[Being Katie]

When our week was coming to an end in Manistee, we still hadn’t made any plans for the following week (big surprise); so we turned to Mona for ideas.  She told us about her son, Chris—who she had been raving about all week—and a project he’d working on down at Central Michigan University, called the Campus Grow Endeavor, to develop community gardens on campus.  She said he had just recently gotten his hands on several plots of land and needs help cultivating them to get them ready for seeds.  We of course thought it was a great idea right off the bat and wanted to get involved, but I was also very eager to meet this son of hers she had talked about so much. Continue reading…

We spent a week in Manistee National Forest helping out with various tasks, like staining a dock and a bridge, and working with the Outdoor Recreation crew on the installation of an 18-basket disc golf course. Throughout our time there, we met wonderful people and got a good feel for the town and forest.  Manistee is on the Western coast of Michigan, right on the sand dunes, and was a perfect refresher after being in Chicago for a week.

On the day of our arrival, almost minutes after we stepped in the door of the Ranger Station, we were swept under the wing of a bubbly woman named Ramona (Mona).  Continue reading…

After a nice breather in Cleveland, we spent a week in Chicago working with the St. Jude House, a domestic violence shelter for women.  It is located in Crown Point, Indiana, so we commuted about an hour each way from Rogers Park (North end of Chicago), where we were staying with one of my best friends, Leah.  I must say, aside from the work we did at St. Jude’s, I had such an awesome time seeing all the faces I haven’t seen in months and months, and getting to live at Leah’s, just like the good ole days when we were roommates.  (I went to Loyola Chicago up until the development of Being and Doing, and hadn’t been back since.)  So, we had a nice home to return to everyday after what was usually a long day at the House. Continue reading…

We volunteered with Cradles to Crayons for the entire week, similar to the work we did in Philly, but still very different. The Boston C2C is a much larger operation, due to its older age, and relies upon hundreds more volunteers to keep up with the constant flow of orders. (I’m speaking under the assumption that you’ve read the C2C article on the main page). This made things interesting because we had the opportunity to work with a diverse population of volunteers—from dozens of lawyers at one time, to young families to the “regulars”. Obviously this location has plenty of help, which could’ve left us rather unneeded. Continue reading…

So, our Meigs County experience has come to a temporary end. It was eventful, to say the least; full of sweaty physical labor, blistering sunburns, knee-high manure, colorful locals, hearty laughs, shared knowledge and skills, and relaxing yet mentally stimulating conversations. Continue reading…

(a very poor quality photo)

After watching the interview with Elisa (because I’m sure you all have), it’s clear that the first step to changing something is to visualize it.  She says, “We are active participants in making our reality.”

So in order to aid in her visualization and provide a healing tool, I created a painting of the view from her land, with several adaptations, including the replacement of the coal stacks with a wind turbine.

one of the SEVEN adorable puppies

The popular culture of our generation leads us to believe we need the latest style of clothing, computers, Ipods, cell phones, cars, and so on.  In this environment it’s easy to compare ourselves to one another and think we need more than we have.  Within occupations we see the people with larger paychecks and bigger houses and assume the accompaniment of happiness.  Money and possessions don’t bring true happiness; we all know this.  Continue reading…

segment of an old painting from high school

Hello, Hello! Welcome to my wonderful personal blog! The plan is to use this as a daily journal, however I’m quickly learning that some of the places we’re working at don’t have very prevalent Wireless Internet for us to tap into, so the “daily” part might become more “bi-weekly”.  Regardless, I’ll update as frequently as possible so as to share my experiences with you.

What we’re doing out here doesn’t exactly follow the norm, so it’s important to me that I convey the ideas and incentives behind the work that our contacts do, while throwing my own interpretation into the mix.  Now, I tend to experience things from an artistic perspective; a perspective that I hope to communicate to you via this space. Ideally, I will have the time to create on the road, build a nice little portfolio, and post my artwork of the locations and people we encounter along the way. But in the meantime, words will suffice. I’ll do my best to stay current so please check in when you have a few minutes to spare.