4/12/14 - Day 1 - From the Ground Up

I remember walking past it twice before I finally realized what I was doing. My recent communique with various volunteer organizations had me looking for something more official, bureaucratic. But I should have known from Alex's email that this was something a lot more casual. "Hey, can I volunteer here?" "Sure, come any tuesday or saturday" is a stark contrast from handing your fingerprints over to the FBI. When I stopped looking for an office building and just walked straight to the garden I knew immediately what misstep I had taken, and the folks there knew it too.

"I saw you pass us and I figured you were lost." A tall young man told me, to my embarrassment. I would later learn his name to be Denzel, a high school senior, who as a co-founder of the Philadelphia Urban Creators had already done more cool shit with his life than I had, including meet Nick Cannon...who I suppose isn't too relevant anymore but damn did I love his show in the 90s.

Anyway, they started me with compost. I got the feeling they started everyone with compost. I had to sift it all so that it would break down into soil faster. When I got done with three heaping piles of shit I started watering flowers. Around this time I started wondering how I would relate this experience to a class about education. But of course finding this place on a list provided by the professor was sort of solacing. And when Ping came a bit later his charisma and inquisitive nature helped me see some relevance. When he came a lot of others came after, some volunteers, many neighborhood folk. I learned through Ping's questions that most of them had been coming for years, after hearing about it through other various community incentives. We all began to talk, and I think I learned the most when we all enjoyed a break in the shade, not one of us working. PUC was not about making North Philly pretty, or reversing ecological damage wrought by the city, or creating a source of healthy produce in areas where it was scare, though of course these were all factors in its creation I am sure. It was about building communities, enabling connections that would not have otherwise been made. In an area where schools haven't the capacity to be communal hubs for children, PUC offered an alternative. Most of the people there were children from the area, who with or without knowing it were being instilled with societal values, something beyond the individualist good, which makes for a better society. I oculd see how a garden could make North Philly a better place, and I will say now I did not see that before. I thought back to my communication with Congreso, a place I know I could offer much, but was rendered unable by bureaucratic restrictions. Thinking of the connections lost from that made me a tad upset. I was losing something, the kids I would've encountered were as well, and for what? Quantifiable data. Reminds me of NCLB. Sure, bit of a stretch. But you see what I'm getting at.

At the end of the day Ping showed me a beautiful cherry blossom he found on his way there. It was one of the most disgusting streets in North Philly, but one of the most beautiful trees I'd ever seen. It seemed symbolic.

Here's a picture of me and Ping.