GrowMemphis Day 4

                  Day 4
On our second day of work, we went downtown to a community garden called Common Ground Community Garden, run by the Saint Patrick Center. We met the woman in charge of the lot, Ms. Anne. She was exactly the woman that I want to be when I retire! Ms. Anne had a lot of work in store for us. Looking back on what was there before and what is there now, we made so much progress! We began the day by weeding the beds and the areas outside of the beds. We had to put a black plastic tarp on the ground around the beds so Mitchell mowed in between the beds and just about the rest of the plot of land that we were on. We then met Marva. Marva lives about ten minutes away from the garden and frequently helps Ms. Anne in the garden. She uses the vegetables to feed her family in the summer. She also told us stories of how she has learned so much after helping out in the garden for such a short period of time. It reminded me of how important it is to actually understand to how food comes onto your plate. I loved that I was finally able to plant something today too! Ms. Anne gave me a six-pack of petunias to plant inside of a planter made out of tires.

We put down black plastic tarp on the ground in between the beds in order to get rid of the grass/weeds underneath and make the area look nicer. We put pine needles and leaves on top. A dump truck came with a bunch of soil so Mitchell, Sarah, Erin, and Kylie began shoveling wheel barrels full to put into each of the beds… that took up most of the day for them. Sara raked out the dirt once it was put into the beds. Shannon, Monica, and I moistened the soil and began planting seeds of radishes, peas, carrots, and spinach mustard. Once again, it made me realize how much I love gardening. I think that once I go back to Lawrence I will try to convince my boyfriend to let me have a space in his backyard to have a small vegetable garden. We all spent the rest of the day moving dirt from the huge pile… we were just estimating that it could have been around 4,000 pounds. Not sure about exactly how much dirt we moved but it was definitely a lot!


We left the garden and planned on going to a vegan restaurant, Imagine. Unfortunately, we walked up to the door and realized that it was closed. Sad. Instead, we went to Fuel Café so Sarah could have a vegan burger! We came back to the church to rest up for the evening. Of course, we made a run to the grocery store to get items for dinner, Brinner! We made pancakes, turkey bacon, and eggs. I was in charge of cooking the pancakes and well… the butter got too hot and started smoking. Seconds later the fire alarm went off! The entire church/school was evacuated and the fire department came… whoops! We finally ate dinner then chatted for a while. The KU alumni suggested going to Muddy’s Bakery so we decided to go there for desert. The shop was adorable! They had tons of baked goods and vegan ones too. I got a “Tomboy,” which was a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. It was delicious. 

We finally made our way back to the church and had a giggle fest. From “Nnnooo!” to “Oh dear.” Maybe it was the sugar in the cupcakes or maybe we’re all just possessed by Eliza. Off to bed for another busy day tomorrow!

Despite the record highs in temperature, snowflakes were seen in South side Chicago.

After a mega-long ten hour ride on the MegaBus, our group arrived in Chicago at 6am Sunday morning.  We made our way to our church, unpacked, talked for a little while and then decided to get some breakfast and explore the city.  We ventured all over town, seeing lots of things in the process, and ended our evening by watching the KU game at Kincade’s, a local restaurant owned by KU alumni.  As Chicago is home to many KU alumni and fans, the environment at Kincade’s would have made you think you were in Lawrence.  Needless to say, after little-to-no sleep on the MegaBus followed by several miles of walking in record-setting 80+ degree weather, we were all pretty exhausted when we got home to the church Sunday evening.

Monday morning, John and I woke up at 5:30 to catch our 6:24 bus that would take us 16 miles to the Chicago’s notorious south side, home to Perspectives Leadership Academy where we would be shadowing and assisting Miss Warshaw, a Teach for America high-school humanities teacher.  Details about our classroom experiences will surely follow in future blogs, but I wanted to use this opportunity to draw a connection from our initial experience back to something that we learned in our “mini-break”.

For our ‘mini-break’, our group had an informative question and answer session with a Teach for America representative from Kansas City named Jeff.  In this session, in discussing the inequity in the public education system in Chicago, he showed us a graph illustrating the stark racial segregation throughout the city.  In the graph, different racial and ethnic populations were represented with red, green, and blue dots that were highly concentrated in different parts of the city yet never mixing or overlapping.  Seeing this representation in the graph was ‘eye-opening’, but as John and I made the hour-and-a-half bus ride to the south side, this stark segregation, that for us at one point had been represented by mere dots on a graph, was now being represented with actual warm-bodies and faces.  When we boarded the bus in Chicago’s affluent Lincoln Park neighborhood, all of the other passengers were white; when we descended the bus 16 miles away on the south side, all of the other passengers were black.  The only white faces that John and I would see for the rest of the day, bar none, were those of teachers employed at the school.   

For us (two white hetero-sexual, middle-class, male students living in Lawrence, Kansas), being the “minority”, and the feelings that come along with it, is not something that we are accustomed to feeling.  I can’t even count how many classes I’ve had at KU where every single student in the class, except for one, was white.  Furthermore, going back to Cody Charles’ discussion on privilege, being a part of the “majority” is something that John and I are used to being, whether consciously or subconsciously, on a daily basis—just as the able-bodied person doesn’t recognize the hassle of entering Strong Hall without using the steps until they themselves break their leg and have had to maneuver around campus in a wheelchair or crutches. Well, sticking with that analogy, we found out today what it was like "to take the back door into Strong".

As John and I walked along the sidewalk in search of the entrance to the Perspectives Leadership Academy, students were huddled around the doors or sitting on the steps talking amongst each other waiting for school to start, when a smiling young girl broke from her conversation with a group of giggling young girls to greet us, “Good morning snowflakes!” 

Shelby and the Rainbow Road, Day 4

There is something about this trip that completely exceeds my expectations on everything. I'm trying to view that as a sign of my future growth. For example, I had no idea that the church we are staying at would play such a large role in our trip.

As we cleaned up breakfast and mentally began to prepare for our second day of volunteering, we ran into June, the Trans Coordinator there at All God's Children. She found out that we would be doing work with the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition. Being a transgendered woman herself, she offered to answer any questions we may have. What started as a simple question and answer period quickly developed into June spilling her life story. She had a fascinating life perspective and offered us much insight into one woman's experience with the man to woman change. It was really cool that she was willing to teach us so much, and I never expected to gain so much knowledge just from the place I happened to be staying at.

Our first volunteering project of the day was working with the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition to make safer usage kits and condom kits. Billy from Rainbow Health Initiative met us there to be a supervisor of sorts over the assembly line we formed. The condom kits were first. We attacked our individual duties with zeal and were done soon, moving on to the safer usage kits. One of these kits was for safer usage of smoking crack, and the other was safer usage for injecting heroin. Some in our group were a little uncomfortable with making the kits, and understandably so. It did seem a little strange to be making things to help those who are addicted to drugs, but the intentions really are good. It's unrealistic to believe that you can stop everyone from abusing substances, but eliminating risk of exposure to diseases and infection really does make a difference. It's an interesting way to approach the problem, and I believe it was a new experience for everyone on our trip.

Our second bout of volunteering for the day was done for the Minnesota AIDS Project with Pride Alive. Pride Alive is an organization that works to improve the health of gay and bisexual men. The event we were working was making more condoms with local gay men. It had developed into a social event for Pride Alive, with pizza and soft drinks available, comfy couches to lounge on while creating the kits, and a large tv for our viewing pleasure. Had Glee been back on yet, we were told it would have surely been the show of choice. These condom kits were a bit more graphic and attention-getting, but at this point we were already considering ourselves condom-kit pros.

It was really fun to talk to all the men there. A few of them were affiliated with Delta Lambda Phi, a nationally known fraternity founded by gay men for all men. Some of the DLP men had recently visited the University of Kansas for a conference. Small world! It took me a little bit to try to talk to them; they were really engaged in their conversations that I kept listening in on. As soon as I broke into their circle, they were very charming and fun. We hugged goodbye. :)

We got back to the church right as a fundraising banquet for the Equality Riders from Soulforce was ending. Soulforce is an organization that is dedicated to relentless nonviolent resistance to achieve equality for LGBTQ people. They were almost getting ready to leave, but we had time to talk to a few and help them write affirming messages in easter eggs for the students at North Central University.

Very full and fun day!

Day Two in Richmond

This morning as we were gathering in the foyer of St. Stephens to leave and go to our Volunteer site, some of the early classes of children who attend the preschool at the church were arriving.  These children were dropped off in luxury cars by parents in business suits.  This was a stark contrast to the Peter Paul Development Center, which provides a bus service to pick the children up from school and then drop them off at home after 6 pm because the neighborhoods are not safe and many of their parents have no car to pick them up in.  How they get there is such a little part of the education experience, one that I don’t normally think about, but this made me really consider how big the disparities in access to resources are for low socioeconomic status kids. 

This morning was our first day volunteering at Glen Lea elementary school in Richmond, where we were each placed in a class room from 9 am until the end of the school day at 2 pm.  I was in a kindergarten classroom with 20 students, all of African American background, as most of the students at this school are.  I adored the kindergarteners I worked with, who were really sweet kids.  It was so fun to play with them and talk to them!  They were all really clingy to the new volunteer, about half of them constantly hovering around me, wanting to hold my hand as we walked to lunch and recess and back.  Their teacher was a good sport because they were so excited, but I’m sure it probably frustrated her that they kept talking to me and walking next to me when they were supposed to be walking silently in a single file line.  One thing that struck me about the kindergarteners was that they seemed to have a relative lack of discipline.  Of course, kindergarteners in general are a rambunctious bunch, which contributed somewhat to their behavior, but they generally had trouble focusing for long on assignments and following basic instructions even after being told several times.  That being said, they were still a very energetic and bright bunch who were relatively well behaved, just energetic and lacking personal discipline skills as of yet.  I think that they benefit from individual treatment, because when I was talking to them one on one or in small groups they were much better behaved and responsive to my rules for the most part, but in the large group setting they didn’t want to settle down and focus.   I really like the kids in my class and I’m looking forward to volunteering again with them tomorrow! 

Work at Peter Paul has been much more individualized so far, which some group members like better because it makes it feel more like we are making an impact.  Today I worked with a fourth grader on her social studies and language arts homework, helping her to focus and get it done.  She was a relatively soft-spoken girl who said she likes to read, but like most of the students Peter Paul serves, is somewhat behind grade level on this skill.  Really, she read the words really well, and what I had to help her with the most was comprehension; she was more likely to spout back exactly what she read until I helped her focus on figuring out what her text was actually saying.  With such large elementary schools full of kids who are even more behind than her in this neighborhood, I can see exactly why teachers would just accept a reiteration of the text as proof that students actually did their work without requiring more of the students.  I’m glad to have gotten the chance to help her with comprehension, because not only did she get more out of her homework that way and seem genuinely motivated, but I feel that I learned new skills about communicating facts in a different way and expressing myself to kids of different backgrounds. 

Day 2: Marva and Anne, my heroes

Memphis, Tennessee: Day Two-Woke up early today and met the most friendly gardener in the entire world Anne. Anne works with a church, St. Patrick's, and helps run a community ran garden. People maintain it throughout the year, but it needs a kick start at the beginning of the spring weather. So we were put to the task, Memphis team shoveled, pulled weeds, lawn mowed, tilled, dumped dirt, et cetera. A long day in the sun can be especially rewarding. And yes I got tan--winning. 

     We also got to work with a local, Marva. She lives in the neighborhood with two children and frequently helps with the garden with Anne. She was so nice and full of wisdom that I could only wish to ever had. Once I told her about me being a political science major, she told me of the days when she lobbied for a women rights group and how she interpreted the political system. She gave me some advice that I have never thought about completely. She helped us do everything, and it was great to actually get the chance to work with someone straight from the Memphis area. I hope we get to work with more people that I have such experiences like Marva.

   Yes, the day was a long one, but it was more than worth it. I have learned that gardening is not our purpose, but rather to give back to the community. These gardens are supplying the neighborhood with a food supply straight from nature. Communities need to know where their food comes from, and GrowMemphis is a great program in which supplies this ideology. I'm proud to be a part of such an opportunity. Environmental action is important for the community in order to promote the connection with the nature. Plus, the other day we learned about the city wanting to take down the local greenhouse. Social action is important for the sake of the community. 

Peter Paul: Day Four

DAY FOUR
Tuesday / March 20, 2012
Today marks the fourth consecutive day  for the Peter Paul Development posse in Richmond, Virginia. On this beautiful Tuesday, I was excited to finally get more involved with the kids and go full force into the classrooms, absorbing as much as I can about their lives and the neighborhoods that these kids derive from. During the duration of the week, I will be placed in different classrooms and the first teacher I was placed with was Ms. Reed.

In her class of roughly 19 students, I was solely focused on assisting one particular student named Calvon. Alongside Calvon, I also helped a little girl named Alaunna since she was also behind in the class. I helped them type on the laptops to create sentences from their spelling words, as well as helped touch base on the early explorers of North America such as Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon. Calvon, specifically, had issues with focusing and effectively being able to produce a sentence with the words that were given. I had to keep most of my attention on him and was told to write for him on his assignments, as well as having to spoon-feed him the answers. In many ways, I wish they would give him more of an opportunity to do it himself, even though I completely understand that he is so much farther behind all the other students. What's shocking though is that even the other students are struggling with the curriculum, in which is behind compared nationally. It isn't an easy task trying to teach kids to read to learn, when they haven't even learned to read. It's a constant struggle. Overall, I see that the school systems in this area need increased funding and assistance to help allow these students to grow academically.

After this, there was also a brief practice tornado drill and we then went back into the classroom to begin on math problems. In math, they focused on the geometric shapes and the differences between their edges, faces, and sides. Following math, it was then time for lunch and recess. Lunch was awkwardly placed and they had it as early as 10:00 A.M.! Seeing as hectic as it was in the lunchroom though, I completely understand why they scattered the lunch times like they did with the abundant amount of students and how there was not much supervision in the lunchroom. Another thing that I noticed about the cafeteria is the lack of food options. Many of the kids did not necessarily have healthy choices when picking their food, with countless students picking food such as Doritos and a greasy taco salad. Even when picking the healthy options though, not much food was provided to the kids and they were not given adequate time to eat. Recess was right after lunch and during this, I got to know one of the girls named Saddiya. She was one sassy, little girl pulling me along wherever she went and commanding me to go down the slide with her, as well as push her on the swing. While we hung out, she told me about her siblings a little bit saying how she had around 12 brothers and sisters on her father's side and 5 on her mother's. I was stunned by that number, but I was also reminded of what was stated yesterday while I was at the Peter Paul Development Center and how those living in poverty are more likely to have more children due to the increased funding through welfare.

After this, we went straight to the Peter Paul Development Center. There, they provided us a meal that they normally give to the children. The meal was absolutely delicious and filling, consisting of baked and seasoned chicken, a huge pile of sweet potatoes, and some tasty green beans. When I was done eating, I was then able to help with Mr. Ted's class again. Since my student that I had helped on Monday, Dominic, was not there I was assigned to help a sixth grade girl named Octavia. Ted told me that Octavia was one of the smartest and most respectful students at the Center and I completely agree with that statement. She was extremely bright and worked well on her own. During my time with her we worked on long-division, read a book called "Romeo and Juliet Code" by Phoebe Stone, and even had a few extra minutes to spare to play a game online called "Fireboy and Watergirl". It was an absolute blast working with her and she is a prime example of how the program is helping young individuals like her. I am so excited for her to go out and make an impact in the world and it's great to see how this organization is making a difference in these kids lives.

Rainbow Health Initiative - Julie

Day 1
Saturday we arrived in Minneapolis and was greeted by Reverend Kevin ("Rev Kev") as we call him! He graciously took us all out to dinner and gave us a mini tour of Minneapolis. Even though our volunteerism isn't directly helping his church, he seemed so happy to host us and glad that we are helping the LGBT community. By the way he was treating us, you would have thought we would be on a mission trip to his church. The first night sleeping on the floor of the church was a bit unpleasant. I wish I could say I was excited to "rough it" (even though others are actually camping) but I would be lying if I said I enjoyed laying down on the floor and waking up at 7am to go to the YMCA to shower. However, since then I haven't thought about it at all. That first night gave me a real insight into what it is like to be without a bed and a shower every night. It made me think about what a process it is for some people, to be able to find a bed somewhere, then travel over a mile just to shower in another facility. I think that first night definitely set the tone for the trip to allowing myself to be open to new experiences, only I didn't know how much more was in store.

Day 2
Sunday morning was one the most exciting times for me. We attended the church service (lead by Rev Kev) and it was like nothing I had expected. Coming from a traditional Catholic background, I was very set and ground in the routines of the Catholic church. Even though the routine was somewhat similar (songs, sermon and communion) the message was a lot different. The service began by singing "we shall overcome" then segued into Rev Kev's sermon, about accepting each individual and comparing Jesus as a radical, then during communion we sang "wade in the water" which had a rock feel to it. It was so much fun to sing these songs in the church! My favorite part, which was the least expected was when June, a transgender, read "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. It combined so many cultural elements with members of the congregation commenting during the poem, giving her praise and support with things like "Say it. Uh huh. That's right." And the fact that an African-American Transgender woman was reading the poem -looking into a sea of all sorts of "misfits" as modern society would have called them. It was truly one of the most memorable experiences I think I can ever take with me.
Another thing I enjoyed about the church is that they put all financial information printed inside the program. It told you exactly what the church received last week in donations, offering and etc. It also told you how much it cost to run the facilities of the church and you could see how far or behind the church was financially. I thought this was extremely effective, it made ME feel like a part of the church, and when I saw they were behind, I wanted to help! There was no secrecy, no sort of elitist club or hierarchy, and being able to see what the church is bringing in and putting back out financially allows each member to feel just as important as the beacon.

Day 3
This was our first day of actual volunteering. We began by going to Rainbow Health Initiative and met Billy, our volunteer coordinator. He gave us each a transgendered individual to look up and research. He also gave us a sheet explaining how to address transgendered individuals, and a basic journey most of them have to take which answered questions about how most see themselves and what they must go through. We then proceeded to stuff envelopes and broke for dinner.
Later that evening we went to Minnesotans United for All Families to phone bank. We received an hour training about how to talk to voters on the phone about gay & lesbian marriage issues, and how to respond when presented with different problems. Initially starting, I felt terrified to call my first voter. Even though I have talked to many individuals about how passionately I feel that gay and lesbians should have the same rights as others, I have always inputed my personal opinion (which may sometimes become a little heated.) I went through nearly 15 calls before I was able to talk to my first voter. Although many callers hung up after they heard me say "gay and lesbian marriage" I did have 2 voters, out of the 40 I called support the issue. I was beginning to feel a little discouraged before I dialed the number to a 77 year old female thinking "this can't be good" when a woman named Julie picked up the phone. I began my spiel and she said "honey, you're so nervous. Calm down and start again." I then took a deep breath and began again. She then went on to tell me that she supported the issue and gave me tips on how to get the voters attention immediately when picking up the phone. She ended the conversation by saying "just wanted to you let you know, that I'm 77 and not all old people are against gay marriage" and we laughed and I thanked her for everything. She brought so much light to my evening as many of the other voters on the phone afterward were not so supportive, but being able to connect with a stranger over a topic we both feel so strongly about was such a positive experience.

Day 4 


The next day we began by working on safer sex kits and safer usage kits. I was unsure what "safer usage" kits meant until Billy explained to us it safer crack and heroine kits. This was something that forced me out of my comfort zone initially. I felt wary of making kits for drug abusers, even if the goal was to make it safer while they use. I took a brief second to reflect and decided that this is what this trip was about - coming out of my comfort zone. While I understand the goal is not do make you do things you are against, I think it allowed me to see another perspective and put myself in another person's place for an afternoon. While making these kits it really made me think about just how many others there are out there who lead completely different lifestyles. We made hundreds upon hundreds of kits. At the end of the day, I would like to think we potentially save hundred and hundreds of lives and stopped the spread of HIV.
Later that evening we went to "Pride Alive" partnered with the Minnesota Aids Project and continued to make safer sex kits. The environment there was so welcoming and friendly. Everyone sat on couches in smaller circles and chatted and laughed the night away as we made kits. Seeing so many different people come out for different organizations was a real eye-opener of just how many people care about the same topics as you. We found some fellow college kids and began many conversations with them and left as friends!

Day 5
Today we delivered meals with "Open Arms." Open Arms is a meal delivery service to people with special needs including HIV/AIDS/Cancer victims and others. When we first arrived at the building I was astonished how industrial and professional it appeared. It seemed to be a well oiled machine with each individual preparing and packing a certain item. Initially I thought it would be something like a community kitchen in a church, but this certainly seemed to be a well functioning establishment. By delivering meals throughout Minneapolis and surrounding urban neighborhoods it really gave us a chance to see the city as a whole. There is so much character and quirks you see in the neighborhoods that you wouldn't have had a chance to just driving through the main drags as a tourist. We each took turns delivering meals and even though I only delivered one meal, my resident was so gracious to receive the bag of goods from Open Arms. What I thought about during reflection is how much of a process this way. So many volunteers put their time and efforts into making this food, others into coordinating directions, and us as the final step in delivery. Each part is essential to getting these people their food and it is fundamental to work together as a team to do so.

Day 6
Today we worked with The Aliveness Project. This was one of the most inspiring places we worked with just because of their variety of services they offered to individuals who are HIV positive. They not only have a food pantry, they also have a full kitchen that cooks lunch and dinner every day of the week, volunteer chiropractors, acupuncturists and even veterinary services are available. Our jobs consisted of mostly ironing aprons in preparation for an upcoming fundraiser, and folding and mailing pamplets. It sounds easy enough but it took the full day to get all of it done. While we were working, we had a man who is HIV positive volunteer to talk to us and answer questions about the disease and life with the disease as we worked. Everyone we encountered there was so friendly and open to any questions we had, it was such a welcoming environment. I really felt like this was one place that was truly working together to make life better in so many different aspects to people living with HIV. They were so grateful to have us working there and fed us lunch in their cafeteria (I can vouch for their delicious pie.) It was great to be able to interact with other volunteers and members living with HIV. Another cool aspect of this place is that there are no fees for services or memberships, you only need to have a physician prove that you are HIV positive.

Day 7
Today we went around Minneapolis flying for Billy consisting of many different organizations and pamphlets. Probably the most challenging of the days because it was the least interactive with organizations and often challenging when we would get lost on our way to the next destination. It allowed us to see more of the city in various ways which was a huge plus, especially for our last day on the job and to be able to go into local businesses we might otherwise pass over. Initially while doing the project, it was hard to feel like I was being super productive just hanging posters and postcards on a wall, but after a while it hit me that we hit over 20 business with several flyers at each place advertising places to go for transgendered health support, places to drop off dirty needles, and health and wellness groups for the LGTBQ community in general. It made me realize that even how little our efforts may seem, every bit has the opportunity to help someone. Even hanging a flyer creates awareness and responsibility for others and that is something we can't take fore granted.