One more Spike

Well, I am back in SC for transition. Its hard to beleive that on Thursday I will depart from base in a van for the last time. We are going to Lafayette for 2.5 weeks, and then we will return to base. Its our last project and now that I know I am not coming back as a Team Leader, I am looking to the end.

I am looking for a job in forest fire work...or I might end up working for Habitat for Humanity. Nothing is certain right now. All I know for sure is that I can rent a storage unit in Charlotte for 40 bucks a month and sleep at the party house for free until I figure things out. Its great to have friends with couches.

Popso, a good friend of mine here is planning on saving some money and trying to go live in Peru for 2 months to help build an orphange. Man, doesnt that sound great?

Tonight, I am going to a RiverDogs baseball game with my teammate Tori. She got a team leader job so she wont be with us on our last project. I'll miss her greatly (together we form the superhero team of Tornando and Lorenzo, bog duo).

--DAlen

LA, here we come...again

Sure enough, we are getting sent back to Louisiana. We will be working the United Way of Abbeville, and staying...get this, right next to my old high school in Cade, LA. I am pretty stoked, and once again it seems my life has moved in a complete circle. Gonna hang out at ESA and reminisce.

We helped to do this, here in Slidell. http://www.ob.org/programs/disaster_relief/news/2006/dr_2006_0509_jessicahomemakeover.asp

Somehow, I am 25 now. That seems kind of crazy to me. It seems like yesterday I was a freshmen in college. Of course, if I get a fire job, I might back to school to learn some ecology stuff and get a pay increase. That would be sweet. I am applying for fire jobs left and right.

Thanks for the comment BillR...and of course thanks to all my other faithfull readers as well. My weblog is still advertisement free, although I can apparently make money if I put up ads. Would y'all mind ads? I hate them, but of course I also dont really like being poor and getting money for nothing is what this seems like. Maybe i'll wait a little first. I think I'm gonna start selling plasma as its apparently pretty lucrative.

Off to bed to rest for gutting. love y'all,

--Lorenzo

To the med clinic batman...

Well, its been almost a week, and not much has changed. Day after day we are still working our butts off, removing debris from houses, and then removing the walls and ceilings. Often we also remove carpet and padding from the floors. Its amazing how different the places are before and after. We also seem to change from clean to dirty, the exact opposite of the houses. today was the hardest day we have done so far. Our house had roughly 6 inches of mud throughout, not to mention all of the "stuff" these people had which was basically just stirred around into a big soup of mud and crud.

Lesson #1: As you get older, you should save more memories but less other stuff.
When you get to the point that you are not capable of moving by yourself or gutting your own home in case of catastrophic activities, maybe you should try and cut back on your general stuffage. I have already made an agreement with my teammate Sarah that if I have as much stuff as we are pulling out of these houses when I am old, she is going to punch me in the stomach and yell at me to "get rid of all your crap!"

Lesson #2: Dont become the contents of your house.
This is a variation on the classic quote by Tyler Durden, my personal hero, "the things you own will end up owning you." Its also a variation on "youre not the contents of your wallet." Obtaining stuff and making that stuff your life is only setting you up to be easily broken through the destruction of your stuff, and thus the vicarious destruction of your self. Become stronger as your progress through life. Dont invest time and money into your stuff, weakening who you are. Become your abilities, thoughts, and emotions. Become your company of friends and family. Dont become a couch owner, and kitchen ware user, or a car driver. Become more. Be Great!

Tommorrow I have volunteered to work at the medical clinic. We get the day off of gutting, and some of the people on my team will be bug-busting (visiting houses with unkept pools to inject fish and larvacide into the cess). I am working at a medical clinic, probably sorting pills all day. I get to wear shorts, which beats the amount of sweating I have been doing in Tyvek suits lately. Its been crazy. Never sweated this much in my life.

Time for a team challenge to hopefully find out our next Spike project. I have a feeling we are getting sent to Lafayette, which of course would be sweet.

love y'all. --Leroi

and then there was a message...

So, I have been thinking alot lately about wanting to be in NCCC, and not getting my TL spot. I have been trying to figure out where I went wrong. I have been praying alot.

Then, I got up this morning and went to work. Before we began our tasks, our supervisor, a local pastor stopped us to give us a little talk. He thanked us for our efforts and told us that indeed it was the true gospel, the idea of service, that we woere doing and that God was happy and in all of us everyday that we are here. His words were something to the effect of "Sometimes you dont get the job you want, but doing it anyway, working for others, is the way it is meant to be and makes us better." This is God's love for us and for everyone. It was chilling that he used those words, as if he was speaking directly to me. Combining this with the email that I received from Adam telling me that God would put me where I was suppoed to be has really comforted me. NCCC is not my place after I graduate in June. I dont know why, but I do know that it is not my place, and wherever I land, will be where I am supposed to be.

Tommorrow we are bug patrol, preventing the millions of mosquitoes from breeding in the stagnant bodies of water behind destroyed houses all over this area. I might be on TV, but more importantly I will be making a difference.

Love y'all,

--Luke

the only thing worse than a girl not wanting you...

...is when you really want a job, and the people you want to work for dont want to hire you. I got my denial letter back from AmeriCorps NCCC. They dont want me to be a team leader. They dont even want to keep me as an alternate.

So, it looks like I will apply to work with Habitat for Humanity back in Charlotte. They wanted me as a worker last year. Maybe they will want me again this year...or maybe I will get a real moneymaker job and become rich. Or maybe I will work in fire. I have a lot of options to look in to, but its really hard to think about other things when I wanted to be in NCCC so badly. It sucks.

I was pulled aside from my team today to work on a special project with my team leader and another member of my team. I think I was pulled away because the project we were working needed extra work, extra fast, and some of it required extra ability. I feel like these are the three reasons I was chosen, and yet it seems like NCCC doesnt want these 3 things in the package of me to remain a part of their organization.

Tommorrow is another day, and now I cant wait until I get out.

Gutted our first house today

Today was our first day of real work. We wore full Tyvek suits, respirators, gloves, hardhats, and safety glasses. Sweating is an understatement. It was like I was a bucket of water with holes in it...but at least I didnt lose my house and everything I own.

This particular lady did. There ended up being about 1.5 ft of water in her house, and the house itself remained dirty and destroyed until today. That over 6 months that this house was unusable. We went in there and in one day removed everything that was of no more use, ripped out all the sheet rock, and took everything out to the street to be hauled away. She was so gratefull as well. I created a quote for one of my press releases, but today, I really did feel that "smiles were my paycheck."

all I could think about while I worked in this mold covered interior was how crappy it would have been to have owned all this stuff and then lose it. It makes me not want to own stuff. It makes me want to convince other people about how temporary "stuff" is. It makes me want to somehow move beyond this desire to buy things, to not become the contents of my wallet, to not become my khakis.

I feel like I might not be able to go back to a life of happy apathy...not caring about the suffering I dont see, but I still no exists. I have experienced it first hand and maybe a part of me envies those out there who choose to not know, and live their lives as though the rest of world is as content as them.

--Leroi
be great

Tommorrow...finally doing DR

Tommorrow is the big day. Ever since we started training in this program I have wanted to get down to the Gulf Coast to do disaster releif. We will be travelling to Slidell, Louisiana, working with Operation Blessing. http://www.ob.org/ Our tasks will include tarping damaged house roofs and gutting the interiors. It going to be really hard work, but I am glad to be finally going where the need seems to be the largest. Hard work reminds me of my childhood to so...

Also going to finally get to see my parents. Missed them alot and havent seen them since the hurricane hit actually.

Louisiana is kind of my own backyard. I really feel like the southeast is the bigger extension of my yard, by LA is where I grew up. Gonna see some friends and hang out in the humidity, maybe hunt and cook some mosquitoes.

Saturday is National Youth Service Day, where about 600 of us will be in Waveland, MS, working for the morning.

hope all is well with y'all.
be great
--Leroi

Act Fast...CALL NOW!

Life is good. I got sunburned today. I am hanging out with a beautiful girl later. I am going to get to see Mary-Claire, my mom, and my dad later in the month as I return to the state of Louisana. Soon, I will be on the AT. Tommorrow I am working at the Children's Museum (think touchable exhibits). Life is good.

So, all you people out there with free nights and weekends...no I am not wanting to borrow your phone. I need you to make some phone calls on my behalf actually. Well, really they are phone calls on behalf of NCCC, the program I am in and on behalf of all the people who will lose the benefit of us helping them if the government doesnt appropriate money for our existence. So...

NC Reps
Call Richard Burr @ 202-224-3154
Call Elizabeth Dole @ 202-224-6342
Call Charles H. Taylor @ 202-225-6401

Call at night and leave a message. Sample Script: Hello, my name is (name). I'm a constituent, I live in hometown & North Carolina and I'd like to leave a message for the Senator/Representative. I'd like to ask him/her
to oppose the proposed budget cuts that would eliminate the Americorps NCCC program.
NCCC gives thousands of young people each year the opportunity to serve their country and
develop countless skills to build their futures. It also serves many organizations that wouldn't
be able to meet their goals otherwise, such as American public school systems, Habitat for
Humanity, and even the Red Cross with its disaster relief with Katrina. My address is
(home address, not Charleston); I hope to hear back from the Senator/Congress(wo)man as to how (s)he plans to address this issue. Thank you. Good-bye.

The end is near!

Only a few more days until the kids go on spring break...then its only a few more days of work for us...then I go on spring break. Pretty stoked. It looks like I am going to get some time on the AT finally and the weather is going to be amazing!

for some reason I have that Gloria song stuck in my head...that one from the '80s.

I feel like working at this school is a cartoon, where the boat is sinking and I am plugging the holes, and then another one appears, and then I plug it, and eventually there are too many holes to plug. Its like putting a band-aid on the left arm when the right arm is the one thats injured, and it has been torn completely from the body. But enough of me being negative...I think someday I am going to teach at a Title I school...as soon as I get rich elsewhere and dont need to worry about money.

I shaved my head last night. It feels really good. I am thinking that it might be time to close the mohawk chapter of DAlen's life. My head feels so much less warm now to. I used the number 1 guard...meaning its super short. Everyone is super shocked. Of course, come winter I might miss it and grow it back out again...especially if I end up working with fire as a means of employment. It looks like I need more environmental background.

My Team Leader Interview was last week. It reminded me a lot of my RA interviews...which statistically speaking is a bad thing. Of course, I felt pretty good about it.

Did I mention I'll be hiking some of the AT soon? yeah....i'm excited.

and then we will be doing DR, although it no longer stands for Disaster Relief. Now its Disaster Recovery...ironic that they change the name, even though the work and the acronym stay the same.

Love y'all...LEAVE COMMENTS!!!! I miss my homes.

--DAlen

another kid standing against the wall...

Well, progress is being made. My newest and greatest (read also most chaotic) class is the 6th grade remediation math class. Apparently the teacher has a lack-o-spine, and as a result the children refuse to listen to him...and he seems to ignore this and teach anyway...teach to the loud roar of 20 kids doing whatever they please. Mostly the kids walk around and talk, sometimes they draw on the board or do whatever. Occasionally they fight. There wasnt really much I could do yesterday. So, today, I came up with a plan. The first thing all the kids did was stand against the far wall of the class. I have seen this tactic used very effectively with another one of my classes by that teacher, so I tried it. It took them 20 minutes of short outbursts here and there before they, as a group, were quiet for one minute. Then, I allowed them to take desks that I chose for them. Then I handed the class over to the teacher, who then proceeded to lose control over the whole group, but still retained enough of them to help some of them learn. It was a small victory. I think it will take about 5-7 days of class before they are doing what they should, and then they will start learning. Otherwise, many of them will probably repeat the 6th grade.

Another problem that I discovered (hah...I could probably discover a new problem every day for the next year) was that many of the teachers lack faith in the system, and thus they dont try and work with it. The system requires a teacher to fill out these things called "referals." Many of the teachers feel that doing this gets nothing done, and as a result they dont do them. So, incidently, there is no mountain of paper proving that the system is flawed. If they did the referrals, and then it didnt work, at least then they would be able to hold up the copies and ask "what now?" So, I filled out two referrals on behalf of my teacher today...and in the case of the first girl, she changed her behavior. As for the 2nd boy, he got so mad and furious by my glaring and kind requests to do what he was supposed to do that he eventually put his head on his desk and was silent. DAlen:3 Middle School Monsters-o-fun: 0

On a very very happy note, during my initial referral writing of the first girl, one of here classmates, one that did not particuarly like me, requested I not document her misbehavior. He begged that I leave her alone, and promised he would make the class good, because it wasnt fair. If she gets one more referral, she repeates the 6th grade. Much of the reason behind this is not her fault (but small pieces are) and this is why he requested I not turn in the paperwork. He showed compassion, which really surprised me, and made me hopefull.

Tommorrow is another day...

be great

School? more like chaos on a time schedule...

Well, I started actually doing stuff at work this week. Monday was a wasted day, but tuesday we finally got a schedule and now we are following that schedule and assisting with classes. Some of the classes are fine, but others are pure chaos. I talked to my teachers in the nice class today and told them that I might move to some of the worse classes since they already had things under control. Pretty much, the original description of our project has gone right out the door. There was no obesity problem. There is a discpline problem. In many of the classes, the students do what they want. In one class, the teacher seems to have control, but its only because she spends so much time tongue lashing the kids. I was even confused when she said that she loved kids, stopping several times during that short phrase to reprimand students for not sitting up or not having feet on the ground or breathing too much or no blinking enough. I really do feel she is a product of teaching at a bad school for way too long. Worse yet, it seems like the principle isnt involved at all in the workings of the school, especially since I have yet to talk to him and I am a guest at his school. He was the primary contact to the mayors office who is our sponsor, and yet it seems like he knows the least about whats happening. Luckily, there is a lady who is some sort of admin. person who has her act together and has given us some structure. So, we are tutoring. I'm losing sleep though trying to figure out a way to fix the much larger issue of underfunded school systems and impoverished students who have no future.

On a really bright note, the students in my school are being taught material that seems advanced to what I remember learning in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. In science, they are working with curcuits and electricity, which I dont remember doing much of in the 6th grade. I remember life sciences class being really hard, but I dont remember taking a physics class. Some of my teammates are capable of tutoring some of the subjects because the material is defiantely advanced for kids.

After school today, I went to the high school to pick up my teammate and I played a little soccer with them. It was very enjoyable. I miss soccer. Maybe I'll start going on a regular basis to help coach.

Only one more day until the weekend.

--Will Leroi DAlen

Tommorrow is my big day

Finally, it looks like I will begin work again. tommorrow is our first day at our local education project here in charleston, SC. It appears as though my task will be to combat an obesity problem by optimizing the PE/PT program for middle school students here in North Charleston. Well, actually, I am going to be creating the curriculum, because they strangely enough, dont have one. I am pretty excited...feeling similar to the way Andrew probably felt when he first started teaching (andrewinafrica.blogspot.com).

A lot of people are super ticked that NCCC might be pushed to the wayside...and they are all voicing their opinions...so maybe there is a future yet. Regardless, I am going to be able to finish my term here in June. then, hopefully I will make the cut to be a Team Leader, which guarantees I can work until December. Then, if the budget stands, thats when Charleston runs out of money...so dont worry, i am good for somewhile still. Then, if all else falls through I can work the January-April burn window here in the southeast as a nomadic fire fighter (even though its really more of fire starter position).

Last night I benched 155, and I did it 3 times! thats a record for me, and I still cant get over how much weight it looked like. Thats even after doing 135 8 times and then 145 6 times. Yes, its true, I am a beast. I think the new strength is a combination of the power i get from my mohawk and the fact that i now own an ax for chopping wood.

I found a bulldozer in the woods today.

It appears as though I will be in Charlotte for the weekend of March 10th...Ben is getting married and there is a party at the house? I'm bringing some teammates with, so it should be a good time.

be great
--WiLL DAlen "Leroi"

no more NCCC?

Well, we got some bad news monday. Apparently Bush's new budget doesnt allow for funding for NCCC anymore, so all 5 campuses will be closing down in the new fiscal year. A lot of people are ticked about this, so there is still some chance that the uproar will change some people's minds...if you know a senator now is the time to call him/her. This means that I will be able to still finish out my term of service, but then if I become a team leader, I will likely only get to do that a half year before the shutdown. NCCC has been around for 13 years now, so its going to be really hard on all the organization that bank on support from us. Especially hard hit will be all the habitat for humanity chapters, the nature conservancy throughout the country, and all the schools in the carolinas that depend on our work to help their kids. The department of natural resources will lose all the trail work we do thoughout the country, not to mention who is going to provide over 200 volunteers to work 12 hour days for weeks at a time next time a major disaster happens. All around it sucks.

As for how immediate things are going, we are almost done with our project here in GA. Today was supposed to be our last burn, but the rain came...so we arent burning. Tommorrow we go to North Ga to do some planting for a few days before heading back in Charleston, SC. We just got back from AL a few days ago, burning some pitcher plant bogs there. I was able to act as a squad boss for a crew while we there, working on my task book for my fire fighter type 1 (fft1). Once I finish the task book, I will be able to be a squad boss, and my pay would go up should I decide to stay in presacribed fire/wildfire.

Also, I am now officailly famous, as I was on the radio yesterday talking about AmeriCorps. It was pretty neat to here myself.

Soon, it looks like I will get a chance to come back to charlotte for a weekend...and maybe party it up in the party house.

much love to all my friends and family out there. --DAlen (aka WiLL, aka Leeroy)

its been long, and might be longer...

Here I am in the middle of GA...Vidalia is where I am writing this from and Baxley is where I live. My job is to set fire, and make sure it burns the forest...but nothing else...but its gotta burn the forest, completely, but not kill the trees, but burn the forest. To do this I use a gasoline/ diesel mixture (1:3 ratio) dripped from a flaming torch onto the ground. It glows green at night. Way cool. Also, I use rakes, shovels and other instruments of digging (McLeods, Council Rakes, Chainsaws) to dig what are called fire lines, or handlines when done by hand. These are fire barriers to prevent the fire from moving outside of our fire zones, usually about 100-300 acres at a time. On a good day I wake up mildly clean at 7am, and return home smelling like wonderfull burning foliage with a sooty face sometime around 8pm. On great days we dont burn at all, because at Moody we burn at night. Fire+night=beatifull public service. Its also easier to see at night if the fire spots (i.e. crosses your fire line into areas you dont want burnt...extremely bad when spotting happens, but it rarely happens). Bad days are when the humidity is too high and stuff wont burn, so we wait and do construction or tree planting or trail work or digging hand lines. Tommorrow should be an afternoon/ night burn, and if all goes well we will also burn thursday and friday to. Next week, we might travel to Alabama to burn there (GA and AL are partners). Why you ask? Because long leaf pine forest ecosystems depend on burning. The Nature Conservancy website might have more info on that (www.nature.org). I am a red carded type-2 wildland firefighter and my job is to burn forest. Yesterday and today were non-burn days. Myself and two of my coworkers transformed normal, lame ATVs into super fire machines. We affixed a torch/tank to the front which allows burning fuel to be sprayed into the forest about 20 feet, while driving. Thats dang cool! On back, a slighly larger tank of water is mounted in order to help maintain fire lines (wet lines if you use water) and combat spotting if necessary. Ordinary ATVs mounted with water and drip torch flame thower fun...my life rules. this has actually become my new motto and I seem to say it to myself at least 3 times daily. Since I have been here I have seen one of the rarest snakes in the Southeast, the Indigo Snake, not once by twice! I have helped burn almost 500 acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine Forest. I am reading books to, so I feel like I am even getting smarter, bookwise. I just wish I was a little bit closer to a computer. Oh well...talk to y'all back at base (around 2/16) if not sooner.
be great
--WiLL

Back in Action

Christmas/New Years was wonderfull. I got to play the part of Santa Claus, doing gift deliveries on christmas eve to houses of kids who had lost a parent in the past year. I worked from 11pm-6am...kind of reminded me of my stagehand days. Then, I took a nap and drove to Charlotte, where I slept on a wonderfully quiet couch. Later in the week I attemped to volunteer at a homeless center, but was happy to find out that in most cases they had too many volunteers already. I also gave platelets, the first time I have been able to give blood since getting my tattoo last christmas. Platelets take about two hours to give, so not many people give them. I of course had a lot of time, with not a lot to do. The rest of the week and a half I was in Charlotte I mainly just slept on the couch. I did nothing and it was everything I hoped it could be. New Years Eve was quiet. I wandered around uptown a little. I wore my AmeriCorps jacket, and a bunch of people thought I was a security guard or police officer. New Years Day was Jerrod's b-day, so a keg was purchased and their was much merriment. The week of partying was only two days for me, then it was back to AmeriCorps. Man, those two days were a lot of fun though (see picture walls). Training here in Charleston is almost over, and soon we will be burning the forest!!! YAY!!! FOREST FIRES!!!...well not yay for the crazy ones but yay for the good ones.

Thanks much to Chris, Jerrod, Bryan, Josh, and Ryan for allowing me to inhabit the weight room. Much love.

be great
--DAlen

...and remember kids. only you can start forest fires!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We found out what our next project is going to be today. Blue 6 is going to be travelling down the Georgia to hook with the Devil and set some ol' fashion fires. Fire=Fun. They call them prescribed burns (control burn is a misnomer can nobody really controls fire) and they help to eliminate less fire resistant plants, allowing for exotic species that depend on the fires to eliminate competition. We will be burning and assisting with the burn of over 1500 acres of land, in, around, and near the Okefenokee Swamp and possibly in some places in Alabama. I am super stoked and could not be more overjoyed by this new development.

My friend Dustin is of course going to be spending the next two months building houses in the Virgin Islands...which sounds nice and tropical, but I would still rather go to GA and burn some woods. Maybe I'll even splurge and buy my own driptorch, or make my own. Isnt it every kids dream to burn stuff and somehow be appreciated or even paid to do so? (well, I am recieving some money, but I wouldnt really call it pay)

Anyway, have a happy new year, and look for me on the news.

be great
--DAlen

Its unfortunate that the people who have understood how to change the world, the people who really understand "being the change you want to see," are too busy behind their hammers and trowels, stoves and pots. For making the world a better place isnt about sitting around a board table discussing solutions for our modern issues. The solution is in building a better future one home at a time...or cooking to feed our people in need, metaphorically and literally. The only way to of course lead by example or service is to work hard, and often in the process sweat as a result. When was the last time you were sweating in your business suit? I sweat in mine everyday (and it comingles with the paint, sawdust, concrete sand, and often blood to make quite a nice set of stains).

Be Great

Time flies when youre building houses...

So, tommorrow is the last day of our Spike. We have finished 2 houses so far, and hopefully will finish the third tommorrow. If all goes well, the 4th house will still be finished enough for the normal guys to do their thing. This means 4 families will get to move into new houses for Christmas. What a great way to celebrate the season right?

Back to SC on Friday...then its a weekend of rest. Looking forward to that. We have a few days of work and debrief/ brief, then its back to Charlotte for...well, more volunteer work. Maybe i'll do some valet as well, or stagehand work on the side. Either way, the weather is getting colder and holiday music is playing everyway I turn.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Anybody got any cool plans for New Years Eve? I'm looking for a party to hit...

be great

Want to workout like DAlen?

Be like DAlen in AmeriCorps...

These I call DAlen Circuits. Do 2.

40 pushups (3 sets of 13, differnt elevations of feet)
100 crunches
100 Squats (2 sets of 50)
Planks 1 min front, rest :15, 1 min each side, :15 rest
40 elbow to opposite knee crunches, each side
60 side leg raises, each side (10 lower, 10 upper, 10 full range, twice)

HAve fun! work hard.

--DAlen

KY is COLD!!!

Last week we were working outside...and it started to snow! Yeah, so its cold here, but work is going well. We moved some paint one day to an indoor location to prevent it from freezing, so that was kind of funny to me. It looks like this week, we will be spending a lot more time painting and finishing up these houses.

I just got back from a wonderfull wedding in Asheville. It felt like home there. I crashed at my old camp for one night, and saw Amber from college. I hadnt seen her in forever, so that was real fun to catch up. Also, got to see Rene (she was getting married) and Ashley (the groom). It brought back all the wonderfull memories of college. Much thanks to everyone who welcomed me into the Fielder-Leake Family. I really felt like I belonged at the wedding, as family. Thanks goes out to Jamie and Shannon for letting me crash on their floor, and also thanks to Rene's Aunt from New York, who loves AmeriCorps members and showed much appreciation with her unceasing compliments and the Rum and Coke.

I just got done eating a steak, and now I am going to bed. Off to work again tommorrow. Two more weeks before I get back to the SC, back to the beach, and back to eating in the galley. Its almost Christmas time folks!!!!

--DAlen be great