spent 8 days out on the east side of boulder mountain recently. was working in the field...again. the experience was not unlike deja vu, but included new students, new co-staff, and new hikes, so i guess one might classify it as a unique experience. in the end i shat in the same old holes, slept in the same old dirty clothes, and ate the same old meals out of coffee cans. i will say that it was beautiful - really really really really really gorgeous out there. i will also say that despite the student who collapsed sobbing face down into the dirt with his pack on his back (he recovered a bit muddier for the wear), and the frightening experience of being on top of a ridge in 3-count lightning (frightening might be an understatement), i had a really great time out there.
sitting at the country cafe wednesday night with the rest of the outgoing field staff i enjoyed a buffalo burger and a beer (ok - 3 beers) and the raucous hilarity that only can come from a bunch of adults pent up with teens for a week. to say that we were appropriately quiet, used appropriate language, or were at all appropriate would be a big fat lie. wednesday nights at the cafe are our time to let off steam about the week and cater to all of the whims of the id. its when we complain about our students, make dirty jokes, tell old tall tales of battle in the desert trenches, and plan our weeks ahead.
the whole experience only serves to add fodder to one of my ongoing projects. i have been collecting stories from wilderness, student affairs, and life in general to write book about working with other people's kids. at this point i have some great tales, a couple of really interesting chapter topics, and about 100 pages of text crammed into my tiny computer. i thought i might put out a few highlights from a chapter about shit - mostly because i think it's just funny! i mean, who does not enjoy a bit of bathroom humor minus the bathroom???
if you have any stories you think i have missed or would like to contribute please please let me know!
- superturd - a residence hall staffer gets called in to help deal with a log so big it won't go down the toilet. calling in the 'laser pee' technique and a couple of sticks from the yard, superturd is eventually vanquished.
- freshness guaranteed - wilderness student misinterprets the 'pack it in, pack it out' philosophy and seals more than his toilet paper up in a ziploc.
- poopytort - on a mission to locate a missing student, staff learn that tortillas can be used for more than eating.
- shit mitten - wilderness student digs up more than he bargained for.
- the phantom pooper - who's office will they hit next???
- tater turds - wilderness staff discover a little more than freeze-dried mashed potatoes when preparing for a meal.
- personal hygiene - a group of teenage girls come up with a way to avoid carrying their used toilet paper around...just don't use it. allow me to say that their hygiene technique was called 'the shimmy' and did not include wiping of any kind. by the time we figured this out the group had enough yeast to bake bread.
that's all i have for now. have really been enjoying turning these crappy tales into eloquent prose. hope that the list makes you laugh like it does me!
Showing posts with label field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label field. Show all posts
14.10.10
3.3.10
30 rocks
been doing some thinking...of course i have - i was in the field.
when you are in the field things are slow. i appreciated that considering that upon my arrival back in the states things are feeling more like warp speed. the only slow time i got before returning to the utah desert was the three days i spent in bed with bronchitis...and those days went by fast from my perspective, being asleep and all. so it was nice to hop into a truck and drive out to where life moves in the circle of the sun, and everything takes time.
in the midst of making a set of spindles to match my set of defiant girls i let my mind wander, as it has a tendency to do. i came upon a memory from the day before in which one of my students asked me my age. usually when a new staff goes into the field an "intro group" is held in which we all rattle off a series of predetermined bits of personal information - one of these being your age. i generally go out of my way to avoid doing these groups. i prefer to get information from my students by chatting them up rather than watching them zone out to the point of drooling while they hear their group-mates intone the same schtick that they did last week. as a result i had not shared my age with my students.
it is interesting to note that teenagers have no concept of age or time. most see the world as a series of things that are either "cool" (read - around my age) or "old" (read - around my parents' age). my boyfriend has a great tale to illustrate this. in a conversation about bob dylan, the beatles, and the doors, one kid stated to him "wow - music was so good when you were kids." he's 31, and that happened in 2009.
i used to amuse myself by answering the question "how old are you?" with a question of my own, "how old do you think i am?" eventually i got tired of kids telling me i looked about forty...not because i harbor some vanity about my looks, but simply because this kind of assertion is so pathetically unobservant that it pains me. i moved on to simply stating my age as it is and leaving it at that.
so i surprised myself when i answered "i will be 30 in may," instead of claiming my current age of 29.
i wondered why i did this. in the end i came up with a couple of reasons. first, being born in 1980, i generally align my age with the last digit of the year. once the year turns over i start thinking like i have already aged accordingly. i also will find that because at the new year i am more than halfway to my next age that i start thinking of myself as older. perhaps i did it out of wishful thinking while growing up and just never got out of the habit. i also could have done it because there is more shock value in being 30, and it got me the answer "really? you don't look 30," (be still my vain vain heart). i also considered that i abhor the cliche of the woman who always says she is 29. ever since i hit that overused age i have been avoiding telling people for fear they will not actually believe me.
but really i think that the reason i answered that i was going to be 30 was that i have been anticipating what that will mean for some time now. i know that there are lots of women out there who fear aging and are unhappy about a 3 at the start of their age instead of a 2, but i do not fall into that category. instead i have been looking forward to leaving the world of twenty-somethings and being, what seems to me, more substantial.
not that i think that simply changing a number associated with my time on earth makes me wiser or better or stronger. indeed there is little change in going to sleep one number and waking up another. however, the prospect of turning 30 has led me to reflect on my life and who i am growing to be. it seems an accomplishment to make it this far and to look back down the path behind me. i can see all the experiences and epiphanies - the things that make me, me. it feels good to look at all that and feel happy with where i am in life. though i know that i can do that at any moment, i think that completing a three-decades long trip around the sun lends itself to introspection.
of course, the saturn return helps...
though i still have a couple of months until i am thirty in any place more than my mind, i am glad to have this period of thought and self-searching. i feel like i am seeking to embrace a new era in my life. i wonder what will come of it.
when you are in the field things are slow. i appreciated that considering that upon my arrival back in the states things are feeling more like warp speed. the only slow time i got before returning to the utah desert was the three days i spent in bed with bronchitis...and those days went by fast from my perspective, being asleep and all. so it was nice to hop into a truck and drive out to where life moves in the circle of the sun, and everything takes time.
in the midst of making a set of spindles to match my set of defiant girls i let my mind wander, as it has a tendency to do. i came upon a memory from the day before in which one of my students asked me my age. usually when a new staff goes into the field an "intro group" is held in which we all rattle off a series of predetermined bits of personal information - one of these being your age. i generally go out of my way to avoid doing these groups. i prefer to get information from my students by chatting them up rather than watching them zone out to the point of drooling while they hear their group-mates intone the same schtick that they did last week. as a result i had not shared my age with my students.
it is interesting to note that teenagers have no concept of age or time. most see the world as a series of things that are either "cool" (read - around my age) or "old" (read - around my parents' age). my boyfriend has a great tale to illustrate this. in a conversation about bob dylan, the beatles, and the doors, one kid stated to him "wow - music was so good when you were kids." he's 31, and that happened in 2009.
i used to amuse myself by answering the question "how old are you?" with a question of my own, "how old do you think i am?" eventually i got tired of kids telling me i looked about forty...not because i harbor some vanity about my looks, but simply because this kind of assertion is so pathetically unobservant that it pains me. i moved on to simply stating my age as it is and leaving it at that.
so i surprised myself when i answered "i will be 30 in may," instead of claiming my current age of 29.
i wondered why i did this. in the end i came up with a couple of reasons. first, being born in 1980, i generally align my age with the last digit of the year. once the year turns over i start thinking like i have already aged accordingly. i also will find that because at the new year i am more than halfway to my next age that i start thinking of myself as older. perhaps i did it out of wishful thinking while growing up and just never got out of the habit. i also could have done it because there is more shock value in being 30, and it got me the answer "really? you don't look 30," (be still my vain vain heart). i also considered that i abhor the cliche of the woman who always says she is 29. ever since i hit that overused age i have been avoiding telling people for fear they will not actually believe me.
but really i think that the reason i answered that i was going to be 30 was that i have been anticipating what that will mean for some time now. i know that there are lots of women out there who fear aging and are unhappy about a 3 at the start of their age instead of a 2, but i do not fall into that category. instead i have been looking forward to leaving the world of twenty-somethings and being, what seems to me, more substantial.
not that i think that simply changing a number associated with my time on earth makes me wiser or better or stronger. indeed there is little change in going to sleep one number and waking up another. however, the prospect of turning 30 has led me to reflect on my life and who i am growing to be. it seems an accomplishment to make it this far and to look back down the path behind me. i can see all the experiences and epiphanies - the things that make me, me. it feels good to look at all that and feel happy with where i am in life. though i know that i can do that at any moment, i think that completing a three-decades long trip around the sun lends itself to introspection.
of course, the saturn return helps...
though i still have a couple of months until i am thirty in any place more than my mind, i am glad to have this period of thought and self-searching. i feel like i am seeking to embrace a new era in my life. i wonder what will come of it.
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