"Struggling with Love"

 Hello Family,

 

                My final reflection… Oh no, Ian’s insanely long blogs are coming to an end!  Thank you for reading them… I’ve really tried to put my entire heart and all into JUFRAN.  I just never expected a lot of things when I first started this “Journey to Understand Forgotten Reasons to Act Now.”  I was first approached by JR in 456 about it.  I think I met Pete too that day.  What a trip.  I basically signed on because I guess it was fated.  Hah, hella corny, but damn it’s a trip reflecting how I first signed on to JUFRAN.  I was recovering from such a horrible Fall semester… I bet you were all surprised when I said I was  a Freshman.  I guess it doesn’t matter now.  I reminisce to our first session & I felt so out of place… New faces everywhere and I barely knew any of you.  I wasn’t active in PACE or LFS at the time.  To be real I was skeptic at first in who was going to be in our group.  I wondered if I really needed to be in JUFRAN.  Was I only doing it for the credits? No, I needed to get myself out there.  A semester in & I barely knew anyone…  I was pretty in & out at the meetings for the first couple times.  I was using Friday to get myself re-educated.  I think the turning point for me was the Retreat.  I still felt comfortable with only a certain number of people, the retreat made me feel like foundation has been laid to build on.  I started to hang out with y’all outside the classroom.  It felt very good to have Kasamas, & not just any “normal friends.”  I’ve been leaning on my Kasamas all throughout this Transitions phase that I’m going through on both sides of the Bay.  It’s crazy how my network has brought me to meet y’all.  I feel that I’ve “found my forgotten reason…”  I was lost beyond belief, before the spring.  I was a very confused Youth who needed to “find himself.”  “Kasama Kannections” really though is the basis of organizing.  I get so caught up at times in “let’s do an ED,” “Mobilization, March, Vigil,” overall the work.  But, maintaining relationships and listening to other people’s stories comes first.  Serving the people, Sharing struggles and

 

“Struggling with Love.”

 

I have really built some “Kannections” with y’all and I’m humbled by the things that we have faced together.  We’ve Bagsaked every meeting with something new every week.  Y’all some fresh folks to know.  Some of you have become brothers and sisters to me.  I say that friends come and go, but Kasamas are eternal.  I hope we can still remained “Kannected” even after JUFRAN.  I don’t wanna call this the end.  It’s really just begun.  I will miss meeting every Friday from 2-4pm.  From our Cipher names to Mt. Davidson (JR, where the pics at. Haha), to the birthday card I received…

 

This caught me off guard, as with the message behind the projector screen, It really did uplift my spirits that day since I was facing a lot of chaos at home and with my personal. 

 

I’ve gained so much from this experience and am anxious to give back somehow.  I’m so down in being a future coordinator.  My long ass blogs, I’ve written so much because I wanted to impart what I know to y’all.  Yeah, I’ve gotten a head start in developing my analysis, but it’s so useless unless I give back.  I’ve written probably an essay a week for JUFRAN, I’m not that special; you may even call me a nerd for knowing so much already. Haha.  I guess I’m in love with the movement.  I really haven’t found anything that has attracted my attention in doing this work & learning in a manner where it “Kannects” to me.  We’re all in it now.  I’m honored to be a JUFRANian for Spring 09, I hope we’ve made our mark into JUFRAN history.  I want to keep building with folks in the future.  I guess next thing for me now, is to just get deeper into LFS, it’s been a long time coming, but it was bound to happen.  I’ll be around more; I’ll be repping East Bay all the way though still. Haha. 

 

Thank you for giving me a reason again…

 

One Love,

“Ian who be screamin’”

 

ISANG BAGSAK for the now…