know me, but my name tag says intern.")
From: Rochester, NY
Top Five Books: ("favorites, not best!") Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley, StarGirl by Jerry Spinelli, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and (she's scurried off to discern which to put in the coveted last spot) Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett ("Yes, she does get two of my top five.")
If you were a vegetable what would you be?: Green Zebra Tomato, "because they are incredibly delicious and they are so good on toasted bread with butter and salt! They are perfect. You don't need to do anyting to them, not like carrots, not like celery. Celery is useless, except for stuffing and soup."
If you were a buffalo what would your favrite thing about yourself be: How many parts of speech I am. Buffalo- city, bison, bully (excitedly describes that it can be an adjective, a proper noun, a regular noun, and a verb!)
Non-marketable skills: Drinking too much tea, juggling, and breaking phones
Additional info: "I don't actually know how many shoes I own either, probably fewer than average... I thought I would be able to come up with a number off the top of my head but I can't."
Role in WITH OR WITHOUT DAN: Keyboard, vocals, resident chord figure outer, master transposer 

Name: Dan (second from left), the Man
Placement Organization: Southeast Asian Ministry
From:  St. Paul, MN / Hong Kong
Favorite chore: None of them! Sweeping, or floors
If he were a yogurt flavor, he would be: Key-Lime Pie
Top Five Reasons He Loves Rugby: "1. It's fun 2. It's a good work out. 3. Good team building. 4.It keeps you on your toes- you're constantly moving, it's always changing. 5. Best. Sport. Ever."
Non-Marketable Skills: Liking really fancy beer, spontaneity
Anything else he'd like to add?: "No. I like subtracting rather than adding."
Role in WITH OR WITHOUT DAN: Dan

Peace Be With You

Welcome to the first post of what will hopefully be an ongoing project for the Saint Paul members of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps! We got a little jealous that Winona House had their own blog, so we decided to make our own. Ta-da? Ta-da! We hope this can be a space for us to share updates with our family and friends on the thing we're doing during our year of service, and also a space to connect with past and future members of Beth Shalom.

A brief overview of what we're talking about:

The Lutheran Volunteer Corps was founded in the 1970s when Luther Place Memorial Church realized that other denominations had super fun volunteer corps and the Lutheran Church did not. Formed around the core values of social justice, simplicity and sustainability, and intentional community, LVC places volunteers in houses across the country to serve in a non-profit capacity in hopes of inspiring us to a lifetime of service. Over the years 1,800 people have come through LVC. LVC is committed to doing the work of anti-racism through its "Journey To An Inclusive Community" programming and welcome of LGBT people as a "Reconciling in Christ" organization.

Beth Shalom means "House of Peace" in Hebrew and was named by the first volunteers to live there in 1993. It is the only house in Saint Paul, Minnesota though there are another 3 across the river in Minneapolis. The house is located in the Summit-University neighborhood and has moved several times for various reasons. It used to be very firmly entrenched in the Old Rondo neighborhood (a rich cultural center of the African-American community in St. Paul unceremoniously split in two by the construction of I-94), but last year we moved a bit further south, probably out of the bounds of Rondo proper. We're located two short blocks from Saint Paul Reformation Lutheran Church, which serves as our host congregation and a source of community support for us.

That's us!

This year there are four volunteers living in Beth Shalom. From left to right we are: Emily, Dan, Jamie and Anna. You'll get more thorough introductions from us soon, but for now all you need to know is that we watch this video at least once each week and have started a band called "With Or Without Dan."