Not very many people know that after graduating from the University of California at Davis, I joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps for two years. In 1986-87, I was a math tutor and librarian for a boarding school run by the Order of the Jesuits in St. Mary’s, Alaska, which is in the rural part of Western Alaska. The following year, I served as a newspaper editor for a prisoners rights union run by a Jesuit priest in San Francisco. Those two years widened my view of the world on so many levels.
![JVC Alaska JVs, Fall 1986.](http://www.pattyenrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JVC-AK-JVs-Fall-1986-Copy-e1468026376128.jpg)
![Sled dog race on the Andreafsky River.](http://www.pattyenrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JVC-AK-sled-dog-race-1987-Copy-e1468026411458.jpg)
![A beautiful sunset in the dead of winter at 4pm local time.](http://www.pattyenrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JVC-AK-sunset-winter-1987-Copy-e1468026465906.jpg)
![Tutoring my four students in math.](http://www.pattyenrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JVC-AK-tutoring-1987-Copy-e1468026513448.jpg)
When I reached out to the JVC: Northwest to let them know about my novel, they kindly asked me to write a blog about how my book and my life today were informed by my years in the JVC. The blog got published this month, and I wanted to share it here.
You can read the blog post here.
![Protesting at San Quentin Prison, Spring 1988.](http://www.pattyenrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JVC-SF-protesting-Spring-1988-Copy-e1468026556989.jpg)
![Fundraising efforts with my JVC colleague and our Jesuit priest director, Spring 1988.](http://www.pattyenrado.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JVC-SF-PRU-fundraiser-Spring-1988-Copy-e1468026616297.jpg)