Surprise, Surprise, Walla Walla 2

This month I will talk about some of my favorite activities, all of which are free or low cost. Especially as spring starts to heat things up, there are loads or great Walla Walla outdoor opportunities. So put on your sneakers, pack a lunch and discover what Walla Walla has to offer.

Bennington Lake and Rooks Park

Itching to see the beauty the Walla Walla Valley has to offer, but you only have enough time as your lunch break? No problem! The Bennington Lake Recreation area is locate just east of Walla Walla right by the Community College. Just a short drive and you will feel like you've traveled all the way to the heart of Rural Eastern Washington. The area has miles and miles of well-maintained, accessible trails. Bikers can take advantage of paved trails, and families can take advantage of the playground located at Rook's Park. See wildlife (I routinely see Great Blue Herrings in Mill Creek and deer grazing on the north side of the lake), natural beauty and climb all over the marvel of man-made flood control systems. To get there, Take Isaacs out towards the Community College. Turn right at Tausick Way and follow the signs to your left up Resevoir Road. You might also park near the WWCC athletic fields and hike in. As long as it's a beautiful day and you've got the right attire on, you can't be anything but enchanted by this special Walla Walla favorite.

Pioneer Park

You've probably passed by it a bunch of times. You may even have walked through it. Did you know, however, that Pioneer park is chalk-full of Walla Walla history? Did you know about the aviary or the rose garden? Certainly an historic location in Walla Walla, Pioneer Park was initially designed by the same man who designed Central Park in New York City, John C. Olmstead. Many community events take place in Pioneer Park including 4th of July and the Multicultural Festival. I've always found this park to be a great place to do yoga and get a tan at the same time. Beware the feisty ducks should you ill-advisedly try to feed them by the man-made lake. Consider yourself warned. Walla Walla is home to some of the largest trees of their kind in the State, and in some cases, the US, so finding the walking guide to find big trees could be a fun way to spend the afternoon, beginning and ending at the Park. Pioneer is definitely worth a warm spring afternoon! (On Alder at Division).

The Whitman Mission

Learn the famous story of one of the most debated "massacre" of all time at the Whitman Mission, located near highway 12, 6 miles west of town. The lay-out of the old mission has been preserved, so if you have a macabre sense of fun, you can stand exactly where Narscissa Whitman was shot by the angry recipients of small-pox blankets, or see where their little daughter drowned in the creek. Not uplifting, sure, but on a temperate spring day, beautiful and always educational. Learn some Walla Walla history and stay for the nature!

Whitman College

Maybe I feel like Whitman is a great place for R&R since its lush grassy expanses are where I went to break from the rigors of academia. The center field called Ankeny can be a crowded place through the school year, but after the last weekend in May, it is an ideal spot for a picnic, a stroll or sun-bathing. Make up a frisbee golf course spanning the entire campus and see how many bystanders you can terrorize or take a cool dip in the fountain located in front of Hunter Conservatory (at the corner of Park and Boyer, it's a big bowl-shaped thing you can't miss). As long as you are respectfull, you are free to use this beautiful institution as a lush playground. If you are however disrespectful, lude or rowdy, campus security may ask you to leave.

The Newsletter Committee Welcomes You

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The Newsletter Committee

Michael Espinoza mespinoza@sustainablelivingcenter.com

Jordyn Craig jashleec22@gmail.com

Joanna Jungerman jungerjm@whitman.edu

Jim Ewers ewersj@my.hiram.edu

Annie Tobin anniem79t@yahoo.com

Special thanks to Jesse Garwood for his work on the banner!

December Events and Extra Hour Opportunities

Wednesday December 1, 5:30 PM, World AIDS Day Vigil
Starts at 1st Ave. at Main St. in Walla Walla.

Saturday December 4, ongoing, Parade Of Lights
AmeriCorps Team meets pre-parade to organize float.

Tuesday December 7, 5:30 PM, Edison Math Night
Math games for students and families, contact Alex (aeandary@hotmail.com ) to sign up.

Wednesday December 8, 6:30-8PM Eco-Art Night
At the Water and Environment Center located on the Community College Campus. Make eco-friendly and recycled holiday decorations. Event is free, bring your friends and family! Contact Jacqueline by Dec. 4 as space is limited, americorpswec@student.wwcc.edu.

Friday December 10, C2C Holiday Celebrations
Yesenia (yeseniag@bmacww.org) is looking for voulunteers for Committment to Community's holiday celebrations taking place at two locations, the Senior Center (720 Sprague Ave.) and WW Housing Authority (501 Cayuse St.). The events should be fun! Sign up by 1:00 PM on Monday the 6th.

Saturday, December 11, Friends Game Night

Friends is hosting a Community Game Day on December 11 from 9am to 12pm at Crossroads Steakhouse on Main Street. RSVP to Sidney (sidney@wallawallafriends.org).

Wednesday December 15, Santa!

Ariga (arigatem@gmail.com) is looking for someone to play Santa out at the farm labor homes. She is also looking for some crafty bakers to bake some sweet treats for a family celebration.

Leave Comments here to include your event or extra hour opportunity.

Events

World AIDS Day

This Wednesday, December first, is World AIDS Day. This year’s theme is Universal Access and Human Rights. In Walla Walla, the non-profit organization Blue Mountain Heart to Heart (BMH2H) will sponsor several events highlighting efforts to make education, prevention and care available to all, here in Southeastern Washington.

This year’s events

At 5:30 pm on December 1st, participants are invited to gather at the corner of First and Main for a candlelight vigil. Three a capella groups from Whitman College will perform: The Sirens of Swank, Schwa, and the Testostertones. Following the ceremonial candle-lighting, at 6 pm, we will march to the First Congregational Church (Palouse and Alder) for a memorial service.

The non-sectarian Memorial Service will feature an original dance made for the event by Idalee Hutson-Fish and a vocal performance by Diane Gray-Chamberlain. Brief remarks will be made by Casey Burns on her work fighting AIDS in Kenya, Tumi Monthei, a Whitman College Senior, on the disease in his native Botswana, and Jill Dickey, BMH2H Program

Director and Case Manager will describe the local battle. Refreshments will follow the service provided by members of PFLAG and the church’s Women’s Fellowship.

World AIDS Day is a time to celebrate, to learn and to remember. It is an opportunity to reflect on those lost to the global pandemic, the heroes who have fought to end the plague, and to rededicate ourselves as a community to the continuing struggle to educate in order to prevent new infections—especially among our youth—and to care for those in our midst already infected.

Blue Mountain Heart to Heart provides support and assistant to persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families. Their services include: Free HIV testing, counseling, alternative treatments resources and syringe exchange.

For further information about World AIDS Day or for questions and concerns about HIV/AIDS, please contact Blue Mountain Heart to Heart at 509 529 4744 or visit www.bluemountainheart.org.

SERVES Recap

by staff writer Jo Jungerman

Oh the memories.

When I think back on our week in Yakima, the first thing that comes to mind is an image of eight or nine people sitting around a table throwing little plastic cups back and forth. The “cup game” usually played after lunch on a full stomach, is a deceptively addicting game that can be played for hours on end. The object of the cup game is simple: Just throw your cup so it lands on top of the stack of cups set in the middle of the table. It’s harder than it sounds, but once you make it, you’re hooked. I think it took me about half an hour before I got my first successful landing, but, man, what a feeling.

The second image that comes to mind is Zara wearing my fuzzy polar bear hat. And my gloves. This prompted a trip to Target to buy more hats. Speaking of shopping malls, it seems that the only thing there is to do in Yakima (besides going to conferences) is go shopping. On our trip, we hit up not only Target, but Best Buy and Walmart as well. Come to think of it, one of my favorite things to do in Yakima is now go to Walmart and play the “play till you win” game that they have in the foyer, the one where you put in a dollar and you have to move the claw and drop it on the prize you want, grab it and move it back to the chute before it falls out. Jon and I won two big bouncy balls, one of them for free because the previous player had given up; we played on his dollar.

Another thing I remember about Yakima is raking all those leaves. Julie, Suzie, Stephanie, Rachel, Sonja, Kelsi and I participated in a service project with a chore services group on Wednesday afternoon. We drove to guy’s house and raked up his yard and dumped the leaves into his truck and were finished in about 15 minutes. Our driver from the chore services had expected us to take longer so she had to call her boss and ask for another job. We ended up driving to a mobile home park and raking up pretty much every single leaf in the park. We certainly felt accomplished after this. The only downside to the afternoon was having to deal with one very confused old man yelling at us from inside his mobile home: “What the !@#% are those girls doing in our yard??!” Luckily his wife was able to explain to him who we were and that we were raking his yard. He came outside and thanked us and tried to explain that brain doesn’t work properly because he has some sort of pulmonary disease. The he let us go in his house and look at his parrots.

Member Bio: Jo Jungerman

Personal Bio

1. Why did you choose to serve? I knew I wanted to take a year off before grad school and I wanted to stay in Walla Walla because I knew people here. I ran into JJ one night at a lecture and he convinced me to join AmeriCorps. I was attracted by the idea of being involved in a team of like-minded individuals I also like the idea of getting paid to do community service.

1. What is a typical day at your site? A typical day at my site involves watching kids on the playground every morning before school starts and then teaching math for fifth and fourth graders for a few hours. Then I work with a small group of kids on reading fluency using the “Read Naturally” program on the computers. After lunch I watch kids on the playground again for 45 minutes. Then I help with language arts, then math again. After school I run an art class. I don’t really have a favorite or least favorite part of the day. Lately however it has been very COLD on the playground, but I do like just talking to the kids.

3. Background: where are you from? Oakland, CA. I lived in the same house my entire life before starting college.

4. Future plans: Go to grad school for public health, location unknown. I want to get my MPH with a concentration on community health.

5. Fun question: if you had a superpower what would it be? Teleportation so I could go anywhere (for free).

6. What is your SLP? An after-school art class. I am currently trying to figure out how to get donations of supplies.

Member Bio: Annie Tobin

I have a bachelor’s in Sociology from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s in Horticulture from Oregon State University. I have a work background in retail and mail-order plant nursery work. Upon graduation this year from Oregon State University, I found myself planning to volunteer as an academic tutor for children. I had taken a number of math classes to help with my science prerequisites for the second degree and I was reflecting back on my own needs in school growing up. Simultaneously, I looked into AmeriCorps as a way to give back and help pay back college loans. Finding a position where I tutor provides me with the type of volunteer engagement I was looking for.

I serve at Prospect Point Elementary School in the Resource Room. I work with Kindergarteners through Fifth graders. A typical day at the site includes one-on-one and group work in mathematics, language arts, and social skills. In addition to classroom time, I am in the cafeteria for breakfast and two lunches, and have recess duty. After school twice a week I can help with homework club and other days I am photocopying and performing other support tasks. My favorite part of every day is when a student makes a learning connection. This is why I serve.

I am not sure of my plans for beyond this year, but I am invested in researching what they will become as the year progresses. I am trying out teaching as a possible career working with kids either in academic or horticultural therapy or learning programs at public gardens. Prospect Point will have a garden in the spring that I am looking forward to digging into.

My geographic background is the Pacific Northwest – most of my life I’ve lived in Eugene, Oregon – so I am glad to be part of one of the diverse sections of the Northwest’s piece of the map. Two of the most formative parts of my background are the size of my family of origin and places I’ve visited in travels or lived in. I am from a family of seven kids – two boys and five girls. In addition to Eugene, I lived briefly in Manhattan in NY; Woodside, CA; Corvallis, OR; and Denver, CO. I had an opportunity to spend a week in Paris several years ago. I have travelled a little bit here and there in the United States and Canada growing up including several cross-country trips by car. Getting to know Walla Walla, I am adding it to the list.

SERVES Provides Mega Insight with Mini Workshops

by staff writer Annie Tobin

As an attendee at SERVES Institute – the conference that provided training for the Washington Service Corps, I found current information valuable to my AmeriCorps mission. The workshops at SERVES were dramatic in their idea introductions, comparative to their length and potential depth of subject. Disclaimer aside, let me provide some pieces of study presented in workshops I attended Tuesday and Wednesday, November 9 and 10, 2010.

Mandy Egle presented Tutoring the Mainstreamed Beginner to Intermediate ELL Student. Here I learned that contrary to what many may guess, 8-12 year-old students English Language Learners gain normative percentile scores more quickly than children 5-7 years in age. They can reach grade level in English faster than younger or older students who are learning language that is secondary to their primary language. Educators also need to realize that “playground English” and loss of accent can mask a continuing need for assistance in learning English. It can often take 10 years after beginning to learn English for a student to reach grade level averages. Egle also supported findings that parents who spoke their native language to their child at home helped and did not hinder the child’s ability to learn English. It helps the child because it provides psychological support and knowledge of linguistic structure that can be transferred to his or her study of English in the school.

In Working with Individuals with Non-apparent Disabilities, Nancie Payne thoroughly presented many named differences in learning or ability that can make typical learning environments challenging for a portion of student populations. In one activity, members of small groups decided upon a song to sing. Payne then had all groups in the classroom turn and they sung their songs at the same time. The aim was to know as many of the other songs as were sung. It was only possible to hear one’s own song plus possibly the one next to you or perhaps that another group or more was singing the same song as your own. The popular, albeit incredibly loud, activity simulated having Attention Deficit Disorder and dealing with constant distraction or having a hearing disability in a classroom.

In Boys and Literacy – Supporting Struggling Boys in Reading and Writing, led by Jerry Miller, I made thought connections to Miller’s presentation. While it is reported that girls have now caught up in math averages to boys, there are current large differences in the language scores of boys in this country. I realized that while girls often read non-curricular materials of their choosing outside of school, boys could benefit from reading in the same vein. So if they were to begin to read more – even less literary material – they would have the skills to handle more academically traditional material in school. Miller spoke about choice being important to boys in reading as well as the benefits of types of subjects they like to read and teaching the skills of successful readers.

Natalie Ellington’s Dealing with Conflict Constructively workshop was one of the last I attended. An essential take-home message here was that while using cognition to solve incompatibilities between parties is necessary, the use of emotional or personal attacks needs to be kept at a minimum in resolving conflict.

Overall, my experience with workshops at SERVES was in finding them informative and timely. Asked about this training, at my site, I told the teacher that I attended about four a day and that we were served cake at most meals. Sounded good – he’d take it – is about what he responded.

Member Bio: Jim Ewers

Where I work at: I work at the Juvenile Justice Center as a youth Advocate. When all the kids who behave go into the classroom I will usually take one or two “red” status or misbehaving kids into the large area outside their cells and give them an orientation, math and reading tests, or just help them with their homework while trying to be a friend.

Why did I join: I joined AmeriCorps for four reasons that are in no particular order: a job, and ed award, the chance to move out west, and an insatiable desire to help people.

Educational background

I was a Religious Studies major at Hiram College.

My hometown:

Kent, Ohio

Life After AmeriCorps:

I plan on going to Seminary at a UCC site in either Berkeley, St. Louis, Chicago, or Maine.

Member Bio: Michael Espinoza

Michael Espinoza is from Colorado Springs, CO and has been living in Walla Walla for over 8 years. He moved here in 2002 to attend Whitman College where he got a degree in Philosophy and Gender Studies.

Michael chose to serve because he and his family believe that is important to give back to a great country that gives us so much.

At the Sustainable Living Center, Michael does a lot of office work, but it is supplemented by community outreach projects and visits to area homes assessing home energy efficiency. The site is small, with an office staff of four people, as well as fellow service member Jesse Garwood.

For his SLP, Michael will be taking service members to classrooms in the area to talk about his experiences with AmeriCorps and garner interest in the many opportunities it has to offer.

After AmeriCorps, Michael will attend law school wherever he can get in and afford to attend. He plans to focus on environmental policy and resource management law.

Surprise Surprise, Walla Walla

This section will be devoted to things to do and see in Walla Walla. This week, I will list some of my favorite local stops for high quality, affordable food.

Since you're saving a bunch of money by purchasing Top Ramen with food stamps, you can fit a nice meal out once or twice a month into your budget. Below are some of my favorite stops around town with suggestions from YOU!


Graze

One of the best sandwich shops I've ever been to, this tiny eatery on Colville specializes in house-cured meats, handmade soups, and a simple, easy-to-follow menu that will keep you coming back. Graze is a MUST VISIT if you haven't already tried it. Open for lunch and dinner, a sandwich (wich is always generous) runs from $7 (for the outrageously delicious portabello panini) to $11 (for the huge Latronka, a massive ruben stacked high with house-cured pastrami).

* 5 S. Colville St
* 522-9991
* 10-7 M-Sat
* www.grazeevents.com

Taco Trucks

You've probably seen these funny looking busses parked around town selling tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas, and more. Maybe you're curious but you just haven't tried one yet. Do yourself a favor: TRY IT! In terms of affordability for hand-made foor, they can't be beat. A burrito the size of your head will cast $5.50 at El Taco Loco, located at the corner of Chestnut and 9th in the Melody Muffler parking lot. I admit it may take a little more courage to walk up to a truck on the side of the road for your next dining adventure, but you'll thank me. Comment with your favorit Taco Truck!

* El Taco Loco, Chestnut and 9th Ave.


Andrae's Kitchen

Gourmet on the go? Look no further than Andrae's Kitchen, a mobile restaurant with a variable menu (from curry to burgers to tackos to rice bowls) and great quality. Chef Andrae Bopp is a great chef known for elaborate winemaker dinners and underground dining. He lends his expertise with his family at his side to offer a little bit of fine cuisine in an affordable package. The best way to find out where Andrae is is to follow him on twitter @andraeskitchen, or check to see if he's at one of his favorite parking spots, near Whitman at the corner of Palouse and Main, or near the corner of Pine and 2nd Ave.

* Location Varies
* http://www.andraeskitchen.com/


Pho Sho Vietnamese Noodles
Are you crazy about Pho like me? Look no further than Pho Sho, specializing in fresh, local and ethical ingredients, they are the real thing. All egg rolls are rolled in house, the broth is slow-cooked for 48 hourse with all-natural Thundering Hooves beef bones, and everything is fresh and delicious. It is no wonder that Pho Sho is the product of the team that open one of Walla Walla's finest and most exciting restaurants Saffron (next door). It's a casual atmosphere open for lunch and dinner Tue-Sat.

* 123 W Alder St
* 525-9794
* www.phoshovietnamesenoodles.com

Sweet Basil Pizzaria
This is Walla Walla's best pizza for thin-crust, New York-style pie. Sweet Basil is a great place for a causal dinner for a business lunch. Slices start at $2.50 and the beverage selection is one of the best in town (especially if you love rootbeer like I do!). Fresh, local, speedy and perfect. The next time you have the impulse to pick up the phone for Domino's, Call Sweet Basil instead. Open Monday through Saturday, 11am-9pm.

* 5 S. 1st St (across from the Perk)
* 529-1950
* www.sweetbasilpizzaria.com

Welcome!

This blog will serve as the official newsletter communication for the 2010-2011 BMAC AmeriCorps service year. We welcome your comments on any of the posts so that this newsletter can become an interactive experience.

The blog will be compiled in a monthly version for anyone interested in a traditional print copy.

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Thank you in advance for your active participation in this blog-newsletter.