Today I had off for Labor Day for the first time in five years. I was stoked. A few of my friends and I decided that we would hit up a museum, and decided on the Holocaust. I knew it would be a depressing experience, but I had not idea of the graphic material that awaited me inside.
Upon exiting the elevator, the mood was immediately set. A wall portrait of victims being shoveled in ditches was the first thing I saw. Horror struck me. I knew that while I had to experience this, it was not going to be fun. The whole museum was really informative, but as the self-guided tour progressed, the messages, pictures, videos, and displays got stronger.
One of the first things that hit me hard was America's role in the whole ordeal. They had opportunities to save thousands of Jews, but wouldn't. Nearly 1000 came to Cuba on the St. Louis, but the Nazi's had forbidden them to land in Cuba. The United States would NOT all the boat to dock, despite pleas from the captain. The coasts were being patrolled to make sure no one tried to jump and swim to their freedom. Instead the St. Louis was forced to turn around and many of the passengers were eventually captured and taken to concentration camps. Later, the United States decided that they would only allow distinguished Jews to come to the States. Didn't see that in the history books growing up...I was shocked and ashamed at the same time.
As the tour continued, horrific pictures lined the walls. I had to walk through a roughly 20 by 10 box car that would transport as many as 100 prisoners at a time to death or concentration camps. These conditions were catastrophic. There was a room that played audio from survivors and their experiences, I mean just an absolute morbid feeling came over me. Then I walked past a display of shoes. The odor that exuded them was enough to make me gag on the spot and I'm sure it didn't even account for 1/20th of the shoes from tortured victims. The smell of leather mixed with spoiled eggs on a hot day with no ventilation is about as well as I can describe the pungency of the hallway. Just typing this now, and reliving those past three hours is emotionally wearing me down. The medical experiments, I can't even begin to describe. What kind of sick, deranged humans would do such a thing?
I'm going to wrap this up. At the end of the tour was the Remembrance Room with candles everywhere and soil from each of the death and concentration camps. As soon as I walked in, chills ran through my body. Goosebumps covered me from head to toe. I paused in reverence and said a prayer for all of the souls who lost their lives way to soon in this most horrific event in our worlds history. If somehow you don't believe that the Holocaust actually happened, talk to me, or better yet, come to D.C. and take the tour yourself. You will then believe.
I left the museum emotionally stunned and very disturbed. Fitting enough, it started to rain on my bus ride home, and I thought to myself, these raindrops resembled the amount of tears shed by those who lived through or were somehow affected by this event. I knew I would leave the museum deeply saddened and depressed, and I did, but I will never regret taking that tour.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Long Days= Hard to Keep Up
Sorry my posts have become few and far between. The days are just brutally long, and when I get home and make dinner, it's pretty much get ready for bed and do it all again the next day. I'm gonna get you all caught up without making it as wordy as possible.
We got assigned to our classes on Thursday and I got the 7th grade class I had hoped for. The first day with the kids for a full day was interesting to say the least. The kids aren't afraid to tell it like it is, and cuss and derogatory remarks are not out of the norm. Some of the kids have a very short attention span as per one student who midway through class just decided to start crawling between desks. When he sat back down, class had wrapped up and the kids were waiting to go to the next class, when a girl grabbed the same kids bookbag and started to suffocate him. At first I thought they were just playing because again, violence is somewhat normal and accepted in their environment. However, I knew this was real when the girl took the straps and pulled them around his head. I stepped in and broke that up immediately. As I talked to the teacher about the situation, I asked what can be done. Discipline wise, not a whole lot. He told me that yelling at them was not an option. This is because most of the kids have a home life in which all that goes on is yelling, so by me yelling at them, they revert back to home and immediately see me as a bad person because I raised my voice.
On Friday, along with the Civic Engagement and Stanton Elementary teams, we prepped Winston for this Friday's service day. We primed rooms, walls, and gyms as we will be painting murals all throughout the school. It doesn't sound hard, but we busted our asses that day. One of the longest days for sure, but it'll be worth it in the end. I guess my Sher Willy (Sherwin-Williams for you unhip people) experience really is going to pay off.
Friday night and Saturday night I went out, had fun. Sunday was a cleaning and laundry day, and today I went to the Holocaust Museum. That will be another post here shortly.
We got assigned to our classes on Thursday and I got the 7th grade class I had hoped for. The first day with the kids for a full day was interesting to say the least. The kids aren't afraid to tell it like it is, and cuss and derogatory remarks are not out of the norm. Some of the kids have a very short attention span as per one student who midway through class just decided to start crawling between desks. When he sat back down, class had wrapped up and the kids were waiting to go to the next class, when a girl grabbed the same kids bookbag and started to suffocate him. At first I thought they were just playing because again, violence is somewhat normal and accepted in their environment. However, I knew this was real when the girl took the straps and pulled them around his head. I stepped in and broke that up immediately. As I talked to the teacher about the situation, I asked what can be done. Discipline wise, not a whole lot. He told me that yelling at them was not an option. This is because most of the kids have a home life in which all that goes on is yelling, so by me yelling at them, they revert back to home and immediately see me as a bad person because I raised my voice.
On Friday, along with the Civic Engagement and Stanton Elementary teams, we prepped Winston for this Friday's service day. We primed rooms, walls, and gyms as we will be painting murals all throughout the school. It doesn't sound hard, but we busted our asses that day. One of the longest days for sure, but it'll be worth it in the end. I guess my Sher Willy (Sherwin-Williams for you unhip people) experience really is going to pay off.
Friday night and Saturday night I went out, had fun. Sunday was a cleaning and laundry day, and today I went to the Holocaust Museum. That will be another post here shortly.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
We In Our Reds!!!
Gigantic ups to my Winston crew for earning our uniforms today! This is a huge accomplishment in the City Year process, and we rocked it. Our chant to "All of the Lights" was killer, so much so that I think there is a good chance that we'll get to perform it on Opening Day, which would be fantastic. We got our Tims, red vest, and dress pants and shirts. We are still waiting for more pieces to arrive, including the backpack (which I'm really excited for) and our bombers. But still, we put in hours of work and it showed. I couldn't be more proud of Matt, Cara, Emilia, Rashad, Kim, Robbie, Trey, Sydney, Sheri, and Paiyal!
Earlier today we shadowed more classes which is starting to get beat. I think everyone has a pretty good idea of which class the want/would be most successful in, so now it's a little drag. I was in 4th grade, and those little kids are rowdy. I had one kid talk back to me for half an hour after I stopped acknowledging him before he finally picked up pencil shavings that he spilled and then right after lunch, this little dude speared another kid. I was like "dude, really!?" I told him if that happens again, he'll have to deal with me. Oh and I'm in charge of the discipline for my team as well. I like intimidating kids who have never been stood up to before.
Yesterday was a throw away day. The school was closed due to the hurricane. (I walked through the wind and rain on Saturday night, always a good time!)
Tomorrow I have interviews for two Ambassador Programs and I'll let you know more about them once I receive a decision on them, but apparently I have a good chance at both that I'm applying for.
Hope all is well in Pittsburgh, Marietta, and wherever else you may be reading this from. Know that I'm having a great time here and couldn't be happier with my decision!
Earlier today we shadowed more classes which is starting to get beat. I think everyone has a pretty good idea of which class the want/would be most successful in, so now it's a little drag. I was in 4th grade, and those little kids are rowdy. I had one kid talk back to me for half an hour after I stopped acknowledging him before he finally picked up pencil shavings that he spilled and then right after lunch, this little dude speared another kid. I was like "dude, really!?" I told him if that happens again, he'll have to deal with me. Oh and I'm in charge of the discipline for my team as well. I like intimidating kids who have never been stood up to before.
Yesterday was a throw away day. The school was closed due to the hurricane. (I walked through the wind and rain on Saturday night, always a good time!)
Tomorrow I have interviews for two Ambassador Programs and I'll let you know more about them once I receive a decision on them, but apparently I have a good chance at both that I'm applying for.
Hope all is well in Pittsburgh, Marietta, and wherever else you may be reading this from. Know that I'm having a great time here and couldn't be happier with my decision!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
I Have Justin Bieber Hair?
I was in another class today, sixth grade, and it pains me to say, but the ability of some of these students are very sad. I was working with a student and she asked for some help, so I explained to her that she had to read a section and pick out two main ideas. That's when she informed me that she couldn't read. No big deal, I'll help her. I was very proud that she put forth a serious effort and was eventually able to sound out the word "tectonic", but later in the day found out that she couldn't pronounce the names "Phil" and "Ann". That one hurt.
Speaking of hurting, and I hate to say this, but some of the teachers are very apathetic towards their students. In one case she was the opposite and was absolutely grilling this student. I felt bad but didn't want to overstep my boundaries. That student asked me to help her with her homework and I did and get this, she is BRILLIANT! One of the smartest students I've been around in that school. I asked her if she liked school and she said yes, and told me that she has plans on going to college, which she will because of her intellect, but the teacher has it out. We were talking and she got in trouble for raising her hand to as a relevant question. I told her, whether or not I'm her City Year, she could come to me to release the frustrations. She has so much potential, and I told her sometimes you just have to bite your tongue even when you know you didn't do anything wrong. I talked to the teacher about it and how smart she was, and the teacher didn't really care, rather she was more concerned with the discipline issue.
I ate lunch with some of the students and they asked me to shake my hair, so I did and they go, Oh my gosh Mr. Mike, you have Justin Bieber hair! I was like, "excuse me?"
I went on to tell them how in high school I grew my hair really long and put them in twisties one day and told them that if they do their work and do well, that I might bring it out again later in the year.
After school, my team put in mad hours practicing to earn our uniforms. We have most everything memorized including this wicked awesome chant which is a remix to Kanye West's "All of the Lights."
Speaking of hurting, and I hate to say this, but some of the teachers are very apathetic towards their students. In one case she was the opposite and was absolutely grilling this student. I felt bad but didn't want to overstep my boundaries. That student asked me to help her with her homework and I did and get this, she is BRILLIANT! One of the smartest students I've been around in that school. I asked her if she liked school and she said yes, and told me that she has plans on going to college, which she will because of her intellect, but the teacher has it out. We were talking and she got in trouble for raising her hand to as a relevant question. I told her, whether or not I'm her City Year, she could come to me to release the frustrations. She has so much potential, and I told her sometimes you just have to bite your tongue even when you know you didn't do anything wrong. I talked to the teacher about it and how smart she was, and the teacher didn't really care, rather she was more concerned with the discipline issue.
I ate lunch with some of the students and they asked me to shake my hair, so I did and they go, Oh my gosh Mr. Mike, you have Justin Bieber hair! I was like, "excuse me?"
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| My hair |
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| Bieber's hair (I can't believe I put his photo on my blog...) |
I went on to tell them how in high school I grew my hair really long and put them in twisties one day and told them that if they do their work and do well, that I might bring it out again later in the year.
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| stud |
After school, my team put in mad hours practicing to earn our uniforms. We have most everything memorized including this wicked awesome chant which is a remix to Kanye West's "All of the Lights."
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tremor-endous Day
Today I was back in the 7th grade and all ready the kids are feeling comfortable around me. I'm able to assist them and make sure they stay focused on their work. I'm also able to relate to them as well. For instance this once kid didn't do his homework because he played basketball after school. So today I asked him what he was going to do and he told me ball. I said thats fine, but if you don't do your homework, that really wont matter. I told him I don't care if he drops 20 and 10 dimes (assists), if that homework isn't done, I could care less. He promised me he'd get it done. We'll see tomorrow. The kids find it fun to bust on my shoes, which is all good. I mean I do lack a certain fashion sense.
In math, I was helping this one girl who was really struggling with decimals and determining which ones are bigger than the others. By the end of the lesson, she was able to understand and could explain to me why that was the case. It was great to see progress being made immediately. After class was over, another girl approached me and asked if I would help her with her multiplication tables, the 9's and 12's specifically. Of course I said yes and taught her the finger trick for the 9 times tables. The bad part is tomorrow I will observe another class so I won't see these kids for a couple days.
I ate lunch with a group of them and we discussed music and instruments they play. They were really excited to tell me about playing the viola, the piccolo and the guitar. I told them how I play the piano, trumpet and euphonium, which they needed an explanation for lol. I really hope to be able to continue teaching that 7th grade class when I get my final assignment.
In the afternoon I was heading back to the office with my team for more training. When we stepped off the Metro, people were lining the streets. My group was like "what the..." So I asked a lady and she said there was an earthquake. I figured it was people blowing things out of proportion and panicking but there was a legit earthquake in D.C. People felt it and in the City Year building, it was easily felt. City Year decided to give us the rest of the day off, so that mean early Happy Hour!!!
The metro's sucked on the way home as they were only able to run at a max speed of 15 mph and they got crazy crowded. Tomorrow I apply for food stamps and am uber excited cause I miss cooking. I hope you all survived the earthquake and we're to rattled.
P.S. Happy Birthday to my roommate Sean Eagan...Happy 22nd, hope you don't get the shakes tonight...hahaha see what I did there I made a joke about drinking and earthquakes...
In math, I was helping this one girl who was really struggling with decimals and determining which ones are bigger than the others. By the end of the lesson, she was able to understand and could explain to me why that was the case. It was great to see progress being made immediately. After class was over, another girl approached me and asked if I would help her with her multiplication tables, the 9's and 12's specifically. Of course I said yes and taught her the finger trick for the 9 times tables. The bad part is tomorrow I will observe another class so I won't see these kids for a couple days.
I ate lunch with a group of them and we discussed music and instruments they play. They were really excited to tell me about playing the viola, the piccolo and the guitar. I told them how I play the piano, trumpet and euphonium, which they needed an explanation for lol. I really hope to be able to continue teaching that 7th grade class when I get my final assignment.
In the afternoon I was heading back to the office with my team for more training. When we stepped off the Metro, people were lining the streets. My group was like "what the..." So I asked a lady and she said there was an earthquake. I figured it was people blowing things out of proportion and panicking but there was a legit earthquake in D.C. People felt it and in the City Year building, it was easily felt. City Year decided to give us the rest of the day off, so that mean early Happy Hour!!!
The metro's sucked on the way home as they were only able to run at a max speed of 15 mph and they got crazy crowded. Tomorrow I apply for food stamps and am uber excited cause I miss cooking. I hope you all survived the earthquake and we're to rattled.
P.S. Happy Birthday to my roommate Sean Eagan...Happy 22nd, hope you don't get the shakes tonight...hahaha see what I did there I made a joke about drinking and earthquakes...
Monday, August 22, 2011
First Day of School
So I missed a week of posts. I was kinda sick and went to bed early every night. Good. Now that we're all caught up, today was my first day of school!
I was observing 7th grade classes and it was a great experience. My time at Perry helped out a lot and the teacher that I was observing noticed that I was intimidated at all. The first class was ancient history. The teacher did a great job of keeping the students engaged the whole time. However, he didn't teach out of a book. Instead he taught them photo analysis, which will continue throughout the entire year. This was a great method of teaching because 1. I'm sure the kids have never been exposed to that before 2. It was different than reading text out of a book and 3. It was fun and interactive. Hell it was fun for me!
The next class I observed was math. Some of the kids were a little shaky in this area. I had to go back and work out the problems myself before helping them out because, let's be real, it has been years since I did that kind of work. But like riding a bike, it quickly came back and I was able to assist a group of girls with some problems. At lunch, I got to talk to a few kids, one who claimed I stole his name (he was named Mike too). He wanted me to call him Big Mike, and I said alright that's cool, but since I'm bigger than you, I'm Bigger Mike. He was diggin it, but in the classroom he still agreed to call me Mr. Mike. Yeah, authoritative figure. Right here. I met the mayor of D.C. during lunch and then my flagship team worked on earning our uniforms. We got a good deal accomplished and the day went by fairly quickly.
One of the negatives, I live 3 miles from my school. It took me about an hour to get to and from school on public transportation. Ugh. I'm considering driving. Oh and my lunch meat sucks. I can't wait to get food stamps!
I was observing 7th grade classes and it was a great experience. My time at Perry helped out a lot and the teacher that I was observing noticed that I was intimidated at all. The first class was ancient history. The teacher did a great job of keeping the students engaged the whole time. However, he didn't teach out of a book. Instead he taught them photo analysis, which will continue throughout the entire year. This was a great method of teaching because 1. I'm sure the kids have never been exposed to that before 2. It was different than reading text out of a book and 3. It was fun and interactive. Hell it was fun for me!
The next class I observed was math. Some of the kids were a little shaky in this area. I had to go back and work out the problems myself before helping them out because, let's be real, it has been years since I did that kind of work. But like riding a bike, it quickly came back and I was able to assist a group of girls with some problems. At lunch, I got to talk to a few kids, one who claimed I stole his name (he was named Mike too). He wanted me to call him Big Mike, and I said alright that's cool, but since I'm bigger than you, I'm Bigger Mike. He was diggin it, but in the classroom he still agreed to call me Mr. Mike. Yeah, authoritative figure. Right here. I met the mayor of D.C. during lunch and then my flagship team worked on earning our uniforms. We got a good deal accomplished and the day went by fairly quickly.
One of the negatives, I live 3 miles from my school. It took me about an hour to get to and from school on public transportation. Ugh. I'm considering driving. Oh and my lunch meat sucks. I can't wait to get food stamps!
P.S. Throwing out a big happy birthday to one of my best friends, Zack Myers. Happy 23rd bud. And a big up to my sister Anna for completing her last first day of classes at Penn St.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Weekend Capper
I capped off my lazy weekend today. I guess I wasn't completely lazy today, but I didn't overexert myself in any capacity, except during a late lunch. I went to bed relatively early last night, shortly after midnight and halfway through "Good Will Hunting." It's just something about movies that makes it hard for me to stay awake.
I woke up early and researched and found a Catholic church to attend. Mass was at noon so I had plenty of time to get there, and for once I didn't get lost during the trip! St. Patricks was a smaller church, but nice on the inside.
The priest was really captivating and I was thinking, sweet! I could totally listen to this guy every Sunday. Turns out, he accepted another position and this was his last weekend at the church. Go figure.
After church, I was going to head to the zoo, but the skies looked ominous, and I really didn't want to get stuck in another rain storm. It would've been my fourth one I believe since I moved to D.C. and that's all because umbrella's are for the birds. Well not really, but that's my story and I'm stickin to it.
I was going to check out the Spy Museum, but of course that cost money, which is something that is at a premium for me right now, but I do get paid on Friday! Holla Holla! Instead I went tot he National Portrait Gallery. I immediately found the presidential section which housed all of the painting portraits of the presidents.(Try saying that five times fast) It's interesting to see the progression and depending on the time the portrait was done (in terms of the presidents stay in office) there were distinct differences in the faces from the amount of stress each president endured.
There were some really nice paintings of early America before it became industrialized, monopolized, and urbanized and let me tell you, it was quite the picturesque terrain. I was never big on art museums for a couple of reasons. The first being that, to put it bluntly, I suck at art. I can't color, can't draw, can't paint, sculpt, you name it, I am not artistically gifted. It gets frustrating at times. The other reason is that each artist usually has an underlying message to the piece and I'm not able to pick up what he or she is trying to convey. Maybe it's because I haven't been formally trained, I'm not sure. I like to take things at face value and not over analyze them. Maybe the artist just wanted to paint a picture of the woods, but usually it entails greater meaning.
Despite this fact, it was still really impressive work, again something I could never do, and neat to look at for an afternoon. After, I was texting a friend and asked where a good place to eat was and she hooked me up with Fuddruckers. This burger place is legit. They have crazy awesome burgers and you could've gotten specialty ones like buffalo, boar, and elk, but I decided to go with simply a half pound with bleu cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms, and all the fixins( yes, even another tomato). It was so juicy and the bun slightly grilled and so warm! Ugh, delicious! I stayed an extra 10 minutes after I was done because I was so full I had to let the food digest.
I then walked around Chinatown for a little to burn off some of the calories I just inhaled and I really enjoyed that walk because I was one of the tallest people on the street. Ego booster. Like I need it right!?
Good day, easy and relaxing weekend, and tomorrow starts week three of training at City Year. Can't wait!
I woke up early and researched and found a Catholic church to attend. Mass was at noon so I had plenty of time to get there, and for once I didn't get lost during the trip! St. Patricks was a smaller church, but nice on the inside.
The priest was really captivating and I was thinking, sweet! I could totally listen to this guy every Sunday. Turns out, he accepted another position and this was his last weekend at the church. Go figure.
After church, I was going to head to the zoo, but the skies looked ominous, and I really didn't want to get stuck in another rain storm. It would've been my fourth one I believe since I moved to D.C. and that's all because umbrella's are for the birds. Well not really, but that's my story and I'm stickin to it.
I was going to check out the Spy Museum, but of course that cost money, which is something that is at a premium for me right now, but I do get paid on Friday! Holla Holla! Instead I went tot he National Portrait Gallery. I immediately found the presidential section which housed all of the painting portraits of the presidents.(Try saying that five times fast) It's interesting to see the progression and depending on the time the portrait was done (in terms of the presidents stay in office) there were distinct differences in the faces from the amount of stress each president endured.
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| Credit to the National Portrait Gallery website |
There were some really nice paintings of early America before it became industrialized, monopolized, and urbanized and let me tell you, it was quite the picturesque terrain. I was never big on art museums for a couple of reasons. The first being that, to put it bluntly, I suck at art. I can't color, can't draw, can't paint, sculpt, you name it, I am not artistically gifted. It gets frustrating at times. The other reason is that each artist usually has an underlying message to the piece and I'm not able to pick up what he or she is trying to convey. Maybe it's because I haven't been formally trained, I'm not sure. I like to take things at face value and not over analyze them. Maybe the artist just wanted to paint a picture of the woods, but usually it entails greater meaning.
Despite this fact, it was still really impressive work, again something I could never do, and neat to look at for an afternoon. After, I was texting a friend and asked where a good place to eat was and she hooked me up with Fuddruckers. This burger place is legit. They have crazy awesome burgers and you could've gotten specialty ones like buffalo, boar, and elk, but I decided to go with simply a half pound with bleu cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms, and all the fixins( yes, even another tomato). It was so juicy and the bun slightly grilled and so warm! Ugh, delicious! I stayed an extra 10 minutes after I was done because I was so full I had to let the food digest.
I then walked around Chinatown for a little to burn off some of the calories I just inhaled and I really enjoyed that walk because I was one of the tallest people on the street. Ego booster. Like I need it right!?
Good day, easy and relaxing weekend, and tomorrow starts week three of training at City Year. Can't wait!
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