I'm extremely late writing this. I know.

My brother told me: "What is this crap? Delete it."

I was going to delete it and start a new AmeriCorps blog on Xanga, but I just returned from Xanga in horror this very second. I'm literally panting in anger. Xanga is filled with nothing but "I'm a virgin" this and "sluts" that and freakin' ManCouch. So much bullshit. So much sexism. So much male patriarchy. I had to come back to Blogger. My head almost exploded. I am terrified for our future generation.

Now, back to AmeriCorps NCCC. This will be quick and painless. No one will probably understand this, but me. Whenever I talk to any AmeriCorps outsiders like my friends and family they just look at me like I'm dumb and say "Oh, that's nice sweetie." I know what they're thinking: "WTF is CTI??", "Is Iowa even a state? Who the fuck lives there?!", "You're wasting your time!"

Every time I talk to someone about AmeriCorps, I'm abruptly interrupted with an "Oh, that's cool..." then a continuation of what cool thing THAT person is doing with THEIR life.

This is the only place I can talk (write, actually) about it freely. So here goes.

I kissed my family goodbye.

I got on a plane.

I arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I got a tour.

Corn fields, corn fields, corn fields.

Now- BAM- I'm at the Iowa Braille School (aka IBS... Funny, no?) in Vinton, Iowa.


I fucking love my team- Maple 6! They're the coolest people ever. I'm the media representative. I write articles. I do things.

We just got back from a 6 week long project in Hamilton, Indiana. We worked with The Nature Conservancy to rid wetlands and other areas of invasive plants such as Cattails, Autumn Olive, and Asian Bush Honeysuckle... but mostly Cattails. I can't stress Cattails enough. They were everywhere. It was hard, but very rewarding.

It was the first time I had ever been to Indiana. I got called a nigger for the first time, and someone's shoes got stolen, and I got kissed by some old pervert at the bar. Exiciting, eh?

At least I got to hold a snake.

Herald Republican article

Vinton Today article


Our next project is in Dubuque, Iowa. We'll be holding tours for the public at a Museum/Aquarium... Oh, and we'll be making floor mats out of Cattails. Kawinkidink, much? How ironic -_-

I am looking forward to this :)