The Gang and I

(Author's note: Due to a pervasive lack of Internet access in the AmeriCorps dorms, most entries will be written a couple of days in advance before posting here. Like this one.)

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So who volunteers to sacrifice ten months of life, a sizable chunk of personal comfort and any illusions of privacy in the name of national service?

Having met and mingled with several dozen of the 200+ NCCC members on the Perry Point campus this week, I’m struck by the fact that everyone seems like a bit of an odd duck.

Post-collegiate soul searchers. Precocious teenaged adventurers. Bearded troubadors. Trained mixed martial arts fighters. Bookworms, movie lovers, chess junkies. Since we’ve been snowed in most of our first week, this mismatched assortment of characters has had little to do but play off of each other.

We test each other’s adlibbing skills and pop culture knowledge in the kitchen. We collide in random discussions about the paths that brought us here... our motivations, dreams and hungers. We mutter about the complete lack of Internet in our dorms, as well as the dysfunctional, haphazard way in which the AmeriCorps program (sometimes) operates.

The Blizzard of the Century certainly played a role in screwing things up. But it’s no coincidence that AmeriCorps prizes “flexibility” as its top value. Scheduled times for activities change with whiplash regularity. Utilities in our living space (a converted nursing home on the VA Medical campus) are constantly on the fritz. Our team leaders (wonderful people, by the way) all seem to receive contradictory information from the top brass, creating an ever-present mist of confusion.

And we haven’t even left for our first service project yet.

But, hey, better to have the kinks worked out now, rather than in the midst of a five-hour jaunt to upstate New York... or something.

Thankfully, all of us Corps members are banding together to conquer the minor adversities we’ve encountered so far. During the first week, everyone gets assigned to a temporary “pod” of 10 people. My group (official title: “Badger 3”) has proved an excellent unit. There’s a nice mix of Type A and Type B personalities, a loose group atmosphere and plenty of youthful abandon.

You can see several of my temporary teammates enjoying breakfast in the picture above. From left to right: Stephanie, Colin, Rob (standing), Ethan, Autumn, Tim and Kelly. Also, a note to amateur photographers: never shoot an indoor photo with a window somewhere in the background. It sucks out all the light.

As the photo suggests, these cats can cook. Which is good, because each pod has to shop and cook meals for itself. We AmeriCorps members live on what seems like a pitiful food allowance: $4.50 per day per member. But when you roll that all together with a team of 10, you can afford a veritable smorgasbord of cheap and easy dishes. Recent entrees have included English muffin pizzas, grilled chicken breast with bowtie pasta, mac and cheese with hot dog slices, and tacos. In short, we are living like minor royalty.

Within the next day, we’ll all be assigned new groups, which will become our permanent teams for the rest of our 10 months of service. It’s going to be interesting to see how the wheel of fortune spins on that one. I’d prefer to land in another easygoing team. After all, there’s been enough dysfunction around here already...