Teeth

My positive experiences with the project I organized for Martin Luther King day will probably make more sense in light of my fears the week before.  I had to pull a tooth, or maybe a few, to get some of WCYCC's corps members to take charge of the project, and we didn't really pull very much together at the project site until the Thursday before.  On Friday, we went to Hobby Lobby and Ace Hardware to buy supplies, and I felt a bit ridiculous, buying so much paint for a project I felt so uncertain about.  Possibly because...it seems quite difficult to forecast people's attitudes towards painting.  My main fears were that no one would feel confident enough to paint and different groups would refuse to work together.  And the corps member I had fairly put in charge of the project kept telling me that he wouldn't be there on Monday at all.  Was it a joke?  Not a joke?  Figuring that out was all part of the fun...

So the Sunday before the project I felt so anxious that I cooked a giant pot of soup and watched Much Ado About Nothing, the version with Emma Thompson and, er, Keanu Reeves. 

But, overall, I felt that our project turned out quite well.  Two volunteer groups in addition to WCYCC's AmeriCorps crew were present, and we tried to mix everyone up.  It would have been nice to have seen more collaboration among the groups, but there were at least some among people who felt more comfortable floating around and doing whatever work needed to be done.  The team leader for the Weld County VISTAs tried to put together some clean hip-hop for the crew painting in the kitchen, to keep up their momentum, which was helpful.  And we painted quite a lot, including large blue swirls, fish, and a panoramic view of Colorado.  See this link for our media coverage.  This is hopefully exciting beyond my realm of having pulled teeth to have it all come together.

It's also been quite cold here lately.  I don't currently have a working camera to document this, but I do think it's photographable.  The high on Tuesday was -4, with wind chills in the -20s!  Thank you to my aunts, who gave me scarves for Christmas...

The Weld County Youth Conservation Corps is full of drama, none of which I can really talk about and still feel ethical.  But this is what I'd truly like to write about in my newsletters, which I've expressed to staff and received some nods of approval.  Two other staff members have already agreed to start a reality t.v. show based on the daily drama of the youth corps.  So that might be my next project.