I am the graduate coordinator for Alternative Breaks here at the University of Maryland. We send about 300 students every year to DC, other US cities, and a few international locations for a week or more to learn about different social issues like immigration, HIV/AIDS, environmental conservation, sustainable development, the justice system, homelessness and poverty, and a number of others. The students on these trips learn in a hands-on manner while engaging in service, with the hope that they will gain a deeper understanding of a pressing issue, and bring that new knowledge back with them to the Maryland community. We try to work in a asset-based, community directed manner in which we are partners with the communities, not simply voluntourists. The trips are also completely student led and planned; each trip has two trip leaders who spend an entire year planning the trips, and engaging in weekly trainings about service, social justice, and leadership.
I've seen first hand over the past year and a half what kind of difference these trips make. Students come back engaged, passionate, and for a number of them, completely changed. This program is basically our way to get students out of the classroom, and engaged with issues of social justice.
This year I'm the staff advisor on the the Environmental Conservation trip to the Bahamas. The trip leaders have planned a great trip, partnering with the College of the Bahamas and the Bahamas National Trust to engage in a number of conservation activities, and learn about how tourism has affected a small island community just off the tip of Florida. Because the trip is 10 days, and involves a flight, as well as 10 days of lodging, food and transportation, the trip costs $1300/person. I'm lucky enough to have my way paid for, but the students have to come up with the money themselves. Many of the families of the students don't have the means to pay for these trips, so students are actively fundraising and soliciting donations.
I would love to help out my trip in any way I can, and your donations will go to a great cause, helping shape young minds to care about and actively engage the world around them. Any amount would be not only awesome, but also tax deductible, since the AB program is 501(c)(3) organization. Please consider donating, every cent goes directly to the trip, and is disbursed equally among all the participants. Thanks!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
And, I'm back
Ok, we'll see if I can keep up with this, or if I'll let it slide again. It's not like anything important hinges on my ability to type here, but I do kind of miss it. I got back this weekend from a week in NYC, where I was a staff advisor on an Alternative Break trip with 13 undergrads. Despite being very wary of spending an entire week in the company of thirteen 19-20 year olds, the week ended up being really fun, because I was able to regress and have some fun. I love my program and many of the people in it, but sometimes it and they are just so damn boring. I'm really sick of having discussions with people about intense issues when I'm out at a bar having a drink, so it was fun just to goof around for a week.
As for New York, I went there expecting to love it, and to my amazement I kind of hated it. For starters, the city and all its inhabitants need to chill the fuck out. Everyone I met was so tightly wound that it couldn't possibly healthy to lives one's life like that. I'm sure there are plenty of relaxed people in the city, but they certainly didn't ride the subway or walk around on city streets because all of those people were grumpy little curmudgeons. I think more than anything else, everyone and everything was just putting in too much effort. Too much effort to be cool, to be fashionable, to be making it, whatever. I know, judgemental of me to make those observations after only a week as a tourist, but that feeling was pervasive, and a huge turnoff for me. Highly superficial might be a good/better way to describe my impression of New York. I also hated the tourists. I couldn't imagine living in a city where you can't visit any of your city's attractions because they're swarmed by tourists virtually every day of the year. DC has that problem, but mostly in the summer, so if I want to go to the park, or a museum any other month, I can just stroll in. Going to MOMA on Friday, the line was three city blocks long, and at the end of the line was the most ridiculous and exasperating museum experience of my life. Great art, sucky atmosphere. That sums up my initial impression of NYC pretty well actually: great city, but sucky atmosphere.
As for New York, I went there expecting to love it, and to my amazement I kind of hated it. For starters, the city and all its inhabitants need to chill the fuck out. Everyone I met was so tightly wound that it couldn't possibly healthy to lives one's life like that. I'm sure there are plenty of relaxed people in the city, but they certainly didn't ride the subway or walk around on city streets because all of those people were grumpy little curmudgeons. I think more than anything else, everyone and everything was just putting in too much effort. Too much effort to be cool, to be fashionable, to be making it, whatever. I know, judgemental of me to make those observations after only a week as a tourist, but that feeling was pervasive, and a huge turnoff for me. Highly superficial might be a good/better way to describe my impression of New York. I also hated the tourists. I couldn't imagine living in a city where you can't visit any of your city's attractions because they're swarmed by tourists virtually every day of the year. DC has that problem, but mostly in the summer, so if I want to go to the park, or a museum any other month, I can just stroll in. Going to MOMA on Friday, the line was three city blocks long, and at the end of the line was the most ridiculous and exasperating museum experience of my life. Great art, sucky atmosphere. That sums up my initial impression of NYC pretty well actually: great city, but sucky atmosphere.
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