build in Buffalo

Last Friday (July 8), Hope led an amazing, much-needed and transformative playground build in a very low income Buffalo neighborhood called the Fruit Belt--named after its fruit-basket of street names. Jen De Melo was her Superstar Second, Bob Woodson her smiley PSI Rep, and Bob Hedden her incredible installer. The Home Depot and the Fruit Belt United, Inc--a small neighborhood association that operates to benefit the community and for the promotion of social welfare--joined forces with neighbors, parents and a few other local groups (191 volunteers in all) to transform a small, empty lot into an extraordinary playspace. Despite some communication challenges throughout the planning, like no (direct) online access, and after digging through foundation on both Prep Days with 2 (unplanned) two-man augers and a jack-hammer, they were finally ready for the big day. After a slow start on Build Day, the momentum grew as the music got going and people starting coming out of the wood-work to help out. After lunch, kids put their final touches on the side projects while volunteers mixed concrete, moved the remaining mulch (110 CY in all), and cleaned up for an on-time Board-cutting at 3:30. As everyone gathered for the ceremony, a small parade of youth eagerly lined up, cautiously peered inside the playspace, and then intermingled with the volunteers to celebrate their new playground. Everyone was so excited and awestruck by the playground that the party didn't stop after the heart-felt Board-cutting ceremony. The DJ threw on some more tunes as volunteers finished cleaning up and celebrating in style.

Side Projects:
2 planter benches
2 picnic tables (one w/ a checker board top)
3 vine trellises
3 plywood benches w/ large cut tubing as the legs (designed by the kids)
Stepping Stones
Crushed-stone pathway
Garden
Painted iron fence
Installed chain-link fence
Installed mural on surrounding chain-link fence (in 1'x1' panels done by neighborhood kids, previous to this project)
Kid's Workshops
Painted flowers on sheets of masonite (to cut out and mount around the playground later)

Media:
ABC
The Buffalo News (paper)

VIPs:
George Holt, County Legislator
Don Allan, Sr., Commissioner of Community Service
Sister Philip Marie
John Tobia, DM
Brian Spence, SM
Mike King, SM
Tim Burgett, SM

on the road again...

we're about to hit the peak season at work, and i'll probably only be home for about 5 days this month. check it out:

dc - june 27-july 1
western nc - july 1-5
buffalo, ny (and niagara falls, for the first time!) - july 5-9
home (san francisco) - july 9-11
minneapolis, mn - july 11-15
home (SF) - july 15-18
chicago - july 18-19
home - july 19-23
wasilla, ak - july 23-31
...

crazy, huh? well, it sure keeps me busy, but i'm missing the opportunity to hang out with friends and to spend quality time in SF... :( oh well.

build in Winnipeg

Hope led another fantastic Build last Thursday with Suzie as her stellar Second and Ron Sweetman as her incredible Installer. The Home Depot Canada, the Elmwood Community Resource Centre, the United Way and the City of Winnipeg joined forces (201 in all) to build a fabulous playspace. After a rough (& very wet) start on prep day 1, they got everything ready over a full (& sunny) prep day 2 – digging all the holes and priming several areas to paint. (Hope’s shoes are now officially retired after tasting “Manitoba Gumbo,” or black clay & mud.) Their beautiful Build Day morning kicked off at 8:30 with a great pep talk by Annette Verschuren, the President of The Home Depot Canada, and with a warm-up led by the City of Winnipeg’s recreational director (accompanied by Homer D. Poe, the City of Winnipeg’s mascot, and the Centre’s mascot). The morning took off so much excitement that by lunchtime most of the side projects were complete and several volunteers were eating watermelon and slurping on slushies. (Winnipeg is apparently the slushie capital of Canada.) The day ended with an on-time Board-cutting at 3:45 and a big Thank You from volunteers’ kids.

All the volunteers were amazing! They moved 150 cubic yards of PEA GRAVEL!, mixed cement (w/ sand & gravel) by hand, did loads of side projects, and never complained once! The project really transformed the space – opening it up, sprucing it up and bringing life back into the place. Hope’s favorite part was seeing all the passers-by, neighbors and kids come out and watch in amazement.

Side Projects:
Painted the Centre’s facia, an outdoor stage, 10 park benches, 6 waste baskets, a hopscotch and 2 4-squares
Completed a 10’ x 100’ mural that read “Neighbours helping neighbours” and was tagged with 50’ of volunteers’ & kids’ hand prints
Built 4 planter benches, 6 picnic table tops (w/ metal frames) and (nearly) 2 BBQ pits
Refurbished their garden and weeded the surrounding area
Moved sand into an old sandbox
Created a small, limestone pathway

VIPs:
Annette Verschuren, President of The Home Depot Canada
Jeff Kinnaird, Regional VP of Operations, The Home Depot Canada
Randy Kelly, DM
Brent Ballantyne, Store Manager
3 other Store Managers
Kelly McNamara, PR Manager, The Home Depot Canada
Ingrid Zacharias, Exec. Director, Elmwood Community Resource Centre
Lillian Thomas, City Councillor
Terry Welling-Skorodenski, President of the City of Winnipeg’s Retirees’ Charitable Fund
Kathi Neal, Director of Marketing and Communications, United Way

Media:
The A Channel
CKY – CTV (one of Canada’s national networks)
The Herald
The Winnipeg Sun
The Free Press

time flies

man. i can't believe a whole month has gone by. so much's happened (as it always does) and i can't keep up... so here are the highlights.

i've been really busy at work. the summer time is our peak season, but that's beside the point. i just have way too much to do, all the time. long hours. no comp time. too much travel. a little bureaucracy. it's exhausting... but (mostly) all worth the experience of working with communities, building playgrounds, going places i'd never be able to go to otherwise, meeting new people all over, learning a lot, and getting better at everything i do. i'm thankful for it, but it's a struggle.

i'm about to get on the road again... in the past month, i went to Winnipeg, MB, for a playground build (see next post) and to Houston, TX, (for less than 8 hours!) for a design day meeting (to begin a new project for another project manager). in the coming month, get this, i'm going...
-to DC for a week-long project management (PM) retreat,
-to Asheville, NC (home!) for the 4th of july,
-to Buffalo, NY, for my playground build,
-back to SF for 36 hours,
-to Minneapolis, MN, for another PM's playground build & for my design day meeting,
-back home to SF for a week, and
-finally to Wasilla (near Anchorage), AK, for my playground build.

ah. the life of a KaBOOM! PM...

now, you ask, what about life in SF? well, after my mom came to visit, everything's been on the up and up. meeting some new folks, out with friends, beautiful weather, biking through the city, confidence, seein' Digable Planets in concert (reunion tour), home-made sushi, home-made margaritas, spontaneous good times, and unusual encounters (e.g., with a random acquaintance that i met in Alaska). he had a lay-over in Oakland, and we ended up hanging out for about 24 hours... i'm all about meeting new people, but that was the first time i took the risk of trusting a complete stranger and hosting him while getting to know him. crazy, huh?... well, it all worked out, and now i have a new friend in Alaska that's going to hook me up with a fishing trip and a plane ride around Mt. McKinley at the end of july. :)

so before i jet set out of SF for about 3 weeks solid, i'm going down to the mission flea market, to Japantown for some sushi, into Downtown for the (Gay) Pride parade and festivities tomorrow, and to the Elbo Room for Dub night in the Mission tomorrow night... i guess i've got to live it up in the city, when i have the chance to.

on the rise

at the turning point
out of the valley, manure, emptiness and nothingness
on the rise
seeking the light

familial visits
familar calls
familarizing places
finding my place again

spirts of production and daydreaming
imagining the world around and within me
how everything fits together
or how it may pass to be

connecting
reconnecting
continuing on
in life
from the past and
the not yet to come

--------------------------------------
mom's visit for the weekend
walking around under the sun and against the wind
getting to know my neighbors and hood during carnaval
kiff gallagher (and maktub) at the independent
east bay taco trucks
dessert with rhea, joel, tony, mardie and mom
art opening at the co-op near my place
brunch with rhea, jen, whitney, tony, mardie, mom, tom, mason and robin
the parade and festival of people, colors and music
grace cathedral evening service
martini's with joel and rhea
elbo room for dub and new acquaintances
breakfast at st. francis
the airport
now a coffee shop
on to... who knows where

Eklutna Lake (on the way up to Wasilla)

lil' northern exposure

Just got back from a short business trip to Anchorage and Wasilla, Alaska, and... Wow. The mountains there are spectacular, huge and magnificent, and the culture is so rich and awe-some, yet unusual. First, the native influence is striking. Second, the people's survival (and adventures) through their brutal winters is amazing. Third, the isolation, vastness and hidden sprawl of humanity is surprising. And, lastly, their short "American" history/infestation has produced an odd mix of opinions... Just as the U.S. "bought" the Louisiana Purchase from the French, we also "bought" Alaska from Russia (in 1917, I believe). So there's that bitter taste of stolen, yet borrowed, and re-sold land that natives are left to deal with (especially when our current president seeks to rape the land of its natural riches). Meanwhile, signs of urban modernity are submerging -- youthful goth, growing gang activity, corporate expansion, and over-populated tourist populations... I guess there's good and bad in everything. Hey, if it weren't for corporate expansion, I wouldn't have had the chance to go up there and build a playground with their money and (re)invested interest in the community... Either way, it's tricky to balance the diverging interests between the public and the private sectors, especially in an environment like this.

wdydwyd?

my brother, Tony, wrote:

Finally got around to getting all those portraits we did at Burning Man online. We still have about 20 images to add... Special thanks to Hope for helping scan most of them, to Jeremy for helping me out on some technical glitches on the web site, and to many of you who helped with the fun process of setting up a table and shooting the portraits on the playa. Maybe well do a roaming portrait studio a few times again this year?

And here's my portrait.

bay to breakers

aida, mardie and me

only in SF

today 70,000-80,000 people joined the oldest consecutively run footrace in the world, and of course, when in San Francisco, anything goes... mobile Tiki Huts, male genitalia trains, pirate ships and "beeramids" carrying kegs, a port-a-party with a bar, and so many more colorful eclectic traditions represented.

tony, mardie, aida (a brazilian friend visiting from chapel hill) and i went down to the park to people-watch and walk with the mass of drunken participants. we had only one drink but were still amused by the madness around us.

"Today Bay to Breakers is one of the oldest and most beloved civic festivals in the world. Although runners come from across the country and all points of the globe, the race is still quintessential San Francisco and a true reflection of life between the breakers and the Bay."

solid ground

the last couple weeks have been okay. i helped another project manager build a playground in ogden, utah, and we had a lot of fun gettin to know the area (around salt lake city). then, last week i built in redding, ca, with the help of my superviser, and we had fun with the volunteers and playground installers... our site in redding was super rocky, and we had several technical/construction issues come up. it was really challenging, but i survived... our volunteers were great and, surprisingly, they didn't complain about anything (a bit rare in this job). overall, it was a good build, but i was super hard on myself about things. unfortunately, i sometimes let the littlest things get in the way of my well-being, and then i feel like i have no solid ground beneath me.

over the last couple of days, i've started to feel the earth again, but my heart is still unpleasantly distracting me. here's the thing: i'm officially on my own again, and i'm trying hard to recenter my inner love and embrace my independence. it's especially hard because he was so cool and i felt such a strong connection between us. oh well. i guess timing IS everything.

howwierd

today was the How Weird Street Fair (a pun on the street named Howard). similar to the the Burning Man Decompression party, there were 4 stages of djs and live music, performances and costumes, but not any playa art. check it. it was only $5 to get in with a costume, so it was fun and it fit my budget.

reflection

this week was beautiful here in SF, and smoothe sailing on my biking commute to work. right now, i'm sitting at the Atlas Cafe (near my house in the Mission), and the sky is threatening to release it's moisture over the plastic canopy of this patio. yesterday, my boss, co-worker and i went to happy hour for margaritas, and later i met up with a former co-worker for a lil' dancin at Milk (in the Haight). the day before, i met up with two former co-workers at the Zeitgeist for some beers and tamales. (it was my first time there.) wednesday, i went to a much-needed yoga session, which helped me recenter my emotionally-distracted heart. it was a good challenge to have Noah accompany me to the class, because i'm realizing that my relationships can sometimes throw me off track and get my emotions all tied up into knots. i recognize that i need to focus on my own path, amid others' wayward journeys through life. to cope, here are my current mantras:

(1) timing can feel like our worst enemy but really it's our saving grace.
(2) we must honor ourselves and respect others always.
(3) at the end of the day, we are all we've got in life.

this is not to say that i don't love everyone (b/c i do especially if they let me in) but it is a type of defense mechanism for life... i guess that's the cancer in me... or maybe it's the self-reflective, self-protective, honest, over-observant, heart-filled, introverted and independent part of me that needs a good booty-shakin on the dance floor or another surreal, out-of-body experience in a House of God and/or out on the Playa to get me back on board.

blasé... but in NC!

i'm on the up and up, again, but feeling overworked. two weeks ago, i flew to Winnipeg, Manitoba, for a 4-hour Design Day meeting. last week, i led a playground build with the City of Santa Ana, California. this week, i'm assisting another project manager on her playground project in Charlotte, North Carolina. (yes, i'm in NC again!) next week, i should be home (SF), but after that, i'll be on the road again (to Ogden, UT, Redding, CA, and eventually Sparks, NV)... ah, the life of a KaBOOM! project manager. what's more is that when i am in town, i still bike and take the train everyday to work (SF>Redwood City).

somehow, through all that, i still manage to have a bit of a personal life too.

i spent easter with my brother, his fiance, and their friends, and i also joined them for Food Club (a fancy potluck gathering). (the theme this time was colorful foods, and i made lettuce wraps.)... noah and i saw a very intriguing independent film called "dot the i" (Gael Garcia Bernal), and we went to this art opening/event in SF that had a cabaret, marching band and hip hop DJs... i met up with a very old best friend (from elementary school) when i went down to Santa Ana/Huntington Beach last week... among many other things.

now, i'm in NC for work, but i'm able to visit family and friends while i'm here! i went up to Asheville last weekend, and i'm going up to Boone this weekend. yay! i'm so excited to finally meet my new niece! and to see my brother and sister-in-law, too!... somehow, i've got to finish my taxes before friday, too. yikes.

grrrr

i'm on the down slope of a natural high.

i haven't done any yoga in a long time. i've let the stress of work consume me. my body, soul and mind are aching from causes (cycles and people) out of my control. the love that rejuvenated me last month is on reserve and fading. and, in some cases, i'm holding myself back from being my full, true, beautiful self.

where is the hope?
still in me somewhere, i guess.