Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Safety & Security at YDS

Ed. note: Yes, you just got this in email form. But I know how it is - your inbox is full, or you have some filter set up, or the YDS mail you get keeps ending up in the spam folder by mistake ... here again, this week's BTFO update on safety. With thanks to Bill Goettler, YDS's Assistant Dean for Ministerial Studies and Assessment, and long-time New Haven resident, for his input. (Dear Bill: Why don't you have an official bio on the YDS website? Do you see what I'm forced privileged to link to?)

Those of you who have set up your Yale email accounts have probably already gotten at least one email from Chief Perotti, the head of the Yale Police force. Chief Perotti sends an email of every crime related incident that takes place in or near the Yale campus, and involves a person who is affiliated with Yale. Taken out of context, these can make living in New Haven seem a little scary. And since you aren't yet getting many other Yale emails, it might appear that all we talk about is crime. A few things to remember when you get these emails:

First, these are a legal necessity. Believe it or not, Chief Perotti doesn't send these emails with the express intent to titillate, but because he is required by law to do so whenever there is an incident involving anyone Yale-affiliated in New Haven. Since Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale University comprise the #1 and #2 employers in New Haven, respectively, that's a lot of people.

Second, New Haven, for all its charm and frustrating lack of urbanity, is still a city. (The second largest in Connecticut, following Bridgeport.) Along with living in a city come certain pluses and minuses. On the minus side, you'll be exposed to a higher crime rate than you'd see in say, rural Connecticut. On the plus side, you'll be within walking distance of wonderful things like the Yale Art Gallery, East Rock Park, and my current favorite coffee shop, Lulu (http://www.lulublend.com/). Most YDS students live in either East Rock or Newhallville, which you can read more about on the Yale housing website (http://www.yale.edu/livingnh/community/nhprofiles.html).

Finally, these incidents represent a small percentage of the overall Yale population and their likelihood is often increased by behavior that can be dangerous in any city. Chief among these, of course, is walking around alone at night – and there's literally no reason why you'd have to walk home or to campus alone. Yale runs a series of free shuttles, with door-to-door service late nights, and offers security escorts 24/7 on campus. We put together a document listing the various safety and security resources you can avail yourself to – please take a look, and keep these phone numbers handy. Please access the document here:

http://www.yale.edu/divinity/adm/SafetyInformation.shtml

On the less-official level, Yale Divinity School is a caring and safe community. Although I have my own car, I've always been able to find a ride home from an on-campus event or off-campus party with another Div School student when I need one. YDS's campus itself is very safe, and most items that go missing end up in the lost and found drawers near Dale’s office.
Bottom line: please don't let the Chief Perotti emails determine how you feel about New Haven and YDS before you even get here. Yes, you'll need to take common-sense security precautions while living here, but on the whole New Haven is a safe and fun place to live.

-Kate

Monday, June 22, 2009

Mail Boxes & Lockers

Sandra is in California this week, which means I’m a little bored, which is translating into a plethora of blog posts. I hope you appreciate this, because on Wednesday I leave for Chicago, and you’ll have to spend six days checking other blogs.

Today, another useful part of daily life at YDS: the commuter lounge. More specifically, what’s in the commuter lounge. The commuter lounge is a, uhm, lounge on the first floor of YDS. To one side is Holy Grounds our preciously named coffee kiosk that we hope you’ll become more familiar with during BTFO. Bookending the commuter lounge are our mailboxes and the commuter lockers.

Everyone at YDS gets assigned a mailbox (below, a shot from Beth, my iPhone, inspired by Michael Wolf, and another of the whole bank of ‘em with fewer pretensions).
Oh, I actually kind of like that one.

You’ll get a key to your very own mailbox during BTFO from Patricia O., YDS’s receptionist extraordinaire. PLEASE CHECK YOUR MAILBOX, at least occasionally. You will get a decent amount of junk mail in here (trying to sell you lecture series rather than carpeting), but there are a few people like me who actually view them as a means of communication and will attempt to drop you notes.

A great mystery to many divvies* are the lockers at the far end of the commuter lounge. Here’s the basic formula:
1) These lockers are available on a first-come-first-serve basis to any and all commuting students.
2) If you do not live in the div school apartments, you are a commuter student. That is, even if your "commute" to school is a five-minute walk, you are a commuter student.
3) They look like this:
The end. If you’d like one, talk to Patricia. You’ll have to bring in your own combo lock, and clean it out at the end of the school year (or the Yale staff will cut your lock and take your stuff).

By the way, my birthday is in April, and if you decorate my locker with Backstreet Boys stuff, I will be your friend forever.

-Kate

*I think I made that word up, and am hoping it will catch on. Please use it in a sentence today.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Div Dictionary: CPE


CPE, (n): Clinical Pastoral Education, a hospital chaplaincy work/study program which many YDS students do during one of their summers.

CPE is basically a crash course in pastoral care, usually in a hospital setting. Students spend about half of their time in class, group sessions, and other teaching modules, and about half serving as real-life chaplains. CPE programs usually include some time spent "on call," when students spend the night in the hospital with a beeper, and are called to all sorts of trauma cases.

From the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education's website: "Clinical Pastoral Education is interfaith professional education for ministry. It brings theological students and ministers of all faiths (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams and others) into supervised encounter with persons in crisis. Out of an intense involvement with persons in need, and the feedback from peers and teachers, students develop new awareness of themselves as persons and of the needs of those to whom they minister. From theological reflection on specific human situations, they gain a new understanding of ministry. Within the interdisciplinary team process of helping persons, they develop skills in interpersonal and interprofessional relationships." Mmmmyeah, that tells you just about nothing.

Some denominations (like mine) require students to do a unit of CPE to be ordained, but some YDS students who are not required to do CPE choose to take a unit because it will inevitably help them build great skills for ministry. YDS also pays its CPE students - not much, but about $3,100 over the 10-week summer - as well as awarding an elective credit. (Or three credit hours, which is the equivalent of one class.) Rarely but occasionally, students choose to do an extended or full-year CPE program, which meets only one day a week throughout the academic year.

Ed. note: The above image is the photo that came up first when I did a Google search for images using "chaplain." Although CPE involves extreme sleep deprivation during on-call, it will likely not turn you into a literal zombie. That's some pretty amazing liturgical garb, though.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Updaaaaaate: More on Housing

Ed. note: Put this in a new post because that last one was getting really long. Anyone know how to do cuts in Blogger?

Mike G., Dale's assistant (and YDS's in-house WolframAlpha), points out that for off-campus housing options (that is, those not run by Yale), you should also check out the Yale rentals website. They've also got a link on the left for those interested in buying property, and ones below for looking for roommates, as well as a few links of resources for tenants. (Sadly, the "How Much Rent Can I Afford?" link doesn't work ... perhaps indicative of the fact that I can't, actually, afford any rent? Did it work for anyone else?)

The Yale Off-Campus Rentals Database is sort of a Yale-specific Criagslist, and might be the most valuable thing on there, in my opinion. Their area profiles, although not super-helpful, are kind of adorable and fun, and I am going to send you them again in an email.

Mike says he found his apartment through here, and that there are 4.805 people born every hour in Connecticut, which is good enough for me.

(With apologies to anyone who, like me, is now going to spend three hours on WolframAlpha.)

-Kate

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A Few Notes on Housing (Or Rather, a Whole Bunch of Links To Stuff About Housing)

If you're any kind of rational creature, you've already had more than a few thoughts which went something like "But where will I liiiiiiiiiive?" Moving is scary, expensive, and un-fun. I myself love looking at houses (house museums are one of my favorite things in the world - I'd totally be a fan of them if they got a Facebook page), but when it comes to actually packing up and moving? Forget it. I'm about to sign a two-year extension on my lease out of what amounts to complacency.

A few of you all will be living in the Divinity School Apartments, which is awesome for you. You'll be literally steps from campus, and all of your utilities will be included in your rent. One of the few downsides I can see to this arrangement is that these buildings are nothing short of butt-ugly, but you don't need to look at the outside of a structure if you're inside.

For the rest of us (including those of us, like me, who were waitlisted for Div School Apartments and might be a little bitter), here are a few tips:

- There are a LOT of on-campus (or rather, Yale-operated) housing options. You can do dorm-style accommodations through the Grad Student Housing Office. These include the Hall of Graduate Studies, which is very dorm-like (I'm told), but on Yale's main campus. Closer to our campus and similarly dorm-like is 276 Prospect Street. (You'll note that we have a really creative staff when it comes to naming buildings.)

- Then there are a lot of apartment-style options, also run by Yale. The "Science Hill Properties" are the ones which are closest to YDS's campus, and Prospect Gardens is right across the street. I'm sorry that I don't have a whole lot to say about these ... I frankly have very little idea of how they work.

- For those who aren't into renting from mother Yale, you're probably going to want to go the Craigslist route. Search for apartments in "East Rock" and "Mansfield." I pay $1190 (split two ways with the roommate, at $595 apiece) for a large 2-BRDM without heat or electric included. I get the feeling that's a little more than some of my peers are paying, but mine is a new remodel and really very large. (I'd kill for a dishwasher and central A/C in here, for serious.) I will also note that my roommate didn't let us seriously consider any apartments with electric stoves.

- While you're on Craigslist, you'll probably notice a lot of properties put up by Seabury Hill Rentals. They're as close as you can get to an apartment-finding service here, in that they manage a ton of properties, and will make multiple appointments. They were very nice to us during our search, but didn't have much at that moment. A thing called Vacancy Busters exists, but I don't know of anyone who's used them successfully.

And yes, heat is pretty pricey. The opinion of people who have been living in Connecticut longer than me is that the best option for heating is gas, the next-best electric, and oil a dismal third.

Also: PAY ATTENTION to Melissa Pucci's emails! Melissa is a) really fabulous and b) really helpful. Her forwarded apartments didn't pan out for me, but they did for several people. What I really have to thank her for is hooking me up with my roommate - the same one I'm about to sign on for another TWO years with. Melissa sent around a list of other people who'd been waitlisted for Div School Apartments, and after some lengthy email exchanges, D and I were a love match.

The more I write here, the more I think I'm not being very helpful. Sadly, one of the best things you can do to get acclimated is what I did - pick a random weekend and come to New Haven, see a few places, and get a feel for the rental market. My general comments are that I'm surprised at how pricey things are (though we only looked in East Rock, and if you're OK with not being able to walk to campus, your options are greater) - I thought that since I was moving away from a major city I'd be able to get much more bang for my buck.* (I realize in retrospect that I was mostly just spoiled by Chicago; my roommate, moving up from Manhattan, was astounded at how cheap stuff was.)

As per uzh, I welcome all comments and questions; if there's something specific I can help answer, please ask away.

-Kate

* I was also irrationally terrified at the prospect of living in a wooden house - and they're all wooden around here - because we have long memories in the Midwest. So far we have not managed to burn the house down, although today I set a piece of toast on fire in the toaster oven.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

"You are welcome here, and you are going to be fine": The Wit and Wisdom of your Soon-To-Be-Peers

Back in April, Sandra and I asked current YDS students to fill out a brief survey to give us some feedback on past years' BTFO's. Below is a small sampling from one of those questions (with some corrected spelling and grammar). We asked people "What is the most important thing to convey to new students during BTFO?"

They said ....

... The value of Chapel. The value of Annand Program. (Ed note: more coming on the Annand Program, but you can get started here.) Where the candy bowl is...

Yale Div school is an awesome, diverse (in age, gender, race, and spirituality) and supportive community. [I]t's hard work, but worth it.

Even if you don't thin[k] the stress will apply to you, it will. When it does, GET HELP, not drunk. Or something like that... (Ed. note: we'll have some panels and info sessions on "self-care", but it's never too soon to starting thinking about what you'll do when the stress hits. What makes you happy? Relaxed?)

This is all weird, new, and overwhelming... but that's okay. And it's perfectly normal to feel out of sorts.

The year ahead will be challenging, but you will be going through the process will others who will share similar experiences.

[T]hat people have to return their mugs to Holy Grounds (Ed. note: Holy Grounds is the Div School's student-run coffee kiosk. We'll be serving iced tea here, we hope.)


[T]hat YDS is not just a pastoral preparation program, but an academic program--community is not just about being into [J]esus, but can also be academic.

The variety of resources for support that YDS offers during your time here. (Just show them a big picture of Dale that says "friend" on it!)

You are very welcome here...and get off the hill once in a while!!!

The YDS community is glad you are here, we know this a an overwhelming time, we want to help you get started well

You don't have to make h's to be valuable to society (Ed. note: I didn't find this out 'til I got here, but YDS does not use an A,B,C grading system we have H's ("Honors"), HP's ("High Pass"), and P's ("Pass), which are roughly equivalent. No D grade exists - anything lower than a P is a No Credit.)

...not every MDiv is on the ordination track and not every MAR is on the PhD track :) "Tracking" language does not belong at YDS. I can think of other important things, but this is the first thing that comes to mind. Vocational aspirations among students vary widely. (Ed note: !!!!)


Not to read everything.


And finally ...

You are welcome here, and you are going to be fine.

So true.

-Kate

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

NEWS FLASH: There are a lot of you.

Hey! YDS got a big mention in this Fox News article. Check out Harry Attridge hatin’ on the financial sector (“gross immorality”? Oh, snap!) and two of your fellow incoming students sharing their reasons for heading to Div School this fall.

As the Attridge quote mentions, we're welcoming about 10% more students into this year's class. That might mean sitting closer to your neighbor in lectures, waiting a few more minutes for a sandwich at the refectory, or having to take someone out over the last slice of pizza at community dinner. (We hope it doesn't come to that, of course, but pizza is pizza.) This year will take a little extra patience from new and returning students alike to make sure that everyone feels welcomed and no one's toes get stepped on.

All kidding aside, it’s a shame that some of you are headed back to school as a result of the economic downturn. Yale University feels your pain, too. Still, not matter what brought you to YDS this fall, we’re thrilled to have you and look forward to helping you adjust to life at YDS.

-Kate

Monday, June 1, 2009

Div Dictionary: East Rock


East Rock (n): 1) One of two huge bluffs which bookend New Haven. 2) The park surrounding this bluff. 3) The neighborhood directly south of this park.

New Haven history Quickie: originally founded as utopian Congregationalist Community, New Haven is nestled between East and West Rocks – two rocky crags which neatly bookend the original city grid. The streets were originally gridded (or so people claim – I’m from Chicago and I know from gridded; I have my doubts), with the grid tilted so that the north-south thoroughfares led towards the twin bluffs. YDS is closest to East Rock, which you can see clearly from the back of the quads.

East Rock Park is one of my favorite things. In addition to providing baseball and soccer fields, basketball courts, and a river for boating, East Rock has miles of trails, paved and unpaved. You can bike to the summit of East Rock on paved trails, hike up through the wooded ones, or attempt to climb the accurately named Giant Steps (pictured above) – which are probably the most direct route, but also the steepest. Once there, you’ll have panoramic views of the city of New Haven, as well as Long Island Sound. If it’s a clear day, you can often see all the way to Long Island itself. During the summer, there’s almost always a guy in a truck up there selling ice cream, and a decently clean porta-potty over by the tennis courts. East Rock is HUGE – I took a three-hour walk there recently and still haven’t been able to find the rose garden. Enjoy getting lost in there.

At the southern foot of East Rock lies the neighborhood of East Rock, the neighborhood where many of you will be taking up residence. Local merchants line Orange Street, including European grocers Romeo and Cesare, Lulu’s Coffee House, and further down, Oriental Pantry, which has some great Kim Chi. On sunny Spring and summer days, East Rock is rife with tag sales, where you can furnish your apartment for cheap.

Ah, East Rock. Time for another long walk.

-Kate