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

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?