Day of Service!

In the name of all things holy: Ratata and GZA (founding member of Wu-Tang Clan) are playing at Oberlin. Life is too good to be believed.

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Day of Service!

When I was a first-year, Day of Service (DoS) was my favorite part of Orientation. DoS is meant principally for first-years or any early arrivals, and acts as a great way to connect firsties to the Oberlin environment and community in a meaningful way. My Day of Service was to do some parks upkeep and trail clearing- which I loved. I like to work outdoors, to sweat and get muddy. After DoS, I used to walk over to the George Jones farm- where Oberlin gets a lot of its produce- and work until it got dark. Also, working at George Jones meant fresh, right-off-the-vine tomatoes. And I will do some serious malarkery for good tomatoes.

Now, as a senior, I decided to be a Site Leader - the pointperson for my group. We were a small bunch- me and 4 freshmen- Emily, Gus, Rachel and Michael. They were very chill folks- all very relaxed and wonderful. We were working at Plum Creek, the river that runs through Oberlin, cutting right where "Downtown" ends, still within an easy walking distance. After playing 2 Truths and a Lie, we walked across the bridge lined with flowers and got to work: clearing out invasive species, weeds and beautifying the public park.

The site supervisors were Kate ad Robin, two amazing local ladies who had the words "Role Model" painted all over them. Kate, who looked more like a paintet than an activist, had started the Western Land Concervancy to safeguarded various properties around Northern Ohio from development, to be used as nature reserves. Kate mentioned the struggle of selecting sites to buy - a small beachfront or a huge farm- and the struggle of working with complex paperwork and with folks who distrusted the government and any associated organizations. She was also incredibly modest, glossing over the fact that she founded the Western Land Concervancy. Robin, who owned the property, was a trip: she raised 7 kids, worked 30 hours counseling in the local schools and ran a private psychiatric practice.


The work was fun. Robin and Kate gave us a variety of shears and rakes to take out as many weeds by the creek edge as we could, as well as removing any garbage we found. The creek was about 10 feet below street level, so we had to prune the stones that lead down to it. There were lots of big weeds, vines and elms that we battered away. We finished the job in record time, with less people than normal.
The only downside to the work was the prevalence of poison ivy. Found out I'm not allergic to PI... Yay!