Fork in the Road - Dan Basset, EWCL

Its funny where you find yourself sometimes. Usually this thought comes out of nowhere and instantly puts you into that deep personal thought mode. Its one of those moments when you can feel absolutely apart from everyone and everything in the room. It makes you think about the course of events that got you there and how it ties into the rest of your life. It makes you go back and find out where that fork in the path was.

I had one of these moments today.

If you told me a year ago that I would be where I am today, I wouldn’t believe it for a second. But you would also be talking to a guy that was finishing up his senior year of art school, putting together his thesis show, writing his statement for the review panel and thinking of nothing but what it would feel like to have that diploma in his hand. My life was very different a year ago. The plan after graduation was to jump into the world of photography and be a photographers assistant in some hip studio in some big city making a name for myself, or maybe freelance for some small magazine until I got my big break with TIME. Nowhere did the thought of Montana or the Montana Conservation Corps ever cross my mind.

After graduation, nothing went to plan. No photographers needed any help and the magazines weren’t answering. I felt lost and without direction. To help pass the time, my mom suggested that I start volunteering. Before I knew it I was spending three days a week at a local food pantry. Even though I loved the work, I still didn’t feel satisfied with it, I felt like I was in the same ol’ drag. Maybe it was that I felt trapped by still being at home, or maybe because it wasn’t challenging enough. That was when I found the MCC.

One night while searching for job postings online, I decided to check out the Americorps website to see what they had. It only took a few minutes until I found a posting for a Crew Leader for the Montana Conservation Corps. I read up on it and decided to send in the application. After a phone interview and about a month of waiting for a response, I got a call telling me that I got the job.

So when I found myself today in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness on the Lake Fork Trail in south central Montana, I thought about how much things have changed and how different my life has become. I thought about how I would of never of pictured myself here year ago. I thought about how far apart sharpening a Pulaski is from processing RAW files are(nerdy photo reference). I thought about how much better a summer in Rockies is than working a menial job anywhere else. I thought about the 2300 mile drive from Auburn, New Hampshire to Billings, Montana. I thought about different my life has become and how much better it has become. And I also thought about how great the view is right in front of me.

News from Camp Mak-A-Dream - *Warning - Graphic First Aid Photos Follow*

My quiet Sunday mid-afternoon nap was interrupted by people, scads of them, descending on my home. The bulletins on the doors announced Wilderness Advanced First Aid training, at the time it all seemed innocent enough.

My first eight lives could not have prepared me for the horrors of the ensuing days.

It started like your typical gathering: There was food, laughter, excitement, and the promise of better days to come.

It wasn’t more than four hours into the first day until human breath animated a doll.

Picture 1 (jen amongst CPR dummies)

That evening a pig’s lungs completely separated from its host began breathing on their own.

Picture 2 (wild bill intubating lungs)

I was able to pass that first day off as nothing but catnip induced hallucinations, and to my relief everything returned to normal.

But like any horror movie connoisseur could tell you, this was just the calm before the storm… This man was found outside the mess hall:

Pic 3 (Eric M without finger)

The next morning’s scene was even more grim:

Pic 4 (sawsall impalement)

Thursday is the day I will never forget, eleven people where injured, there where injuries ranging from eviscerated organs, to amputated hands…

Pic 5 (victim group picture)

And even worse..

Pic 6 (Chris and brains)

Even though the swath and magnitude of the injuries was immense, they where all triaged, treated, and brought back safely.

The care, ingenuity, and the pleasant disposition of this group, even under duress was a thing to behold. I envy anyone who gets to spend time with these folk.

That’s all for now from camp Mak-a-Dream

Bob the Cat.

Zoe Zulakis Receives Gov's Award for Civic Engagement, here is the nomination

“…in my pocket, a small pearl - a reminder that even if plastic cannot keep out the cold, maybe compassion and humanity still can.” (from Zoe Zulakis’ essay, “Pearls of Wisdom”)

For Zoe Zulakis, the small gift of a single pearl offered from the bony hand of a cancer-ravaged man living in a dilapidated trailer in Northwest Montana, served as a reminder that the simplest acts of service have the power to transform the world.

Installing window kits in ramshackle trailers in Northwest Montana was the last place Zoe imagined finding herself in October 2008. Just weeks before, she’d been building trails amid the spectacular peaks of Glacier National Park. But even that seemed an odd place for a young woman from Michigan who’d never hiked or camped or laid her eyes on a chainsaw before her arrival in Montana in May 2008.

Zoe started with the Montana Conservation Corps with “no expectations, a faint romanticized view of the Wild West, and perhaps a little bit of foolish wanderlust in me.” In her first weeks, she found the camping, weather, and heavy work with hand tools mighty challenging. During her crew’s first assignment planting 78,000 trees along Silver Bow Creek near Butte, it snowed and rained nearly the whole week. The crew was thigh deep in cold mud every day. Had she bitten off too much? But Zoe persisted, buoyed by her own positive attitude and willingness to try new things and the support of crew leaders and fellow corps members. Soon she earned the respect of her peers for her work ethic and resiliency. When conflicts disrupted the dynamic within the crew, Zoe was a good listener who could help her fellow team members resolve their issues and find a stronger commitment to each other. Her supervisor wrote of her: “Great team player and hard working – not the type to drop a tool in the middle of a task, just because the whistle is about to blow on the end of the day.”

At the end of her term of service, Zoe drafted the essay, “Pearls of Wisdom,” about her experience weatherizing a home in Northwest Montana. Her essay reflected her realization after five months of service with a small crew, that “compassion and humanity” and the commitment to others is the best way to “keep out the cold” and create a better world. Originally published on the MCC blog, her essay has been featured on blogs for The Corps Network and ServeMontana.

Zoe also submitted a photo of her MCC experience for the 2009 AmeriCorps photo contest and her photo received the second place award. Her picture taken during a project digging out feet of snow from the Iceberg Lake trail in Glacier National Park captured the spirit of teamwork under the grandeur of Montana’s mountains.

After completing her AmeriCorps term of service with MCC, Zoe enlisted as a VISTA with the Montana Justice Foundation. Her project focused on enhancing communications among justice organizations in Montana. In addition to her project duties, Zoe stepped forward as the chair of the AmeriCorps Member Advisory Council (ACMAC) ambassador committee to improve communications and networking among AmeriCorps members serving in Montana. She facilitated the development of a member list-serv, developed resources to assist AmeriCorps members in finding affordable housing and applying for public benefits. Zoe also coordinated service projects during Global Youth Service Day, Make a Difference Day, and Martin Luther King Day. In writing about her commitment to service, Zoe reflects: “I volunteer because it makes me feel active and engaged, it makes me feel aware of the needs of my community, and requires some creativity in addressing how that need can be met.”

Zoe recently committed to a third AmeriCorps term of service, returning to the Montana Conservation Corps as a crew leader. In her application, she reflects: “I can’t think of a single experience that has shaped me more profoundly than my year as a crew member in the MCC.” As a crew leader, Zoe hopes to facilitate the same kind of learning for our 2010 crew members, “to allow them to explore new avenues of development.”

The Montana Conservation Corps proudly nominates Zoe Zulakis for a Governors Award for National Service in recognition of her demonstrated commitment to engage others in the transformational journey of service, for her support of fellow AmeriCorps members serving in Montana, and in recognition of the courage she demonstrated in climbing her mountains while bringing a little more warmth into the world through “compassion and humanity.”