St Ignatius College Prepatory - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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Imagine packing your clothes, toiletries, necessities, and luxuries for a three night camping expedition. You need to pad light, as little as possible.. What would you bring? What would you leave behind? Which items would you prioritize ove others? This is how the Sacramento Immersion experienced first hand the tenet of simple living. 8 of us traveled to Loaves and Fishes park in Sac Town the bare necessities to survive a three night sleep in a park. Upon arrival, we were shockec with the seemingly impossible news that our stuff was to be locked up and only retrieved 10 minutes before and afte bedtime, as well as upon completion of our 3 night excursion. Basically, the point of this was to experience homeless ness as best as we could. If you go on immersion, your experience will be similar to mine. At first, you’ll think to yourself “How can I survive without a cell phone? A TV? The internet? How can I survive without taking a shower twice a day, o drinking my Starbucks in the morning?” The truth is, you’ll never realize how unnecessary those things are until you gc on immersion. It’s not until you step out of your comfort zone and take risks that you realize there can be more interest ing things in life, like a good story or the company of a friend. Hopefully, the tenant of Simple Living will not only maks you grateful for what you have, but also realize what you truly “need” isn’t something you can shove in the duffel bag anc bring with you, but it definitely is something you will be bringing back with you and giving to everyone back home. Ryan A. Aguirre ‘O' Sacramento Ryan Aguirre, Kathleen Driscoll, Zoe Jones, Cori Kitaura, Brendan Mahoney. Colleen Mclnerney, Megan Miller, Danny Schoknecht.

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Costa Rica Julia Klein, Rebecca Martinez, Jeffrey Monticelli, Sarah O’Leary, Andy Ragni, Katherine Warren, Priscilla Wong. Darryl Yip. Our Costa Rica trip was filled with excitement, new friendships, community, simple living, fun, and rewarding work! In the mornings we ran a “winter break” camp for the children of Ignacio Gutierrez Elementary School. We went on nature walks, made art projects, beaded earrings, played soccer and volleyball, held contests, and even played with a Slip n’ Slide! During the afternoons we cleaned and painted their dilapidated school. It was hard work, but we had fun, especially when our friends Jorge Luis, Juan Jose, Luis Miguel, Jassiel and Oscar ;ame over to help us! The community welcomed us with open arms, and often the people in the community in- ited us over for “cafecito” to drink coffee and socialize after we finished. We miss our Costa Rican community and families, but our trip was Pura Vida! -Becky Martinez ‘07 Student Life 0 21

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Yesterday Where needles drip the tears of thousands, and broken glass from broken bottles, make broken people and broken smiles. Where weed is planted not in dirt, but into the hearts of addiction. Where gunshots ring in the ears of crying babies, just to hit those left behind by our generations. Where women get raped by the greed on the streets. Where children hide in Bible school, to escape the disease of gentrification. Where you can shoot up right before you get shot up. Where a one-way bus can only take them away from their families. Where the only thing that cuts deeper than a knife, is the scar left by the hatred in the eyes of those who look away. Today Where we wash the dirt off the dishes to clean our minds. Where the stench of onions make us cry tears of compassion, and even the strongest forearms can’t lift the weight of “Holy Socks.” Where broken toothbrushes can't clean the beauty in a Gatorade Bar. Where Spades and War are the only places we can lose our pride and Achilles is the only one who can hit our hearts. Where mosquito bites coincide with the blood willing to be shed for others. Where the brown of Nutella and the white of shav- ing cream are the only differences of color in our eyes. Tomorrow Where the sore feet of the streets can soar amongst the birds. Where the raggedy canes can support the broken backs of the toothless and shopping carts won’t be pushed as homes but filled with food. Where wet sprinkles flood our minds with the reality of life. Where restless eyes can eat our happiness and torn feet are washed. Where pony tailed brothers beat beats the break down walls. Where planted gardens bring rocky smiles, and beautiful wood chips spread layers of love. -Tacoma Immersion 2007 Baynes, Giuliana Blasi, Rachel Cusing, Ben Lo, Jared Muscat, David Polhemus, Natalie Raggio. Tacoma Student Life 023