AmeriCorps VISTA 2010-2011: #3

It is coming up on the end of my fourth week at Community Frameworks and fourth week as an AmeriCorps VISTA. As stated in the previous post there has been a lot of settling in and getting to know people in the office. I feel I am getting pretty comfortable with things and have even brought in a few things to make my office seem a bit more homey.

Beyond this I have actually done some work. In the second week the previous VISTA (Liza) and I went out to a neighborhood in Airway Heights, WA (a suburb of Spokane). The neighborhood is made up of twelve different mobile home parks and roughly two hundred total single wide and modular homes. Liza and I spent the day walking around the parks and completing a conditions assessment of each home as well as the condition of each mobile home park.

Before I go into what we found, I should mention that in no way do I have a problem with mobile and modular homes. I spent my childhood living in three different mobile homes and even the first year after I left home. I know what it is like to live in a single-wide trailer, and I also know the stigma that they carry. Many consider them to be substandard living, but if you take care of a mobile home, just as you would a stick-built home, then they are no less of a home.

The mobile homes that Liza and I encountered represent and magnify the stigma that is applied to most mobile homes. A majority of the homes have warped siding as well as broken windows and substandard roofing. A majority of the homes are forty years or older which puts them into a designation by HUD that labels the mobile homes substandard living due to heating and cooling inefficiency as well as unsafe for moving (any mobile home manufactured prior to 1976 falls into this designation). Many of these homes in Airway Heights have not been taken care of and have years and years of deferred maintenance and are in various states of dilapidation. Four homes were burned and their empty carcasses sit rotting allowing for a place for vermin to gather and to further the blight that plagues the neighborhood.

A large portion of the homes are owned by landlords and are rented to low-income families. They collect their rents and do nothing to maintain the homes or lots. A few of the landlords don't even live in Spokane or even the state of Washington. Further more, the families seem to have fallen victim to the stigma and overlook such discrepencies in maintenance. Upon speaking with a few of the community members they choose to live in such substandard homes because they don't feel they can afford or deserve any better. A lot of the residents have lived in the parks for over twenty years, and many of the younger families are second and third generation residents. I am not here to judge anyone, but it astonishes me.

Needless to say we received a lot of questioning looks and a lot of "Whatcha doin'?". Many of the residents seemed very leery of people looking at their homes and taking photos (rightfully so). A few of the residents spoke out against their neighbors and the illegal activities that occur in the neighborhood while also speaking of the good memories they had living in the area. We've all seen these types of places and neighborhoods, and for the most part we steer clear. Liza and I, along with our supervisors, felt the neighborhood represented some of the worst housing conditions in Spokane County. We also consider the landlords as more slumlords. It is our goal at Community Frameworks to change this.

Besides the overall condition of the neighborhood and the homes the other reason we were out there is Fairchild Air Force Base. A prime employer for the residents of Airway Heights, Fairchild represents a major priority to the governing officials of the city, so the possible closure of the base would devastate the city as well as the region. How does the mobile home parks affect this? Well, the mobile home parks are in a secondary crash zone for the base. You can build in the secondary crash zone, but it is not recommended. So, the city is afraid that if the Department of Defense decides to close more bases that they will use these mobile home parks as a downside for the base.

This is going to be a long process, and it won't be easy. It is our goal as a developer to get the residents of the parks to move and get them into healthier low-income housing. We don't want to force them out. We want to educate them and let them know that they have options. We know there will be backlash and outcry, but with help from Habitat for Humanity and the City of Airway Heights we feel we will be able to convince the residents that it will be best for them and their families.

As I continue working on this, I will provide you with updates. I understand that these posts can get very lengthy, and I apologize. There is a lot of information being gathered, and I feel that it is important to present it to you, so you get a better understanding of what I am doing for $800 a month and health care benefits, as well as what it means to be an AmeriCorps VISTA.

Music | Pop_Culture: #1

Over the past few weeks I have been reading a lot (5 books in four weeks is a big deal for me). If I sit in just the right seat on the bus, I don't have to worry about motion sickness. Doing so allows me to read a great deal more than I have been able to since I began my patronage of Spokane Transit.

Three of the books were related to music and pop culture. Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About AA Boy, Fever Pitch) was in there writing about an aging former singer-songwriter who disappeared into a reclusive haze somewhere in Pennsylvania only to be discovered by an English museum curator in a small seaside town in England (Juliet, Naked). There was another English writer (Tim Thorton) in there writing about an obsessive writer who discovers his all-time favorite lead singer lives three buildings down from him and he does everything in his power to find out why the band, he obsessed over for years, imploded (The Alternative Hero). Both books were fun and gave me fits of laughter. Hornby will always be one of my favorite novelists because he seems to be as much of a pop culture nut as I am. As for Thorton's book, I related to the narrator due to the probability if I was in the same situation I would probably act in the same manner. I feel I would engage in many of the same stalker-esque actions if say Noel Gallagher of Oasis lived three houses down from me. Both books made me laugh and both made me think about their possibilities as screenplays.

The third book, Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life by John Sellers, is an autobiographical telling of how Sellers' music taste evolved from his Grand Rapids, Michigan upbringing to the die-hard fandom of 90s indie rock stalwarts Guided By Voices. Sellers tells us of how Grand Rapids was not the best place to hear new a progressive music growing up in the late 70s and 80s. He discusses how a girl or woman usually lead to him finding music he had never heard, because he was trying to impress them. There is the true awakening when he first became stuck on watching MTV and when he went to college in Lansing and Ann Arbor. There are chapters dedicated to the Smiths, Morrissey, the Cure, and Joy Division (all amazing bands). There are discussions of how great David Lee Roth is compared to many other front men. It is one man's musical discovery tour.

I felt I could write the book myself but mine would begin ten to fifteen years later, but the same obsessiveness for new bands and music would still be there. My only question for Sellers is; How did you get someone to pay you to write a book about your love of indie rock?

The thing I found most interesting was Sellers admittance to making lists. Lists of favorite songs, albums, guitarists, etc. I do this! Maybe not to the extent that he does, but I do. He began the book by discussing his purchase of an iPod and the use of iTunes. With these two music listening media he was able to determine his listening background by viewing his 25 Most Played. He was very surprised to learn the results (I won't ruin it for you, just in case you decide to give it a read). I went to my list as well, and was very surprised by the most listened to song of the 15,000+ songs I have on my hard drives.

Top 5 Most Played Songs:

1. Donde Esta La Playa: the Walkmen = 151

2. Keep the Car Running: Arcade Fire = 122

3. Mr. November: the National = 90

4. Keep Yourself Warm: Frightened Rabbit = 84

5. Tonight I Have to Leave It: Shout Out Louds = 81

Sellers was surprised by his top 25, because it showed that his obsession with Guided By Voices was real. My 25 were a surprise to me, but after considering the list, the reasoning became clear. The reasons follow as well as the end to this nonsense:

1. Now you may think that the Walkmen are my favorite band from this listing. Not so. I actually used to listen to the Walkmen's album You & Me to fall asleep while I was camped out in design studio at Washington State. I listened to the album a lot but none of the other songs made the top 25. I am guessing it is no. 1 because it is the first song on the record, and my sleep would be interrupted numerous times during the semester, and I would start the album over again.

2. Now the Arcade Fire are my favorite band currently. This list would be a whole different if I would have had iTunes counting back in the 90s (OASIS would rule and they still do in my heart). This song was also on a playlist I made for my girlfriend, Ashley, and was the first song. I also like it a great deal.

3. Mr. November was my anthem during the 2008 presidential campaign. The National actually designed a t-shirt for the Obama campaign with Mr. November under a pixelated image of the would be president. I also feel it is one the best songs in the past 10 years.

4. Frightened Rabbit rule and that is all I am going to say about it.

5. Shout Out Louds' Tonight I Have to Leave It used to be the number 1, because my old iPod would for some reason turn itself on at random times, run the battery down, and always play this album. My old iPod really loves Swedish indie-pop.

So there you go. Maybe you will get the urge to look at your own list, or maybe want to read something new. Good luck.

Alright, this is the end. Goodnight.

AmeriCorps VISTA 2010: #1

I, Timothy Dickerson, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

I said those words on August 27th, 2010 in a hotel ballroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was all pretty surreal. There were over 200 people from all different walks-of-life and from every corner of the country. There were kids right out of college trying to extend the party for a little longer and men and women in their 50s trying to find a way to save their communities that are falling down around them. Most were trying to start fantastic and adventure filled lives and others had already lived a lifetime. That day though, we were all there for the same reason.

We were there to become soldiers in a war that has gone on longer than all the military wars the US has ever been part of, combined. We have all seen it. We've seen it on the corners of our towns. You've seen it on your television and in the movies. You've seen it within your own family. We were there to begin a fight against Poverty.

So begins our year as AmeriCorps VISTAs aka: Volunteer in Service to America. I could try to explain what it is that AmeriCorps VISTAs do, but it would just be an attempted paraphrasing of what the organizations website states. Visit the website and learn. Maybe you will be inspired just as I was.

http://www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp

I will finish this first post, of my year long adventure, with a few words from the man who brought national service to life through the creation of the Peace Corps and who inspired Lyndon Johnson to launch the "War on Poverty".

...Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation" -- a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself...

...And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you -- Ask what you can do for your country... - President John F. Kennedy_01/20/1961

AmeriCorps VISTA 2010-2011 - #2

Buona sera!!!

It has been three weeks since I began my post here at Community Frameworks (CF) in Spokane, Washington. It has been your basic settling in process of getting to know the names of the people in the office; trying to figure out what to do with the blank walls in my personal office; and learning more about what the organization really does.

http://www.communityframeworks.org

I am not going to repeat what is said on the website. If it interests you, then I recommend visiting the site. You will see as I did when I chose to take the position that CF is doing something special and as you read through it, they are not the only one's doing so.

CF is a charter member of a national organization called NeighborWorks (NW). http://www.nw.org

NeighborWorks is a national non-profit organization created by Congress to provide financial support, technical assistance, and training for community-based revitalization efforts. Together with national and local partners, NW creates new opportunities for residents while improving communities. Community Frameworks is one of those local partners. Together with NW and several other smaller organizations, Community Frameworks is attempting to provide affordable housing for the city of Spokane as well as communities all over Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, and Western Montana.

Fortunately as a part of NeighborWorks, Community Frameworks is permitted to send its VISTAs (which if you remember from the previous post, I am a VISTA) to the NW Training Institute in Washington DC, in December. So finally after 32 years I will see our nation's capitol.

Anyway, go to the websites, click on the About Us and you can learn a great deal more about each organization. There may be some information in there for those looking to buy their first home but just can't seem to get the down payment together.

That is all for now. In our next posting, I will discuss what I have been really doing the past three weeks.

Pace.