Day eleven, Sam's Entry

We set up at Sunrise Assisted Living, an old folks home in Gahanna, today. We went into this day with pretty high expectations, and Austin's mom, who runs the school's service board, had close ties with this organization, which meant we would be in a very receptive atmosphere. In fact, the woman who we contacted to get permission, Yolanda, made sure to inform people that we were there and told them what we were doing. We only had an hour there, as they wanted us out because of a music guy who was going to perform, but we still managed to have some very interesting conversations.

The first people to approach us were Bob and Betty, although Bob did most of the talking. He said he'd just come out of a Bible study, and his first question was how we felt about the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. At first we were kind of wary about how we answered, as we figured we might have another super-intense religious person on our hands. But the next time he talked, it was about the courts overstepping their bounds, and as an example he cited the 2000 election. We could both tell that Bob was very much a free thinker. Both he and Betty realized that we needed the courts and why, but they both also didn't want them to intrude too much into the legislative arena.

So they were pretty cool. We also talked to Ray, and I say talked because we did most of the talking. Ray couldn't seem to think of any questions, but he seemed content to just have someone to listen to. He apparently had been at a nursing home previously, and cherished his newfound freedom, as at the home he had been dressed, was showered personally, his meals were all served in his room, etc. We then met Rosemary, a woman who was unable to walk after surgery confined her to a hospital bed for 4 months who wanted nothing more than to go home. We also spoke to Leo, who used to work in a Mormon church and told us a bit about that.

Unfortunately, that was about when we had to leave. That truly was a shame, because we met some of the most interesting people of our project there in my opinion. I really hope we can go back before next week ends.