Scraps

March 16th

Shannon just left the beloved North Charleston on a midnight train to Baltimore. She came for part of her spring break and I have to say it was one of the best visits I've ever had. She came in on the 12th and we jam packed the 4 1/2 days that she was here with tons of sisterly fun. We walked for miles in downtown Charleston, went to an improv show, auditioned for WHEEL OF FORTUNE, ran the Ravenel Bridge, toured the ONLY tea plantation in North America, went to the beach, attended a St. Patty's Day block party, shopped, ate tons of good food including shrimp and grits and boiled peanuts, and visited the jaw-dropping Angel Oak. I'm sure I'm missing a few tidbits here and there but I think you get the gist. We really had a good ole fashioned sister bonding session. Can't wait for the next!

March 23rd - Diabetes Alert Day

Good news - Charleston County has just adopted a chapter of the Eat Smart Move Move (ESMM) coalition! ESMM is an obesity prevention coalition. Today was their first coalition meeting at North Charleston City Hall. It was a very successful event with an impressive and larger-than-expected turnout. ESMM has recently become a very important partner of CWI which is great for me - meaning I may get some projects to work on!

March 24th

I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. *Sigh* Ok done. Last night was my level one improv recital. I can't explain how nervous I was. But I also can't explain how relieved I am for it to be over. Every time I reminded myself that recital day was quickly approaching I had a mini heart attack. My biggest fear was being in a horrible scene with no punchline to end it. But after all was said and done I am SO pleased with how it went. Everyone in the class shined like stars and did the best they had done over the course of the class. The hour-long recital was divided into specific games as well as open scenes. We were all assigned to a game and it was up to us to volunteer for an open scene, whichever peaked our inspiration. The recital was topped off with a big game of freeze tag. I was so lucky to have had all of my Charleston friends in the audience. Afterward we all went out to celebrate! Now...for my level two recital...

March 28th

My friend Marjorie "recruited" Erin and I to play on an intramural softball league and today was our first game. I feel silly to admit this but I was really nervous to play! The combination of lack of practice and previous painful softball related incidences caused my anxiety to skyrocket! Aversion therapy please! But I convinced myself to go and I ended up having a good time. The game however was a bust - we were beaten (horribly I might add) by the other team. But I blame our loss on the torrential downpour and invasion of gnats that we were forced to endure.

March 30th

Level two improv has begun. My favorite theatre member, Brandy, is teaching and I couldn't be more ecstatic! She's freakishly talented and I'm hoping she'll share the wealth.

April 14rd

Today Celia and I attended an Obesity Prevention Summit in Columbia, SC. It was a so-so educational forum hosted by many statewide ESMM organizations that presented on best practices for obesity prevention, sessions on healthy work sites, schools and communities, coalition development, policy and environmental change, and evaluation. I'm not gonna lie and say that it was a day full of inspiration and revoluntionary obesity prevention strategies but it was a good opportunity to network and brainstorm not to mention a much appreciated day out of the office.


April 21st

I can finally scratch "Visit the Hunley" off of my Charleston Bucket List. This afternoon, after our monthly VISTA lunch, we all took a tour of the Hunley submarine. The Hunley was a Confederate submarine that, over the course of 1 year, sank 3 times -- along with most of its crew. After its third sinking the Hunley was lost at sea for 136 years. In August 2000 the wreck was discovered and after a few years of excavating, the Hunley was placed in a tank of water (for preservation) at a pseudo museum in on the Navy Yard. This piece of recovered Civil War history is a must-see when visiting Charleston!


April 24th

Tri-County Youth Service Day is "a coalition of agencies and organizations that have come together to ensure that the youth of the Tricounty are engaged in the worldwide event that celebrates youth and the contributions they make to their community." Sounds too idealized to me. Ok, so it was a great thing to volunteer for but it was by no means easy. I offered to help the students at Chicora with a neighborhood cleanup. We walked around the neighborhood with gloves and garbage bags, picking up trash and recycling. I do have to admit that my group was great -- I was chaperoning a group of excited, well-behaved, motivated girls. Other groups, were not so great or well-behaved so this portion of the day was a breeze, for me. It was the shuttling a bus full of screaming kids to the celebration event afterward, breaking up fist fights, and frantically collecting and reshuttling a bus full of screaming kids back to the school (ON A SATURDAY) that was the tough part. I can only hope that at least one kid got something out of this day of service -- because I sure didn't. Nah that's a lie, I got a new found respect for teachers and a blog post out of it ;)


May 11th

Tonight was my level two recital! I was way less nervous this time around. We had a wonderfully supportive audience and everything went swimmingly. Again, I could not be happier with the outcome =) Lame entry, I know. But it's almost 5:00 on a Friday -- take what you can get.


May 14th - May 23rd

My confidence has gotten a boost! This past week I went to Baltimore for a job interview! I interviewed for Project Coordinator of the Maryland Violent Death Reporting System at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. I was unhealthily nervous and didn't end up getting the job but it gave me great interview experience and a chance to visit friends and family in Charm City. After a small stint in Bmore I made my way to Ft. Pierce Florida for my Grandpa's 90th birthday! I had such a great time reconnecting with long lost cousins, lying on the beach, swimming in the pool, and just generally relaxing. I don't think any amount of time in FL would have seemed long enough because before I knew it I had to return to North Chas and get back to the daily grind. Ft. Pierce, mark my words...I will be back.


May 28th

I might as well have been a VISTA at Chicora Elementary School because I honestly do most if not all of my community outreach there! Being involved in so many Chicora events has really made this year somewhat fulfilling and has helped me to rediscover my love (ok like) for children. Today was Chicora's Reading Day Celebration. It was a carnival dedicated to congratulating the kids who have read 25 or more books. Becky and I were in charge of making and manning the "Grow Your Own Sunflower" station. Not long into the carnival I somehow got suckered into transferring over to the "Fishing" station. Here is where I sat behind an "ocean" backdrop taped to chain-link fence waiting to clip cheap plastic toys to makeshift fishing poles comprised of string on a stick with a clothespin for a hook. In essence, the kids would stand on the other side of the fence, sling their hook into the deep blue sea (my side of the fence), then I, after coming to from being hit in the head, would clip a prize to their clothespin and toss it back over. Clever in concept, painful in practice.


June 3rd

Today I said goodbye to my lil mentee, Iyana. It was Chicora's last day of school and 5th grade graduation this morning therefore I will not be attending any more school functions nor will I be eating lunch with her once a week. I know you're not reading this Iyana, but you have made my year worthwhile and fulfilling. It was a pleasure getting to know you and I see nothing but great things in your future <3 style="font-weight: bold;">June 9th

If there's one word that you need to learn while in Charleston, it's Spoleto. Spoleto is an international arts festival hosted annually by the City of Charleston. All forms of art from all over the world are exhibited and performed for 17 days straight. Within Spoleto there is Piccolo Spoleto and Piccolo Fringe. Now, if I have this correct, Piccolo Spoleto is a smaller version with more local artists and Piccolo Fringe is even smaller. Anyway, I was invited to volunteer for some of the Piccolo Fringe comedy acts at Theatre 99 (and see free shows!). At the end of my second night of volunteering it was announced that a surprise guest stand-up comic was going to make an appearance. I sat patiently waiting to see who this person would be. Finally MTV Movie Awards host and Parks and Rec star, Aziz Ansari was introduced! His stand-up was great but I wishfully thought to myself "wouldn't it be even greater if I got a chance to meet him??" After the show I saw a fellow improv student and found out that he had gone to school with Aziz and was showing him around while he was in town for another (and more official) Spoleto event. My friend invited Celia and I out with them to good ole Burns Alley! Long story short: Though he has probably already forgotten who I am, I met and hung out with Aziz Ansari.

♪ down here at the pawn shop ♪

Last night, the Noisette Foundation building was broken into.  Someone stole a t.v. while damaging a couple other items i.e. the lock on the door and a printer.  I can say this, I'm not surprised.  This neighborhood is so poverty stricken and this building is so old and decrepit and has a million and one ways to enter it's no wonder someone helped themselves.  The cops are now here investigating but (for this) I'd be VERY surprised if they were able to retrieve the stolen booty :O 

On a somewhat similar note I wanted to let you know how the poverty simulation went (well!).  So like I said earlier I was volunteering as a staff member of one of the "community resources".  The handful of us who showed up to the training were able to get first dibs on what community resource we wanted to work for.  There were options like social worker, teacher at local school, food store worker, police officer, employer...etc. but I decided to be "Big Dave" and work at "Big Dave's Pawn Shop".  Participants would come to my shop to sell their assets (t.v.s, microwaves, diamond rings, furniture...) for cash and I had the right to either refuse to buy their goods or buy them at whatever price I wanted to.  It was so interesting having the role of a staff member as opposed to being a participant.  The participants experience a lot of stress since they have close to no assets and still have to provide for their family.  But the staff members, on the other hand, have a lot of power and can act however they want to these participants.  We were even encouraged to act unfriendly, impatient, etc. in order to make the simulation more realistic.  In an effort not to interrupt the realism I played my role as an apathetic and grumpy pawn broker (so like me hah).  

It was also interesting to see how into their roles the participants became.  At the beginning of the simulation there was a lot of giggling and lollygagging (man do I love that word) but once the participants started to fully grasp what they were supposed to be doing everyone literally became physically stressed and their attitudes did a complete 180.  People became aggressive and moody and acted in ways they never thought they would -- some even resorted to stealing from other participants because they were so desperate for money.  And to prove how realistic that is we saw a real life example of that here at Noisette.  All of the participants were middle to upper class MUSC employees or affiliates who have and will never experience life in poverty BUT I know a lot, if not all, of the participants changed their views on poverty which is exactly the point.  

navy wives

I can't remember if I've ever mentioned it before but the show "Army Wives" is filmed right here in the Navy Yard.  The weather has gotten a little nicer down here so they've officially started filming.  Although I've never seen the show before I think it's pretty cool that, while filming, there MIGHT be chance of being caught walking/driving around in the background!  Ok so the chances of that are slim to none since I've been detoured around the set a multiple times but there's no harm in daydreaming.  I wish I actually cared about "Army Wives" but I guess I can watch a few episodes because who knows it could be the next "Golden Girls"!  Damn why can't the "Golden Girls" be filming here instead :P

Ketsup

"Mt. Charleston"

Baltimore Blizzard

SC Snow

Ok we have to catch up.  I decided to test drive Aisha’s blog approach by giving you little snippets because it is now late February and a lot has happened since the holidays.  I was off of work for close to two weeks so you can probably imagine how difficult it was to adjust to normal life again.  I guess my body thought the same thing because as soon as I got back (actually on the car ride down) I started getting sick!  For the majority of January I was sick.  It was a kind of an on and off sinus/cold/clogged/blood vessel bursting cough type thing but nothing to really worry about.  It just made me drag and adopt a Nyquil diet but I was still able to get into a lot of great things over the last two months!  Let me fill you in:

 

January 7^th

My job has finally become more focused - it only took six months to get there!  My supervisor and I came up with a new project AND she has cut mostly all of my ties with the other organizations so I will solely be working under her supervision.  I can’t tell you how relieved I am.  The new project is (drum roll please) to create a website! Shocking I know since I have absolutely no experience with website design but I have to say I’m kinda getting into it!  However I have to give Google sites and its user-friendly templates a lot of the credit.  The website is called “Reducing Childhood Obesity in North Charleston” and basically it will be used as a community resource tool.  The purpose is to engage and inform students, parents, and community members in reducing the trend of childhood obesity in the city of North Charleston by supplying obesity facts, resource links, related articles,…, and what is being offered at the local schools and surrounding neighborhoods to promote active living and healthy eating.  I’ll be working on it for the next few months in preparation for the long awaited Community Wellness Initiative meeting in March.  We’ve only had one other meeting since I’ve been here so this is going to be a biggie.  Updates to come.  (Here’s the link if you’d like check it out: Reducing Childhood Obesity Website)

 

January 13^th

Maggie’s four Jersey girlfriends have just arrived.  They’re here til Monday.  It’s going to be a full house but we expect it to be a fun full house.  If anything it’ll be a piece of home delivered right to my front door.  Tonight we’re going to the Mill.  Duh, we have to introduce them to North Charleston!  And believe me, if you ever come visit me I’ll be taking you to the saaame place.

 

January 14^th

I just got pulled over for speeding and got an $81 ticket!  I spewed him a sob story and he told me to pull him aside at court and we’ll work something out. I half regret accusing the cop of discriminating against my out-of-state plates. We’ll see what happens.

 

January 16^th

I just returned from volunteering at the Riverfront Race Festival right in my back yard, the Navy Yard.  “Please go on”, you say? Ok well it was a race/festival that raised money for fine arts programs in Charleston County Schools.  Overall it was it was an interesting experience…that’s the optimistic way of putting it.  From the runners’ standpoint the race was a success.  From the volunteers’ it was unorganized and cold.  Joe, Will, and I were assigned to be a glorified cheerleader; we were dropped off in what seemed to be a rock quarry and told to cheer and point the runners in the correct direction.  We made the most of our rocky situation and climbed to the top of “Mount Charleston” as Will so eloquently named it.  We sat atop the pile and shouted things like “GO TEAM!”, “I LIKE WHAT YOU’RE GIVING ME HERE!”, “KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!”, and “IF YOU GET WET YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR!” (again Will’s wit emerging).  Life was good.  We were enjoying the race and each other’s company…until then the rain came.  We decided it was a good time to make the long trek back because who knew when that little shuttle was going to come get us.  It took lots of walking and sharing of stories to pass the time but we finally made it back to eat some beer, shrimp and grits, which we were so generously promised!  Well what do you know, the shrimp and grits stands were closed (Due to rain? Depletion of S&G? Who knew).  Eh it wasn’t that upsetting.  We did get some free beer, which sufficed.  Now I’m back in my warm Manley home ready for a nap.  Hey races can be tiring for the volunteers too ya know! 

 

January 25^th

Today I went to court for my parking ticket.  Maybe I should rephrase that sentence because I never even had to go into the courtroom.  I followed the officer’s instructions and pulled him aside.  I really got lucky on this one because he deferred my ticket.  He said that if I don’t get another ticket in North Charleston for the next ninety days then I’m off scot-free. However, if I do receive another ticket then I will have to deal with this one AND the new one.  Phew I better watch my speed.

 

January 29^th

January is Mentor Appreciation Month so tonight Chicora Elementary threw a movie night for all mentees and their mentors.  Iyana and I had a lot of fun watching Toy Story and eating tons of goodies.  A decent amount of people showed up; I’m very happy and impressed that so many students (and adults!) want to be involved in this mentor program. 

 

February 8^th

I just returned from a very snowy, impromptu trip to Baltimore.  I learned that my Mom would be in town for a nursing conference so I decided to crash a visit she had planned with Shannon.  I originally planned on making a trip the following weekend to visit friends and celebrate Valentine’s Day with Christian but I figured if I could see my Mom, Shannon, Christian, and some friends all at once, that’s even better!  I just happened to visit at the best (or worst depending on who you are) time because Baltimore was hit by a huge snowstorm and the entire city shut down!  It was so tranquil and almost dreamlike. We walked all over the city and encountered more passersby than cars. I've never exchanged so many friendly glances and small chats with people in Baltimore...it's amazing how a snow storm really brings out a sense of community in people. I ended up being stuck there for an extra day but I can't say that I was sad about that.  I felt satisfied after getting my snow fix and was able to return to Charleston on good terms.

 

February 11^th

Tonight I had my first improv class!  I can’t tell you how excited AND nervous I was!  I felt like a little kid.  All day I kept imagining it to be a disaster.  I swore as soon as they were going to make me do whatever they were going to make me do I’d freeze.  I was so relieved to find out that it wasn’t anything like I had predicted.  The class was small (16) and everyone seemed pretty friendly once the ice was broken.  We played a lot of warm up games and then went into the “Yes And” games.  The “Yes And” games definitely put you on your toes.  You’re given a scenario and then the person next to you starts off with a detail.  You then, have to reply “Yes and…” and follow up with yet another detail.  For example let’s say my partner and I just won the lottery.  I would say something like, “I can’t believe we just won the lottery!  I’m going to throw the biggest party with my half!”  My partner would then respond, “Yes, and you’ll have to use some of that money to buy some friends if you want anyone to attend.” So on and so forth.  I’m so glad that the first class and all of my anxiety is over.  Should be smooth sailing from here on out…until my recital eek!

 

February 13^th

It snowed last night!! I heard rumors that this was the first snow in 10 years! I feel so lucky to have been here to experience a South Carolina blizzard.  It probably accumulated to only about one inch and was gone by morning but it was still a nice little surprise.

 

February 22^nd

So after participating in a poverty simulation a few months ago I decided to volunteer at one.  A poverty simulation is an educational tool used to teach ANYONE about the day-to-day life of someone living in poverty.  Participants of the simulation role-play the lives of low-income families.  The families vary from a single parent with multiple children to a single elderly individual.  The task of each family is to provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities during the simulation by interacting with various community resources i.e. Social Services, grocery store, etc.  It is such an eye-opening experience and I’d recommend it to anyone.  Today was just the training and the real deal simulation is on Friday so I’ll let you know how it goes!  

I don't know what to title this one.

Lit up palm at the "Festival of Lights" l 

Channel Four News Anchors

Kiss from Kai on our ride home to NJ

Sand masterpiece at the "Festival of Lights"

My little mentee, Iyana, doin the splits :)

I knew I spoke too soon.  You know when the impossible becomes possible and you think it’s just too good to be true?  But then you are convinced that miracles do occasionally happen so you then put all of your skepticism aside and start to celebrate the good news!  Well that’s when the evil miracle-thieves come out to play!  These sabotaging miracle-thieves blindside you, kick you off your high horse, and steal your miracles away!  Haven’t you realized that this type of incident happens all the time and is the root cause of your initial skepticism?  So haven’t you learned from your last robbery?  No, because underneath that constant layer of doubt there is an even thinner and just as constant layer of hope.  Well this thin layer of hope brought out the naiveté in me and allowed myself to be robbed of the only miracle I ever wanted and deserved.  Schmiane. Is. Back.

            Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but hey, it made for a good intro right?  I know I’m overdoing it with the miracle snatching metaphor but it is true that she’s back.  It’s true that this news made my blood boil.  And it’s also true that I feel deceived because I was duped into believing that people actually did hear and care about our concerns as lowly VISTA volunteers.  But thankfully her VISTA position has been redirected and since she’s been back I’ve had very little interaction with her and she is officially no longer my supervisor.  I guess I can settle for that.  Besides what more can I do without stressing myself out to the point of stroke?  Nada.  In the words of a good friend, “Just roll with it.”

            On another note, the month of December was full of holiday excitement.  The “Lunch Buddy” mentoring program at Chicora Elementary School paid for a mentor/mentee field trip to the “Festival of Lights” on James Island.  Overall it was fun.  After a very loud bus ride there we walked around to all of the park’s festivities.  Seeing the holiday lights and decorations really stirred up some holiday enthusiasm in me.  I was officially getting in the holiday spirit.  Little did I know, this spirit had no chance of surviving the night once I stepped onto the big yellow school bus to return home.  Let’s just put it this way…twenty-five 2^nd – 5^th grade kids hopped up on sugar, waving seizure inducing strobing souvenirs, singing seven different holiday songs at once is no health benefit for, well, anyone.  All in all, it was fun as well as a night I soon won’t forget.

            Not five days later I was back with the Chicora kids.  I volunteered to help with administering the H1N1 vaccine.  I didn’t do the actual administering, I just helped to distract the kids while they received it.  I’m not gonna lie, it was kind of fun.  Some of the kids were not even fazed by the idea of a shot but others were absolutely frantic over the idea and acted as if we wanted to remove his/her limbs.  My friend Michelle told me that this experience was described by one of the nurses as “a good form of birth control.”  But being around all of those kids also sort of took me back to when I was a kid.  The older I get and the less I interact with kids the more I forget what it’s like to be one…like things I was afraid of and how easily distracted and gullible I was.  And so it goes. 

            Another interesting event I helped with was the “Healthy Holiday” at Zucker Middle School.  My friend Becky was primarily in charge of it and did an awesome job!  The event was open to the families of Zucker students and focused on how to prepare a healthy holiday meal.  Earth Fare donated the food and volunteer chefs came in to cook a healthy meal for its attendees and also demonstrated how to cook it.  I set up a diabetes information table and also invited a REACH employee to come and represent the organization.  The event was a hit and everyone seemed to be REALLY fascinated by the five pound of fat simulation I displayed at the table.

            On the fifteenth of December I became famous.  Yes! It’s true!  A big race and festival are coming to the Navy Yard (a.k.a. my neighborhood) in mid January so you can imagine how much publicity and how many volunteers one might need to pull this off.  Well, to do just that my friend Celia and I lent our services to Channel 4 news.  We answered volunteer telethon calls during the six and seven o’clock news.  The camera must have panned to us five or six times!  Haha so maybe I was forbidden to even look directly into the camera and probably can’t put that on my show biz résume but it was still a fun and seldom-occurring experience! 

            After this lollygagging with Chicora kids and basking in the glow of my television limelight I had to snap back into reality and get down to brass tacks.  Christmas was around the corner and I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to buy gifts. AGAIN.  I put on my creative hat and decided to make my gifts!  To achieve this I decided to learn how to make jewelry and apple butter!  Weird combo I know but somehow it seemed fun and fitting.  A few necklaces here, a bracelet and set of earrings there, top it all off with a jar of apple butter and voilà!  It was a very satisfying feeling to follow through with my plan!  Maybe if I’m poor like this next year I’ll be able to re-earn this feeling of satisfaction!  The end of the month was approaching and December twenty-second finally rolled around which meant it was time for my roommate Maggie and I to roll out for the holidays.  We packed the car, stocked up on Five Hour Energies, bid our farewells to Manley Avenue, and made our twelve-hour trek home to the Jersey shore!  My two-week break was much needed and though it flew by I enjoyed every minute of it.  My gifts were a success and it felt so good to be among family and friends.  I love you all and I hope to make it back soon!