Gay Charlotte - Natalie - Day 3

We had some trouble getting up on time this morning. But again, after inserting caffeine directly into our veins (not really), we managed to haul ourselves out of the gym of St. John’s Baptist Church, outside into the fresh air and onto a trolley.

Hopping aboard the trolley! Note Flat Jay floating to the right.

 We had a few hours off until we needed to be at the LGBT Community Center so we headed into downtown Charlotte, or, as Reverend Foust here at the church told us, uptown, as it contains the highest point in the city. We abruptly decided to go to the Mint Museum, a contemporary art museum with a bomb exhibit called “Fairytales, Fantasy, and Fear.” If you’re ever here in Charlotte, get on up there.

A gorgeous church across the street from the Mint Museum.

Mid-afternoon we headed over to the community center and helped catalog some LGBT films and CDs in the center’s database that are available for checkout for the general public. We were fortunate enough to meet Hannah and Solita, some of the organizers of SMASH, (Stopping Mecklenburg's Acceleration of Syphilis and HIV) an organization that provides free HIV testing.

We also got to meet the members of the board of the center, including Roberta Dunn, a activist in the transgender and LGBT community in Charlotte. They introduced us to what they were in the midst of doing, and let me tell you, that is a bunch of really connected and amazing people doing some impactful work.

The group with the members of the board of the LGBT Center.

The church had a picnic this evening that we unfortunately had to miss, but the nice people here made us personal leftovers that were there when we got back from the center in the evening. After that we decided to play kickball and basketball in the gym of the church. Only three of us hurt ourselves and I’d say that’s a pretty good average.

Also, Mitch would like me to tell you that he “really balled it up.” Which he did.

-Natalie Parker

Gay Charlotte - Drew - Day 2

Thus far, the second day of our trip has been just as eventful as the first.

Our day began in Nashville, where we stayed overnight in halfway housing. After a much needed coffee pit stop, we were off.

Everyone in Lady Donatella, our lovely Chrysler Town and Country

7 hours later, we arrived at St. John's Baptist Church, where we will be staying for the next week. Everyone we have talked to thus far has been extremely kind and helpful. We even have mattresses to sleep on! With a full kitchen, lounge, really hot showers, and gym skates, we could not have asked for more.

 Our beds, in a circle formation  :)

And endless supply of (probably painful) fun!

From St. John's, we went to the LGBT Resource Center of Charlotte and met with O'Neale Atkinson, one of the main coordinators and our principle contact for setting up our Break. After a brief tour of the building, we discussed the many activities, events, and projects the Center will be hosting in the future. We learned that in the coming months the Center would like to relocate to Plaza Midwood, a downtown area in Charlotte, where it will be more effective in providing the city, and especially the LGBT community, with fun and engaging programming.

I was particularly interested in the voting statistics that O'Neale told us about on Amendment One. While ultimately the legislation passed by around 60%, the city of Charlotte voted against the measure by nearly 85%. In particular, Plaza Midwood voted against the Amendment by an overwhelming 95%. These statistics  show that the Center has done a lot to improve attitudes towards the LGBT community in Charlotte, even if the state as a whole has not seen as much progress.

I can't wait to begin work at the site tomorrow!

-Drew Harger

Gay Charlotte - Natalie - Day 2

After pumping our bodies full of caffeine at McDonald’s, we got on the road out of Nashville. My group blasted reggae, Beyonce, and they even let me listen to a few One Direction songs.

The group with Danielle, the archaeologist whose apartment we stayed at on our first night on the road. Note my awkward attempted wink.

We arrived in Charlotte around 4 p.m. and were greeted by some very nice people at St. John’s Baptist Church, where we’re staying all week. Southern hospitality isn’t just a rumor! It’s real!

Later we visited the LGBT Center of Charlotte for a while and got to tour the facilities. We also met our main contact, a very nice man with a very nice southern accent, O’Neale. He recommended a diner in an area of Charlotte called Plaza Midwood, otherwise known as the “Gayborhood.” We explored that area a bit and then went to, arguably, the most exciting place on our trip so far.

Target. I’m aware that this isn’t the most climactic thing I could have said, but let me explain: this Target had a parking garage. It was amazing.

After our epic Target run, we decided to try and FIND THE INTERNET. Or, you know, get some Wifi. We went uptown and sat in a shopping center in an attempt to bum a signal from one of the surrounding businesses. After an hour of looking and four dollars for parking, we eventually got connected.

Here’s the kicker though – when we got back to the church, we found out that it actually had had Wifi all along. Oh golly. It wasn’t all for naught though - we got to witness some of the unique nightlife here in Charlotte.

After our Internet adventure, the whole group seemed a lot closer. We had a pretty intense Harry Potter discussion while playing Harry Potter Uno before bed and even developed nicknames for every member of the group. Drew is Queen B, Blake is Wingz, Leah is Bojangles, Mitch is You Know Who, Ashley is Snarks, Rachel is Angsty, and due to that whole WiFi incident I’m Hotspot.

We’re all getting acclimated to each other and discovering our different opinions about government, religion and the like. With a group like this, politics are always going to crop up in conversation, but so far we’ve kept it pretty educational. No one has blown up at anyone else and I feel like I’m learning a ton from the people around me. That’s not to say that you can go and mention Ann Coulter or Billy Graham around this group without a response – because we will certainly have a lot to say.

We’ll be starting our work for the center tomorrow! Have a beautiful day.

-Natalie Parker

Give Kids the World Day 1

We made it to Florida! It was a 24 hour drive that took up two days, but here we are! The ten of us arrived around 3pm this afternoon and went straight to work at 5 at Give Kids the World.

Here we are stopping halfway in Huntsville, AL for the night:

Here is where we're staying in Florida:

 Our street

 our house

our pool!

Aw, yeah. Welcome to Florida. It's super hot and muggy as anyone would expect. The rain and storms come out of nowhere, even more so than in Kansas!

Today I was scheduled to work a pool party with 6 other students in our group, but with it being Florida, a storm came up, so we were moved inside.  It was a hula themed party, so I handed out leis and danced with kids and their families. It was awesome. I stuck by one little girl a lot of the time while dancing. She was absolutely adorable. She was one of the wish kids, and I'm not positive on her age, but she didn't even come up to my hips in height. We did the hokey pokey and the chicken dance among many others. During the chicken dance, I was her partner and at the time when you link arms and go in circles around each other, she would grab my arm  in any direction and take us in circles even is we were facing the same direction. The best part about the whole night was the smile on her face. And when her mom and (I believe) grandma joined us and started dancing, there was no embarrassment on their faces while dancing like chickens on a stage, they were there to have fun and enjoy their time with this girl. It was beautiful. I wish I could describe the joy on their faces.

After all, that's why I came here. My whole goal this week is to bring happiness to these families. I look forward to going back tomorrow.

Gay Charlotte - Natalie - Day 1

Day one began at 9 a.m. at the Lied Center and, of course, I forgot something. But, my group, being comprised of the awesome people that they are, agreed to swing by my house and pick up my lonely, forgotten toiletry bag.

That was the beginning of the day. We broke out our brand new KU Alternative Break T-shirts for our first stop along the way, deep inside Tiger territory – the Steak n’ Shake in Columbia, MO. There we met an inquisitive older lady who asked us what we were headed to do. We responded and she eagerly told us about her nephew who she said had just come out to his family. She told us that she supported him and made sure he knew he was loved. We definitely were not expecting to come across, as Drew put it, “an ally” so quickly into our trip. I think this experience helped to break some of the expectations we had about what we are going to be heading into.

Next we headed through St. Louis, Illinois, and then into Kentucky.  We entertained ourselves with staring contests, crossword puzzles, an abundance of tweeting and a debate about the benefits of llama farming. Yes, you read that correctly. Leah introduced us to “underground hip-hop” and we played Spot the Weirdest Billboard (Hot Tasty Butts, anyone?).

One of my favorite things so far has been witnessing the three men on our trip enjoying traditionally recognized “girl stuff.” Drew definitely sang Rihanna (I heard it!), Mitch loved the Princess Bride and Blake revealed his not-so-secret penchant for Wicked.

Later on, amidst our three-hour wait behind an eight-car pile-up, I decided that I had to use the bathroom. In an effort to entertain ourselves during the wait and to distract me from my need to utilize the facilities, we decided to develop a complex horror scenario in which Blake was the sociopathic murderer fueled by his anger at the various members of our group. I, of course, was the first one to die.

Finally, we made it out of the traffic and had a 10 p.m. dinner at McDonalds. A nice man took this photo of us perfecting the sorority squat:

Tribal masks greeted us as soon as we stepped into our stop for the night – an archaeologist’s apartment in Nashville, KY. We had one queen bed and us women being the breaking-gender-stereotypes-kind we decided to give it to the guys. A good finish to day one.

Somehow none of us can seem to remember where any of the others are from whether it’s Topeka, Olathe, or the OP, but that doesn’t really matter. We know where we’re going - at least until the GPS fails us.

See you tomorrow!

-Natalie Parker

Gay Charlotte - Drew - Day 1

So, I'm not really good at the whole blogging thing, but here goes...

Despite day one consisting of 12+ hours of driving, my Alternative Summer Break to the LGBT Resource Center of Charlotte, NC has, so far, been quite eventful. We stopped in Columbia, MO at Steak n’ Shake, where we met an unexpected ally in an older Missourian woman - we made sure to sport our KU apparel the whole time. From there, we continued on our way through St. Louis and saw the Arch, into Illinois, through Kentucky, and into Tennessee.

During that time, we watched Princess Bride, Mitch read “Savage Inequalities”, and Natalie and I finished TWO crossword puzzles without cheating (that much)! Blake rocked the Beyonce, Leah discussed her book’s “llamas”, Ashley got Blake’s hopes up about going to a karaoke joint in Nashville, and Ashley continued driving despite standstill traffic after an eight vehicle accident. 


Then, the entire group cooked up an entire horror story about what would happen if we stopped at a random house along the way for a bathroom break. Long story short, Mitch and I fought over who had to hold the weapon – a club – for which there was much tension, Rachel ran to get the authorities, Natalie and Ashley died, Blake was the killer, and Leah and Blake had a dramatic final battle scene. Sure, it doesn’t have much to do with social advocacy, but it was definitely hilarious.


This trip is going to be awesome.


-Drew Harger

Huntsville, Alabama: Southern Hospitality and Community Gardens.

1:23am: I arrive at one of our site leader's, Lisa's, apartment.  After a long weekend of dog-sitting in Kansas City, I've agreed to be chauffeur for the other lovely ladies of our group--Jenny, Kassy, Meghan, and Caroline, so that our fearless drivers--Kassy and Lisa--can be well rested for our four a.m. departure.  A two hour nap on Lisa's futon and I'm off, and before I know it, we're watching the sunrise as we make our way through Missouri.
7:33am: In Columbia, MO (home of Mizzou) we find a pleasant surprise amongst the bewildered stares in McDonald's:  A Jayhawk, my guess would be around 80 years old, is enduring the friendly jests of his Missouri friends as we eat quietly one booth over.  We were so excited when he introduced himself, and, with faces full of love and pride, we gathered for a group photo (in which, I might add, our new Jayhawk friend looked quite studly with three ladies on each arm).
12:42pm: We are still in Missouri! Goodness, this state goes on and on forever.
1:24pm: It is my pleasure to say we are finally out of Missouri, and in Tennessee, and the our first dose of Southern accents is an absolutely delightful experience. Everywhere we stop, people are curious to know what we are doing "So far from home?" and we always smile and say "We've been given the opportunity to help people in Alabama through a wonderful Service Learning program at the University of Kansas. We are so excited." And of course, we are.
3:12pm: We've hit Tennessee and Missippi, and are nearing Alabama.  The long day seems to go on forever, and I'm hoping that Huntsville looks a little happier than the backwoods neighborhoods of Mississippi.

4:00pm: We've made it to the border!  As you can tell from such a candid photo, we've had quite a ride in "Earnest Bruce the Third," or "EB3," as we have dubbed our mighty vehicle of transportation.
5:35pm: We FINALLY roll into Huntsville, AL.  We've passed a lot of water (a first time sighting of the Mississippi river for me) and, since I'm no good with geography, I have no idea how far from the coast we are, but it feels like a water state. The air here is nice and fresh, and the breeze is beautiful; nothing like the Kansas gusts of May, June, and July.  Our residence contact greets us at the United First Methodist Church, which has been so gracious as to offer us housing until the end of our trip. The "Give Kids the World" group, destined for Kissimmee, FL, is staying with us this first night. Unfortunately since they have an early start the next day, we only have time for friendly hugs and hellos before they head off to bed to get a good nights rest before another day of travel. We, on the other hand, have decided to take in our first dose of Huntsville.  We start with some of the most delicious pizza I've ever had at Sam & Greg's Pizzeria--a block from our church-home, and "The best in Huntsville" according to the locals we meet.

 It's this great little restaurant, lots of atmosphere, and totally awesome southern accents (according to Lisa, I apparently turned apple red when one of the server boys said "Excuse me" in a deep southern accent. What can I say? He said it with such suave.) Then we are off to explore the rest of downtown. We quickly come across a lovely little park, and it has such beautiful views we decide we must explore it again when we have more time, but for now we must get back to unload and shop for groceries. It has been a long day and a long journey, (for me, basically two days meshed into one continuous) but we are so happy to be here and experience this. We've already made about a gazillion inside jokes (#yahtzee #dinglehopper!) and we know it can only get better from here.
10:32pm: We are showered, and lights are going out. We have an early morning for college students tomorrow--7:30am in the CASA garden, but we are so excited.

-Tasha Cerny, CASA Summer Alternative Break, 2012