I am a wife to my love, a 2nd year law student.
I am going to graduate school for medical anthropology.
I am a daughter of God and a Catholic.
I am a Former Jesuit Volunteer.
I am a knitter, a baker, and an occasional biker.
Does that help? Good. Now a few other important “about me” items.
Why the name, Blueberries for Me?
Because I loved this book as a child. And I loved blueberry picking. My mom and sisters and I used to go up to this blueberry farm in West Virginia and pick endless amounts of juicy goodness.
For a while, blueberries fell away from being such a central part of my life as they were those Julys of my childhood. Until this past year, in October of 2010, when I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis. (More below). I’m on a pretty restrictive diet – blueberries, pears and apples are the only fruits I can eat. So instead of whining about my loss of clementines, I am trying to think of this as an eternal blueberry summer.
What is Interstitial Cystitis?
It’s stupid, that’s what it is.
Okay, but really, it’s a chronic bladder disorder. You can read more about it here.
I’ve been diagnosed recently and so I am very much trying to figure out life with IC. Right now, I’m on a no-fun diet, no coffee, no beer (or alcohol at all, but man I loved me some beer), no spicy foods, no (or very little if you are a cheater like me) chocolate, etc. Basically nothing acidic. It’s harder than it sounds. But I CAN have lots and lots of vegetables, breads, white chocolate, and meat. So hurrah! I won’t starve.
IC is painful and I’m learning to navigate that pain, one day at a time.
What is the Jesuit Volunteer Corps?
Awesome, that’s what it is.
I am an “FJV” – a Former Jesuit Volunteer. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest, according to their website is this:
“Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest engages women and men in a transforming experience of full-time volunteer service. Jesuit Volunteers serve for a year or more in solidarity with persons living on the margins of society and with vulnerable places in the Pacific Northwest.”
There are four central values: spirituality, simplicity, social justice, and community. I still try to live these values today.
My husband is also an FJV. That’s how we met. Go us! I did two years, he did one. My first year I worked at a daycare in Spokane, WA. My second year I worked at a homeless shelter in Missoula. I imported the posts from my old JVC blog (spocrazy.blogspot.com). You can read them in my archives if you are interested!
Medical anthropology! No kidding. Now I know I found true love. 🙂
My dh is a doc and I am a wannabe cultural anthropologist. I dropped out after my first year in a PhD program when we started our family early.
If you ever worry about boring readers by blogging about “work”, at least one of us will be very entertained! 🙂
Good to know! I think its fascinating stuff. Though all I do now is just read, read, read about it. Once I start some actual research I’ll probably right about it more!
Medical anthropology, that’s so cool! I’m a Psych major (even though I’m aiming to go into photography full-time) and I took a few anthropology classes. I loved them, and if I had more space in my schedule I’d take more. What do you end up doing with that degree? Do you usually work with old bones, or will you ever deal with murder victims?
Medical anthropology is more about health issues and health practices than bones. That’s the forensic anthropology end. Have you ever heard of Paul Farmer? He founded a clinic in Haiti and is like the only sort-of well known Medical Anthropologist. My goal is to work in the public health field on culturally sensitive issues.
I watch Bones like its my job, though. Unfortunately no one has paid me for that yet.
I’m so sorry to hear about your disease. I guess the Lord’s given you a small blessing by giving you the ability to eat blueberries, which connect you to such fond childhood memories.
Is the disease something you can recover from?
Unfortunately, it’s chronic. But there is a chance of spontaneous remission, however that remission isn’t permanent.
I figure I’m young enough that they probably won’t go 60 years without figuring out something to help, so I’m just gonna get through for now!
I wish I had known about the Jesuit Volunteer Corps when I graduated from college. I became a Peace Corps Volunteer, but if I had known about Catholic opportunities, maybe I wouldn’t have had the detour I had through being away from my faith. I love blueberries for Sal too!
I was considering doing the Peace Corps, but decided that JVC was a better fit. Part of it was I just wanted to do something domestic. There is a JV international, but you can’t leave the country for two years and that seemed way to intense for me.
JVC was trying for my faith. Just being put into a different circumstance, seeing hard things, living with people with different faith practices. But what’s that verse – we’re refined through fire? Maybe even those detours help us in the end.
[…] to interrupt this blog-silence with a guest post from one of my favorite bloggers with pretty much the best blog name […]
God bless you in your efforts to eat well and be healthy. I had to give up sugar 22 years ago because it gave me headaches, and over the years, I’ve discovered other foods that are not healthy for me. Some people in my family do well with the low oxalate diet which helps prevent kidney stones and promotes bladder health.
Hi! just stumbled across your blog while searching for Oscar Romero quotes… I am currently a JESUIT VOLUNTEER o the east coast and our house was recently named the Oscar Romero house!