This is the last opportunity for me to take the classes I've been hoping to take for years, or the classes I feel may help guide my future. Crazy. Three of the classes are classes I have to take for my Public Relations major, including Mass Communication Ethics, PR Campaigns, and an elective in journalism. Then I will either be taking one or two classes in the School of Social Work, and potentially a spanish class, depending on what classes I do/don't get into.
Currently, my perspective on next year is still pretty fuzzy. However it seems my first big decision is whether or not I want to stay in the US, or go abroad for all or part of the year. And it seems one minute I am certain I want to skip the country to go on an exotic adventure, and the next minutes I am sure I want to stick around and learn some marketable skills. I don't know. Hopefully I'll wake up one day and will just know.
I have officially registered for Bike and Build for the summer. I will be biking from the Outer Banks in North Carolina all the way to San Diego, California in about 2 and a half months. Along the way I will be helping build homes and give presentations on affordable housing. If you want to donate to my ride you can visit my sponsor page and donate there. I will be starting up some campaigns and fund raising activities in the coming months while I train, so spread the word once those start rolling! You will be able to follow my ride at my bike and build blog. However, I haven't really done much with that yet. I will keep you updated once I get it up and running too.
This past weekend I participated in the APPLES trip in Lumberton, NC. Though the trip was about Environmental Justice, I feel I learned much more about community action, and the power of the people in small communities. Robeson County NC is one of the poorest areas of North Carolina. Nearly a third of all children under 18 are living in poverty. The unemployment rate is very high due to the loss of manufacturing jobs in the local community. The area is very diverse, with both large native american and african american populations. And the poverty rate crosses all racial lines.
However I also saw a resiliency and passion in many of the community leaders, who have all perservered and seen many positive changes over the years. Even through the risk of life and livlihood, they have stood by each other and fought for justice in all realms- social, economic, environmental- we learned how they are all interconnected. Mac, the executive director of the the Center for Community Action, said even some of his co-leaders and friends were murdered in the 80's for the equality work they were advocating.
The Center for Community Action (CCA) is a private, non-profit, community-based organization that utilizes the strategies of grassrootes empowerment, racial inclusion, and multi-sector collaboration as the foundation for its work in sustainable development and social justice.
Some of the components it includes are River Way (where we stayed), which is a 4-acre adventure and education center on the banks of the Lumber River in Lumberton. It provides educational and adventure experiences for youth and adults from throughout the region,state and nation. There is also the Women’s Economic Equity Project – a career pathways project that organizes unemployed and underemployed women and sector leaders in the fields of health and education to assist women in acquiring jobs in these growth sectors and in advancing their careers in order to meet basic living income standards.I'll hopefully keep in touch with Mac via e-mail because he seems like a pretty great guy. Well, I gotta run to class! Be in touch again soon. Hope you are all well!
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