Member Spotlight: Mentoring and being mentored

Jessica Arends uses the Silver Spring Timebank to improve her carpentry skills even as she offers those same skills to others.  

 

There are times when we want to call in an expert and have her just do whatever needs to be done: shorten the trousers, unfreeze the computer, install the new wiring. And then there are people such as Jessica Arends, a former high school English teacher who joined the Silver Spring Timebank when she moved back to the D.C. area last year.

For Jessica, the Timebank is not just a way to get something accomplished—it’s a way to learn how to accomplish that task herself. “I don’t really use it as it’s sort of meant to be used-- I push on the boundaries a little bit,” she said. “I use it as a learning tool.”

The result is that Jessica, who holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Penn State and serves as faculty engagement associate for the Center for Civic Engagement at Binghamton University, is becoming, as she puts it, more “blue collar.” “I use [the term] interchangeably with, ‘using your hands,’ because ‘blue collar’ can also be a class statement or a political statement, and I don’t mean it that way,” she said.

In particular, Jessica is using the Timebank to improve her carpentry skills even as she offers those same skills to others. “I have been able to network with other carpenters through the Timebank,” she said. “They show me what they’re doing and let me tag along.” Jessica concedes that tagging along might sound unorthodox.  “It’s not a strict exchange, if you will,” she said. “It’s a softer form, of apprenticing.” 

But that kind of exchange is just fine with Timebank member Willis “Win” Allred, who helped Jessica build a bed by creating a mock-up of a joint she could replicate at each corner and suggesting a different approach to supporting the headboard. “To me, that seems like a perfectly reasonable way to use it,” he said of the Timebank. After all, he said, showing someone how to do something is a service all by itself. “To me, that’s a sharing, and that’s the way I understand what we’re doing,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just knowledge, and sometimes, it’s the actual labor.”

Being really patient

Aviva Krauthammer met Jessica at a Timebank Skills Share event where Jessica was showing some of the tools she uses as a carpenter. “People had just finished doing a lot of renovations for my house, and [so] I had seen these power tools for the past 10 months, but I had never touched one,” Aviva said.

Jessica showed her how to use a circular saw, prompting Aviva to ask for her help in designing a table for her kitchen. “I was so impressed with Jessica because this isn’t necessarily her background or her field, but she had picked it up in the past few years and was such an amazing teacher,” Aviva said. “I felt more comfortable with her showing me the ropes because I felt like she was maybe in my position at one point, and she really was sensitive to, like, me having no idea what I was doing and being really, really patient.”

Feeling tired and satisfied

Jessica said the shift in her identity was inspired by workshops at Spring Creek Homesteading in State College, Pa., where Penn State is located. “It was very different from D.C., a very sharp contrast, and [it had] people who lived very close to the land, who lived a slower pace of life and [who], in some cases, in my opinion, had a quite high quality of life because of those things, and people who worked with their hands.”

Then in 2015, she took a class at the Hammerstone School in Ithaca, N.Y., which teaches carpentry to women. “After taking that class, it was like a fire was lit in me,” she said—not just to work with her hands, but to question the assumptions that had guided her life to that point. “It was completely different from the sort of implicit messages I got growing up, [such as finding work] that would not require the use of your hands or manual labor,” she said. “It was a very big change for me to say, ‘I want to get back to my hands.’” 

Then again, she had never forgotten the hours she spent with her maternal grandfather, Eugene, as he did various carpentry projects. “He was always working on our houses, wherever we lived,” she said. “I was on hand to paint something or hand him the tools, and I was always really intrigued by what he was able to do—take pieces of something and build something that was sturdy and sound and useful. I was very much in awe of that ability, it was almost like a magical ability.”

In particular, she remembers when he built a porch on the back of the Arends’ family home, complete with screen door. “It was one of the coolest things,” she said. And so today, she is following in her grandfather’s footsteps, practicing a craft that lets her get out of her head. “My graduate training is to observe and to know something like, through the senses, and to analyze and to critique, and that can separate you from the moment,” she said “You’re no longer in the moment because you’re analyzing the moment.”

And so carpentry isn’t just carpentry, said Jessica, who became a Quaker in her 20s and attended Friends Meeting on Florida Ave. NW.  “It’s the peacefulness of being outside and using a circular saw and that sort of meditative state when you’re following the line and using a saw to cut a piece of wood …, even on a day like today,” she said on the day the D.C. area got its first real snowfall of the season, “[It’s about] having that satisfaction at the end of the day that I, like, hauled huge piles of lumber …, and it was 28 degrees, and—boom, I feel incredibly tired and satisfied.”

Jessica will be giving a sauerkraut-making demo on Sunday, April 9, at the Timebank’s Kitchen Swap at Eastern Village Cohousing. She also coordinates an Alternative Economies Book Club that includes several Time Bank members. It meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at Kaldi’s Social House in Silver Spring.

Aviva Krauthammer learns to use a circular saw from Jessica at the Silver Spring Timebank Skills Share in January 2017. 

Aviva Krauthammer learns to use a circular saw from Jessica at the Silver Spring Timebank Skills Share in January 2017. 

Thanks to SSTB member Mark Sherman for writing this story.

Exchange Story: How our Front Door is like a Cathedral

Long down the list of “house to-do’s” was the repair of two small cracks in the stained glass on our front door.  Over the years we’d been in the house, I’d not been able to find someone to fix it.  But now we’re in the Silver Spring Timebank.  I searched the hOurWorld timebank site for “stained glass” and found a matching Member Bio!  It was Bob L. whom we’d first met when he gave us a ride to BWI. I was tickled to find that among Bob’s many talents was stained glass repair! 

Bob explained that one would normally prepare for the repair by deconstructing the wood mounts to remove the stained glass.  But he suggested we do what churches do when a small crack cannot justify the huge expense of taking out and repairing the whole window.  They glue lead on both sides of the crack, which strengthens it and prevents further damage – and also adds to the design.  The key is to match the existing lead of the panel. 

Naturally, Bob has a friend in the business, and in a couple of weeks, Bob came back with matching lead from his source.  He cut the pieces, carefully matching the angle of the cuts.  He applied adhesive, gently bent the lead to follow the lines of the cracks, and taped the pieces in place until the glue was dry.  What before was a crack that might well have gotten worse now looks like another branch of the tree pattern in our stained glass. 

I’m glad to have this item off of our to-do list, and I’m especially pleased to have discovered another rich talent in our timebank!

Jonathan B., 3/24/17

Exchange Story: A Master Baker Enlivens our Holidays

Mary LiepoldSerbian Gibanica (2017)cheese pie in earthenware pot12” diameter x 8”

Mary Liepold
Serbian Gibanica (2017)
cheese pie in earthenware pot
12” diameter x 8”

A while back, Mary L. had prepared a nice dinner casserole for us, and she agreed to do more baking for us for the holidays.  So, for Thanksgiving, alongside other pies for her own family, she baked a wonderful apple pie for our big family dinner. 

But she surpassed herself with another baked item for a New Year’s Day party at my neighbor’s house.  Mary gave me an earthenware pot containing a still-to-be-baked Serbian Cheese Pie called Gibanica along with the recipe sheet and baking instructions.  We baked it just before the party but still had to turn it out onto a serving plate.  A fly on the wall would’ve enjoyed the hilarity of that panicked moment.  We expected it would be a mess, but the Gibanica came out of the pot clean! 

Mary’s Gibanica was the hit of the party.  Everyone raved about it.  We had put a “Serbian Cheese Pie” label next to it on the table, and only in hindsight did I think we should have given it a gallery-style label to look more like the art piece that it was: 

Jonathan B., 3/24/17

Jewelry repair revives a treasured gift

Christy repaired a necklace for me. Actually, she created a new one! I had received the necklace many years ago from a close friend. When it broke, I collected the beads and put them away in a small box.  I recently found the box and gave it to Christy.  She ended up designing a whole new necklace that I love. I told my friend that her kind gift was reborn!"  --Marjie  3/15/17

jewelry repair1.jpg

Member Spotlight: No ordinary lunch

Drew Joseph helps Timebank members think creatively about food to prepare appealing bag lunches for kids.  He also brings to the work his sensibilities as a therapist.  

“I have always loved to cook,” says Silver Spring Timebank member Drew Joseph.  “Shopping, cooking, serving, eating – it’s a nice counter-balance to my paid work.”  Drew does Marriage and Family Therapy – work that is important to him, but he notes that “that work is never ‘done.’  With cooking, there’s a moment of completion that gives me a feeling of accomplishment I don’t always get in my other work.”

As a father, Drew has ten years' experience preparing school lunches five days a week.   He plays with new dishes and transforms leftovers, with a focus on variety and a pleasing presentation.  “Putting in this effort is a way to make my family members feel cared for and to remind them that I’m thinking of them. “

Most of Drew’s cooking is vegetarian, but the same principles apply to all kinds of meals.   “Garnishes are my hobby,” he says.  Leftovers can look unappealing after a day or two in the fridge, but adding “a dollop of sour cream and julienned red peppers – even just those two things cheer it up.”  Drew likes to make sure he always has scallions, cherry tomatoes, and parsley on hand.  “And toasted sunflower seeds can go on top of just about anything.  It only takes moments to make the whole thing feel more special.”

Now he is expanding beyond his own kitchen to provide a lunch consultation service through the Timebank.  He first presented this idea at the Timebank’s “Skills Share” in January, handing out a short summary of his offer:

“Prepare school lunches your kids will love!  You can receive a 90-minute, in-home consultation on how to prepare delicious, healthy bag lunches for your children to take to school. I will help you review your family's dietary needs and preferences; consider how to make time for regular meal preparation; explore how to make fresh vegetables and fruits appealing; identify useful equipment you can use; and more. To conclude our meeting, I'll help you set some short-term action goals for yourself. We'll plan ways to keep yourself creative and inspired over time.”

“I have a lot of tricks of the trade,” Drew says.   He would like to spend time with Timebank members “playing with food and having fun,” while brainstorming and trouble-shooting with them.  He wants to show them how to get the results they want for their families’ dietary needs and preferences and how to feel empowered to approach food creatively.  He also has many shortcuts to share that save time in preparation.  Drew’s offer targets families with children, but really, he says, this is for adults, too.

Timebank member Tina Slater and her adult daughter Jessie were excited by the recipes and other ideas from a session they had with Drew.   He offered them many combinations for roasted foods that could go on a pita bread “pizza” of sorts.  “Roasted pumpkin and maple syrup?” Tina asks. “I never would have thought of that!”  She was inspired by all the possibilities he offered for dressing up leftovers.   Yesterday’s apple pie topped with yogurt and raisins would be great in a bagged lunch. Cold pasta or mac and cheese become new and interesting when topped with peas, pumpkin seeds, baked tofu cubes, chopped veggie burger, or avocado.   So it’s helpful to keep these ingredients on hand, ready to go.  

“By the end of the meeting,” Tina says, “we were riffing off each other,” coming up with even more combinations.  He even told her how to use a bento box in a bagged lunch to carry salad ingredients separately, keeping them from becoming soggy.  Combining them just before eating makes for a more appetizing presentation.  “Everything he talked about was healthy, too.”   

Tina says she has been inspired to create a greater variety of creative meals since the session with Drew.  For lunch, she has fixed Salad Niçoise and leftover quesadilla wedges, served cold with garnishes.  She has made more stir fries for dinner and a frittata for breakfast (onion, kale, and grated sweet potato).   

 Jessie was also inspired and prepared the acorn squash and red cabbage that had been languishing in the vegetable drawer.  (She filled the squash with a sort of cabbage/curry Waldorf salad.)  She has also been roasting more vegetables – a good alternative to the typical lunch side of celery and carrots.  Jessie makes a large batch to keep in the fridge and use with multiple meals.  

Drew had a different kind of meeting with Timebank members Oswaldo Montoya and Rosa Campos, and their 13- and 15-year-old children.  Oswaldo had told Drew that he and Rosa had concerns about their children’s diet.  Drew had them answer some questions before the meeting.  “When we met,” Oswaldo says, “he already had a good notion of our family’s needs.”   

They gathered in Oswaldo’s and Rosa’s kitchen.  First, Drew popped some prepped cauliflower into the oven to roast.  Then they began to discuss family meals.  The children talked about their food preferences, and the parents said they’d like to know what might motivate the children to eat more fruits and vegetables.  Everyone got to speak, and “it felt good for all to be heard,” Oswaldo says.  “Drew was like a mediator, honoring everyone’s perspective and helping to come up with solutions.”

They discussed options for expanding the family’s food repertoire.  All vegetables can be roasted, and one can get a ready-made whole wheat dough and top it with a variety of vegetables.  “Both kids enjoyed the cauliflower when it was done,” Oswaldo says, “and my daughter asked for more.  Now this vegetable is in their diet.  It will not be a struggle.”

The kids agreed to take on some of the responsibility for meal preparation, and it turns out that they are enjoying that.  They are now more invested in trying new things, including fruits and vegetables, and they are also more motivated to eat the food that they help to make.  

Oswaldo appreciates the support he felt from Drew and hopes to have another session in a month or so.  He wants Drew to “hold us all accountable” (children and parents alike).  They will discuss which of the discussed changes have been made, which haven’t (and why), and what they want their next steps to be.  “There’s no overnight solution,” Oswaldo says, “but we feel that now there is a new way forward.”  

If you would like to do an exchange with Drew Joseph, you may contact him through the Silver Spring Timebank:  https://www.hourworld.org/bank/OneM.php?m=1354.

Thanks to SSTB member Laura Kranis for writing this story.

 

Skills Share: January 2017

WE ASKED ATTENDEES, "WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY?"

  • I liked the talk on learning how to calm myself. I’m trying to become a cooking school instructor, and I need to be calm to present in front of students. – Mya
  • I got to hang out with the lady who helps with Spanish pronunciation, and I learned so much. – Kathy
  • I got a good tip from the talk on non-profit funding: First thing, always find out from the corporation who’s in charge of development. –A.
  • I’m glad this event is happening. I’m not in the timebank yet. But I will retire soon and may have time to help. – Jim
  • Jay helped me get online. And he taught me that sometimes I have to turn everything off and on again. –Anne
  • One woman showed you how to de-stress by crossing your legs and changing the energy. This will help me deal with anxiety. – Joanie
  • I just joined the timebank because I’m hoping they have a babysitting co-op. I liked talking to the guy about school lunches for kids, and we talked about doing different things for adults, too. – Eva
  • The yoga, that was terrific. She had a volunteer lying on the floor to help with her back. It’s all about relaxation. I definitely want to get in touch with her. – Ann
  • I found the presentations on sewing and mending and how to fix appliances very useful. I liked the power tools, too, because I’m interested in practical things. – MeiMei
  • The self-defense area was unexpected. I knew about classes in it, but they never worked with my schedule. But I can arrange lessons one-on-one this way, with the timebank. – Elaine
  • I liked the social media person and how giving she was ofher expertise. – Joy
  • I liked the parrot! – Joshua (age 10)
  • David’s talk on resumés was very interesting. He told us what to highlight and where to put things on the page. And he said the key is that you write a resumé not to show everything you’ve done but to get an interview. I never thought of it that way. –Marjie  

Learn a New Skill for the New Year!

The Silver Spring Time Bank (SSTB) is hosting a Skills Share Swap on Sunday, January 8, 2017 from 2-5pm at the Silver Spring Civic Center. Best of all – it is FREE to attend! This is entirely volunteer-run and is open to the general public. You can pop in for one or two talks and visit a few ask-the-expert tables or stay for the entire event to absorb it all.

Continuing to build on the success of our swapping event series (Clothing Swap, Book Swap, Tool Swap, etc,), this SSTB event is a showcase to the entire community of the talents and skills that Time Bank members have to offer. We hope you will be inspired to join the SSTB, but no pressure! We just want you to enjoy yourself and learn something new for the New Year!!!

Here is a tentative list of the Skill Share talks and expert tables. (As with all live events, final details may change. Check our web site, Facebook page, Twitter page, or event signage for any last-minute adjustments.) We bet after reading the list below that you will find at least one topic of interest.

TALK SCHEDULE

2:00pm room opening

2:15-2:30pm Pam Holland “Decluttering & Organizing”

2:35-2:50pm Michele Gordon “Use Svaroopa Yoga to Relieve Back Pain the Easy Way”

2:55-3:10pm David Coleman “Resume Writing Tips”

3:15-3:30pm Denny Shaw “How to Find Funding For Your Non-profit”

3:35-3:50pm Mary Duke Smith “Self-defense Skills: Recognizing Early Warning Signs.”

3:55-4:10pm Kathy Carroll “"From Scattered to Calm:  A Simple Technique”

4:15-4:30pm Patrick Murphy “Residential Energy Efficiency Tips”

4:35-4:50pm Miriam Mohamed “How to Cut and Sew Reversible Tote Bags”

5:00pm room closes

“Ask the Expert” TABLING ROOM – open from 2-5pm

-       Teaching a Child to Read/Supporting a Child Learning to Read ~ Linda Warschoff

-       How to Pack School Lunches Your Kids Will Love ~ Drew Joseph

-       How do Hypnosis and Meditation Work ~ Desiree Holmes Scherini

-       Fitness and Wellness - Figuring out what works for you ~ Mary Duke Smith

-       Cooking with Kids and Families ~ Nancy Marucci

-       Sewing and Mending Basics ~ Mary Campbell

-       Knitting and Crocheting ~ Jodi Bierlair

-       Social Media 101: social media marketing on any platform ~ Jennifer Okosun

-       Swing Dancing ~ Charlotte Schoeneman

-       Using Power Tools: The Basics for Beginners. ~ Jessica Arends

-       Thinking of Getting a Parrot? The Mechanics and Ethics of Keeping a Parrot ~ Bob Kirk

-       How to dissemble, troubleshoot, & repair Home Electronics ~ Jay KapLon

-       Perfect Your Pronunciation of Spanish ~ Emma Muñoz

-       How to change your habits and improve your life through Hypnotherapy ~ Tim Hawk

-       Krav Maga, a self-defense system. ~ Sandra Elvin and Divya MatheFor more details about the SSTB, see:

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/SSTimebank

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/SSTimebank/

WEB SITE: http://www.sstimebank.org/

The Silver Spring Civic Building is at the corner of Fenton St & Ellsworth Dr. It is an eight minute walk north from the Silver Spring Metro Station. Many bus routes can take you to and from the building -- Metrobus F4 and Ride-On #16, #17 and #20 pass by on Fenton St.  Metrobus J4 and Ride-On #15 and #19 stop at the corner of Wayne Ave & Fenton St.  Metrobus Z6 and Z8 and Ride-On #9 and #12 stop nearby along Colesville Rd. The Metrobus Q and Y lines stop on Georgia Ave and Wayne Ave.
 
If coming by car, plentiful evening parking is available at the Town Square Garage just across Ellsworth Drive from the Civic Building. Do NOT park in the Whole Foods parking lot or you risk being towed.