New York Cares Day!

Saturday morning at 8 am, I was NOT pleased to be waking up; Thursday's late night had caught up with me. Nonetheless, I trudged on, brewing some hot cocoa and heading to the train. I knew that soon enough I would be enjoying myself at a volunteering project.

Boyfriend's prestigious college has a NYC Alumni group, and they occasionally hold parties or volunteer together. For NYCares Day, they secured a site just for them, and so BF and I signed up for that group instead of as individuals. It seemed like a sure way to meet young and friendly people in the city.

The school was located in Spanish Harlem, where I had never been before. It reminded me of the part of Brooklyn I used to live in. The school was one that had several schools within it, and the junior high had an AP as the project manager. She was really cool, very friendly and really happy for all the help. There are nearly two hundred new students, and the school doesn't really have room for them, so they are in the process of cleaning out some closets and rooms, and brightening others with paint.

We joined some of the volunteers on the third floor, tackling an old, dirty, and very full book room. It was so crowded with junk that no one could get in very far, and the passage was pretty narrow. Upon first viewing and a quick assessment, I suggested a fire line. The others readily agreed that was the best way to tackle everything, so we passed along crates, boxes, posters, books, workbooks, and computer parts, out into the hallway.

Pretty soon the room was clear enough to get more people inside and pulling things from shelves. And within an hour, the floor was as clear as it was going to get, because all this junk was lining the hallway (the room we were clearing is that doorway all the way down on the left):

Soon enough, it was time for the next task: getting all the textbooks out. They were loaded onto mail carts and taken to a different floor--by elevator! How lucky. Anyway, they were stacked and inventoried, because they're doing a buyback program. All the old textbooks they're not using will be taken away and the company will give them money, which the school can use to get new, better ones! Very exciting that this one day of volunteer labor will have such a concrete impact on the students.

While the textbooks were being taken one place, all the workbooks were put somewhere else, because they can't get money for those.

Either way, the room got cleared out a *lot*. Look at these 'middle' shot!

Unfortunately, the 'after' is not so great. After lunch, things were being cleaned up and there wasn't enough cleared storage for all the things we'd moved out. So a lot of it had to be moved BACK into the room. We were all disappointed because it felt like moving backwards, but we tried to console ourselves that the old books had been moved out, the novel-type books (above) had been put together and sorted (by me, because I'm anal like that), the floor had been swept of dust and mouse droppings, and the stuff was organized. The AP was really happy with everything, so we had to be too.

She also assured us that it was a temporary storage situation; they will soon be removing the white bags (full of workbooks, many BRAND NEW!) and the rest of the books on shelves.

There was painting going on on another floor, but it was already three when this room was done, so they didn't need extra hands getting in the way of the painting. So we took off.

It was a really fun day. It's been awhile since I volunteered (outside of my own building, of course), and it was extra satisfying to help rejuvenate a school (though I couldn't escape all my teacher thoughts, like being outraged at seeing piles of new chart paper buried in a dusty room). The other volunteers were all friendly and hard-working. I had a great time. I hope to see even more folks out there at upcoming big volunteer events!

Nearly One Year

This is part of an email sent out by AmeriCorps NCCC promoting another month of service in Louisiana. I would love to go, but they want people there August 15-September 15. That's one of the busiest times of the year for a teacher, and I can't afford it either. I do really want to go back and keep working on the rebuilding effort. I'm thinking that either the December break or the February break would be excellent (and mild-weathered) times to go.

I really encourage ALL people to think about what they can do to contribute, not just to the Katrina rebuilding, but the community in general. Yes, you can donate money to a cause, but it's so impersonal. Real service gives you such a high! You learn about new places, you meet new people, sometimes you learn new skills, and you have fun.

Habitat for Humanity is all over the country; go look up your local affiliate.

In big cities, there are big events like fundraising walks, spread throughout the year.

Late October is National Youth Service Day, and local chapters of Hands On (connecting organizations that need volunteers with people who want to volunteer--for free!) like New York Cares hold big volunteering days and afterparties around then. (New York Cares Day is October 21 this year; mark your calendars!)

But you can find a place and time to volunteer with them, any time of year, any time of day, in lots of areas.

There are lots of churches, shelters, and nonprofits that need help, or people who need a kind word. Please do all that you can to make the world a better place.

Anyway, enough preaching from me, here's some information about St. Bernard Parish, the focus of the upcoming service month.

"On August 29, 2005, Saint Bernard Parish was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The storm damage, which affected virtually every structure in the parish, was believed to come both from direct effects of the storm and from a massive storm surge funneled in by the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MRGO").

"The eye of Katrina passed over the eastern, less populated portion of the parish, but in doing so pushed a 25-foot storm surge into Lake Borgne and into the MRGO. This surge destroyed the parish levees which were 14-17 feet high. Almost the entire parish was flooded, most areas getting between 5 and 12 feet of standing water. There may have been as many as two homes untouched by flood waters. Independent engineering analysis of the storm surge suggests that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet transmitted the storm surge from the Lake Borgne area directly into the center of the heaviest populated areas of the parish. Unlike most of the flooding in New Orleans, the water rose suddenly and violently, during a period that witnesses have reported as no more than fifteen minutes. In many areas, houses were smashed or knocked off their foundations by storm surge higher than their roofs.

"For more than two months after the storm, much of the parish remained without proper services, including electricity, water, and sewage. Federal and state relief was notably lacking in the parish. Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, declared all of the parish's homes unlivable. Many areas of the parish may have to be completely demolished, although there is much uncertainty about whether or not this will happen. Several residents have begun to repair houses which they believe are more cheaply repaired than bulldozed and rebuilt. There is much fear about the lack of funding because of the complete loss of the parish's tax base. St. Bernard's levee system, however, is being restored and is expected to be at pre-Katrina levels by June 2006. It should be noted that this is the first time in FEMA history that an entire parish or county experienced the severity of damage that St. Bernard received from Katrina.

"Many St. Bernard residents feel their plight is little known and generally ignored by the nation as a whole, having been overshadowed by the proportionately less severe but more visible damage in New Orleans."

A Reminder of What It's All About

I will get things done for America-

-to make our people safer,smarter, and healthier.

I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy, I will take action.

Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity, I will persevere.

I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member, and I will get things done.

NOLA Work: What I Did (A Long But Worthwhile Post)

My first day of work was last Friday. I went out with a gut crew to a 'new' house; it had not been visited yet. In fact, it had not been touched since the flood.

The furniture was strewn all over. Personal effects--letters, medicine, toys, photos--were tossed around on the floor. It reminded me that though it must have been extremely tough to leave all your worldly possessions behind, it's more important to make sure everyone survives.

Clothes and bedding littered and clogged the bedroom floors. Everything was piled haphazardly on everything else by the ruthless waters.

The water lines were clear. Mold and mildew stained not only the walls and items below the water lines, but continued creeping up, all the way to the ceiling. It was especially noticable when we got down to the sheetrock.

It took all morning to empty the house. It was hot and humid, and we had to wear long pants, gloves and respirator masks. It was hot and sweaty in the mask, and it also felt like you weren't getting a full breath, since the air was only coming in the pink filters.

I was already exhausted by lunchtime. After lunch we had to clear out the work shed, which was crammed with ruined tools and books, dishes and other stored items. Many of them still held the fetid water from last summer.

Then the real work began: the gutting. First we had to tear down the wood paneling, which of course had to be preceded by removing the molding at the tops and bottoms of the walls. Then we took crowbars and hammers to the paneling and tore it down in big sheets. Very satisfying. Finally, when all the fake wall was gone, it was time to get rid of the moldy sheetrock.

By this time, I'd already had to take at least one break. Working in the heat like that had really done a number on me. Perhaps it was a migraine, or a touch of heat stroke, or pure wimpiness. But my head throbbed, my stomach was queasy, my eyeballs ached, I felt lightheaded. Oh, it was awful.

For nearly an hour, I quietly and methodically hammered down sheetrock. It was immensely satisfying. It was disgusting, seeing the damage the floodwaters had done to materials all the way to the ceiling. The ceiling itself had fallen in many places, actually. As you can see, the air was thick with dust and particles. We were grateful for the nasty masks.

All the furniture, personal items, walls, sheetrock, insulation, and everything else went out the doors and windows, piled up on the curb outside the house. The pile grew in length and height throughout the day.

The family who owned the house was there the whole day, helping out and chatting with us. They had owned the house for thirty-seven years and raised five kids. They were in their seventies and just the sweetest southern old folks you could ever meet.

I took several more breaks throughout the afternoon, doing my best to head back to work once I felt marginally human again each time. I didn't have the energy to talk, or bend or move much, but I did what I could. I helped clean up and soon enough our day was over. We were all exhausted, dirty, sweaty, and smelly. I'd begun the day with all new work clothes, but by the end, oh man was it all broken in, but good. My lovely new gloves dyed my hands yellow/orange. And that is a very dirty arm (I am very pale under there).

As soon as we got back to base camp, out of the heat and out of the work clothes, I immediately began to feel better. The headache didn't really go away, but it did lessen after I took some pain relievers.

This was all just my first day working.

Day Two, Saturday, was finishing up gutting a house, and it was just a morning with a small group of us. I spent most of the time perched on a ladder, removing nails from the ceiling with a hammer. It was a pretty easy half day after the ass-kicking day before.

Sunday was Easter, and it was also the lull between volunteer people, so camp was pretty deserted.

Monday I joined four others in traveling to a Boys and Girls Club, where our task seemed to be fairly easy: getting tile up off of two floors.

However. The tile was some kind of wood laminate that was very well glued down to the floor. We tried using crowbars, sledgehammers, axes, a metal broom thing, but the best way was just to hack at it with hammer prongs. So we sat on the floor for a whole day, banging away at the floor. We all developed blisters and sore hands and wrists. It was slow-going, tedious work, and we were also very, very sweaty and smelly by the end. We didn't even get half of one floor done, but we did pretty well for being such a shitty job.

Day Whatever-is-next was Tuesday, when a group went back to the first house I was at. We had to finish it up: take out the ceilings, take out the bathroom tiles, rip up the flooring. It was a tiring day. I was one of the people who went up to the attic/crawlspace. The ceiling there consisted of wooden planks nailed to the support beams, so I couldn't just stomp them down. I used a hammer to loosen the nails and then hit or kicked them down. I had to be careful, shifting between the support beams a foot and a half apart. But it was fun. I made a big mess, and it was extremely satisfying when a long plank crashed down to the floor. It was not so fun to push down all the crumbly insulation, however.

I made sure to take breaks every hour, but by early afternoon the migraine/heat stroke hit me again. We were all worn out but got the floor in this whole room up. Loud work that was not made easier by my sore hands and blisters from the day before.

I have so much respect and love for the long-term volunteers in the Gulf Coast. People have been there for weeks or months, working their asses off in awful conditions. They are really making a difference. AmeriCorps NCCC teams are all over the place. The team at Hands On New Orleans right now will be switching out with another team in a few weeks. They're the ones that got the operation up and running smoothly. Talk about heroes!

Next post will be about the fun and the sight-seeing. It was not all sadness and hard work. There was plenty of exploration, laughter, comaraderie, and good times.

"The Big Easy"? Thoughts, in no particular order

I have been home for a day and a half now. The situation in New Orleans seems to have a more powerful impact now that I've left. Perhaps that while there, it was so commonplace, and so many people had seen much worse, that I was almost taking it for granted.

Public schools reopened on Tuesday. This week. EIGHT months after the hurricane. Two months ago--six months after the hurricane--most stoplights weren't working and trashed/flooded cars and other debris still littered the streets. Now, most stoplights work and the streets are fairly clear. Plenty of roads were themselves damaged by the waters, and you still saw lots of stranded cars along the sides of streets, but overall things were fairly normalized.

Buildings are still intact in New Orleans; it's not the utter destruction that the Mississippi Coast saw. However, the water lines go forever in some neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods have no water lines at all. The city was built on different heights depending on class. The plantation and slave-owners' houses are built on higher land, and the slave quarters were built on the lower land. Those class distinctions from 150 years have carried over to now, so that the poor were overproportionally affected by the floods. Of course, there were plenty of middle-class homes affected too; they just didn't show that on tv.

At first I thought that things were livening up. You saw cars driving, lights on, people walking--IF you went to Canal Street or the French Quarter. Even so, many shops and other businesses are still closed. I saw more people in one block of Queens yesterday than I did on Wednesday afternoon on the whole of Canal Street, which is a long main thoroughfare running north-south. Cafe du Monde (above) is back serving their famous beignets (squares of fried dough covered in powdered sugar), and Bourbon Street is 'open.' However, I know that they are relatively empty compared to the pre-hurricane economy. Most, not all, bars are open, but most of them also stood empty.

The heat is already oppressive, especially to my sensitive temperate-climate-raised notions. I kept forgetting that it's only mid-April. Also, the hurricane season starts in June. Again.

Hands On has been a huge presence in the Biloxi/Gulfport area since October or November. In general, there are tons of volunteers and groups helping out over there, and not nearly as many in New Orleans. The Hands On chapter only got to New Orleans in February. They're already two months' behind in fulfilling work orders and cannot take anymore. They lead volunteers out to the community and gut damaged houses, at no fee to the homeowner. They also remove and treat for mold.

I worked in one house for several days. The house was raised at least three feet off the ground, and the water line was at least four feet. That means there was at least seven or eight feet of water there. And the damage did not only extend to the things the water touched. Most of the ceiling had fallen down and become part of the floor. The mold grew up the walls to the ceilings.
More on that in another post.

But all that seems almost irrelevant when you consider the Ninth Ward (see next post with pictures). Wards are like neighborhoods or suburbs or something, and the Ninth sits immediately to the east of one of the leveed canals. The gap in the levee was astonishing. I tried to, but could not, imagine what it must have been like when the water breached or broke that levee. A wall of water must have submerged the entire neighborhood within a few minutes. Most of the houses there were not built on real foundations; they were propped up on concrete blocks. When all that water poured in, it just lifted up the houses. Some dropped back down almost on their blocks, sinking in the middle. Other houses were left stranded in streets, or crashed into trees, or crashed into other houses, or just completely demolished into nothing but planks and splinters.

It was unbelievable, surreal, and horrible. Looking at it felt like seeing some kind of natural holocaust, except we know that it's the fault of humans. There were no people there at all. Why would there be? Everything was destroyed, even if the shell of the house was still there. Whole fields and yards lay bare where less than a year ago were residences.

It struck me that some may think taking so many pictures of the destruction is morbid and exploitative. Actually, I believe that it's actually doing something to honor and remember the reality of the situation. A way to remind us of the awful things to help prevent more in the future.

Pictures tell thousands of words: The Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Eight Months Post Katrina

No melancholy here!

I am having a fantastic time here. These people, who work and volunteer here, wow....they do amazing and incredible things, and are so awesomely nice to boot! The group I made friends with (they welcomed me and invited me out with them within an hour of my arrival!) have already sent out emails and pics.

Sunday we had a day off, so two guys and I went out exploring in town in the daylight. The French quarter seems fairly busy with touristy types, and it looks normal. I hear that economy-wise it's still very depressed.

Today is Monday and I went with a team to a Boys and Girls Club they've been working on. Our task was to remove tile from one (possibly two) rooms. The tile was glued down and the only way we could get it up was by bashing it with the prong end of a hammer. It was tedious and difficult labor, but we stuck it out. After lunch we finally got some tunes going and that helped. Someone had a mix cd of mid-90s radio hits, and that was awesome. Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Verve Pipe, Blind Melon, that kind of thing. We left around 3, exhausted and worn out. I have two blisters, one on my palm and one inexplicably on the outside of my right pinky. My hands and arms still have the shakes and are sore from gripping a hammer and also an axe. Axing the floor is fun!

Tomorrow is my last full day. I am sad to go. I want to see more and help more. I really want to go to Mississippi, but they have a ton of people in Biloxi, and not as many in New Orleans. Which I think is kind of strange, but anyway.

I have already taken well over 200 photos, and I can't wait to view and post them all!

Though I don't want to come home very much, I am definitely looking forward to Thursday's teacher-blogger event.

Last week I was telling someone about that, but we were in a club (it was 80s night at One-Eyed Jack's), and the girl didn't hear me. She was like, "Teacher logger? Teacher Flogger? What?" Heh.

Wow.

I've been here just over 24 hours. Already I'm amazed: at the amount of damage, at the amount of emptiness, at the friendliness of the locals, at the incredible relief effort happening here, and at the friendliness of the volunteers.

Today I worked on a team with seven other people, and we gutted an entire house. It was very sobering, but joyous too, because we met the family; they were helping out and chatting. It was really hard work, and that plus the heat did a number on me. I had to rest a lot of the afternoon; I've gotten pretty weak in the last few years.

But it's a wonderful experience already. I hope that some of you might find some time to get down here and help out yourselves! They will be rebuilding for a long time and need all the friendly volunteers they can get.

More later!

We made a difference!

Ms M and I, along with about fifty other volunteers, painted yellow, light blue, and dark blue in the hallways of a downtown Brooklyn high school.

Non-painted areas:

After the painting:

When we were still about halfway through, the administrators of the school stopped us because they didn't like the color. Apparently the order got mixed up; this bright yellow was to go in one single room, and there was a lighter shade for the hallways. Oy. We painted the doorframes in that nice royal blue, and the doors a pale turquoiseish color.

What a difference, eh?

They are hoping to organize another event to finish the painting. So you know what that means: more of you can come! :)

NY Cares Day Location: Come Join Us!!

HS 519 K The Cobble Hill School of American Studies

Description:
This school houses 968 student from 9-12 grades. Volunteers will be painting murals in the main lobby, cafeteria, and outside the building. In addition, they would like to repaint the handrails in the stairwells blue, to paint directional signs with stencils throughout the school, and possibly organize the library, depending on the order of books which they are planning on receiving next fall.

Location:
347 Baltic St, Brooklyn-Take the F or G train to Bergen St. Exit on Smith St. and Bergen St. and walk along Smith towards Wyckoff St. Turn left on Baltic St. School is on left.

Ok, the word is officially out!

I set up the New York Cares volunteer team. Please join!! It's Saturday, October 22, 2005.

Go to nycares.org, click on the link for New York Cares Day. Click on "Join a Team." Select "Teachers in NYC." Make a donation, IF you want (and that goes for all of you), ten bucks maybe.

Come volunteer! It will be fun!

National Service Programs Respond to Hurricane Katrina

[AmeriCorps press release. Note that this response has taken place just in the first four days of this disaster. I served on disaster relief in the Biloxi region in 2002 after Isadore, doing service center and damage assessment work. I doubt any damage assessment can be done yet; they'll probably dispatch more AmeriCorps members later to help with that.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, August 31, 2005

(Washington D.C.) -- In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, national service programs are joining with local, state, and national relief and recovery efforts to provide emergency assistance and long-term relief to those in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas whose lives were affected by the storm.

"In times of crisis, citizens and volunteers make up the backbone of support for people and communities in need," said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs. "We have dispatched rapid response crews and are working with local, state, and federal officials to help coordinate citizen service and philanthropic activity over the long term. It will take many months to recover from such a devastating disaster, and we will ensure that service and volunteering goes where it's needed, both now and in the future."

The Corporation and its network of state commissions and grantees have a long history of involvement public safety, public health, and emergency preparedness and response, including longstanding partnerships with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross, and other agencies. The Corporation became a signatory to the National Response Plan in 2005, making it part of the official Federal plan to protect our nation from natural and manmade hazards and attacks with specific responsibilities in two sections of the plan: Mass Care and Housing, and in the Donations and Volunteer Management.

In addition, the fifty-three governor-appointed state service commissions funded by the Corporation have a key role in managing donations and volunteers in disaster situations. Last year, Volunteer Florida helped coordinate all volunteers and donations for the hurricane – more than 140,000 volunteers who contributed a total of 6 million hours of service.

National service volunteers dispatched to the Gulf Coast region, or otherwise assisting with the relief and recovery effort, include, in part:


§ The first 50 members of the AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) from the Northeast campus in Perry Point, Md., flew into Montgomery, Ala., on Monday. Four members are in Montgomery to support a response technology center; 19 members are supporting shelters in Biloxi, Miss.; 15 members are supporting shelters in Pascagoula, Miss.; and 12 members are supporting shelters in Mobile, Ala. An additional 23 members are being deployed today to the stricken region today, and 24 will fly out on Thursday, bringing the total to 96 NCCC members from the Northeast region.

§ 22 AmeriCorps*NCCC members from the Central Region campus in Denver, Colo., are currently assisting the American Red Cross at their call centers in Denver.

§ At least 39 AmeriCorps members from the National Preparedness and Response Corps, a program of the American Red Cross, are supporting efforts either on-site in Mass Care activitiesor at their "host" chapters, where they are manning call centers.

§ AmeriCorps*VISTA Leaders from Red Cross projects in Iowa, Ohio, and elsewhere have been deployed to the affected region by the American Red Cross.

§ A number of AmeriCorps*VISTA members are assisting relief efforts in Alabama and Louisiana.

§ Members of an RSVP Homeland Security project in northern Alabama who have CERT training have been deployed to hard-hit areas of the state.

The Corporation and its programs gained valuable experience in dealing with issues arising from hurricane response and relief during the series of hurricanes that ravaged Florida last year. At the time, several thousand participants with the Corporation's AmeriCorps, NCCC, VISTA, and Senior Corps programs, as well as student volunteers connected with Learn and Serve America, distributed food, set up shelters, put tarps on buildings and supplied the infrastructure and expertise needed to manage the historic number of volunteers that they had in the state.

The *Real* Traveling Pants

These are trousers that have put in time and effort all around the country. They are genuine, government-issued khaki BDUs (battle dress uniform) in men's size medium. (What, you don't think the Army would actually make clothes to fit women, do you?)

These pants bear the scars of their own, nonviolent battles. The marks are not listed in chronological order.

1.
A spot of burgundy on each knee represents two full days spent crawling around on the ground, painting large, wooden wagon wheels. If you think it is easy to paint something round and full of crannies with a large, flat brush, well...you are mistaken. :) This was one of the projects at TrailBlazers in New Jersey.

2.
The pants are marked in many places with pale blue paint. The number marks the place where a poorly-aimed roller rolled right off the plank I was painting. Oops. The planks were some weird, very heavy material for house siding, which we painted for our sponsors, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Bridgeport (Connecticut).

3.
Spots of thick gray paint represent our short sojourn in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. For two weeks, we did almost nothing except paint. As a result, I dreamt of almost nothing but painting. It was so boring that I would not be able to stay asleep. I bored myself awake!
Anyway, the first thing we had to do was scrape off the old, gray, lead paint from the main lodge building. There had to be tarps (old bedsheets) underfoot at all times to catch the flaking chips. After the old stuff was off, we painted a layer of the thick, gray, oil-based paint. That shit does NOT come off easily. We all had to soak our hands in turpentine, and then scrub, to remove it. And even then there was a gray tinge left to the skin.

4.
These markers in two places represent a project with Seattle Works. One marker is at a spot of yellow, in a clear imprint of the end of a paint roller, the other is at a streak of bright green dripping down the leg. There's also a small bit of purple on the other leg that I didn't mark.
This project involved painting the computer lab of a nonprofit. We painted using those three colors they had chosen: a two-foot-wide purple strip running horizontally along two walls, with green below and yellow above. Another whole wall was green, and the last whole wall was yellow. It was an odd combination, but it worked alright.

--Some of the white paint at the bottom is from painting the computer lab at the primary school where we tutored kids in Baltimore.

--Other white paint is from cutting in ceilings while working in Bridgeport.

Now, lest you think that I only did four things while wearing these pants, and they were all painting, oh, just you wait! These pants also bear invisible witness to all kinds of other projects:


--They helped me build things and haul things in all projects.

--The tough material soaked up river water and mud from the Quinnipiac River in Connecticut.

--It absorbed sweat while we built a labyrinth out of gravel and brick.

--It bounced off chips of paint being scraped from a dock and a basement at TrailBlazers.

--The pants kept me warm in the freezing cold of Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut. Often I layered sweatpants or leggings underneath.

--In the same vein, these pants became pajamas in New Jersey when it was too cold to undress. We slept in our uniforms, then worked all day in them, then slept in them, then worked, etc.

--These pants got washed a maximum of once a week. They really became part of me!

--They have protected me from nettles, thorns, and poison ivy while hiking the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey, canoeing the river in Connecticut, and pulling weeds at Magnuson Park in Seattle.

--They protected me from dust and insulation debris while climbing around basements and attics while volunteering with the East King County chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

--They protected me from needles and other scary human debris while cleaning a bird park and several city blocks of Baltimore.

--They kept me sweaty while doing disaster work in humid-ass Texas.

--The huge cargo pockets provided space for wallet, book, walkman, snacks, and camera, while traveling by van or by plane. When working, they held water, snacks, gloves, and camera. I loved those damn pockets.


What about the warm, humid summer months, you ask? Well, during that time, the Traveling Pants were replaced by the Traveling Shorts.

These shorts were acquired secondhand, as my issued pair were heavy winter weight material, and huge enough to slide off even fully buttoned and buckled (see the little tab at the upper right corner? that's for cinching them tighter if needed. all the pants and shorts have them).
They came pretty dirty, but I did my part in contributing even more scars of battle.







5.
Our main jobs in New Hampshire and Cape Cod involving painting unit buildings around the camp. We always used the same dark brown paint. As you can see, I was quite often a messy painter; my shorts, shirt, and even bathing suit (what? it was really fucking hot in New Hampshire in July!) got a good coating of the ugly brown stuff.

6.
This gray paint is from the Cape Cod oil painting.

--These shorts also kept me cool while running around doing other projects in New Hampshire, like walking horses, carrying hay, and doing outdoor programs with campers.

--These shorts absorbed sweat and mud in Delaware, when we planted 700 trees in one day at a charter school.

--They helped me help my cousin tape and paint his new apartment this month.

--They helped me gauge my weight: when tight, I knew I had been eating too much lately. When I could tighten the cinches, I knew I was on the slender side.

--They are comfortable and I love them and I often forget that they are covered in paint. Occasionally I walk around in public in them, and I just mentally dare anyone to say something about them.

_ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _

At first glance, these clothes are old, ratty things that should probably be tossed out straightaway. But they hold so much value in their memories, and I will keep them and use them for a long time.
Plus, that shit is built tough. It's freakin' army gear!

So, bloggers, now it's your turn: What clothes of yours hold a story?

Stupid short weekends

I hate that it's already early Sunday afternoon; I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of the day catching up on work and anxiously anticipating Monday, instead of enjoying this lovely Sunday.

Yesterday's volunteer work was neat. I arrived at the New York Cares office on time, only to wait around for another forty-five minutes. But I chatted with the other individuals who had signed up for this group. They all seemed like nice, interesting people.

Our project turned out to be playground beautification in Staten Island. I had never been there before (other than the ferry dock), so it was exciting to add another new place to my list. It didn't look any different than other parts of the city; it's more suburban, but so is Queens. Residential and mini-malls. So there you go.

The bus driver might have been new, because he kept having to stop for directions. In New Jersey.

All the work at the playground was painting. I joined three other girls around my age in painting the guard rails in the handball courts. Yeah, I don't know why the tall fence needed reinforcement of roadside guard rails, but oh well. We did some scraping and then painted them a nice lacquered black. It looked so pretty when we were done! We also scraped and repainted a flagpole base and a swingset.

We broke for lunch at Wendy's, then we had an hour to kill, because all the painting was just about completed. So a bunch of us played a pickup game of softball.

I had wanted to go to the after-party, but everyone was tired, so I went home. What did I do the rest of the night? Guess it wasn't much. Watched some tv, perhaps, and I watched Notting Hill on dvd. I so love Hugh Grant in that, and I so hate Julia Roberts in it. Half-watched SNL and went to bed after Weekend Update.

This morning I wasted two hours of dreams about lesson plans. I dreamt first that I had a class coming in, and we were in a different classroom, and I had zero lesson prepared. It was nerve-racking. Then I remembered that I had wanted to do a comma lesson this week, so I went through rules and examples of comma usage. While dreaming. Yes, apparently I can't even escape teacher life while in REM sleep. Pathetic!

I dragged myself up at 9.30 and after a few minutes of deliberation, decided to work out. I'm glad I did, too. I should have gone on Thursday, or Friday. But I didn't, out of sheer laziness. And "work to do." The workout was kind of similar to bodypump, not as demanding with weights, but with more reps.

From there I went to the grocery store, finally. I've been mostly out of real food all week.

Came home and opened up my resume and cover letter, my lesson plan sheet, and my article review work. Holy shit I have a lot to do. Boo hoo!

Service and giving

"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result."

--Ghandi

I need to keep this in mind about my own teaching. I joined this program for a reason, and that reason is to make a difference, plant the seeds for future fruit (or something). I need to remind myself that even if the everyday struggles are tough, those seeds can still be planted and nurtured.

A Day ON, Not a Day Off

This morning, sometime between 1.30 and 8.30, it snowed! Only about an inch, but still, it made our street very pretty. It's been a lot colder the past couple days; the last three weeks have been nice and mild, so this cold comes as more of a shock. I mean, my hands are numb even with my newer, thicker gloves. Brrr.

This morning was the volunteer event with Children for Children. It was held in a gym in Manhattan, with a bunch of tables with different projects aimed to help different communities (kids in hospitals, homeless, elderly).

TWO of my students came to the event for extra credit! I was afraid that none would show up, so it was a relief. Plus, they seemed to have a good time. S and I worked putting together craft kits for hospitalized kids, and then stuffing 'surgery pal' dolls. F joined us later coloring 5x5 squares that became a mosiac mural. It was fun.

Even better than just volunteering, the organization had a Newsday reporter come out and interview us! The kids are really excited about that. (I'm a little excited about it, too, truth be told.) The reporter lady asked both of them how they felt about volunteering and Martin Luther King, Jr, and they both were articulate and heartfelt. Hurrah.

Tsunami: A Concert of Hope

So Madonna is not a very good live singer. I know, big shocker.

1-800-HELP NOW--that's the American Red Cross phone number. So if you call, it's not just a middleman organization that is getting your money.

Holy crap, Brad Pitt, Jane Seymour, Leo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon are answering phones? Maybe I'll call just for that. What, what's that? That's the whole point of having famous operators? No way!

I kind of thought this would be a concert, like Live Aid. But it's totally a telethon. That's sort of disappointing. It's pretty awesome that so many celebrities joined the effort, though. Way to go, celebs!

Maroon 5 is a little annoying. I know, big news.

Norah Jones, however, is awesome. I love anything that she does. And now she takes the stage with just a guitar, a backup vocalist, and a violin player. Sweet. Hurrah, acoustic music is not dead along with MTV Unplugged.

Shut up, Chris Matthews. I've never really seen you before, only Darrell Hammond's impression of you, and apparently you really are that much of an ass. Who cares where the money comes from? Isn't the point of this whole thing to join together as a global community, where things like nationality and politics don't matter? (Obviously I know that would never actually be the case, because our wonderful government always has some kind of agenda, but this is the idealistic picture the media want us to buy.)

Good job, Red Cross President. I have seen firsthand the work the Red Cross does, and she's right, they will get the stuff out, whatever it takes.

"You can't give, and remain the same," says Robert DeNiro. I can't tell you how true that is. If you know me in person, you already knew that, and hopefully have participated in giving yourself. Volunteering changes you even more than just opening your wallet. Please, do some work in your community. Global change begins with a single person!

Sorry, Mary J Blige, but you can't sing.

I like that they are showing before and after satellite photos.

No way, Sarah McLachlan? And singing a song from 1998, too! Although I suppose singing "Train Wreck" would not exactly be appropriate for this occasion.

That's cool that Jay Leno is having the famous folk sign everyday things to sell to high donators. (Erm, people who donate a lot of money, not people donating while high on things.) First a coffee mug, now a phone. I wonder what next?

Speaking of high peope, hi, Robert Downey Jr! You are adorable! Hope you are doing well with rehab and acting and stuff.

I think Goldie Hawn was hypnotized before her speech.

Josh Groban really has an amazing voice. It's gotten lost in the "adult contemporary" genre, but really, he's fantastic. I still remember when he was "debuted" on Ally McBeal.

Quentin Tarantino keeps waving at the camera like a starstruck geek.

A village population going from 3800 to 142? Wow. That is serious decimation.

Ooh, Don Cheadle!

I love John Mayer's music, but man, is he goofy-looking when performs.

Is that Nelly? Whoever it is, he's totally ripping off Usher's look. Not to mention doing something weird to a very good song (True by Spandau Ballet, right?) that's already been ripped off by PM Dawn in the early 90s. Was he saying "NBC" at the beginning? The whole thing wasn't too bad, actually, it was a pretty mellow interpretation.

Hey, no one told me I'd have to hear COUNTRY. Mute button!

Johnny Depp and Lucy Liu, too. The phone lines are so jammed that it's giving me a dial tone instead of ringing. Hi, Tim Robbins!

PLEASE DONATE. If not now, then soon. Just donate. Jay Leno just brought up something very important: what if every person watching donated just a dollar out of the change in their pocket? What a difference that would make! People think it's hard to "make a difference," but when millions of citizens come together like this, a tidal wave of giving is created. Anyone can give a dollar, most of us can afford $25 or $50, and every bit will count. Please, click to the link on the right. If you don't trust me, type in redcross.org and get to it.

Please help the relief efforts

The American Red Cross

A list of other charity organizations accepting donations for tsunami victims

This proposal report my students are working on is all about community. when we get back to school, we will talk about the global community issues too.

I'm hoping that my school can get a drive together. I figure, if every student and teacher brings in one measly dollar, that will really add up. Plus, the students can begin feeling like active citizens and members of the global community.

I am proud of the way that the US and its citizens have jumped on board with the relief efforts. Keep it up, folks.

Happy 2005.