Jumping right in to today’s coolio stuff:
We left St. John’s at around 9:30AM, and took a trolley to
Uptown Charlotte. It was immediately clear that all the large skyscrapers were
the headquarters of Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The first floor of one of
the Wells Fargo buildings had a museum in it, in which many a fun picture was
taken.
We then continued to the Mint Museum, an art gallery filled
with all forms of contemporary visual art. One particularly interesting exhibit
was entitled “Fantasy, Fairytales, and Fear.” From the huge PVC forest at the
entrance to a huge tar-covered Cinderella wagon, the museum showed such a
rich variety of art that every person on our Break was able to find several exhibits that he or she really connected with.
That evening, we went to the LGBT Resource Center, where
they were hosting free syphilis and AIDS testing as part of a campaign called “SMASH”:
Stopping Mecklenburg’s Acceleration of Syphilis
and HIV. Participants are tested at the Center, and are able to receive
counseling from local Department of Health workers. Clients return three weeks
later for their results, with additional counseling available if desired.
After returning to St. John’s, our housing site, we met up
with Reverend Dennis Foust and discussed Charlotte’s history. As the site of
the first American gold rush, settlers flocked to the area and eventually
settled near present day Charlotte. For some reason, a large number of these
settlers were Presbyterian, and the main roads in Charlotte (e.g. Elizabeth,
Providence, and Tryon) are named for the Presbyterian church that they led to.
Also, because the center of the city of Charlotte is higher in altitude than
the surrounding area, the area is referred to as “Uptown” instead of “downtown.”
A pillar at the center of Charlotte. There are four total.
After our talk with the Reverend, we played an amazing game
of kickball, followed by three short-lived yet equally awesome games of knockout.
The games were complete with a little strategy, uncontrollable laughter, and
three of the seven of us falling to the ground at one point or another.
We all tried, but Mitch was just too ballin' at knockout.
The six individuals with me on this trip are honestly some
of the most intelligent, interesting, and fun people I have ever met. I can
already tell that next Wednesday is going to come too soon. I look forward to
working at the Center in the coming days! #kuasub – Sorry, guess it’s just
habit now J
-Drew Harger
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