THE REAL WORLD: HARLEM

Crack. Dead cats. Prison. Teen Pregnancy.
Welcome to my new office, East Harlem, aka Spanish Harlem or "Spa-Ha."

When I began the hunt for jobs in NYC, I had imagined myself assisting with administerial work at a nonprofit in Manhattan, having to get dressed up each day and swinging by the nearest Starbucks on my way into work. I never guessed that I would end up in Harlem and wearing my first pair of ...Carhartts!? (for those of you who don't know about Carhartts, they are heavy-duty work pants often used in rural areas... like the state of Idaho...yet somehow I bypassed the Carhartt trend... 'til now.) And no matter where I am, I always seem to end up working OUTSIDE, even though I don't necessarily mean to: from wildland firefighting with the US Forest Service in Idaho, to working with the Belize Audubon Society in Belize City; and from driving the beverage cart around the CDA Resort Golf Course the past few summers, to working in an urban children's garden several years in Seatown. Once again, in the concrete jungle of NYC, I've happened to find one of the rare outdoor "nature" jobs that I never knew even existed!

In my first week of work, I had to dispose of a dead cat, several old school vials of crack, and a hyperdermic needle while digging up an old construction site that will become a community garden we are planning to open in May. Would you believe me if I told you that I love my job?

The crew that I will be spending the next six months with are all native New Yorkers, born and raised in Harlem/Queens. All three of them had a baby right out of junior high. And all three of them have managed to raise their children the past 15 years, while going to school and staying out of trouble. Meet Donte, Roslyn, and Jay. They are the reason I love my job. The four of us cruise around Harlem each day in our Chevy extended-cab pickup truck, singing and laughing and supporting each other: Ros' grandma passed away this week in Jamaica and all twelve of Donte's lifelong friends were just arrested on friday and sited with indictment for selling drugs. Growing up in Harlem was not easy. They have been very candid with me, educating me about Harlem life, street-slang, rap artists, and the difference between Dominican and Puerto Rican food. On the second day of work, I received one of the kindest gestures from them: they asked me what my favorite music is (Country) so they could program my radio station in the truck. The closest they could find to Country on NYC's radio stations was Oldies!! LOL! So I brought in a CD of my favorite country music, the Zac Brown Band, and they actually liked a few of his songs. I was touched that they would be open to my music interests. I am truly a novelty to them, having never met anyone from Idaho, let alone a white girl that breakdances and speaks Spanish. They asked if there was cell-phone reception and paved roads where I am from. :)

Together we are quite the crew and the days seem to fly by. The four of us are in charge of all community gardens in East Harlem, each tucked between apartment buildings and brownstones. There are about twelve gardens, and each has a sponsor, such as Target, Home Depot, and hip-hop artist "50-Cent", to name a few. My favorite is The Friendship Garden, sponsored by the Broadway cast of "Wicked" and designed to feel like you're in the Wizard of Oz story. Everyday we patrol the gardens, doing whatever needs to be done: shoveling, raking, planting trees, fixing benches, picking up litter and so on. This past week the television series,"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" with rapper/actor "Ice-T" was filming in one of our gardens, so we got to see some of the action. If you follow the series, our garden is featured in the episode with guest star Hillary Duff.

I enjoyed this first week so much, that I signed up to work 9 hours yesterday and spent my Saturday at a luncheon for the NY Restoration Project's community gardeners and neighbors. There was a DJ and dance party, and our education crew brought in all of the animals they use for their weekly environmental education programs at local elementary schools. I worked up the courage and held the live scorpion! Now I'm working up the courage to hold the 50 pound Python they call "Beautiful."

In other news...Kinsy has returned from Nicaragua with a nice glow to her skin and I was able to meet up with three friends from Coeur d'Alene last week: Kim Koll surprised me by showing up in NYC for a few days with work, so we took a carriage ride through Central Park and checked out the immaculate bathroom of the historic Waldorf-Astoria hotel! Nils Rosdahl and his students took first place for the 6th year in a row for their college newspaper at the annual National Journalism Convention in Times Square. I was able to sit in on a few seminars and went to a nice lunch with Nils. The next day I picked up his daughter and my lifelong friend, Mariah, from the airport and we ventured around NYC for my last week before work. While sitting at a Tasti-D'Lite in Times Square, watching the stock market news flash across one of the gigantic screens suspended on the side of a building, the first two names we saw on the screen were "Coeur d'Alene" and "Spokane". How bizarre!

Fotos to come soon.
Thinking of you,

Hana T.