soapbox time.

http://www.brethren.org/news/2011/americorps-education-awards-cut-to-brethren-volunteer-service.html

Americorps funding was cut for faith-based programs. Completely ridiculous. This doesn't affect me personally, but it affects everything else. Faith-based programs' volunteers work at the same locations that non-residential, non-faith-based programs do. Long story short: you're looking at cutting over 10,000 volunteers' education awards. 10,000+ volunteers who work over 5 million hours every year, costing the country a whole lot less than SO many other things in the national budget. That's in the Catholic Volunteer Network volunteer program alone. It's really a huge shame, and it both devalues and dis-encourages volunteerism.

"Upon leaving office, George H.W. Bush left his successor with only one request: preserve federal support for Points of Light, the foundation he created to encourage volunteerism and civic engagement. Bill Clinton followed through on that appeal and went on to establish AmeriCorps in 1993, which further solidified government support for nationally organized community service. He, in turn, had one request for his successor. “When I was leaving, and George W. Bush was coming in, the only thing I asked him to do was to preserve AmeriCorps,” Clinton said at a recent event in Washington. “And he did.”

- A former Americorps member explains why gutting the program’s funding doesn’t make sense—even on conservatives’ terms.


I wish I had more to say. I wouldn't trade my year in Project SERVE for anything, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without funding. I can't imagine how schools, non-profits, libraries, or community centers across the country would or will hold up without full-time volunteers. It's just seriously a shame - and I mean that in the truest sense of the word.

i want to pretend to have a blog again

I am going to try to revitalize my desire for a blog. but I think I will mostly just be putting links & videos out there that I love. I'm not so great at motivating myself to write about my life.

Work is great, I love my house, and I have been on some truly ballin' adventures so far this year. Baltimore is a great city, and I wish sometimes that I didn't even have to work so that I can just explore its craziness all the time. I give to you the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race:

Platypus

Go Ask Alice

Anhk-ers Away!

These sculptures are man-powered, and have to travel on land, and for a brief stint in the Harbor (which many vehicles do not survive. Rebecca, Bethany and I wore some pretty beautiful outfits to this event:

So, I'm thinking that the spring and summer will only bring new Baltimore adventures - stay tuned!

i have a blog!

okay, so practically everyone i know has a blog, so i guess i should get one too (is that a real reason?)

i just moved to baltimore to be part of project SERVE (yay!), and i really have no idea how much i'll be able to write about my job. however, i AM going to write about what it's like to live in a sweet community and about my adventures in baltimore. or about things i find funny or interesting.

so, if you don't want to hear about nerdy art stuff, or bad jokes, it's probably time for you to peace.

so...........

baltimore is awesome! i'm living in a SWEET rowhouse in mount vernon with five roomies (soon to be froomies?) since tons of project SERVE-ers have lived here before, it's really home-y and totally comfortable to live in. however, i am uploading "before" pictures of my room, because i'm painting it tomorrow.

yeah, it's totally normal to paint around your furniture.

 and paint frames on the wall with nothing in them

so, hopefully by tomorrow my room with be light blue! today we painted a mural in the living room:

so beautiful! (group effort, but mostly thanks to rebecca!)

so, i haven't been able to explore much yet, but hopefully i will be able to update on amazing experiences and hilarious happenings - both guaranteed to happen. either way, i feel so lucky to be here! much love.