WHEN CLEANING IS NOT ENOUGH

It seems that in today’s fast-paced world, we must find time for work, play, family, friends, alone time and giving back.  This balancing act is tricky.  Routine sucks us in and as creatures of habit, we tend to favor some over others.  I dwell in the hygiene sector: both my apartment’s grooming  and personal hygiene help me achieve a zen-like wellbeing. I recognize this as a tad obsessive, but, I chalk it up to having grown up Cuban.  It is a well-known fact that extreme cleanliness is a trait that unites all Cubans : communists and non-communists.

In an attempt to round out and give back I decided to volunteer.  At first, I searched for local opportunities in Jersey City, the hipster haven where I reside.  Two interesting options turned up: the first involved teaching adults to read out of the main branch of the JC Public Library . The second involved helping out at the Historic Jersey City Harsimus Cemetery on Saturdays.  I called and/or emailed both.

The Jersey City Public Library may have good intentions, but, no follow through or lack of personnel as no one ever replied.

The Cemetery did follow up. A lovely lady expressed her excitement in an email and said to come down on any  Saturday I wanted.  The first Saturday I had available a monsoon rain washed away all my good intentions.

Then along came my longtime friend and colleague,  “Eva”. “Eva” helps everyone and everything and forgets to help herself along the way, but, that’s another story. 

“Eva” told me about Learning Ally.  Learning Ally was launched out of the New York Public Library’s basement back in the late 40’s and 50’s when GI’s were returning from WWII. Many of them, blinded from war injuries, could no longer read books, so an audiobook effort was started.  Learning Ally is staffed mainly by volunteers who read, direct, record, check the quality of the recordings and content for final submission to its headquarters in Princeton. Learning Ally is a national organization. The location we attended is centrally located on East 45th Street near Grand Central Station.

“Eva’s” interest in Learning Ally, aside from volunteering, stemmed from wanting to improve her diction.  I have a similar interest and so off we went for a learning tour.  On the tour, “Tom” showed us the studios, reception and lounge areas and explained how the volunteering was structured.  Active volunteers are required to volunteer 2 hours weekly. Prior to working on your own you train for a total of 6 sessions of 2 hours each.  The sessions are readily available during the week and on Saturdays.

 The Tuesday after the blizzard of 2015, suffering from extreme cabin fever,

I decided to hit the volunteering slopes, so I signed up for back to back sessions on a weekday: 3:30PM to 5:30PM and 5:30 to 7PM.

I arrived promptly @3:30 and “Tom”  led me to a booth to show me a short video on how their proprietary program for recording works.  Anyone with basic knowledge of a PC can use it.  Shortly after the video, “Tom”  had me “direct” one of the other volunteers who was reading a textbook on public speaking. So, while “Mike” waxed and waned about Socrates and other Greek orators etc., I did basic operations, such as record, mark the track for new pages and headings as well direct his reading. This was fun, so much so, that “Tom” came over and told me to keep it down.  Only the voice over booth is sound proof, so the director needs to be contained in his approach.  I guess I’m a method director or maybe just a loud Cuban. The 2 hours came and went super fast.

At 5:30PM there were no other volunteers, recording, so “Tom”  set me up doing quality control on already recorded material.  This is also elementary: you listen to a recording and make notes on where mistakes are made.  This part of the process was not as interesting, perhaps, it was the tone of the reader’s voice, which made the dense topic denser and harder to appreciate. I still persevered and combed through as much material as possible noting flubs, etc.

After giving back in such a fun way, I planned to go back last week, but bad weather and life’s obligations got in the way. 

Truancy aside, I liked volunteering.  It felt good “to do” without legal tender being exchanged. I just need to keep the proverbial momentum rolling…before…oh no…another load of laundry….