That's where I am.
Tractor! That's what I drive.
Tipis! That's what I build.
Paradise... That's what this is.
I just finished week one (plus a couple of days) of project 4. We are working for Caldera Arts, a Portland-based non-profit that serves "at-risk youth" in Portland and Central Oregon.
Caldera is a catalyst for transformation through innovative art and environmental programs.
Cool. How do those words play out? Well, a little history first... Years ago, Dan Wieden came up with the slogan "Just Do It" for Nike, and co-founded Wieden and Kennedy, an independent advertising firm whose clients include ABC, Coca-Cola, Target, Disney Pictures, ESPN, Google... the list goes on. The minute Dan heard of children fighting, even killing, over a pair of Nike sneakers, he decided he needed to provide something to counter-act the violence that his creation had induced. So he and his daughters brainstormed and came up with Caldera.
It started out as just a summer camp, serving only youth from the Portland metro area. This was 1996. Now, the organization serves youth ages 11 and up from Portland as well as cities in Central O, such as Sisters, Bend, Terrebonne, Madras, Redmond, and Warm Springs. Caldera is no longer just a summer camp. Their educational model is one that holds high the value of a constant role model in a child's life. Caldera students have class once a week in school, where their mentor visits the school and works with the same group of kids week to week. Each year, the program has a different focus. Last year's focus was photography (their big project, Hello Neighbor is really awesome- check it out). This year, they're working with poetry. This means that each class period, students are learning how to use poetry as a form of self-expression, as well as the history of the art, and different types of poetry. On top of their weekly mentoring sessions, the students are exposed to professional artists that come in for weeks at a time to give classes on their personal styles. During these weeks, all students at each school are invited to take part, giving the Caldera students the opportunity to share what they've been working on with their peers. Four times during the school year, Caldera holds what they call an "intensive," two for Central O students, and two for Portland students. An intensive is a weekend during which students from all the local schools come together, either at camp or at the offices in Portland, and have the opportunity to reconnect with their Caldera family, as well as immerse themselves in the arts. We had an intensive the first weekend we were here, and had a wonderful time hanging out with youth from vastly different backgrounds and a wide range of ages. They offered 4 classes- photography, fiber arts (fabrics, sewing), cooking, and film. There is so much to be learned from teenagers, especially those that come with the backgrounds these students have. So after that school year of consistent Caldera involvement, students attend camp with other students from their age group, for 6-8 days at a time, engaging in arts classes and activities that embrace the beautiful environment we live in...
My job?
Well, our main goal this project is to prepare the camp grounds for these students. The translation of that is: building 25 tipis, clearing trails, cleaning staff cabins, repainting things that need to be repainted, and doing miscellaneous camp maintenance jobs. I drive a tractor so we can get huge logs off of the trails and into the dump truck. We work from 9 (ish) to 4 (ish) with an hour lunch break and lots of time-filling conversation with Jim, our supervisor. It's a pretty cushy job.
Our housing?
Well, we live on the camp grounds. There are 5, A-frame cottages that lie in a row along a link creek, that connects Blue Lake (a 320' deep volcanic lake) to Suttle Lake (a shallower, warmer, calmer, glacial lake). Each cottage has its own kitchenette, bathroom (warm showers!), wood stove, and 3-4 very trendy futons (with bedding). My team of 11 occupies 4 of these cottages. Just up a small hill from our cottages is what we call the "Hearth." It's the camp's main building, where they have their offices, a library, a huge catering kitchen, two fireplaces, and an enormous room with beautiful hardwood floors, a huge projector screen, and incredible sound system. Next door to this building are two studios: the "dirty" studio, host to painting and ceramics, and the "clean" studio, host to a dark room, the fiber studio, and a drumming studio (filled with African drums). Spoiled as we are, we have full access to anything and everything inside those studios. Each of the lakes has 4 canoes, which we're free to take out at anytime (except when Blue Lake is having a seizure and can't stop moving... the water gets extremely choppy, and it's always incredibly cold). Since the lake is a crater lake, an exploded volcano, the rim trail that surrounds it is about 100 feet higher than the water level... a beautiful hike.
PT?
This project is ideal for "fun" PT sessions. So far, we've taken a hike around Suttle Lake and a hike around Blue Lake- two vastly different but equally challenging hikes. One day we paddled Blue Lake for an hour. Sometimes we do yoga, or ballet, or whatever we feel like doing on the Hearth's extensive wood floors. In the future, I predict we'll be doing some rock climbing, some African dance, perhaps swimming (weather permitting, of course).
And as if we actually needed more as far as recreation goes, there's a town about 15 minutes away, Sisters. It's the closest place for any of us to get cell reception (if you've tried to call, my bad. I don't get service in the mountains). The majority of the city's economy is supported by its large tourist population in the summer and winter months. It's a bit of a ghost town right now, but people are starting to pop up all over. On the surface, it's a western-style resort town, but there is a huge artist population in the community, many of which serve Caldera students. We go in to town every once in awhile, either for groceries, phone calls, or a vegan, organic, gluten-free cinnamon roll at Angeline's, one of my favorite places.
It's fair to say that this is, through and through, more of a vacation than a project. I love it here and am determined to make it back in the near future. Perhaps as a youth advocate in the summer?
As for the rest of my life, I visited Emory & Henry College over Easter weekend with my mom, and simply fell in love with the place. It's in Emory, VA, which epitomizes small town, USA. It sits in the very western tip of Virginia, in the Appalachian mountains. The school has about 1,000 students (my high school had more than that!). There are a couple of things that draw me to this school. The first is the program in which I would like to study- Public Policy & Community Service. It covers a ton of ground- how to engage volunteers, how to run a non-profit, how to change policy, etc. etc. Students that have graduated from the program have gone on to be lawyers, social workers, public officers, teachers, etc.. I like the idea that I don't have to pick exactly what I want to do with it yet, and that it opens plenty of doors for a career that I will enjoy. The school is one of only 27 in the country that offers the Bonner Scholarship. The basic gist of the program is that each year, the school picks 20 students from each class to dedicate 10 hours a week to service, as well as two summers of service. In return, the program funds participants' education (all tuition, books, room & board that is not covered by what FAFSA has decided is your Expected Family Contribution). I have applied for the scholarship and talked extensively with its director. Hopefully I'll find out soon and be able to make a concrete decision about what to do next year. Cross your fingers for me!
Looks like bedtime for me!
xoxo
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