STAN'S BLOGS

[Ant Hill is not only a communal living environment for its residents, but a focal point of the community] I now have a bicycle, a really cool, "blazing-blue trail bike" that was put together by Jimmy, one of the guys around the corner at the "housing co-op" called Ant-Hill Cooperative . They do stuff like that at Ant-Hill, repair and then give away bikes to anyone that they think needs one. On their website it says, "Ant Hill Cooperative is a housing co-op in Rochester, New York. Ant Hill is not only a communal living environment for its residents, but a focal point of the community. Along with our friends at the EcoHouse (an environmentally-themed house up the street), Ant Hill is dedicated to a new type of community in Rochester, based on better lives by working together." The Ants, as I affectionately call them, have a make-shift bike shop setup in their basement. They also provide drop-in co-op meals for $3 each , just give them a 48 hour head

No, I haven't gotten lonely, yet; I have several co-workers here at the office, university students drop in every day to volunteer time and expertise on AHEAD's many projects and there are many people in my neighborhood... Then, there's always a trip to "Flour City." On Saturday I went for a hike down along Rochester's downtown water front (about a mile away) and, as you might expect, it's beautiful—you can even drive your boat right up to your apartment building, if you live at the newly built Corn Hill Landing. I also visited High Falls on Genesee River a few blocks away, a 90 foot waterfall right in the middle of town. They once called Rochester "Flour City," because of the numerous grain mills that capitalized on the water power at the falls. I've been told that the flour was once so famous Queen Victoria would only eat bread made from it—she even visited the area once. There were many large, historic relics left behind that you are all

[I'm here in "the-weather-changes-every-15-minutes" Rochester!] Having completed our 20 days of Orientation ( see photos ) and the closing ceremonies at New Windsor on Friday, Unit #270 BVSers said their goodbyes "several times" before departing on trains, planes or in automobiles that would rush them off to their assignments. My assignment, working on alternative energy solutions for underdeveloped countries with AHEAD Energy Corporation , located in Rochester, NY at the University of Rochester. The weather here has been cloudy and rainy for three days, so I've been thinking about all of you enjoying those warm, sunny California days. I was staying with the founder of AHEAD and his wife, Ben and MJ, in their beautifully landscaped, country style home til I moved into my own two-story house just a block away from the Genesee River . The Genesee River's name is derived from the Iroquois meaning good valley or pleasant valley for anyone interested

It's been four weeks since I left my BVS Unit #270 friends in New Windsor, MD and completed my 20 days of Orientation. On a beautiful Friday morning, after breakfast, we all gathered on the "great lawn" in front of the "big white," Civil War era, brick building for the closing ceremonies. In traditional BVS fashion we said goodbye to each other exactly 21 times in a curious, circular choreography that took almost a half hour. Now I can look back on Unit #270 with humor and affection thanks to the many photos taken by our Unit's staff, Genelle (back row, far right) and Becky (2nd row, far right) and several BVSers. Our Orientation was a very well planned and directed three weeks of education, field trips, games, and a great deal of "just having fun." I've seldom seen such a health melding of so many diverse personalities, and mine being as diverse as they come. Joe (left photo), a Mid-Westerner who I admired for his stand on issues , once told m

DAY 20 of "A Journey with the Brethren" On the last day of our four day visit to Baltimore, where we experienced living among the disadvantaged and "left behind" at a men's shelter and rehabilitation center, we changed our focus slightly to spent a day at Jonah House of the Plowshares Project. Jonah House is located at 1301 Moreland Avenue on the grounds of a very old Irish/Catholic cemetery in west Baltimore called St. Peter's Cemetery. Yes, it's located right inside the perimeter of the old cemetery! The house, built by the organization in 1995, is large two story that, with it's natural-wood shiplap siding, actually resembles a "ship of old." Roman Catholic Dominican Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert (photo), Jackie Hudson, along with Jesuit Priest Steve Kelly, are the principle residence of Jonah House. A faith-based, nonviolent resistance community, Jonah House began as a community in 1973 with a group of people that wante

DAY 17 of "A Journey with the Brethren" One of the more intense training sessions here at Orientation was a trip into Baltimore's inner city for four days to experience homelessness and to do service projects. To better understand the pangs of the disadvantaged we slept and ate each day at a homeless shelter for men called I Can, Inc. "I Can" is an acronym for "Individual, Character, Attitude and Newness of mind." Setup in a historic four story, granite block structure that was once a Catholic girls school called St. Ann's (dating back to 1927), I Can Inc. is located at 2215 Greenmount Avenue:  deep in the heart of Baltimore . Baltimore is mostly a devastated area due to a population that began fleeing to the suburbs in the 50s and the city is only now undergoing a major building spree in the downtown area, specifically in the Inner Harbor East district. The men's shelter and rehabilitation center at 2215 Greenmount Avenue is certainly i

DAY 11 of "A Journey with the Brethren" Drop-off Day is a BVS tradition that goes back to at least the 70s and has changed very little. It's a day that we as volunteers begin to learn some things about giving and about each other. The essence of Drop-off Day is in volunteers going out into the communities around New Windsor and asking residents for work, odd jobs, inside or outside chores... anything they need done. The work is strictly accomplished at no charge and no donations can be accepted , no proselytizing and the project can be as hard or as long as the resident requests. Ok, this might sound strange at first glance, so to put this particular training session into perspective let me say just a little about BVS. Brethren Volunteer Service is not a church or a religion, but rather a service arm and ministry of the Church of the Brethren. It all started 60 years ago when some idealistic young people of the Church of the Brethren, on their own, began freely he

DAY 8 of "A Journey with the Brethren" There are many lessons to learn here at the Brethren Service Center—the host facility for BVS's training called "Orientation." Some of our training involves physical and mental exercises in sociology and human behaviour. One recent lesson taught by Susanna, a wonderful instructor from an associated BVS organization On Earth Peace ," involved thumb wrestling. "The Brethren Service Center (BSC) in New Windsor, Maryland, has been helping people in need for more than fifty years. Owned and operated by the Church of the Brethren General Board, BSC houses organizations that work in areas of relief and development, disaster response, social justice and peace education . The facilities include the New Windsor Conference Center, Emergency Response/Service Ministries, SERRV International, Inc., On Earth Peace Assembly (OEPA) and the administrative offices of Interchurch Medical Assistance, Inc. (I.M.A.)." —BSC Website

DAY 7 of "A Journey with the Brethren" We spend much of our time while in class on the second floor of the Brethren Service Center's hotel called Zigler Hall: a large, brick building complete with cafeteria, library and meeting rooms. But at other times, we go on exploratory field trips—like Grace Lafever's Weed Walk. Grace Lafever, 83 years old and wearing a tan T-shirt with a long list of herbs printed on the back, is a marvelous specimen of someone who has lived her life growing, eating and selling good food. This was our first field trip, a visit to Grace's 60 acre Sonnewald Farm in Spring Grove, a village about 8 miles southwest of York, Pa., to learn about organic gardening and to experience Grace's famous edible and medicinal "Weed Walk." We spent the day getting a very personal tour of Grace's ranch, a lecture on the virtues of eating weeds right out of the lawn, tasting the wild green morsels as we went along, and ended up being tr