fulfilling the dream

(photo from the bulletin news, inc - article)
usually on MLK day, city year as an organization (across all sites) hosts a day of service. well, in boston, we are different and this year MJ and rachel (tireless corps members like myself) decided that it would be best to have a peace march honoring dr. martin luther king's legacy and as a kick off to the heroes program, both the city heroes (high school students) and the young heroes (middle school students).

the students in the heroes programs are led by diverse team leaders (from city year and the community) through lots of saturdays and overnights (depending on the program) that are about social justice issues. the programs provide a city year like experience and the idea is that they are part of a continuum that will eventually help to create the civic-minded leaders of tomorrow/future city year corps members. the students also participate in service activities that are related to that saturday's lesson. the programs are basically two service-learning programs run entirely by city year corps members from january to may/june.

the march was incredible because despite the cold weather, the auditorium of the middle school that we had the opening ceremonies in was packed. there were people filling in the sides of the auditorium standing. it mimicked our opening day ceremonies for city year boston very closely and i felt like i was reliving my own experience in a way. mayor menino was there to speak to the heroes and it was nice to hear that and have him there for them. he is very dedicated to city year and our cause as part of the national service movement. he was also present at our opening day back in october.

i didn't actually get to participate in the event because i was part of the look & feel crew. i showed up 2 hours early to the middle school (and yes, i was late because i couldn't find the right color of socks-- we're only allowed to wear neutral winter colored socks and all i could find were my baby blue hiking socks) to help set up what city year calls the look & feel.
1) are there enough logos representing all of our sponsors?
2) is the event properly branded (this goes beyond the logos)?
3) are the tables in the right place?
4) anything goes.

it was fun definitely, we also had to go out to the office and to home depot on a water run that took about an hour because driving in boston is not that fun. we didn't drive, but being in the back of a rented van lying down was fabulous since i haven't gotten that much sleep in the last couple weeks since we've been back.

i felt estranged from my team, because i was the only one from the team that was on look & feel and i think it was then that i realized how much i relied on them for support. they got to be power greeters for all of the super important guests (like mayor menino and the heroes) outside while i was running around inside with risers, banners that wouldn't fit frames, tables, tablecloths, extra cy logos, etc.

while everyone was marching, look & feel and the event crews were running around inside for the 40 minutes (even though it felt like less) resetting everything for the closing ceremonies. the principal of the school served lunch , but i didn't even feel like eating at all and plus i was helping to load up the vans and break everything down when the corps and the heroes and parents were eating.

then, hilla and i went back to the office to work on this week's exciting love & joy crew things for ATA (advanced training academy).

cold.

18°F

Feels Like
7°F

no wonder i never want to get up in the mornings.

grocery shopping: the city experience

every time that i go grocery shopping, i end up carrying more bags home than i should. and my little arms feel strong for a few minutes, and then i start thinking that i am building lots of upper body strength just by carrying groceries home.

i honestly try to go with a list because i think that at least that will cut down on my customary grocery store wandering and thus, i will end up with just the right amount of groceries to carry home.

but since the grocery store is one of the places where i can spend money semi-freely (thanks to food stamps and being just one mouth to feed), i tend to spend a lot of time wondering if i should buy organic oranges or regular oranges, vanilla soymilk or regular skim milk, or if i should try something new from the wild harvest section of the store. clearly, these aren't choices i should be making on food stamps -- i should consider myself blessed enough that i can buy food--, but since i spend so little of them, i feel like i can give myself the luxury of that option to feed myself well at least a few nights a week.

other nights, when i get home late because i accidentally got on the T in the wrong direction (inbound instead of outbound... like tonight), i just eat an orange for dinner. or sometimes i find a mango in my cupboard that i bought a week ago and that begs to be eaten in lieu of dinner.

today in the grocery store it dawned on me that i should do two things:
1) invest in one of those rolly-carts that real city people have
2) buy reusable grocery bags to minimize my impact on the environment

the two things that i thought about in my grocery store wanderings. and possibly why i couldn't focus and get out of there in less than an hour even though i only bought a little over 20 dollars worth of food. and cat food for timbs.