Yesterday I invited a woman to speak to WCYCC's AmeriCorps crew on financial literacy and goal planning.  The day was already strange, since I'd spent the morning at a presentation on local gangs by a police officer -- the presentation concluded with a slide show featuring local gang members and crimes to the tune of "Youth of the Nation" (I wonder if he was trying to make a point.).  Needless to say, I felt a bit nerve-y after the presentation and went with one of my co-workers to meet a lady who works with the Central Colorado Water Conservation District.  I tripped getting into the truck and was generally absent-minded throughout our meeting, although it turned out to be successful anyway.

Afterwards, we drove back to the office, and I walked into our "youth room," where the lady was already setting up and all of the corps members (including new members we hired last week) were there.  That wasn't ideal, but everything seemed mostly under control.  But really, with that group, nothing is "under control," and it turned out to be a very "interesting" presentation.  It started, harmlessly enough, with one member insisting that he spends his extra cash on beer (he seemed to really want the presenter to know how much he loved beer), and then other members offering their financial advice -- have a Mexican lady watch your kids because it's cheaper; make your car payments over rent because if you're kicked out at least you'll have somewhere to sleep; don't buy extra things like gum.  When asked for examples of emergency financial situations, one corps member offered, sincerely: "You get a girl pregnant."  Fortunately, the presenter was very adaptable, took these situations seriously, and didn't make any assumptions. She was able to respond to them and in the end called them a "very interactive group."

Following the presentation, I helped to set up for the TIGHT corps graduation.  This turned out to be fascinating as well.  The four graduating corps members made speeches, and there was a funny slideshow.  Memorable experiences with that group are difficult, since the pictures included former members who are now in juvenile detention or were kicked out of the program, but also corps members climbing on the Pawnee Buttes and holding frogs.  One girl talked about how her time with TIGHT hadn't been very enjoyable, and that she had probably made a lot of people mad, but that she had learned and changed from her experiences.  It was remarkably sincere, and people were shifting weirdly, trying to not cry.  There was cake and a lot of joking around about the tight budget I live on.  Ha ha ha...

Earlier this week I went to Denver to do mock interviews at a high school for a career class as part of Goodwill's Youth Services program.  It was pretty fun -- the high school was downtown and old and large.  I interviewed three students one-on-one in the library and gave them interview tips afterward -- "Don't say 'um, whatever,' be more specific..."  My idea is that I can adapt some of the practices used by Goodwill's program to incorporate into WCYCC's programs.

I'm starting to feel stacked up with thoughts and experiences.  I started volunteering with an adult literacy program, and it's slightly overwhelming.  Now that I've been here for some time and understand the community better and its issues, the problems faced by these particular people weren't shocking, but still sad.  It's a group of mothers who are trying to learn English in order to navigate the school system -- check their kids' grades and attendance, know who to talk to if they have a problem.  But at the same time, they're faced with the larger issue of knowing whether their kid is involved in a gang.  Next week a presenter (possibly the same man I saw speak on Friday) is coming to speak to them about local gangs, so that will be interesting.

I haven't ventured out of the area much lately except for work reasons, but I probably will next week once I have some other things under control.  Some friends are also interested in snowshoeing, which is promising, since I don't want to be stuck under an avalanche by myself...

I'd welcome any suggestions on cheap meals -- Lately, I've turned often to potatoes with broccoli and cheese as well as black beans and corn bread.  Pasta is always good.  Please let me know your thoughts...

8 mile(s)

This evening I ran ~8 miles (for the second time!) and then made spinach soup.  I'm so healthy.  But it's not as if my grandmother taught me nothing--I also had ice cream for dessert.  I'm enjoying running but risk buying too many running accessories.  Do I really need something to carry water and food in or can't I just tape them to my clothes or hide them in bushes along my route?

Lately I've started to have the feeling that whatever I'm thinking about shows up sort of inevitably in my surroundings.  This could be thoughts about combative personalities like a double-edged sword (30 rock) or midwifery (conversation with my friend Cathy about the next NOW conference in Florida).  I suppose it's not that strange, but each time it has carried with it a dreamlike quality.

I also started reading The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression -- which I imagine many people would find themselves relating to strongly and unstrongly at times.  Mostly, though, I wanted to share the quote the author uses to preface the book:

Everything passes away--suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence.  The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth.  There is no man who does not know that.  Why, then, will we not turn our eyes toward the stars?  Why?
-Mikhail Bulgakov, The White Guard

That thought was doubled by the fact that another friend, Erika, got a tattoo on her wrist that reads "This too shall pass," in Norwegian, humorously.

Today the temperature reached 61 degrees -- this should strongly encourage anyone who's thought of it to please visit. 

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.

MLK Day 2011: I'll call it a victory.

(This is Colorado.)

More later...

A challenging week

I'm not going to lie -- I'm having a challenging week.  At least that's what we'll call it for now.  Beyond transitioning back into my life in Colorado, I'm wrapping up last minute details for MLK day and confronting the difficulty of mobilizing other people to do work (this, apparently, is called "leadership").  Yesterday, I went with three AmeriCorps members to the site where we're completing a mural and painting project and struggled with creating consensus and getting very much prep work done at all in the kitchen, where we were supposed to be priming.  It was a strange day -- I don't really know what to say about it now, except that miscommunication seemed to fly everywhere.  These guys seemed interested in getting to know me better but also totally perplexed by me in a way that made them want to try to make me laugh rather than care about the project.  And even though I loosened up enough to talk back, I still wanted to get work done, which I didn't feel ever really happened.  It was a very frustrating day and difficult to explain.  I would like to just sit down and read a poem, but I don't think that will happen for several more days...in the meantime, I'm trying to take deep breaths.