Lauretta

Last Friday I went to Lauretta's home in Old Colony to take pictures of her family. My boyfriend, John, was visiting for a long weekend, and he came along too. He was a great helper as he carried equipment around, but he was even more valuable because of his approachable demeanor, which seemed to put Frank at ease. Frank is Francis's father and is now living with them again. When John and I first arrived Lauretta was excited to show us her apartment and we all looked at photos of Francis and chatted for a while. Lauretta had some great ideas for photographs. We took some of her playing with Francis and bathing him. We also went outside since the weather was uncharacteristically warm.

The home was dimly lit, which was an obstacle. The exposures I made were on target, but the wide aperture and relatively slow shutter speed resulted in blur or a soft focus in many of the negatives. In the future I will emphasize more strongly the need for the people in the pictures to be still. In the darkroom, I found that when I used a heavy piece of glass, which had a couple dings, my pictures were much clearer than when I used a glass negative carrier to make contact prints. Ideally, I hope to find a heavy piece of glass that is as pristine as that in the negative carrier.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I developed the film and made contact prints at the darkroom I wrote about earlier. Getting acclamated to the new space is almost like re-adjusting to a new city. I am not sure exactly where things are or exactly how they work. But I am learning. To be honest, I was thankful to have images at all with this first batch of negatives. After I was done developing them, Trish asked me how it went. After I shared with her a little, she told me that it took her years to get to the point where her hope for an image on the negative was replaced with certainty that something would be there. I laughed a little because I understood.

I was supposed to photograph the second family yesterday, but the mom had to cancel because of doctor's appointments. The mom who is scheduled to be photographed tomorrow has not been in all week, and the same is true of the mom scheduled for Friday. This issue is unsurprising, but nonetheless presents a logistical challenge. Perhaps making these photographs will take longer than expected. I think I may also start asking moms who do not have significant others and who have children at Julie's if I can make their pictures right after school is dismissed for the day. Planning is not always the best way.

Over the last week or so I have been able to see what it is that brings women to Julie's, and more importantly, what keeps them here. I saw it in a new way because I experienced it. When I received some bad news of a personal nature, I felt surrounded in a network of genuine concern. No one made me explain more than I wanted to. Esther, one of the moms, told me she was praying for me, and Lauretta hugged me the next day. And I could tell the Sisters had counseled people in my situation many times before. Since the day of initial shock, Sister Louise has continued to check in with me. The humble, empathetic way she shares her personal experience has been both instructive and comforting. I am confident that when women in crisis arrive at Julie's, she offers them the same care and support because that is who she is.

I also wanted to write a little bit about the Sisters of Notre Dame (SND), the order that both Sister Jean and Sister Louise belong too. Today Saint Julie Billiart, the namesake of Julie's Family Learning Program, is considered the spirtiual mother of the SND order. She was born in France in the middle of the eighteenth century and was bed-ridden for years after a traumatic experience. She grew in her devotion to God during this time, and she later gave her life to the cause of caring and educating poor young women. While the story of her life is up on a first floor wall, there are few visible symbols of the organization's Catholic roots.

In December a group of us went to the show "Respect: A Musical Journey," and during intermission Sister Louise and I were chatting. I asked her about the habits many nuns wear. She told me that the SND no longer where them because they set the sisters apart, and that was not how Jesus interacted with his culture. In the recent past the SND went through a period of self-reflection, and consistency with the life of Jesus was one of the primary points sisters and ministries cosidered during this time of evaluation. I suppose the spiritual place the sisters are coming from is not one of the visible, but rather the invisible.