Scrawlers will match your Haiti relief donation

by Nathan Melcher     Jan 15, 2010

Barry and I thank you for reading.

UMCOR is the United Methodist Committee On Relief and an organization I know and trust. Both the mission trip I did in Texas in 2008 and the mission trip I did in Iowa in 2009 were groups that worked through UMCOR and I was impressed by their professionalism, their efficiency, and their ability to organize volunteers to do real hands-on work. Even more importantly, they genuinely care about the people they’re helping. Make your donation count 200% when you join Barry and me in supporting UMCOR’s Haiti relief.

Scrawlers will match our readers’ total donations to UMCOR, dollar-for-dollar, up to $200. Together, we can raise up to $400 to help people in immediate dire need. If you haven’t donated yet, here’s a great way to get started. If you’ve already donated, amazing, we’re hoping you can give just a little bit more. Remember, every little bit helps. We’ll even sweeten the deal: one random donor will receive a $10 Amazon.com gift card.

Here’s how to participate in the Scrawlers dollar-for-dollar Haiti relief fund:

1. Click thru to the UMCOR donation website.

2. Make your donation in any amount. UMCOR is a registered 501(c)(3) charity. All gifts are tax deductible.

3. Let us know you donated to UMCOR by leaving a comment on this blog post with the amount you donated. We’re using the honor system on this one, so play nice. (Note: If you’re reading this on our Facebook note feed, PLEASE be sure to make your comment at the blog, not Facebook. Cool? Cool.)

This opportunity ends on January 31, 2010 at 11:59pm CST or when readers donate $200 total, whichever comes first. On February 1, we’ll randomly select and announce the winner of a $10 Amazon.com gift card (one entry per person, the amount you donate has no impact on your chances of winning the gift card).

Help Haiti Now, Help Haiti Later

The most important thing to keep in mind about Haiti relief, or any relief effort, is the help these people will need in the years to come. For example, the Texas mission trip I did in 2008 was to help repair homes damaged by Hurricane Rita in 2005 – three years before we got there. I remember being overwhelmed by how much work was still left to be done and how much remains. I can’t imagine what Haiti’s going to need come one, five, even ten years from now. Let your donations of time and money continue long past this moment of initial attention.

Can’t Donate Money? Donate Time Through “Feed My Starving Children”

We know not everyone can give money right now so here’s an easy and fun way to give your time. If you’re in the Twin Cities or Chicago metro areas, we encourage you to give your time to Feed My Starving Children. This organization asks volunteers to package well-balanced meals that go out to people in need in over sixty countries, including their number one mission site – Haiti. They have one million meals on the ground in Haiti and hope to get another three million there as soon as possible. I’ve volunteered at FMSC several times with my youth group and it’s both touching and really fun.

This is an experiment.

Last thing. This moment of philanthropy is an experiment, one we’re hopeful about. There’s potential for more opportunities like this and we hope you’ll continue to support Scrawlers as we try giving time, attention, and a little cash to causes we care about. Keep your creative spark alive at Scrawlers and we hope to hear from you this month.

Thanks,

Nate Melcher and Barry Hess

Scrawlers.com co-founders

Technorati Tags: amazon, donation, haiti, mission, philanthropy, umcor

Conan and Leno and Ethics, Oh My!

by Nathan Melcher     Jan 14, 2010

For those reading my blog on Facebook, I’d appreciate your leaving comments on my blog instead of Facebook, thanks. :)

I enjoy Conan O’Brien more than Jay Leno and that clearly influences how I feel about this whole late-night debacle. He’s who I watched when I stayed up late in high school to do homework and he’s who I watched in college when the night was just beginning and he has been who I watched in my young adulthood. When he took over The Tonight Show, I was thrilled, and when his first musical guest was Pearl Jam – my favorite musicians of all time – I knew he understood his demographic exactly.

Or, more accurately, me.

When Conan started making high schoolers and college students laugh in 1993, Pearl Jam was the biggest band in the universe. Now here they were, in 2009, kicking off a new Tonight Show. And that’s not the only musician I can link Conan to, either. Check out this list of the guests and musical guests from his days on Late Night. For me, I take note of some of my favorites, all appearing in just the first two seasons of the show: Radiohead, Blur, Reverend Horton Heat, Weezer, Jars of Clay, They Might Be Giants, Meat Puppets, Better Than Ezra, The Goo Goo Dolls, Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories, and don’t forget Ben Folds Five made its national television debut on Late Night.¹ As for Pearl Jam, blogger Chris Hanaka recalls that they only appeared on Letterman (SNL aside) until they were the premiere musical guests for The Tonight Show in 2009, and I’d argue appearing on Letterman, Conan’s Late Night predecessor, is miles closer to Conan than Leno.

And what of The Tonight Show’s musical guests from that era who I enjoy and are still kickin’ it old school? Pearl Jam, Green Day, Alice In Chains, Incubus, Wilco, Chris Cornell, The Flaming Lips, Weezer, The Brian Setzer Orchestra. And that’s in the show’s first seven months. Check out the whole list here.² These bands scream me. I cannot recall musical artists who appeared on Leno because I either tuned out before they came on or I didn’t hear of anyone who really compelled me to watch (or it’s possible I was just unaware or am missing artists in my mind). This roster and the previous Late Night roster help me know Conan is shooting for my demographic and that’s okay with me.

Read more

1. According to the link, this was on December 26, 1995. I wonder if they sang “Brick” with it’s line “Six a.m. Day after Christmas…” [↩]
2. If you ask me, the only real misstep was Creed, but I suppose that’s pretty subjective. [↩]

Technorati Tags: comedy, conan, ethics, john august, leno, pearl jam

My Ten Biggest Missed Blog Opportunities of 2009

by Nathan Melcher     Dec 30, 2009

I have a little saying around my desk that goes, “Thinking about writing isn’t writing. Writing is writing. So write.” I didn’t take my advice very well this year and ended up thinking about writing a lot more than actually doing it. Here are ten examples of how I could have written more here. These are missed opportunities, folks, learn from my mistakes.

10. I didn’t finish blogging about the Chicago Improv Festival.

I had grand intentions of reviewing the shows I saw (most were great), reminiscing about the fun times I had with friends (there were plenty), and doing a little self-critique of my own show (it went pretty well, if I do say so myself). If you think that’s bad, I didn’t touch upon my headlining at the Milwaukee Comedy Festival one bit. That was one of the best shows of my life.

9. I didn’t follow up on my reading list for the summer.

Mostly because I only read about half of what I intended to read. I can’t say I’m surprised.

8. I didn’t follow up on my summer writing plan.

See above.

7. I didn’t tell you what I thought of Road Dogs.

This book is great and deserves a review. I want to make that happen.

6. I didn’t finish blogging about LYFE Camp.

This one’s a real bummer because I receive more comments from readers on these blogs than anything else I write. On those days when I feel like I’m writing in a vacuum I could do worse than to remember that when I actually know I have readers I’d best give them something to read.

5. I didn’t post the “retro posts” I said I would put up.

Like numbers eight and nine, I can’t say I’m surprised. They’re still on my dashboard, half-written and waiting for my return.

4. I apparently choose to quit blogging the day I turned thirty.

Here’s where the truth comes out – I’ve had a tremendous year of stress. I’ve often used writing to get me through stress. Instead, I turned my back on it and the result is a near five-month stretch of radio silence.

3. I didn’t write about teaching.

This one was a difficult decision but I made it on purpose. I didn’t feel it was appropriate to write about my classroom experiences while teaching though now that I think of it, I certainly could have written about which texts I was using and other technical issues. Perhaps my reflections on teaching will crop up in the future here.

2. I didn’t write about getting laid off.

I taught for one full academic year outside of my MFA as a temporary part-time instructor and got an email that I wouldn’t have any classes to teach in the fall five days after my wife was in a serious car accident. I really didn’t tell anybody about this and for the last nine months or so I’ve seen surprised face after surprised face as I casually mentioned that I wasn’t teaching anymore. Can I just say that no matter how noble it is to support one’s partner and let the support others give them be at the forefront of how you handle their bad luck, it’s completely okay to acknowledge your own simultaneous bad luck. Kelly would be the first to agree with me, and it’s a lesson learned.

1. I didn’t write about enrolling in seminary.

I’m a first-year Master of Divinity student at United Theological Seminary and a candidate for ordination in the United Methodist Church. Those who read this blog with regularity in 2009 – not that there was a lot of regular blog posts in 2009, but whatever – probably put two and two together with mission trip stories, LYFE Camp tales, and church men’s book club selections that this was on the horizon. I’ll give this one more attention in 2010.

I’m not down on myself for any of this and don’t think this post a pity party. Rather, this is me acknowledging how I could have come up with some great writing and I just didn’t do it. I was stressed, I was busy, I was overwhelmed. Was writing there for me? Certainly. But for some reason I resigned myself to letting go of it for a while. I hope you don’t do what I did. If you have, write to me and let me know about it. And if you haven’t, kudos to you, dear reader.

If anything, it’s made me hungry to stop thinking about writing and to just plain write.

I hope to see you in 2010.

-nm

Technorati Tags: missed opportunities

My Five Favorite Blog Posts of 2009

by Nathan Melcher     Dec 30, 2009

I didn’t blog that much this year. Of the blog writing I did do, here are five entries I feel are worth your time:

Elmore Leonard Answers My Questions

Elmore Leonard is one of my top three favorite writers and the opportunity to correspond with him via Barnes & Noble’s message boards was one of my highlights of the year.

Your Monday Prompt #41

I really like this prompt. It’s the sort of prompt I should be upset with myself for not actually trying. I hope you do better with it than I have so far.

Hai to the Ku

Barry created a fun little Twitter application that creates haiku poems out of tweets. I don’t know much about Twitter but it’s a neat gadget to try.

I saw Zero 7 in concert

I like this post because I came home from the concert and immediately felt like writing.

A Storyteller Passes Away

I miss Merlin Dewing.

Here’s hoping I have more than five favorite blog posts in 2010.

-nm

Technorati Tags: elmore leonard, favorite posts, hai to the ku, merlin, writing prompts, zero 7

I saw Zero 7 in concert.

by Nathan Melcher     Dec 6, 2009

Let me say upfront that it doesn’t really matter to me how people discover something they enjoy and that includes the bandwagon. If someone got into a band because they heard one of their songs in a commercial, good. And that’s not the band selling out, that’s the band gaining exposure and more audience. This is all for another post, really, but it’s preamble to my writing about Zero 7.¹

I started listening to Zero 7 because of the film Garden State. I remember seeing that movie and literally driving across the street immediately afterward to buy the soundtrack. It had a sticker on the cellophane wrapper emblazoned with a variation of the line Sam (Natalie Portman) proclaims to Large (Zack Braff) about “New Slang” by The Shins: “You’ve got to hear this one song, it’ll change your life, I swear.” Braff’s 2004 directorial debut was about a 25-year-old who sought direction to find his identity. At the time, I WAS a 25-year-old who sought direction to find his identity. So yeah, there was a little resonance going on there.

Zero 7’s “In the Waiting Line” was a standout track for me, both in the film (it plays as Large sits motionless as the party spins faster and faster around him) and on the soundtrack (smackdab between the record’s two tracks by The Shins – “Caring is Creepy” and the aforementioned “New Slang”). I picked up one of their records, As It Falls, and I was hooked.

The band – a duo, really, with musicians and singers joining them on particular projects and tracks – has a varietal sound that starts as ambiance, meanders into the realm of the acoustic, takes a sharp turn into bass-rich techno loops, and finally settles into something that resembles none of these genres on their own. You know those records where each song feels different enough from the last that each one is seemingly by a different artist in a different genre? Like Beck’s Midnite Vultures or Radiohead’s OK Computer? A Zero 7 record sounds a lot like that.

On When It Falls, for example, it kicks off with “Warm Sound,” a stripped away combination of bass beat and a male voice with light vocals eventually joined by a flute, while the next track, “Home,” an organ (likely a synthesizer but still) accompanies a female vocalist² as a trumpet finds its way into the mix and then a full brass ensemble. The next track, “Somersault,” is a purely acoustic ballad with no discernable “tech” in it to my ear. Closing the record is “Morning Song” with its whispy, almost windy, sound that culminates in an uplifting piano instrumental. You get the picture.

I enjoy it all though it’s the acoustic and lighter work that I dig the most. I’ve made many a mix CD with songs like “Somersault” to play in the background during candlelit small group discussions and for meditation purposes at work. My boss liked what he heard and sought out their records, too, and we’ve been using it in our work the last three years or so. And that’s how a thirty-year-old youth director and his sixty-year-old pastor came to go to the Zero 7 concert at Epic in Minneapolis last Saturday night.

As far as I can tell, this is Zero 7’s first US tour since I’ve been listening to them (they’re from the UK) and I didn’t want to miss out. I invited Kent and we headed out for a 9:00pm show after a long day including Merlin’s funeral and an early morning of managing worship services ahead of us. Undaunted, we arrived and found a decent spot to stand for the next three hours approximately fifteen feet from the stage. I joked with Kent the 9:00pm start time would never happen. I’d never been to a concert that started on time. The opening act, Body Language, ended that streak when they stepped onto the stage at 9:00pm sharp.

Hailing from Brooklyn, Body Language concluded their nine-city stint opening for Zero 7 in Minneapolis and I dug what I heard (links: Facebook group and a review of one of their recent shows). An eclectic mix of instruments, harmonized male and female vocals, and a fun sense of humor all combined well for a set that made it clear they were having a lot of fun. I think it’s easy for a band to come off as aloof or too cool for school, as if we’re daring to bother them enough to come from backstage and humor us with their little musics. Body Language gave off a most opposite vibe. They dug the crowd, we dug ‘em right back. I was sincerely disappointed they didn’t have any CDs available for purchase at the counter.

The Zero 7 set was great in ways I didn’t expect. Kent and I went to the show with our love of their acoustic work in mind. As soon as the first song started, we realized we were crazy if we thought they were going to go that route for a concert. They stuck to their more technoish, beat-blasting fare, even turning some lighter songs like “Home” into outright body-shaking bass thumpers. And that’s okay, we were certainly excited to see them either way. If anything, we had to laugh at ourselves for our naïvity.

We were off to the side a little and were thus privy to a show of a roadie or two tuning guitars in-between songs. They changed instruments after almost every song which doesn’t surprise me. When I play some of my favorite Zero 7 songs on my ukulele with chords I find online, I’m often needing to grab my capo and play in a different key. Many band members kept switching instruments, too, all humble enough to partake in whatever instrument the song needed – from a giant keyboard to a tiny set of bells. We couldn’t quite figure out what the large box one of the singers was “playing” was; the movements her hands made seemed a cross between playing an accordion and a theremin but I don’t know that it was either. (EDIT: Mohammed wrote in the comments to let me know the instrument is called a harmonium. Here’s an improvised YouTube clip.) As for their setlist, they played a lot off the new record, took vocal breaks to play instrumentals, had a solid encore, and I was happy to hear old stuff like “In the Waiting Line,” “Home,” and “Pageant of the Bizarre.” I got to sing along here and there and that means I was having a good time. I would have had an even better time if the two women dancing in diameters that would rival the equator perhaps four inches in front of us would have been more aware of their surroundings when it came to flailing arms and purses, but whatever.

Is it that I’m not a great photographer or is the camera on my Nokia 5310 just not that great? Eh, a little from Column A, a little from Column B. Here’s the only decent shot I got – it’s of Eska Mtungwazi singing “Mr. McGee” from the new record, Yeah Ghost:

As for the venue, Epic is pretty much The Quest. I can’t really tell any difference, except the last few times I went there under its former name I was free to move upstairs without needing to get VIP reservations for bottle service. Maybe that’s the difference between a UK band on tour and a local show, maybe that’s the difference between old management and new management (if a change was even made). Either way, Kent held up pretty well despite recent knee issues but I couldn’t help but eyeball the empty, cozy-looking couches upstairs…

I hope you give Zero 7 a try. Let me know in the comments if you have.

-nm

1. Basically, I don’t wanna be accused of being a poser. [↩]
2. Sia, who has left the band and is recording some highly-anticipated solo material [↩]

Technorati Tags: bandwagon, body language, epic, garden state, harmonium, identity, Kent, merlin, the shins, zero 7

A storyteller passes away.

by Nathan Melcher     Dec 2, 2009

A great man named Merlin Dewing passed away this morning at the age of seventy-four. I was shocked and stunned, as Merlin was as young as they get, full of life and an interest in bettering the lives of others. There is a mix of grief and gratitude in me this week. Grief for his death and gratitude for a chance to get to know him in this last year of his life.

I met Merlin at Excelsior United Methodist Church where I’ve worked the past five years. My being assigned to youth and young adults, our paths didn’t cross all that much and so I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know Merlin until I started the church’s Men’s Book Club in February, 2009. When I started the group, I didn’t know who would show up or who would show up consistently or who would enjoy it. It was my first program aimed exclusively at adult men and I was nervous at whether or not it would succeed. Since its inception in February, attendance has been low, not everyone who comes one month continues to the next month, and there’s still a struggle to discover what’s needed to make this club grow.

Merlin was the only man who showed up from day one and who had never missed a meeting. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me.

When he showed up the first night, I honestly had to play the, “I Know Your Name, I’m Just Not Going to Say It” Game. It’s the game I sometimes play with adults who I recognize at church but don’t know very well. My constituency, the youth group, is downstairs while the adults are upstairs and to make connections outside of youth and their parents, I have to make a concerted effort. So here came a man who I recognized by face but not name and as our first book discussion unfolded I not only learned his name but it soon became clear I’d been depriving myself of an excellent connection for years.

Merlin contributed so much to the Men’s Book Club. In order to be a close reader, I’m (unfortunately) a slow reader and I admired Merlin’s ability to read so quickly and yet simultaneously savor the story. At our meetings, he always had something of substance to say about the books we read. He recognized writers’ stylistic choices, how stories connected to other pieces of literature, and embraced new stories without hesitation (I’ll never forget how excited he was to finally read his first Stephen King novel, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and the way he was impressed by King’s writing and how it went against every stereotype he’d heard of the man’s macabre storytelling). Most importantly, Merlin knew how to connect the story on the written page to the stories of our lives.

While our reason to gather was to talk about books, I must admit a major contributor to my personal enjoyment of attempting to pull a handful of men together every third Tuesday of the month was my getting to hear a slew of fascinating personal stories from Merlin. The man had a million of them, never a dull one and always pertinent to the discussion at-hand. There were stories about business and tales of the military, stories of overcoming hardship and lore of local history, great jokes with great timing and touching love stories. When I was told Merlin passed away, I was upset with myself in the same way as was I was told my Grandma Phyllis died (the day before our first Men’s Book Club meeting back in February, to tie things together a little more tightly).

For years I’d meant to get Grandma’s stories down on paper or tape and barely scratched the surface on this goal. It was a missed opportunity I’ll never get back and not having her stories and the story of her life recorded as completely as possible – straight from her lips – is the pain I try to avoid most when I think of her these days. This feeling rose in me as I learned of Merlin’s passing because I remember clearly, every month, sitting there with a kid’s grin on my face as Merlin recounted story after story and thinking to myself, “I have to get with this man and write everything he says down.”  I didn’t do that and it’s a regret I’ll carry with me.

Merlin chose last month’s book club selection, The Sweet Season: A Sportswriter Rediscovers Football, Family, and a Bit of Faith at Minnesota’s St. John’s University by Austin Murphy. He’ read it before and had high hopes this locally-focused pigskin tale smackdab in the middle of the football season would bring in more members and though we didn’t have a large group show up, Merlin lead the discussion with ease and enthusiasm. He chose Murphy’s book because he admired Gagliarti’s leadership style and we had a long talk about what it means to stand out from the crowd as a leader. Through an online search to read his obituary, I came across a business website Merlin was involved in and saw this quote from him splashed across the top of the page:

“Leaders should be measured not by how much they lead, but by how little they have to lead. Their success comes from knowing how to select and develop gifted people.”
~ Merlin Dewing

This attitude was reflected in how Merlin saw Gagliarti as coach in the book and in how Merlin contributed not only to what I personally witnessed in Men’s Book Club but also in what I saw in how he interacted with his church family, entreprenuership opportunities, and his marriage. Reading his obituary it was clear he was well-loved and well-respected with many accomplishments under his belt that I never heard about. Maybe that’s because I was downstairs with the youth group. But more likely, it’s because Merlin was humble and sought to build up others before he built up himself. I anticipate learning even more about him at his funeral this Saturday and while I’m grieving, this impending time of celebrating Merlin’s life leaves me with gratitude to have known him at all.

(Postscript – At Merlin’s funeral, there were indeed tales of his being humble and for as many wonderful stories as he told me about other people in his life, it was an absolute joy to hear so many wonderful stories about him. The man has done so much, including playing an integral part in keeping the Twins in Minnesota in the early 1980s, not that one would have heard about it from him.)

On December 15 the Men’s Book Club discusses The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Knowing how quickly Merlin could get through a book, our group will be left wondering if he finished, what he thought of Sebold’s style, and especially how he viewed the portrayal of the afterlife. I would have loved to hear what new stories he’d be able to relate to the novel, and I wonder if I would have finally made time to work with him on writing them all down.

Merlin Dewing was a man of character and he enriched the story of my life.

-nm

Technorati Tags: grief, leadership, men's book club, merlin, storytelling, the lovely bones, the sweet season

I’m thirty.

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 13, 2009

I haven’t said it out loud yet. I’ve only typed it. Maybe I’ll say it out loud later today. Any advice as I move into a new decade today, dear readers?

-nm

Your Monday Prompt #48

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 13, 2009

Write a story about a character who is amazing at reaching out to help people in need. Consider how much this sort of work calls them to do good things on behalf of those who are less fortunate. Let the emotion they feel in this (the specific sort of work they do is up to you) guide their characterization. Give this exercise fifteen minutes of your time and then read and immediately follow the directions for the second part of the exercise.

Put that character in a situation where the tables are turned. They are now the person in dire need, the person who is less fortunate. How does this affect them? What does this change in their mind? How do they reach out for help (if they do at all)? Give this portion of the exercise an additional fifteen minutes of your time.

Write it up and see what happens.

-nm

Technorati Tags: surprise yourself, writing exercise, writing prompt

Mission: Iowa – Day 4

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 12, 2009

This was our last full day of work as we’ll head out after lunch on Monday. There’s more than a twinge of regret as we leave several work projects left unfinished. Yet that’s the nature of a mission trip; it’s rare to be the first ones on a job and even rarer to be the last. What we do is about those middle steps, the long sludge toward the finish line when the end goal seems far away and the workload overwhelming. Sure, we finished our entire task at Mack’s, and so long as we keep our perspective, we may feel more at peace with leaving things unfinished at Josh’s, Carol’s, and the Piano Store.

I started out with the crew at Josh’s house this morning (Brett, Kelsey, Jacob S., Nathan, Nick, Loretta, Eric, Jack, Alex, and Sam) and finally had a chance to meet Josh. He granted me an on-camera interview to hear his perspective on the flood and how it’s affected his family. On the day of the flood, they heard of the potential danger and he sent his wife, Sara, and their two boys, Noah and Juilius (now ages three and two, respectively), to his parents in Cedar Falls and he went to work that morning. While there, he learned of just how high the water rose in his neighborhood; one of his co-workers lives in his neighborhood and waded to work with a video on his phone. Life changed that day. His family wasn’t allowed back in the home for weeks. Refurbishing the home started right away but resources and funding was limited. Throw in a layoff due to several stores closing and his managerial skills being needed less and less, and the year has been one of slow progress and setbacks. Still, Josh tries to keep his hopes up as much as possible on behalf of his family, seeking work, rebuilding the home, and providing for his family. I asked him if his sons understood what was going on and while Julius is too young, the older boy, Noah, refers to the home as “the wreck” with that wry humor only a child could get away with. Noah lost most of his Thomas the Tank Engine toys in the flood, so I ran out to Toys R Us and picked out two new engines – one for him and one for when his brother was old enough to join him in play (they received Percy and James, for those discerning Thomas fans). Noah gave me a big smile and said ‘thank you.’ This last interaction was at the end of our work day and I bid Josh farewell.

My interview with Josh was outside and my interaction with Noah was downstairs. Meanwhile, the crew was busy at work on the main floor. More and more drywall went up while other sheets were mudded, sanded, mudded, sanded, and so on in that cycle. They really had an efficient team, understanding how to work with each other and how to help. For example, I helped with mudding and dusting in the morning and while it was something I found I had a knack for during the Excelsior UMC mission trip to Texas last December, Jacob S. had some new pointers for me in terms of technique and efficiency. Connie made a run out to Home Depot and picked up an electric sander which Nick wielded with ease. The dust storms we kicked up were something fierce and while the masks we wore to protect our precious lungs were helpful but hot, Josh had the central air conditioning running for us. Now that’s a rare gem in the mission work world. Another group who arrives tonight and begins work tomorrow will be here for a full week and are getting an early start at Josh’s house. I hope they do amazing work; Josh told me he really hopes to have the house finished in time for Thanksgiving. It’s an ambitious goal and I hope he meets it with the help of his family and more volunteers.

At Carol’s house, even more sheetrock was going up, not only on the walls but also the ceiling. The crew of Victoria, Trevor, Alex, Bob, Kent, Marcus, Matt, Holly, Olivia, Jenna, Jordan, Pat, Jacob B., Connie, Katie, and Louann divided their duties amongst them. Some were constantly sanding while others were mudding. A crew cut new lengths of sheetrock to put on the ceiling with a hand-crank lift that held the board up while Jenna and Jacob B. screwed it in tight. One of the last things Alex O. and Trevor did before they had to leave early was take down a fresh piece of sheetrock because the crew forgot to install insulation underneath it. Luckily, they caught the error and everything’s back in place the right way.

Carol reportedly stopped by the home to grab a few things and she chatted with Kent. She’s staying in a FEMA trailer in the meantime and is quite grateful to everyone for their help. This was also the home where Josh’s house crew came in the late afternoon when their work was finished (they reached that point where there was nothing left to do for the day except wait for the mud to dry). It was also my first stop with ice cream sandwiches and bars in tow. I was able to hand off some ice cream sandwiches to Bob and Louann before they had to depart back for home and while they were only with us half the trip, they did a lot of great work to help the crew. Working so close to home like this is a grand convenience, though it’s also given people in our group fresh feelings on watching people in our area become instantly distressed in poverty. As Eric pointed out during worship last night, this could happen to any of us, any time, through some sort of natural disaster. I think people in our group are really weighing that in as they do their work.

There’s not much to say about the work at the Piano Store that hasn’t already been said because while a lot of work gets done, it’s as if it never ends. It’s hot, it’s moldy, and a little dangerous. Yes, our fourth person stepped on a nail today, and it was my brother, Jordan. He joined the ranks of Kaitlyn, Jack, and Matt with a trip to the ER and a fresh prescription of antibiotics. Still, the workers persevere and did their best to get as much done as possible. Jerry, Bobbi, Maddie, Kaitlyn, Jake, Jordan, Alex, Sam, and Ron shattered walls, splintered floor boards, stripped off metal siding, and threw yet another heaping helping of rotting building into the truck trailer-sized dumpster. While Jerry served as the final bucket brigade person sitting inside the dumpster the other day, today it was Alex and the youth made a silly game of stacking / throwing debris into a pattern that resembled a living room complete with couch and end table. I handed my video camera to Alex and had him tape it a little bit but I haven’t seen it yet. His enthusiasm told me, however, that it must have looked pretty funny.

We all packed up and headed back to the church in the 4:00pm hour so we could grab our swimsuits and head down to the Marion Municipal Pool. Connie stayed back to prepare dinner and Victoria stayed out of the water due to a stomach ache though she watched and smiled as everyone else jumped in the water. Most of the girls and guys swam and chatted, many of the adults swam for a little while and then found themselves simply relaxing with conversation on the far side of the pool, while a group of the guys alternately did crazy dips and dives off the diving boards when they weren’t busy watching a local foursome of two guys and two girls do some of their own diving board spectacular, too. To tell the truth, it was hard to tell if their attention was on the guys who were doing overtly stylish, impressive flips or, well, the girls. You’ll have to ask them. ;)

We came back from the pool to find a taco dinner waiting for us. After some free time we held an evening worship with music (The Shoo-Bop and Lean On Me), scripture (Philip approaching his brother, Nathan, to say he’s found the messiah in Jesus and to, “Come and see.”), and small group discussion. We raised up the good things that have happened on the trip and the things that could be improved for next time, as well as explaining who we’ve gotten to know and how from the opposite church (Excelsior UMC / Minnetonka UMC) and from the opposite age group (adults / youth). We also discussed our new jobs for Monday morning. One contingent consisting of Jack, Jake, Jerry, Jordan, Alex, Nick, Sam, and Ron will head over to the Piano Store to take one last literal whack at the walls and floors while the rest of us will divide into two teams. One team (Connie, Victoria, Pat, Jenna, Kelsey, Holly, Katie, Olivia, and Jacob S.) will prepare meals for those like Carol who are forced to live in a FEMA trailer for the time being, while the other team (Eric, Kent, Kaitlyn, Maddie, Matt, Marcus, Nathan, and Jacob B.) do some gift-card fueled school supply shopping to help community outreach groups gear up for back-to-school needs. Many of us were bummed out to learn we wouldn’t be returning to Josh and Carol’s house but as I mentioned earlier, fresh crews start there tomorrow and we wish them the best of luck and success.

The plan for tomorrow is to pack and stow our gear in the trailers, clean up after ourselves at New Life Community Church, work our jobs in the morning, eat lunch at a park, and head home in the early afternoon. Parents, we’re encouraging youth to give you a call once we’re on the road with an ETA. Keep your comments coming, and the next time you hear from me, we’ll already be home!

-nm

Here’s a few photos from the day’s work and play. Click the pick once for a larger version, and then again for a really big version.

Technorati Tags: iowa, mission trip

Mission: Iowa – Day 3

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 11, 2009

Today started with something pretty important – acknowledging that today is Jake’s sixteenth birthday! I pulled him into the middle of our circle of thirty-four people and he spun around as we all sang happy birthday to him. We were soon joined by local help. Connie and Alex have family living in Cedar Rapids and Alex’s two cousins, Brianna and Michelle, and their friends, Becca and Ellie, joined us as we worked all day. Four crews divided and went to their respective locations: Josh’s house, Mack’s house, and the Piano Store again as well as a new location, Carol’s house.

Our work today saw quite a few accomplishments and moments of progress. At Mack’s house, a new crew of Pat, Jordan, Sam, Holly, Jenna, Olivia, and Katie finished the entire paint job of the house interior. Every gray cement brick was coated with the thick white paint and Mack was pleased with the job the team did. In fact, the team finished early in the work day and were able to trek over to Carol’s house to join a crew of Kent, Bob, Barney, Alex O., Trevor, Brianna, Michelle, Becca, Ellie, and more (sorry, I don’t have the roster on me right now). Carol’s house was on the same street as Josh’s and the Piano Store, just the next block down from the Piano Store, in fact. There’s a large pile of debris piled in the front lawn including some brand-new sheetrock that unfortunately had to be pulled only three days after it was put up due to a leaky roof ruining some of the great work that was done earlier in the week. The crew put up wall installation, mudded some drywall, put up new sheetrock, and had a special team working on a precise measurement.

Turns out a new doorframe was less than level; one end stuck up by three-quarters of an inch. That meant using the sawzaw to cut out a chunk of doorframe, pulling out some sheetrock, lowering the overhead doorframe boarding, and then reinstalling the whole sh-bang properly. As the group at Josh’s house had to do yesterday, some of the work volunteer crews have to do is not repair or construction but correction work do undo something not quite kosher from other volunteer crews. It’s a bummer and one hopes the next crew in doesn’t have too much correction work because of what we did. Instead, we’re hoping our work ends up being the kind of work that has Iowa UMCOR calling us to find out when we’re coming back to do more.

Meanwhile, Josh’s house was busy with a crew consisting of Ron, Nick, Nathan, Brett, Alex and more. Everyone was in high spirits to return to the home after having done so much work on it the day before, plus Josh tossed in an added bonus. He turned on the air conditioning. It’s amazing how a little gesture like that can not only help one’s physical stamina stay strong during a hard work day but also boost crew spirits. Dry wall was still at the top of the list at Josh’s house and the crew worked diligently to get their work done. Over at the Piano Store, a slightly-altered-from-yesterday crew of Jerry, Bobbi, Marcus, Jacob B., and Jake continued to gut the building. Jake was excited to smash sledgehammers into walls and pry up floorboards with a crowbar for his birthday and we weren’t about to stop him. They worked with another crew from northeast Missouri who was finishing up their final day of work after a week in town, first on the ground floor and then also in the basement. I was witness to a large truck coming to haul away the giant dumpster and it gave me better perspective on how truly big it was – essentially, it’s the size of a truck trailer and it was filled to the brim. The truck hauled it away, dumped its contents, and came back later that day to receive more moldy wood, rusty nails, and other assorted bits of junk.

I went on a solo adventure for a little while today, as usual. I ventured out to the new home of the Cedar Rapids Library… in the mall. “Library” is not necessarily synonymous with “mall” for me, but there I was, posting yesterday’s blog and photos in the library computer center, a former Steve & Barry’s Clothing Store space next door to Yonkers. The mall was dead with what seemed to be a lot more empty store fronts than occupied. I asked the librarian if this was a result of the flood or recent economic woes and apparently those were factors but the mall was already on the decline. The hollow shell of what was once a vibrant area for so many people, however, seemed to really fit in with the neighborhood we’re working in this week. Some houses look great, others are boarded up tight. Some are having work done on them while others are likely abandoned forever. The parallel imagery wasn’t lost on me as I walked past empty, gated shop space in the mall to see the new library. It’s a broad, open space that reminds me of a miniature Barnes & Noble only without the charm and selection. I can’t think about that entire library collection getting wiped out without getting sad about it. Still, it’s wonderful to see the county doing their best to get such an important community aspect back up and running, and there’s even something poetic about them putting it in a location where less and less people were coming recently. Perhaps the library can help the mall revive a little bit, who knows.

We had a mishap or two today. We misplaced the key to Loretta’s van and had to run to the dealer for a new one at a bummer of a price tag (it was high to begin with but made higher due to weekend pricing). We also found that Matt had also had skin piercing from stepping on a nail yesterday. When it went through his shoe, he didn’t feel like it hit his foot at all but after closer examination right before bed, sure enough there was a small mark. Like Kaitlin and Jack before him, Connie took him to the ER for antibiotics and he was eventually able to return to work, joining the Piano Store crew. At the end of the night, Jacob S. said he had a sore knee. Sensing nothing immediately wrong, Connie and Louann have asked Jacob to let them know if anything comes of it and he intends to do some work sitting to take weight of it tomorrow.

Leaving mishaps behind, there were plenty of funny and uplifting stories today. Mack’s praise of the crew who painted his house simply never stopped. Jake got into a light argument with a gas station clerk about whether or not Dr. Pepper qualified as a Pepsi product and thus for the sale price (it’s made by Cadbury and possibly not distributed by Pepsi in Iowa is our guess). Pat finally got to leave painting behind and get a start on drywall only to be disappointed when it was time to clean-up only thirty minutes into his new job. Youth and adults alike laughed and danced during LYFE Camp favorite song, Ah-La-La-La-La-La-Lei-Lu-Ia (Ah-La-La-La-La-La-Lei-Lu [Hey!]), including verses like “pinch a neighbor’s cheek,” “squeeze another knee,” and “bump another rump.” And people took time during the evening worship service to share their observations of the positive things members of our group have done this week, as well as look inward and discuss what they have done that surprised themselves this week. This reflection was done in small groups and the intimacy lent itself to some excellent sharing and complimenting all-around.

Lucky us, Connie’s brother, Brian, and his wife, Carol, invited us to their home for dinner and relaxation. Brian was the grill man and we gobbled up burgers and hot dogs and then lounged on lawn chairs, played pool in the basement, jumped on the trampoline, and sang songs as Alex O. and I pulled out our guitar and ukulele, respectively. At the end of dinner, I watched Connie carry out a beautiful white sheet cake for Jake’s birthday. Someone gave him a celebratory do-rag (I don’t think it’s an actual “celebratory” do-rag, it just ended up that way)… but then I got one, too, and Kelsey got a Happy Birthday princess crown. Turns out the birthday cake was in honor of all three of us, with Jake turning sixteen today of course, and then on Monday, the last day of our trip, Kelsey turns sixteen and I… turn… um… older. Maybe thirty, I couldn’t say for sure… At any rate, the gesture was a nice surprise and the ice cream cake was delicious. All in all, the evening was a nice reprieve from the hot work day we’d had and it put us in a mood of gratitude for Brian and Carol’s hospitality. After dinner, we returned to the church for the aforementioned worship service, some conversation, a game or two, and then bed.

I’m exhausted so I’m leaving it at that, dear reader. Thank you for your comments and for reading!

-nm

P.S. Kelsey and Loretta took some great snapshots after the work day at dinner and evening worship. Take a look!

Technorati Tags: iowa, mission trip

Mission: Iowa – Day 2

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 10, 2009

Today was our first work day and it was a full, rewarding one. We woke up in the 7:00am hour, had a breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, and English muffins and made up our sack lunches and packed them in the cooler. Since we already made our work teams the night before, we were able to head out to our three work destinations by 9:00am or so without much hassle.

Everyone in our group had designated work areas today save for Connie O. and me. Connie moved from site to site, running to get supplies and make sure groups had whatever support they needed, including a run or two to the hospital (more on that later). Meanwhile, I had the freedom to drive downtown to post the blog, go get supplies for sites at Home Depot and Everything’s $1, and video tape at each of the sites for documented posterity (yes, I got my hands dirty, too, mostly from sanding drywall). By going to each site, I write about what I saw a little easier.

I first traveled to Mack’s house with the work crew, Kent, Pat, Alex, Sam, Jacob B., Holly, Katie, and Olivia. The night before, UMCOR liaison Melissa told our group that Mack was truly a character and storyteller, someone we’d have a blast meeting. She was right on the money. Mack regaled us with tales of his thirty years as an iron worker, preached precariously up on eighty-two stories up, as well as what his home and yard were like during and immediately after the flood. He pointed to the garage and said the back wall was gone, floating in the backyard between the garage and the house. Next to it was a giant, waterlogged carpet that had been pulled from someone’s home like an orange peel. It had swirled around in the water until it folded on itself into a carpet crepe. There’s still plenty of debris in his backyard: broken down bicycles, spiky boards of wood, aerosol cans and an extra transmission on top of his tarp-covered car. The detail that stuck out the most was when Mack pointed to his roof and asked the group to look at the third row of shingles – that was where the water had risen after the river overflowed into territory somewhere in the thirty-odd feet deep. Sure enough, there was the water line, staining his shingles. The water had covered his entire first floor and now there was nothing left in it.

The first floor had skeleton studs separating the rooms but no walls to speak of save the cement brick walls serving as the home’s exterior (under new vinyl siding Mack installed on his own a few weeks back). It was this brick that the group set to coating with thick latex-based paint that would serve as water sealant. The work was not for the impatient or for those not willing to experiment with different approaches. One person would roll a thick layer of paint on the brick while another used a stiff-bristled brush to do touch-ups, dotting paint into the tiny holes and crevasses in the cement. Eventually, the group found the best tool was not a brush but a dishwashing scrub stick, its thick, sturdy bristles perfect for getting paint into the tiny blank holes like brushing one’s teeth. Other highlights from Mack’s house include wearing full body disposable painters suits (it was not the kind of paint one gets on their skin and comes off easily, much less clothing) and mixing the $150 5-gallon drums of paint by rolling them back and forth between two people as if playing a game of Kick the Can with something much bigger and heavier.

At Josh’s house, our largest group consisting of Ron, Barney, Loretta, Victoria, Kelsey, Jenna, Jacob S., Brett, and Jordan tackled drywall duties. They weren’t alone; MUMC’s Eric, Nathan, and Nick showed up, too, after getting on the road from Minnesota in the 5:00am hour. They did correction work from previous volunteer groups, including a lot of sanding from drywall mudding. I picked up a few 1” x 2” wood planks at Home Depot so they could cut struts to put behind new sheetrock with fellas like Jordan, Nick, and Nathan on measure-cut-and-drill duty. The group also did a lot of their own mudding and then sanding. The sanding was time-consuming and masks were more than necessary. Jenna sanded so much that there were streaks of dust between her eyes and painter’s mask like some sort of crazy make-up job (I was thinking David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character myself). They also had a chance to meet Josh, the home owner, and learn that while the main floor where they were doing their work was still uninhabitable, he and his family had living space both upstairs and in the basement. However, it wasn’t until October, 2008 that they were able to get into even that space. Keep in mind, the flood was in June, 2008. That’s a long time to go without a place to call home.

The third work place, just blocks from the first two, was the Piano Store. What was likely a home that was once converted into a piano store, it didn’t look like either, anymore. There was already a crew at work when Bobbi, Jerry, Matt, Marcus, Kaitlin, Maddie, Jack, and Jake arrived and there was another that came to work later that day, too. The work was literally demolishing the inside of the house. The group donned worksuits like the painting crew at Mack’s plus masks as they hammered, crowbarred, and generally ripped the insides out of the moldy, smelly building, piece by piece. The pieces went into a dumpster so large that workers had to be on ladders to get up into it. While the other two work places weren’t too hampered by the downpour of rain we received about an hour into the job, the Piano Store crew had to spend time in the rain gathering up debris for the aforementioned monstrosity of a dumpster. The group was not only rewarded with working in the rain but received our casualties of the day. First Kaitlin, then Jack stepped on a nail. Connie and Loretta took Kaitlin to the ER for infection treatment and antibiotics (Jack, too, when his turn came later). Parents received the obligatory informational phone calls and after a chat with the doctor, they were able to return to work with ease.

We ceased working as 4:00pm approached and we returned to the church to grab our gear and make our way to the high school field house for showers. We came back to the church hungry for a meal of pasta whipped up by Connie and two more group members who showed up just in time to help cook, Bob and Louann. Meal time was fairly silent as tired folks simply chowed down on the grub. Plus, we didn’t have much time to tarry; we’d nabbed tickets for the Cedar Rapids Kernels minor league baseball game against the Fort Wayne Tincaps. The game had some good action and the between-innings entertainment featuring Bird Zerk and his mascot family had us all laughing. I tracked the game on a scorecard and looking at it, I can tell you the Kernels defense was great but offense not so much and they lost, 5-2.

Back at church, we debriefed as a large group, each work crew filling each other in on what they did that day. We set up new teams for our work places on Saturday (we’re returning to Josh and Mack’s houses, skipping the Piano Store, and picking up Sharon’s house). Then it was lights out (and cell phones out) and everyone’s in bed but me. But before I go, I want to write to you about one more thing I witnessed today.

Getting back to the work we did today, I had several observations all over the neighborhood. A lot of homes with “No Trespassing” signs and “Limited Entry” signs, put up by local and state government, keeping both strangers and homeowners out of the houses until more work could be done to make them habitable. There was one home I saw where a woman had spray painted a message on the blue vinyl siding exterior that was something to the effect of: “Lucky Me. I’m moving out and I had wonderful neighbors. God bless you all!” I’ll edit with the full message tomorrow, but such a message struck me as both uniquely beautiful and sadly tragic at the same time. But there was something else around the neighborhood, too. Many intersections had large flower pots on the boulevards, each with unique plants and flowers in bloom. They all carried a sign with a simple message: “Cultivate Hope.” I’d like to think the work we’re doing can cultivate hope even a little bit this week.

And we’re not the only ones out here this week. We’ve met groups from Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, and more – all here in Iowa working to cultivate hope. That’s some mighty find work you have us doing, God.

-nm

P.S. As promised, here are a few photos for you. We didn’t have cameras at all of the work sites but here are snapshots from Josh’s house and the Kernels game courtesy of Kelsey:

Technorati Tags: iowa, mission trip

Mission: Iowa – Day 1

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 9, 2009

For regular readers: this week I’m blogging about the joint mission trip between youth and adults at Excelsior United Methodist Church and Minnetonka United Methodist Church.

For new readers: welcome and poke around the blog for content about writing, improv, and creativity.

Today we set out from the Twin Cities Metro of Minnesota for our neighbor to the south, eastern Iowa. Ravaged by flooding, eighty-five percent of counties in the state received some sort of water damage in 2008. Through the efforts of several government, religious, and community organizations – including the organization we’re working through, UMCOR (the United Methodist Committee on Relief) – many homes have been repaired but as always in these efforts, there’s a long way left to go. Our specific work area will be in Cedar Rapids, IA, the second-largest city in the state and a major interstate, railroad and river city for the state. Hopefully, we can at least make some impact with home and building repair and get some people’s lives back to something normal.

Twelve members of the Excelsior UMC group converged on our church over the noon hour and loaded up the trailer and vehicles. We’ll be joined by two teenagers tomorrow evening and an adult couple later this weekend, plus we picked up my brother Jordan, who lives in Iowa, halfway through our journey. Our belongings packed and our vehicles loaded, we headed over to Minnetonka UMC to meet with the youth and adults who would join us from their congregation. They have a large group, too, with several members who will join us as the weekend continues, too. Already we’re seeing the convenience of doing a mission trip in an area so close to home; the flexibility it lends to allowing more people to join us is a boon, though it gives one perspective on how outreach doesn’t have to be hundreds of miles away like the Excelsior UMC mission trip to Texas over New Year’s a few months ago. There are people in need in our neck of the woods, too.

The drive was smooth and without incident. EUMC youths Marcus W., Matt S., and Jacob S. joined me in “Mazie,” my Mazda5. Jacob and I talked each other’s ears off about scouting, family, and ridiculous jokes while Marcus, Matt, and I had an odd conversation about whether Transformers 2 was the best movie ever (their opinion) or a racist clunker that makes my generation’s childhood weep (my opinion). When we stopped in Floyd, IA for gas and to pick up Jordan, my mother lent me her Magellan GPS for the weekend which gave Jacob S. and me something more to talk about as we figured out how to work it exactly. Glad to say the thorough directions I typed up matched what the computer said, so I guess maybe I missed out on my calling as a navigator / cartographer.

Upon arrival at New Life Community Church in Marion, IA, a Cedar Rapids northern suburb, Loretta, Kent and I got the tour from an NLCC staff member and we unloaded the vehicles and trailers. We have the space to ourselves for the weekend, save for Sunday morning of course. There’s a large fellowship hall and spacious kitchen for meals and meetings, plus two comfy couch-laden classrooms acting as gender-specific sleeping quarters and a few classrooms in the middle serving as sleeping quarters for the “lighter” sleepers (i.e. adult chaperones). Free time at the church has seen a slew of activities. Kelsey W. bought a game called Bananagrams right before we left town and she broke it out to play with Victoria S., Jacob S., and Jordan M. Meanwhile, MUMC youth Jenna, Olivia, Katie, andHolly played a rousing game of Catchphrase (a youth group favorite at EUMC). Brett, Alex, and Sam have dominated the ping-pong table, and everyone else is running this way and that intermingling between the two youth groups. We also played some improv games like Name/Yes, Call of the Wild, Czechoslovakia, Bippity Bippity Bop, and the Super-Fast Clap Circle (I have no idea what that game is really called; it’s just fun). You’ll have to ask one of the youths who played for the full scoop on how to play, dear reader.

Our UMCOR liaison, Melissa, came while we ate our Pizza Hut-delivered dinner to explain the situation and what jobs we’ll undertake tomorrow. She explained how most folks managed to salvage no more than four boxes of belongings from their homes on-average after the flood and that one community was underwater for three weeks. The river current was strong during the floods, too, pulling debris along at sixty-five miles an hour. These folks went through quite a lot and we’re glad to add thirty-some volunteers to the over two-hundred fifty who are also working in the area this week and weekend. We divided ourselves into three teams: one will do drywall at Josh’s house, one will paint-seal bricks at Mack’s house, and one will gut a damaged piano store to create a new UMCOR storage space. The last group needs to wear N95 face masks to keep from inhaling mold while the paint-sealers will wear white garb to keep from getting the non-water soluble sealing paint on their clothes and skin. The drywall folks? Eh, maybe they’ll get masks, too, who knows? That’s right, with mission work comes brilliant fashion statements. I’ll see what I can do about getting photos up on the blog (no promises but I’ll try).

Kent J. and Connie O. made a grocery run, adults are relaxing (some asleep already), youth are playing games and watching The Prestige, and yours truly is heading to bed.

I’ll update the blog as frequently as possible and I encourage you to please leave us your comments on blog entries. I will pass them along to the group (this was a huge morale builder during our Texas mission trip and I’d love to see it continue). I can check comments on my phone any time so keep them coming!

(Real time update: Despite the timestamp on this blog saying July 9, I’m posting this on Friday, July 10 from a temporary library situated in a downtown building similar to the City Center in downtown Minneapolis. I went to the large, original city library only to find it completely empty. Nearly the entire adult fiction collection was lost in the flood last year! There’s another temporary library which I hope to make posts from for the rest of the trip… in the mall. As a literature nut, this is a bummer on top of an already sad situation.)

Thanks for reading,

-nm

Technorati Tags: cedar rapids, mission trip

Retro posts and this week’s posts

by Nathan Melcher     Jul 9, 2009

I have a dozen or so entries that are sitting in the cue, half-written and waiting to be finished up, including entries about LYFE Camp, Monday Prompts, and Friday Recommendations. They’ll be retro-posted soon, with a new blog post to update readers.

In the meantime, this week I’m writing about my experience on a mission trip to Cedar Rapids, IA where I’m with two church groups who are repairing flood-damaged homes. We leave today and I’ll try to post at least once daily, pending internet access. Your comments are a welcomed morale booster to our group as we do as much good work as possible.

Mission trip posts begin tomorrow…

-nm

Technorati Tags: mission trip, retro post

Short poems on Twitter: Hai to the Ku

by Barry     Jul 7, 2009

As I researched Twitter outreach for Scrawlers, I learned there is a significant population of folks writing haiku on Twitter. It makes sense; haiku is about the only legitimate art form that fits properly into a tweet. Six word stories are a fun diversion, but I grow tired of them rather quickly.

Haiku is not only about content, but also meter. As with any form of poetry, haiku begs to be read out loud and appreciated beyond a prosaic level. Haiku at its best is a short verse of music.

The usefulness of Twitter may be argued at length. It seems to me the ability to [quickly publish and share haiku](http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23haiku) with anyone who wants to see it is pretty utilitarian. The presentational aspect of haiku on Twitter leaves a lot to be desired. This is where [Hai to the Ku](http://haitotheku.com/) enters the picture.

[Hai to the Ku](http://haitotheku.com/) grabs a large pile of the latest tweets tagged with “#haiku” and presents them to you in a slowly descending stream. Take a break from the daily grind to read melodic writings of the Twitter poets in residence.

Add your own voice to the stream. [Haiku rules](http://k12east.mrdonn.org/Haiku.html) are a 3-line verse with 5-7-5 syllables. Haiku typically expresses feeling or mood and does not rhyme. Simply tweet “5 / 7 / 5 #haiku” and look for your poem in the stream.

Looking forward to seeing your writing at Hai to the Ku.

Your Friday Recommendation #40

by Nathan Melcher     Jun 26, 2009

I’m excited that my fortieth Friday recommendation is for the third-annual Twin Cities Improv Festial on Thursday, June 25 – Sunday, June 28 at the Brave New Workshop (2605 Hennepin Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN).

Whether you’re already a fan of improv or you haven’t ever seen any live, this is the festival for you. Many of the most-reputable ensembles and performers from the Twin Cities are pairing up with amazing out-of-town guest performers to present thirteen shows of high-quality comedy. Each show features one local act and one national act to ensure the audience sees something they know and enjoy as well as a new treat. And at only ten bucks per show plus multi-show discount passes, it’s one of the more affordable improv festivals out there.

So who’s up this year? Plenty. There’s a slew of ensembles (Adorable, Batterymouth, Bearded Men, Beatbox, The Cosby Sweaters, Darby Lane, The Cosby Sweaters, Darby Lane, Dirty Water, Fingergun, Fingergun, Five Man Job, Girls Girls Girls, HUGE, Improvabilities, Splendid Things, Tarantino), several duos (After the Party, Ferrari McSpeedy, Iron Cobra, Jokyr & Jesster, Muse, Mustache Rangers, Rampleseed, Sanke and Bunny), solo acts (Lounge-A-Saurus Rex, Drum Machine), and the three main improv theaters in the Twin Cities are represented, too (Brave New Workshop, ComedySportz, and Stevie Ray’s). You can check out the TCIF website for full information on all of the acts, too.

I’ve seen most of the local acts and many of the out-of-town acts thanks to my own national improv festival appearances. Many local improv fans have their own local favorites already, so if I were to make specific recommendations of out-of-town acts I enjoy, I’d say Bearded Men and Dirty Water know how to have tremendous fun while they’re onstage and it’s infectious for their audiences. Beatbox is something unique to see and takes improv to a new place with its hip-hop and DJ-style editing and scenework techniques. In terms of flat-out-funny, go see Jokyr and Jesster. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Joe and Jesse for several years, taking classes together in Chicago and performing together as an ensemble at the Miami Improv Festival, these guys are great teachers, amazing performers, and the kind of guys you want to hang out with at the party after the show.

I plan to be in and out all weekend, mixing up my festival attendance with other outside obligations. I hope to see you there!

-nm

Technorati Tags: improv, improv festival, jokyr & jesster, twin cities improv festival

Your Monday Prompt #45

by Nathan Melcher     Jun 22, 2009

For the forty-fifth Monday Recommendation, write a story revolving around something to do with the number forty-five. Maybe it’s someone’s forty-fifth birthday. Perhaps there’s a murder with a .45 handgun. Possibly it’s someone’s marathon number. See if you can let the number forty-five feed the theme of the story somehow. Careful, though – don’t let the theme or the number control your story; that’s up to your characters. Give this exercise forty-five minutes of your time. :)

Write it up and see what happens.

-nm

Technorati Tags: surprise yourself, writing exercise, writing prompt

LYFE Camp Week I 2009 – Thursday

by Nathan Melcher     Jun 18, 2009

This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).

Every year, we a good portion of Thursday is spent on a Quest. It’s a difficult process to explain; it’s the sort of thing you just have to be there and experience to understand. What I can tell you is that it’s full of prayers, affirmations, self-reflection, letting go, and growth of faith all wrapped up into one powerful afternoon. This year we had three new moments and three returning moments and the mix really worked well for many people. One gets out of Quest what they put into it and it was clear to me that many people took away a lot. I’m afraid I won’t get into too much more detail, dear reader, as I hope to protect the secrets and surprises of Quest from future campers who may stumble across this blog. I will say that this blog, up until last night’s entry, has been buried in a time capsule somewhere at Decision Hills. What was Quest about? Where is this time capsule? You may simply have to ask someone who was there…

Dinner was take-out pizza from Jimmy’s followed by a subdued, moving evening worship. We had a testimonial from a CIT who has gone through some tough times and was able to express how important it is to surround yourself with loving, strong people. Their message touched many people throughout the camp and it helped set the tone for small group discussion. I stepped outside to grab my camera and heard the thunder and watched the clouds roll over camp. Rain would prevent us from going onto Meditation Hill, so Chaplain Kent J. and I decided to provide communion – something we were going to do Friday, instead – and proceeded to have a “love feast” of bread and juice. Between communion and a little extra discussion time, we were able to hold off just long enough for the rain to pass and give us a brilliant, beautiful window of time out on Meditation Hill with a sunset across the lake and cloud-to-cloud lightning drifting off into the distance behind us. It was an interesting ying-yang experience to behold in the sky.

Root beer floats and an indoor campfire (too wet outside!) closed the night. Highlights of the day included SCs having a chance to connect with each other several times throughout the day, introducing “The Yoddler” to new campers, weather moving from high chance of severe thunderstorms to hot and sunny all afternoon for Quest, and our time on Meditation Hill spent less and less as individuals all spread around and more about small clumps of people huddled together with hugs, smiles, and tears. Those are the moments I treasure.

One day left before we merge with back home…

-nm

Technorati Tags: decision hills, lyfe camp, meditation hill

LYFE Camp 2009 Week I – Wednesday

by Nathan Melcher     Jun 17, 2009

This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).

Wednesday saw the theme of “One Way, Wrong Way, This Way, That Way” reminding campers that there is no one path to God. We stress the individual’s journey to faith at LYFE Camp and one of the greatest ways we let people put their individuality into practice at camp is at the dress-up dinner and the all-camp dance. There’s no one way to look good or dance the night away, and our campers proved it.

The dress-up dinner was fun and everyone looked sharp. It was also a smooth process, from a logistical standpoint. A photo session of various groups like counselors, cabins, and small groups went quickly and we even took an all-camp photo, something we usually save for Saturday. Everyone ate dinner by candlelight with their small groups while Chaplain Kent J. and I ate at a long table at the front of the Dining Hall like some fancy-schmancy folks overwhelmed with their own opulence in a movie.

After the dress-up dinner came the ever-popular all-camp dance. Every year we have a few new campers who don’t want to go, claiming they don’t dance, but what they don’t know is that our dances are unlike any dance back home. There’s no dating pressure, no asking pressure, and no judgment. In fact, our motto is, “the dumber you look, the cooler you are.” And we sure looked cool out there, dancing to a ton of songs including pop, rock, line and group, ironic (Backstreet Boys, anyone?), and slow dances. And yes, EVERYBODY had at least one slow dance.

Highlights from the dance included first-year campers Alex S. and William S. getting out there and dancing despite saying they don’t dance, Nick C. singing and dancing along to “Billy Jean” with bravado and authority, cracking and assembling neon glow bracelets for the dance with CIT Amber W., and reigning limbo champ and my brother, CIT Jordan M., losing out to camper and my sister-in-law, Maggie R. Way to keep it in the family, Maggie! Oh, and it’s not from the dance, but I believe CIT Susan S. accidentally, innocently, honestly turning the Word of the Day on its head was brilliant (Call: “For Narnia!” Response: “And Aslan!” turned into Call: “For Narnia!” Response: “And Iceland!”).

Something else important happened today. The water came back on. For the first two days of camp, many folks staying out in the prairie were unfortunately forced to deal with an undersized fifty-year-old pipeline, all clogged with calcium buildup, desperately trying to pump water to eight toilets and eight showers. Water was sometimes blasting, sometimes trickling, and sometimes not there at all. It wasn’t a great situation and while water in the prairie cabins is never necessarily anything like back home, it’s never been like this before. But here’s the thing: despite being a frustrating situation, our community rallied together to come up with solutions.

SCs piled campers into their vans and ventured out to the blockhouse for showers. Kent and I opened up our cabin, Spear, for showers. And everyone set up as much of a rotating schedule as possible so only a few showers were running at one time. None of these solutions were ideal, but they helped our community deal with the issue together. Finally, after a plumbing crew dug into the ground and replaced a clogged valve, the water is flowing and so is everyone’s happiness. Along with that, however, this is a sign that Decision Hills Camp can use your help. I now appeal to readers to help us raise the just-over $1300 plumbing bill that Decision Hills doesn’t have, as well as any other funds you might have to help their dire financial needs. If you feel LYFE Camp has benefited a youth in your life, your financial contributions are appreciated.

Tomorrow we go on a Quest…

-nm

LYFE Camp 2009 Week I – Tuesday

by Nathan Melcher     Jun 16, 2009

This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).

We tried our best. We sang “Johnny Appleseed” as grace for dinner at the beginning of the week and when it came time for the line, “the sun and the r— and the appleseed,” we sang like we always do: “the sun and the Son and the appleseed.” And yet, well, Tuesday was a rainy day. The nice thing about LYFE Camp, though, is that it’s adaptable.

Due to the rain, a few of our regular activities moved indoors throughout the day and evening. Afternoon recreation time was spent indoors in the Camp Center / Rec Center. Small group and pick-up volleyball games were on the indoor volleyball court with a boombox blaring tunes throughout the gym in lieu of the excellent sound system that SC Eric M. brought and set up for camp in Bent Twig – the cabin immediately facing the outdoor sand volleyball court and beachfront. We also had some basketball games like PIG as well as some guys tossing around the pigskin, while a diverse, co-ed group ranging from ages twelve to forty/fifty-something (I shall protect SC Robert B.’s age here…) got together for an intense game of Four Square. Meanwhile, a few groups lounged about in the Camp Center foyer, chatting away about camp stuff, back home stuff, and even some juicy celebrity gossip, thanks to a magazine brought by camper Caroline D.

When it was first erected around six years ago or so, I remember many folks first seeing this large indoor gym and foyer as a giant eyesore that felt too much like “the city” in the more rustic setting of the rest of Decision Hills. But on rainy days like this, it’s a wonderful place to have available. Our forecast says we may end up spending a little more time in the Rec Center, though I think our camp will pull through just fine. I’ve been at LYFE Camp when there was a torrential downpour or severe weather warning nearly every day, so a light rain shower here and there this week is nothing, relatively.

Today’s theme was “Construction Zone” and the SCs reminded campers that construction isn’t always pretty and it may take a long time, but God can provide the detours we need to make it through. There’s also the possibility that while we’re working on one construction project in our lives, another can rise up out of nowhere and need emergency work immediately. SC Robert B. drew parallels to the 35W Bridge collapse, a recent homegrown tragedy which campers could relate to and understand in terms of the metaphor of today’s theme. The campers also watched “Kung Fu Panda” for movie night, hopefully being able to walk away with the lesson that they can build themselves up and do great things while having a few laughs from all of the slapstick comedy. CITs Leandra L., Trevor N., and Zach S. presented the story of Zaccheus at evening worship as a lesson in learning it’s okay to make a change in oneself if they don’t like what they see. And after worship, due to the rain of course, we had an inside evening campfire. Eric M. played his guitar, as always, and I jammed with my ukulele as everyone sang in a circle in the dining hall with a campfire made of assorted candles.

One thing that still happened outdoors despite the wet grass and chilled air was serenades. As is our tradition, guy cabins serenade the girl cabins and ask them if they may have the honor of escorting them to the dress-up dinner on Wednesday evening. I didn’t have a chance to see and hear all of the serenades, but I can tell you that what I did see was sweet, fun, and brought a smile to my face as I remembered what it was like to be thirteen. My favorite serenade was Southwest Back cabin laying their towels on the ground a la magic carpet and singing “A Whole New World” from Aladdin for the young ladies of Southwest Front cabin. I like the serenades because it’s a low-key, low-stakes way of intermingling guys and girls in a sweet way with just a touch of young tension. I think campers like serenades purely for the tension. I know I did.

Highlights off the top of my head include the Excelsior UMC seventh grade girls holding their own in Four Square against older, more aggressive male players, SCs Abbi D. and Wright B. leading a slew of afternoon pick-up volleyball games, creating a new inside joke for the Word of the Day (Call: “Do you remember the windmill?” Response: [knowingly] “Windmiiill!”), CITs Pete S. and Lucas J. keeping the tradition of “feeding” each other grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch alive, strong, and disgusting, hearing the touching story behind the hat Chaplain Kent J. has chosen to wear this week, singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in a round during mail call, knowing that small groups are really connecting well, a few choice rhymes during the song “Down By the Bay” including “Have you ever seen Dana do the Macarena?” and, when responding to the question “Choose your top three animals that can fly” out of a book of questions during SC Night Out, SC Robert responding with, “Bats, flying squirrels, and kites.”

Wednesday brings more small group time, the beginning of the volleyball tournament bracket system, our dress-up dinner, and the all-important, all-anticipated, all-camp dance.

-nm

Technorati Tags: decision hills, lyfe camp, meditation hill

LYFE Camp 2009 Week I – Monday

by Nathan Melcher     Jun 15, 2009

This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).

Our first full day at camp was an excellent one to kick off the week. SCs have told me our small groups are already sharing and that new campers are fully participating, drama is at a minimum, and there’s a genuine attitude of cheer and optimism throughout the camp. Morning large group presentation introduced the day’s theme of “Rest Area” and people are talking about the stresses they’re taking a break from and returning campers are helping new campers understand how they can use LYFE Camp as a true rest area in their lives. Our group of CITs are really doing great work, too, spreading out and trying to include as many campers as possible. Basically, I have little reason to stress out and for that I’m glad.

Small groups met in the morning for discussion and after lunch we had one of the most-beloved hours of the day: “Horizontal Time,” a time set aside to be in our bunks, horizontal, to be at rest and reflect (and sleep!). We took the swim test today, though it was cloudy and a little chilly. On the beachfront, many volleyball games were played and question books were tossed around to generate discussion in groups of people who wouldn’t otherwise socialize in the “real world” (a fact that is one of my favorite parts of camp). The week is still young and people are still feeling each other out. In the evening, small groups introduced themselves to the large group through a series of comedy sketches that definitely invoked quite a few laughs. While there are plenty of great group names this year like They Who Shall Not Be Named, Uninthenthionable (Unintentional), and OMG, I think Barb Churchill’s Face takes the cake. Two of Barb’s sons are at camp and in one of the small groups, her youngest, Zach, explained how she’s a realtor and his CIT, Pete S., remarked how he runs by her face every day during track practice. Pete meant Barb’s bus stop bench advertisement in Minnetonka and it wasn’t long before the small group had a new name and a comedy sketch to match. Be proud, Barb – you’ve been immortalized as yet another insane LYFE Camp tradition. 

A few highlights from Monday off the top of my head include our first Word of the Day (Call: “Oh, my God!” Response: “Isn’t He great?!”), dipping apple slices in pickles, pouring wax and molding candles in crafts, people playing a pick-up volleyball game while doing the Cha-Cha Slide, visits from George the Great Blue Heron, some SWOISAGE in our breakfast burritos, making friendship bracelets, guitars guitars everywhere guitars, blasting 80s pop across the beachfront (“Africa” by Toto, anyone?), and new campers Victoria S. and Maggie A. jumping in and singing songs at our first mail call (people must sing to receive their mail if they get a package or three or more letters in one day). A nice private moment for me was being the last one on Meditation Hill with camper Amanda G. when we saw a deer off to the edge of the hill – something I’ve never seen up there before.

More tomorrow. Please keep your comments coming!

-nm

Technorati Tags: decision hills, lyfe camp, meditation hill

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  Minnesota duo Barry Hess and Nathan Melcher founded Scrawlers in 2006, a creation born of their mutual interest in combining the creative arts with web innovation. The Scrawl is their blog on writing, writing prompts, teaching, reading recommendations, improv comedy, innovations in creativity and web design, and the occasional ukulele article. Subscribe today and add fuel to your creative fire.

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