Week 12

Admiral Ackbar's warning concerning Judge Chewy.

This week was spent back on campus in Vicksburg, and it went surprising quickly. It was so strange to go from working until you’re too tired to physically work anymore to hanging out in classrooms with friends again. During the days my time has been filled with preparation for and attendance of meetings, giving reports about our last project and preparing for our new one. One day we attended classes taught by corps members on random topics of interest, such as Yoga, origami, slam poetry, disc golf, digital painting, etc. We also did a fun activity where every team created a mascot, which we had to drive around Vicksburg and take pictures with in specific spots. My team’s mascot was Chewbacca, and we made outfits for every picture that related to the site we were at. He had a whole back story and everything that I wrote and we read when we presented him to the rest of the unit. It was pretty fun.

Some of the evenings we were required to attend certain functions, but they were all really fun. There was a fish fry put on for us by community members, a party at an art gallery with live music (The gallery is a part of the artist’s home, and she invited us in, gave us food, entertainment, and a floor to dance on, all because she really appreciates us and has a great deal of respect for the program. She said that after Katrina, she was in New Orleans helping and painting, and everywhere she looked there was an AmeriCorps crew working as hard as they could. She said she is honored to host our members.), and Open Mic night, which wasn’t actually mandatory, but it was incredibly fun.

Saturday was National Make A Difference Day, and our entire Corps left campus at 6am and headed to Jackson. We worked with a bunch of local volunteers (mostly young people, which was cool to see) to help clean up a run down forest park that is part of a zoo. Some groups painted buildings, but mostly we did tree and brush clearing to try and make the forest usable. I got use a chain saw for the first time since training (hurray!), but soon after I began, the chain malfunctioned, and we couldn’t use it anymore. Cain and I were able to do a lot with a bow saw though, and overall, our team in conjunction with volunteers got a lot accomplished. Sack lunches were provided for us, and then in the afternoon we got to visit the zoo for free. One thing I’d like to note is the size and quantity of the poison ivy here in Mississippi. At home I’ve been taught to look for three leafed plants on the ground, but here it’s not only on the ground, but it also takes the form of a thick hairy vine that grows up trees. Considering these vines are absolutely everywhere, large buckets of water with Technu were available for everyone to wash themselves with after our project had been completed.

We’re now getting ready to head off to New Orleans and begin our next project, so stayed tuned for updates.

Love,

 k

Last week's birdhouse event.