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

Spike 2 is about to begin

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

By the time you read this, I will most likely be sitting in a van on my way to Lexington, KY. Once there, we will be working with Habitat for Humanity, trying to finish 5 houses by Christmas so that their owners can have a merrier time. Habitat is one of the charities I really like the most, mainly because it is not a give away to somebody who wants, but rather it is an assisted giveaway to someone who is willing to help themselves to make their life better through hard work.

Its possible that I wont have the ability to use computers much, so my weblog may not be updated in a while. See you in a few weeks.

--DAlen
be great

Good News and Bad News

My snapfish account now has pictures on it.

Go to www.snapfish.com and when it aks for an email and password use:
wdrice@uncc.edu and blue6yay

Please do no mess with my setting or try and and order pics. If you want to do that, you will need to setup your own account. Thanks.




On a sadder note, one of the team leaders working on a project down in the gulf coast became sick and passed away two nights ago. It has hurt a lot of people around here, especially since it was so sudden and she was using her life to help others, and died because of it. Please pray, meditate, or just generally reflect and allow this to have an impact on you and your life. Life is not guaranteed, even on a day to day basis.


be great

--DAlen

Spike 1 OVER!!!!

Spike 1 Reflection

Location: Ferncliff Presbyterian Retreat Center
Project Duties:
Disaster Relief Kits
General Outdoor Maintenance of Facility
Laying Carpet indoor over concrete slab floor
Burning Stuff

Well, we finally had our first Spike. Looking back on it, I would say it was a Spike most memorable by the smells involved. During the first night, the propane heater was exhausting into our room. We couldn’t smell the carbon monoxide, but the detector could. Ryan of course cant smell at all, something that I failed to remember throughtout the Spike.

The most prominent smell was soap, as all the kits we assembled to be sent to disaster areas included lots of soap, in different forms. Soap and cardboard were the combined scents in the storage areas where the boxes are held until they are sent out.

The other smells that stick in my brain are the general smell of work mixed with woods. It’s the smell of oil and wood chips, or dirt and engines running. Chainsaw and wood dust, pine, or oak. We did get a chance to finally do some chainsawing, which made me happy and proud to work. Sawdust and chain oil makes for black boogers.

Indoors, we laid a lot of carpet. Glue and carpet smell actually is quite pleasant. It reminded me of the earlier grades when glue was a staple for activity.

The final day, we burned a pile of brush. Burning brings back the memories. The smell of charcoal that permeates your clothes. Smells like old cowboy, or farmer, or cook. Smells like wildfire or prescribed burn. Smells like (or rather tastes like, as Ralph would put it) burning.
This is supposed to be a reflection, but I feel too forced. My real story will be much longer and written over the next week, maybe published in a book someday. Not a whole lot of deeper meaning for me in this Spike project. Just being a Grunt like I wanted.

Be great
Dalen "Will"

Less than a week to go

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!!!!

We leave beautifull Arkansas Friday morning. Just got back today from working at a place called Heiffer International. They breed and produce various different animals and send them to impoverished countries in order to allow the people to create food for themselves as well as to use the animals for farming, etc. Its a very intersting idea and it works off the whole "give a man, teach a man, fish" idea. It seems like a place i might go volunteer and work once AmeriCorps will no longer take me. Working in the farm setting reminded me of all the time I spent in Kentucky when i was young. I kind of miss it now to. Somehow amongst all the hard labor and dreaded work I had to do I gained a subconscious appreciation for it and now I feel like I could do it on a volunteer basis for a long time. I mean heck, really Americorps is possibly nothing more that manual labor for a good cause for 10 months. I guess working a lot as a kid maybe isnt such a bad thing. Thanks mom and dad.

I hurt my ankle a few days ago moving boxes. According to my estimates, we assembled possibly 40,000 disaster relief kits to be given out to victims. Thats a lot of boxes checked, packed, and moved. The ankle hurts though, so I will probably spend my Saturday night on the couch with some ice and Kerouac (unless I walk to the grocery for ice cream and bottled Coke).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!!! Happy Birthday Rene!?? HAPPY WEDDING DAY RENE!!!

be great
--DAlen

PS I will most likely be back in Charlotte for Thanksgiving. Anyone know of anyplaces looking for volunteers to help feed people?

One week down...

We finished our first week of real Spike Project work. It wasnt as intense as disaster releif was purported to be, but I feel like i did something that people in need will benefit from.

We are located here in Little Rock at a place called Ferncliff Presbyterian Retreat Center. There is probably a website to look up, as it is a rather large operation. They run a lot of camps for kids with special needs, whether it be social, mental, or physical recovery being a primary focus. This place is somewhere that kids who may not have the opportunity otherwise can come and be a kid at camp, which i know to be quite an amazing thing. I especially feel that I would not be the person I am today if it werent for camp.

One of my teammates broke his arm this weekend mountain biking. Myself, one of the girl on our team, and him were riding on some pretty steep trails. He was riding beyond his ability level, he hit a rut, locked his front brake, and endo-ed (biker slang for end over-ing, as in rear end moving over the front end dispensing you over the handle bars onto the ground). Got to use some of my first aid training. He will have surgery wednesday, and hopefully he has learned to slow down a little, as he is a little reckless (crazy teenagers!).

The more i think about it, the more i want to learn ju-jitsu, practice more muay thai, and compete in mixed martial arts competition.

My hair is growing out, so the mohawk is hiding a little bit. Also, its no-shave-november, an AmeriCorps tradition, so my face has gotten quite furry. Also, it seems to display many colors, like the changing leaves of autumn.

leave comments as i love to hear people are reading, otherwise i may write about you.

be great

--Dalen

AmeriCorps wants you!

I keep having dreams about people I know and how I try to convince them to join AmeriCorps. I am thinking about being a team leader (TL) next year, which would end up making my service time basically 2 years instead of 1. The thing is though, I do miss my friends. At the same time I do feel myself being changed by the power of service. The sermon last sunday at church was also another one that seemed directed at me. "You cant be great unless you serve." Being great also seems less and less like a goal so much as it is a journey, someplace that I would always be moving towards but no final destination. But seriously, y'all should join AmeriCorps. NCCC is the specific program that I am in, so search the internet to find out more info about and go ahead and fill out an application. You arent allowed to be on my team, but I am sure there is someway that I could coerce or convince someone to happen to slip your paper in my pile, so that maybe i could be your TL.

Rene is getting married! I got my invite today, and am super happy for her. It looks like I will be in Lexington, KY (dont i have family there?) during the wedding, so i have to figure out a way to get there. (Rene, I'll RSVP soon!)

Today we worked on more relief kits for effected people. It does to feel good to see all the aid that is being funneled and sent to where its needed. Tommorrow, we will probably work outside some more. Saturday, it looks like myself and a few others will be doing an individual service project (ISP) at the local childrens hospital.

Emery was playing in concert with He is Legend tonight, here in LR. It was going to be an amazing christian hardcore concert, but alas it sold out and i was going to buy a ticket at the door. Oh well, next week we will be seing Against Me! and we are going to buy tix in advance.

Goodnight for now,

--DAlen

Arkansas beautifull Arkansas

Life is good here. We arrived last week, been here a few days. Work is pretty relaxed so far. It seems that we get more done than they expect, so much so that we run out of supplies. We are working on disaster releif packages that will be given to victims, most here in the states i think but some internationally as well. The location here is going to serve as the central shipping/recieving location for all presbyterian releif packages sent out.

Also I have been doing a lot of activity...working out with some circuits i created, mountain biking, shadow boxing and teaching my teammates how to spar...all kinds of stuff.

My real big joy is that i have offerd up my copy of "what should I do with my life" and some of my teammates are going to read it!

thats all for now...teammate waiting to use the computer.

be great
Dalen (i also have started going by WiLL)

Leaving tommorrow...

Tommorrow we leave for Arkansas for about a month. Have a happy thanksgiving to everyone.

My Myspace account has changed places to http://www.myspace.com/dalen17

I started a snapfish account for sharing pictures, but havent really posted them yet. if you want to be able to see them, let me know and I will add you to the shared list.

be great...

--DAlen

Back in SC

This is kind of a long one...

Finally made it back to Charleston, SC. I have been in Baxley, GA for the past week learning about wildfires and prescription forest burns. Prescribed burning is when a certain forest is set on fire in order to help maintain it the way it was originally intended. Forest fire is a natural thing and many forests depend on it in order to thrive in the way they always have before Smokey came and told us to keep forests from burning. Anyway, besides learning how to set these fires, we also learned how to control them to a certain degree and what to do with them when they were done burning (they call it mop-up). We got free camelbacks from one of the parks people as well (thanks Shan)! Now, I am a 2nd level wildfire fighter, which is the lowest level, but still means that I might be able to get a position on a crew out west should the desire strike me (it definitely is an exciting and lucrative new option).

Besides the many hours spent in a classroom, we also got to do a burn of about an acre of land. We learned how to lay hose from a small fire engine unit, how to dig trench to contain the fire, and where to carry your drip can (gasoline-diesel mixture) in order for stuff to burn. A physical fitness test was required to, where we carried 45 lb vests 3 miles in less than 45 minutes without running.

Funny story involving my pack test. My shoulders were getting tired from where the vest rested, so I decided to put my arms over my head. Then I noticed my shadow from the night lights. Whenever I flexed my biceps, the shadow got noticeably larger to, so that kept me entertained for a while. Then, one of the instructors jogged up behind me and complimented me on my biceps as well. Yeah, so I walked for about another mile with a huge grin on my face.
Also, while we were down there we found out what our Disaster Relief (DR) project would be. We will be sent to Little Rock, AR, where we will stage and assembling packages for people to assist them in restarting their lives. It won’t be as emotionally draining as going to the center of the disaster, but the days should still be long and we will still be making a difference. Apparently, everything in the hit areas is very jumbled and they have more volunteer support than they can handle. Of course, with all DR assignments, things could change between now and Thursday, especially with Wilma about to destroy things.

I got a bunch of pictures. I am not sure if they will be posted here, or at myspace. check http://www.myspace.com/12313535 if u cant find them here.

That’s pretty much it for now. Mom, thanks for the gift. Jamie and Amberle, thanks for the picture, you’re now sleeping at my bedside. Much love to everyone,
--DAlen

Tommorrow starts the fire training

Tommorrow morning at 10:00 am we will get into a van and drive 6 hours to Georgia, to a small town called Baxley. There, we will learn about how to start fires in the woods and how to dig and cut and kill everything surrounding them so that they dont spread beyond where we want them to be. If California keeps burning we might get sent there to help with their flaming problems. Otherwise, we will be done on Friday and we will return to Charleston...

Once we get back, we will most likely have a few days off before we get on a plane headed south, somewhere between Mississippi and New Orleans. We will work 21 days straight, sometimes for 14 hour days. I anticipate by the 8th day I will have completely lost my mind, probably finding it again around the 14th day before losing it again on the 18th. I dont think I will die and have any permanent damage, but I will definately be a changed man when i return. My muscles will work constantly to support some of the burden caused by the disasters and if I get put behind a desk doing case work I will probably lose it emotionally at least once a day. Disasters look bad on TV, but they are much worse in perso, and we are diving in head first to a pool that aint deep enough. I anticipate 2 of my team members will quit, but I pray that we all make it through. much love to everyone out there supporting me. put me in your prayers.

--DAlen

Finally we got our assigment....

Well, after a small scavenger hunt and much anticipation...we found out that we dont know yet where we are going. What we do know is that we will be doing DR (Disaster Relief) either in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Jackson, MS. We just finished our DR training, so that is good and I am excited. Its going to be a changing experience, extremely mentally and physically draining. We will only be doing that for a month, because that is the max allowable time the Red Cross will let people work. Apparently, after a month people start to lose it and no longer can perform their functions in assisting disaster victims. We get sent out in a couple weeks. First we go to Georgia for firefighting training. Superstoked about that too...

Well, the ropes course got cancelled, so we will be doing some indoor stuff in the morning, but otherwise tommorrow should be a relaxed day. Going to rest and relax.

Tommorrow morning is going to be a dry run of our pack test for firefighting. 45 minutes to hike 3 miles with 45 lbs. Of course it will be a very wet, dry run if it keeps raining like it has been. Think I will be able to do it though. I am getting in real good shape.

I have met the girl of my dreams...the problem is that my dreams keep changing, and some nights i have more than one dream. I have superdeep spiritual conversations with one girl, secretly lust after another, and have been trying to go out with another who is wanting to hang out but because of random problems our engagment always falls through. And then there are the great girls on my team that I will be spending 9 months with, who i will no doubt become very close to.

I got some guy friends to...and we may be crouching altogether in the end trying to preserve our masculinity in this sea of women.

Please leave comments so i know people are reading this. leave questions to. seriosuly, ask me anything!