“I’ma kill that nigga if I eva see ‘im again,” one tattooed black man said and spat in the face of another. A third black man stepped in front of the affronting man and pushed him backwards. At their feet, a middle-aged white man lay asleep in his urine. Earlier today the shelter workers found the plastic vodka pint he had hidden in his coat. A month ago I had helped pick him up off the asphalt and set him in a wheelchair and with his nose still bleeding he had cried, “Why you helpin’ me? Why you tryin’ to make me do this?”

Two other volunteers sat down across the table from me, beside the bearded homeless man I had held a conversation with earlier.  They wore t-shirts that read “Boston College” and the chrome watch on one of their wrists reflected orange fluorescent light onto the man’s worn jacket.

A white man wearing women’s makeup sat alone in the corner of the room.  He whispered to himself as his hands disappeared into the front of his pants.

Further down the wall, an overweight black man stared ahead as he bit into a chunk of canned salmon held within his clenched fist.  I heard that he had a family once. His daughter developed a tumor on her leg and his wife worked overtime to save a few thousand dollars in a shoebox for her operation. He lost his job when the economy recessed and his best friend brought him a dimebag of cocaine as a consolation.  When it was gone he took the shoebox to a crackhouse and binged for a few nights. Afterwards, he came to the shelter and never went home.

A man peddling items walked through the center of the room holding a pair of white off-brand sneakers above his head.  Every few steps he stopped and called out, “Fresh shoes. Ten bucks.” He passed a man sitting on the floor that held his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth.

“I was a sniper in Vietnam,” the rocking man had told me last year.  “We would find the bodies of fellow soldiers, but there would only be pieces left. Blown up by mines or hacked up by the gooks. We’d take an arm, a leg, a torso and throw it all into a box and nail it shut to send back for a closed casket funeral.”

Two men in business suits – one white and one black – sat on a bench in the center of the room.  They hunched forward and stared down at their cap-toed shoes.

A group of elderly black men gathered around another table. “Finally got a brother in the White House,” one said.

“About time,” another answered.

“He gonna fix all this. Bring change.”

“And if he don’t, Jesus will.”

“Amen.”

The bearded homeless man turned to the other student volunteers and asked them what they were studying in college.

“I am a junior studying biology and in the pre-med program,” the first said.

“I am a sophomore and a finance major in the business school,” said the second.

“There’s good money in doctors and business,” the homeless man said. “Wish I would have gone to college.”

“Well I’m sure you still could,” one of the students added. I turned my head.

A group of men played dominoes nearby.  With each move, they slapped the tile violently down onto the tabletop.  This was the table where the tutoring program would soon begin – I had spent the last few weeks organizing it and was unsure of whether it would succeed. I had begun by surveying a few homeless men, asking if they had ideas for a program that they would regularly attend.  Several Hispanic men, having just returned from hanging drywall – the piecework they had found that day – had asked for a program to improve their English.  A young Indian man had wanted math tutoring to work towards his G.E.D. A man with a lazy eye had told me that he had an idea for a new invention but needed help drafting a letter to post around M.I.T. in search of a partner that could handle logistics.   An older black man who wore a Lacoste sweater, dress slacks, a bowler hat and kept his possessions in a rolling suitcase, had smirked at me, “It’s noble of you to try, but these dogs don’t want to learn anything.  It’s too hard for them. And if it doesn’t involve their next fix, they aren’t interested.” A man with a dull expression and callous hands had pulled me aside. “I can’t really read or write” he had whispered, “but I want to send my daughter a letter.  We haven’t spoken in years.”

I had combined these ideas into a general program that focused around tutoring but could meet a broad variety of needs by involving several student volunteers. I had created fliers, made announcements at the monthly meetings between staff and guests, passed the idea through the shelter’s administration, talked with fellow Boston College student volunteers, reserved a table space for 4 PM every Wednesday, and spent hours sorting through the materials of the prior learning program that Pine Street had cut a few years ago.

A nearby noise stopped me from thinking about what would define success for a learning program in a homeless shelter. An older Chinese man wearing a fully zipped ski jacket lay on the floor near where I was sitting.  His twisted beard was soaked in vomit and it stuck to his coat as he repeatedly kicked his legs up in the air and flailed his arms in a movement that resembled an overturned cockroach.

When he stopped flailing, a young black man in dark jeans and a hooded sweatshirt approached him.  He stood over the Chinese man and nudged him with his work boot. “Dis Chinaman’s out,” he said and reached into the old man’s pockets.

“What are you doing?” My voice sounded unfamiliar.

“Jus’ seein’ what he’s got.”

I looked at the other students who had stopped talking. “Put it back,” my voice cracked.

“Da world is tough.  It’ll eat ya.  Dis Chinaman shoulda been more careful.” He stood up and looked me in the eyes. “Besides, you won’t snitch.” He turned and walked steadily out the back door into the smoking park.

The other student volunteers stared at me.  The bearded homeless man shook his head. “It just ain’t right. The world ain’t right,” he said, but he did not get up.

…

I walked into the smoking park with the floor manager and several large staff members.  This was not where I wanted to be.  I pointed to the young man and the staff began to clear the other men from the fenced-in area back into the building.  The homeless men glared at me as they extinguished the Newport butts that they had bought for a quarter and had not been able to finish.

“Is this the man?” the floor manager asked me as I stood behind the workers.

“Yes.”

“What’s he got on me? He’s jus’ blamin’ me ‘cuz I’m black,” the young man said and tried to push past the workers.

“You took money and cigarettes from an unconscious man.  I asked you to put them back and you ignored me.” My voice was strange again.

The staff asked me to wait in the veranda until the police arrived.  The two officers walked out slowly, tall men with stomachs hanging over their belts.   They talked to the manager and sighed when they heard the scale of the robbery.  A truck was backing up in a nearby alleyway. The officers watched something in the distance.  I asked them if they would like to talk to the victim. They looked at each other and the officer of lower rank accompanied me into the building. When we were inside, he stopped to talk to one of the younger women that worked at the shelter.  I found the Chinese man awake, sitting with his back against a row of lockers.

“Sir, are you aware that you had money stolen from you?” I asked when the officer had walked over and stood beside me without speaking.

The Chinese man stared at me.  He did not understand English.  I motioned for him to take out his wallet and he finally understood. When he looked down into the empty wallet, he began to laugh heavily from his toothless mouth. The officer walked away.

I went and stood by the back door, unsure of what to do and feeling like I might breakdown.  The door opened and the police brought the young man through in handcuffs.  As he passed me, he looked at me and whispered, “I will find you later.”

…

The first few weeks, eight men showed up every night for the tutoring program.  My efforts were complimented and the workers were surprised with the turnout. The next few weeks, six men attended. The next week, four. Some of the administration comforted me with the idea that helping a single man achieve a small task was worth the effort of the entire program, but soon, no men walked over and sat down at the designated “learning” table.  The man who had asked me to help him write a letter to his daughter never came.

…

The three dollars and cigarettes were recovered from the young man’s pockets and he was barred from staying at Pine Street. I passed him a few months later, walking by myself on the street at night. “Sir, do you have any spare change?” he asked.

“No.” I slipped my hands in my jacket pockets and continued walking. He didn’t recognize me.

Witness is proud to announce the launch of its second issue. For two years now, the students of Witness have been working to establish an online and hard journal, to create a forum at Boston College for social justice issues. With this, our second issue, we continue to broaden the conversation on global responsibility, social justice, and citizenship.

The new issue contains everything from paintings to poetry, in-depth research to interviews and reflections on service.

You’ll find here pieces about violence and hope in Africa, the struggles of a broken educational system, single motherhood, and the failings of the drug rehabilitation system – and much more.

Join us to at our launch during ArtsFest, on Saturday, April 30^th at 3 p.m. in Devlin 101.

And pick up a copy of Witness around campus!

Inside this online issue: 

Encounter, Wednesdays 4 PM (Timothy Jenkel)
A moment of personal courage triggers a coming to terms with the complex dynamics of service.

Interview, Hockey Humanitarian: An Interview with Brooks Dyroff (Tommy Belton)
Boston College Hockey Player, Brooks Dyroff helped spearhead CEO4Teens,a community program focusing on global education. Tommy Belton sat down with Dyroff to discuss his recent success with the program.

Opinion, Blood Bananas Don’t Belong at Boston College (Andrew Sexton)
BC was quick to adopt Fair Trade coffee, but is dragging its heels at providing a Free Trade option for bananas.  The author urges the University to get on board this world-wide justice initiative.

Satire, BC Green Month: The Only Real Time To Recycle (Colleen Vecchione)
March: the thirty-one days when UGBC tells us it’s time to recycle and conserve. Take a look at the other ingenious events that took place during Green Month.

Art, TED: A Virtual Choir 2,000 Voices Strong
Eric Whitacre leads a global video project that unites over 2,000 people worldwide through music.

Service Trips, Boston College Summer Trips (Paulina Garcia)
Witness takes a look at the 2011 Arrupe International Summer Trips to Cuernavaca, Mexico, and Annotto Bay, Jamaica. By exploring cultural sites and interacting with the people, participating students hope to return with a greater awareness of the social justice issues that these two countries experience.

Tommy Belton, 2013

In 2007, Brooks Dyroff and friend Kenny Haisfield, both students from Boulder, Colorado, started CEO 4 Teens, a non-profit organization focused on global education. They raised enough money to sponsor an Integrated English and Computer Skills class of 10 students in Indonesia. The duo continued sponsoring classes, and by the time they graduated high-school, they had graduated two more classes of identical size.

Brooks Dyroff is now a sophomore on the Boston College hockey team. He has just returned from Minnesota, where he received the BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award, an award given  annually to a collegiate hockey player who serves the community. Dyroff won the award not only for his work abroad, but also for his cooperative work with the local St. Columbkille Elementary School in Brighton. Dyroff has organized a “Race to Educate,” a 5K race around Boston College on April 16^th at 10 a.m. Registration can take place on race day or at www.bcracetoeducate.com.  He and his teammates have also been selling hats and donating all profits to St. Columbkille. I sat down with Brooks and interviewed him on the recent success of CEO 4 Teens and its future.

What made you want to start CEO4teens?

Kenny and I started it because we had been doing a lot of stuff back home. We were  bagging lunches, working at homeless shelters, helping little kids how to skate, and doing other stuff around the community. The feeling of giving back was really heart-warming and we really wanted to see if there was a manageable project we could do to take it to the next level.

What has the recent support of your teammates and everyone at BC meant to you and to CEO 4 Teens?

Everyone has been amazing. I have amazing teammates who are ready and willing to help. The support network has stretched beyond the team, too which is great. People not on the team have been buying the hats and asking what they can do to help. It’s awesome. They have all been really supportive. Everyone’s been real willing to help out. It helps me realize that things are going the right way and that we’re moving in the right direction.

How did the recent work come about at the local St. Columbkille school?

St. Columbkille is an elementary school in Brighton. I’ve acted as sort of a liason between Columbkille’s and CEO4Teens. Columbkille was actually brought to my attention by one of the manager’s on the team, and we started working with the kids earlier this year. All my hockey teammates got paired up with a 5^th grader. We’ve developed good relationships with the kids and have acted as big brothers and big sisters. It’s a blast. We have fun with them. We tutor them and laugh with them. It’s just a good outlet from the usual friends and families sometimes.

What are the upcoming projects for CEO 4 Teens?

Right now, we’re anticipating the graduation of our 5^th class of ten students this summer, which is awesome. That brings the total up to 50, but we’re not stopping there. Kenny and I plan to keep this initiative going for a long time to come, and hopefully this is just the beginning of something great. As far as Columbkille, I think all of my teammates are going to stay close with the kids we met this year and continue going there next year.

When’s the last time you visited the school in Indonesia?

Kenny and I went in the summer of 2007 and Kenny went back in 2009. I’m trying to figure out a time to go in the next year or two, but it’s just hard with all the hockey lifting and school. As much as I’d love to go back, we’ve developed such a strong relationship with the coordinator at the school that we can keep in touch just as effectively without actually being there. That’s really comforting.

Our university takes considerable pride in its commitment to social justice. One of the school’s mottos reads “Men and women for others”. On the Boston College website, Father Leahy, the President of the University, writes “Boston College endeavors to educate a new generation of leaders for the new millennium—men and women who will be capable of shaping a new century with vision, justice, and charity—with a sense of calling, with concern for all of the human family.”[1] However, Boston College’s position on fair trade calls these elegant sentiments into question.

You may have recently seen members of Real Food BC (the club responsible for Addie’s and the farmers market) around campus petitioning for Boston College Dining to start supplying fair trade certified bananas. The world-wide Fair Trade movement is concerned “…for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized small producers…”.[2] Products like tea, chocolate, coffee and bananas are largely dominated by massive corporations with shoddy human rights records and unfair business policies. This is where Fair Trade steps in. Fair Trade cuts out the middle man and connects small-scale producers that adhere to fair trade guidelines (green, humane, sustainable) directly with the consumer. In turn, the producers are empowered to positively change their respective local communities.[3] [4]

With the chiding of Real Food BC, Boston College Dining has already started supplying fair trade certified tea, chocolate, and coffee (though non-fair trade coffee is still offered). This is certainly commendable; however, so far BC has refused to switch to fair trade bananas. One supplier of Boston College bananas is Chiquita, a company that makes Walmart look like Whole Foods. The corporation has a history of human rights abuses that spans decades. One of the more damning charges against Chiquita surfaced just a couple of years ago in 2007, when the corporation was fined 25 million dollars by the United States Justice department for funding a terrorist group.[5]

Boston College should reject any kind of association with Chiquita or other large banana producers like it. The other major corporation in the banana industry, Dole, is comparably ruthless.[6] Yet BC Real Food President Anabelle McLean says that the university has asked that BC Real Food prove Fair Trade certified bananas would be economically feasible before a swap is made. According to McLean, Boston College has asked that the Fair Trade bananas petition have “thousands” of names before any switch is made. The BC Real Food petition already has over 1,100 names, and that number will skyrocket when the petition goes online.

McLean estimates that the price of fair trade bananas would only be around 10 to 25 cents higher than the bananas BC currently offers. This is a small price to pay for social justice, and the long list of names on the Fair Trade bananas petition proves that the Boston College student body is in favor of change. No matter what happens, the manner in which Boston College has dealt with this issue is disturbing. BC should have taken the lead. Instead it put cost-benefit analysis before justice. Boston College Dining’s continued lack of action is cynical, disappointing, and not consistent with the values of this university.

Last month UGBC ran its exclusive once-a-year only environmental movement called Green-Month. Green Month festivities were available throughout campus and students were invited to participate in a host of truly thrilling activities. Online, UGBC offered students the chance to fill out a Green Pledge and become Environmental VIPs for the entire month. The pledge made participating students eligible for such exclusive, limited-time activities as recycling, conserving water with shorter showers, and turning off unused lights.

However, the Green party didn’t end with these lucky students. This year, Green Month went Hollywood as UGBC negotiated a high profile deal with BC Cable to bring environmental films such as “The Cove,” “Too Hot Not To Handle,” and “There Will Be Blood” to the BC Channels for private dorm room premieres. The BC Libraries also got in on the action with a screening of the film “Greening of Southie,” which, contrary to popular belief, was not the next sequel to Boondock Saints, but a powerful film about the difficulties of building a new style of environmentally conscious building in Southie. The library also featured other Green Month events, such as a discussion of new Green library resources and workshops on recycling midterms into useful household items such as hats and paper cranes.

Not to be outdone by the libraries, the dining halls also offered their own Green events, which were featured on a rotating basis at McElroy, Lower, and Stuart. These initiatives encouraged students to save money while helping to conserve resources. Festivities included  “BYO Container Wednesdays” and “Use Your Sleeve as a Napkin Thursdays.”

For those of you who missed Green Month, you missed out one of the most exciting events that BC has to offer. Comparable to Modstock and Notre Dame Weekend, it’s just too bad that the chance to be Green only comes once a year. But don’t worry, if you missed your chance to recycle, reuse, and conserve, just remember that Green Month will be back at BC next March. Until then, you can practice your recyclables sorting technique, beef up your light switch-flipping muscles, and keep dusting off your reusable water bottle.

Arrupe International Summer Trips
Location: Cuernavaca, Mexico

Twelve students will be traveling to Mexico this summer with the goal of cultural learning. In this educational immersion trip, students will spend time in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, exploring the everyday life of the Mexican people and experiencing the issues that plague the region. The students hope to leave Mexico with a greater understanding of what is going on in the country: politically, socially, etc. Students will be exposed to and aware of social justice problems thought the world.

The Arrupe summer immersion trip lasts two weeks. Students will be doing a range of different activities all week during their stay at Cuernavaca’s CCIDD center. This includes listening to speakers’ perspectives on issues like politics and drug trade, their own lives, social justice problems, and more. Some time is also spent exploring the Cuernavaca’s market, nearby Aztec ruins, and squatter settlements. Furthermore, students will be interacting directly with people from Cuernavaca, listening to their stories, and getting to know them, their culture, and their lives.

Jamaica Summer Immersion Trip (Intersections)
Location: Annotto Bay, Jamaica

The Intersections program will take a small group of students to the town of Annotto Bay, Jamaica, with the goal to learn about the rural town and the lives of the people who live there. The undergraduate students will also reside and teach in Annotto Bay’s summer camp for children.

The trip will expose students to both the hardships of living in rural Jamaica and the larger social justice issues that the people they will meet actually experience. Students will learn a great deal about community living and lack of education in places like Annotto Bay. Discussion and reflection is key throughout the trip to allow students to reflect on what they have learned, and what they can do about it.

Witness looks forward to hearing the experiences and stories from participants who are going on these immersion trips this summer! Best of luck to all!

Please feel free to contact Witness with ideas, suggestions, and feedback: bc.witnessjournal@gmail.com

Kathleen Hirsch

We are currently calling for submissions to the online journal of Witness. If you are working on a piece that you would like to submit, please submit it to bc.witnessjournal@gmail.com

Inside this issue:

News, The Social Justice Network (Paulina Garcia and Colleen Vecchione)
Boston College is known for having plenty of social justice groups around campus.  Now they are coming together for the first time. The newest initiative on social justice on campus is the Global Justice Coalition.

Feature, Reconciling Religion and Homosexuality (Suzannah Lutz)
At an event sponsored by Allies, Mary Lou Wallner shared the story about her daughter coming out in a strict religious environment. Through this tragedy she hopes to encourage more reconciliation between religion and homosexuality.

Forum, Acceptance at BC
In what ways is BC not as welcoming as it could be towards GLBTQ members of the community?

Profile, Advocating For Justice: An Interview with Stephen Pope (Cara Condon)
Professor Stephen Pope is one of the most well-known professors at BC, particularly for his social activism. Cara Condon of Witness recently sat down with him to ask him about his work and passion.

Art, Art Sustains
(Andrea Chudzik, Gregory Keches, Kristen Kehlenbeck, and Juan Rodriguez)
In the fall of 2010, a group of Boston College students set upon the task of creating an image that could inspire social change. This film, entitled “Art Sustains”, is what they came up with.

Reading List, Spring Break Reading List (Witness staff)
Spring break is the perfect time to relax on the beach with a great book about social justice.

Most of us are aware that there are plenty of social justice groups around campus. So, what’s the big news? They are coming together for the first time. The newest initiative on social justice on campus is the Global Justice Coalition. This new collective effort involves many different groups such as Real Food, React, and Partners In Health, along with Witness.

On Friday the 18th of February, representatives from various groups got together in efforts to talk about having a new collective initiative dealing with social justice on campus. In hopes of creating a network within the social justice groups, each representative spoke about their own groups’ work. Furthermore, they offered suggestions of how to keep all of their groups in contact, creating a social justice community. Ideas included a cross-reference listserv, a council of e-board members from each group, and a social justice e-mail account. This community is open to welcoming any student or group that would like to also be involved in dealing with, addressing, and witnessing social justice issues around campus, in the city of Boston, and even throughout the world.

The Global Justice Coalition’s initiative kicked off with the Global Justice Fair that took place on February 14 where Witness was spotted. In the fair, more than a dozen student groups showcased their efforts involving social justice. Witness welcomed students to get to know more about the magazine and the online magazine. Talks about articles sparked great conversations about what students are involved in around campus and the city of Boston. Witness had a great amount of different students show interest in being involved with the magazine and social justice opportunities.

Witness is excited to see that the Global Justice Coalition provides a form for students to unite and share their passions for issues around the world that are important to them.

“People asked me if Anna hadn’t died, would I be in the same place, and I said, ‘No.’ It took her death to open my eyes.” Mary Lou Wallner shared her story last Thursday at an event sponsored by Allies, “Mary Lou Wallner: “Reconciling Religion and Homosexuality.” This was the first time she was invited to a Catholic university. Brought up in a fundamentalist household, Wallner was taught that homosexuality was a sin. When her daughter, Anna, finally came out to her, it was extremely hard for Wallner to accept Anna’s homosexuality. Their stormy relationship continued until Anna’s suicide in February of 1997.

At the talk, Wallner shared the story of her transformation from believing homosexuality is a sin to accepting and supporting the LGBT. “We really don’t learn unless we want to,” Wallner said, “I wish I had not been so closeted.” When Wallner finally took into consideration that homosexuality is not a choice, but something inherent and created by God, her understanding of homosexuality began to change, as well as her understanding of the Bible.

“I began to understand the Bible must be considered as a whole, taking into consideration the context of today.” She then referenced several lines in Leviticus: “We are not to eat pork or touch the skin of a pig—that puts the Superbowl in question.” Wallner argued if people were to take that literally, they need to take the rest of the Bible literally. With this understanding, she realized she could be more open-minded. “I too had committed a hate crime against Anna… not loving her unconditionally because she was my daughter.” Wallner believes that Christians should love people just as God made them. “We do not believe it [homosexuality] is a choice, and if it is not a choice, it’s not a sin.”

Before Wallner finished, she read this poem to the audience:

Does It Matter?

An anonymous high school student

My father asked if I am gay

I asked “Does it matter?”

He said “No, not really”

I said “Yes.”

He said “get out of my life!”

I guess it mattered.

My boss asked if I am gay

I asked “Does it matter?”

He said “No, not really”

I told him “Yes.”

He said “you’re fired faggot!”

I guess it mattered.

My friend asked if I am gay

I said “Does it matter?”

He said “No, not really.”

I told him “Yes.”

He said “You’re no longer my friend!”

I guess it mattered.

My lover asked “Do you love me?”

I asked “Does it matter?”

He said “Yes.”

I told him “I love you!”

He said “Let me hold you in my arms.”

For the first time in my life something matters.

My God asked me “Do you love yourself?”

I said “Does it matter?”

He said “YES!”

I asked “How can I love myself? I am gay.”

He said “That is the way I made you!”

Nothing will ever matter again!

For more information about Mary Lou Wallner, visit http://www.teach-ministries.org

For more information about Allies, visit http://www.bc.edu/allies or contact allies@bc.edu

For more LGBT resources at Boston College, visit http://www.bcglbt.org