Kim's blog
Class of 2011, English Major, from Rosemount, MN

This past week was Earth Week and the Peace and Justice Center had tons of events to celebrate! On Monday night Eddee Daniel talked about his book, "Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed". He's a high school photography teacher and environmentalist who decided to research the Milwaukee River watershed and the book contains his findings. On Tuesday we showed the movie, "The 11th Hour", a documentary that highlighted the major problems in the environment, why they're there, and how to fix them. It urged immediate action as our impact on the environment becomes more harmful and irreversible. On Wednesday the Environmental Club baked cookies with a solar oven and we had Pizza with a Purpose where people talked about what SNC has done to go green and about RecycleMania, a recycling contest between colleges and universities that St. Norbert participated in earlier this semester! On Thursday Environmental Club hosted a campus clean-up at 3 separate times. On Friday we planted a tree and Chip Bircher from Wisconsin Public Service talked in an Environmental Studies class about what we can do to make SNC greener! Overall the week was a success!
Before I got to college I was somewhat interested in the environment, but once I came to St. Norbert I became a lot more passionate thanks to the Peace and Justice Center, Environmental Club, and the TRIPS program. I definitely consider myself an environmentalist, but I never wanted to make a career of it. It would be amazing to work for an environmental organization like the Sierra Club. I feel I have such a large range of interests and abilities that I could do just about whatever an organization needed me to do. I would love to do advocacy work in peace and justice issues and the environment fits perfectly into that category. It would be great to be an environmental lobbyist, but I'm not so sure about diving head first into politics like that. Wherever I work, I hope my passion for the environment flows there, even if it just means that the company or organization offsets their energy to clean, renewable sources.

This year housing was a bit stressful for all students, but I'm really excited about where I've chosen to live. A group of girls and I applied for intentional living and after a lot of deliberation our group was chosen to live in an intentional community. There are four different components we want to focus on in our house: feminism, environmentalism, health and wellness and peace and justice. We named our house Holistic Humanity because we feel these four components really embody what it means to live justly, peacefully, and holistically. We are going to sponsor events that incorporate these components as well as support community within our house, campus and community through group meals, advocacy and awareness. I am so excited to live in this house, because I am really interested in intentional communities. I hope this house lives beyond next year and will become a permanent fixture in St. Norbert housing.
Two of the components I am really passionate about are environmentalism and peace and justice. Within a home there are many choices we can make to live more sustainably. We could eliminate paper and plastic products in the bathroom and kitchen (i.e. paper towels, paper plates, plastic silverware). We can use a clothes line instead of a dryer. We can recycle and composte our food. For the peace and justice component we can choose to buy organic and fair trade to ensure fair treatment of workers. We can resolve conflict nonviolently within our house and personal relationships. We can show documentaries and movies about international peace and justice issues! I'm so excited to live out these principles and values in Holistic Humanity! After college I hope to live in an intentional community or work with an organization who is committed to environmentalism and peace and justice as well. I hope Holistic Humanity will be good practice for a future career in advocacy and awareness. This unique experience will also add to my resume when I'm looking for a job or applying to grad school!

We've had some hopeful sunny and warm days, but last night it snowed again! I'm so excited to get outside to run, bike, and play frisbee! I'm getting spring fever! Next week is Advisement and I'm planning to take a summer session in the first 3 weeks; I'm deciding between the GS 12 Social Inequalities or Food for Thought. I think I would enjoy both. I'm taking a summer session because I have decided I want to graduate a semester early. After college I want to go to grad school instead of the Peace Corps, at this point anyway. I really love learning and I want to continue in English, perhaps Creative Writing. I'm looking at the University of Minnesota right now because I'm from the Twin Cities; it seems logical and they have a great program! I also love being close to my family.
In my semester off, when I graduate early, I would like to volunteer, perhaps at Little Flower in Virginia, but who knows where I'll be led. I feel like the Peace Corps, although a great organization, isn't what I want anymore. 2 years is such a huge commitment and I'm scared of what I'll miss with family and friends while I'm gone. I also wouldn't be able to choose where, what, or for how long I will volunteer. If I take my own route and volunteer where and how I want, I can move on if need be and not feel tied down. Maybe I'm meant for the Peace Corps sometime in the future, but not just yet!

This past week was the peace and justice week of non-violence. On Monday we had a reflection on peace at the womans center. We talked about what peace meant to us and how we could achieve it. On Tuesday we showed the film "Bringing Down a Dictator" which was about the non violent revolution in Yugoslavia. On Wednesday there was knitting for peace at the womans center. On Thursday we hosted pizza with a purpose which had a great turn out. we participated in the red hand campaign to stop the use of child soldiers, and heard from Ruth Nambowa who runs an orphanage in Uganda. She is very knowledgeable about child soldiers because the sheer numbers of abducted children from her country. On Friday there was a gender bender mascaraed to raise awareness about trans gender cruelty.

Thursdays pizza with a purpose was the most meaningful event for me. Next fall I am planning to go to Uganda to learn about the use of child soldiers. I began to anticipate the difficulty of learning this topic while I heard about Ruth's experiences. The event made me anxious as well as excited to go to Uganda and experience the conflict first hand. It inspired me to think about my future and possible careers in Africa related to conflict resolution and child soldiers.

I'm almost a month into second semester already! I can't believe it's already February! 2009 has already been filled with great adventures and realizations about myself and my future. I went on a trip called "Farming and Feminism" through TRIPS the week before classes started. We worked at the Little Flower Catholic Worker Farm in Louisa, Virginia. I felt so at peace and at home there while we worked in their gardens, and cooked and shared meals with them. Catholic Worker is a movement started by Dorothy Day dedicated to social justice and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now there are many Catholic Worker houses across the US dedicated to this cause. They embody intentional community and simple living. I felt so connected to the people around me and to the earth as we composted, recycled and shared together. There was a call for activism and for justice I felt in the Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King Jr. quotes taped to the walls, in the injustices the family were passionate about locally and globally and simply in where they chose to buy groceries. I was comforted in knowing that this is how I want to make a living, this is the environment I want to raise a family in. Whether this means ridding myself of all material possessions and moving to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, or being more conscious of recycling, composting and my energy use in my dorm, I feel so much more at peace having realized it.
On a completely different note, I was cast in the play Tartuffe here on campus. I am playing the part of Flipote, a maid. She doesn't have any lines and I'm very excited that I will not have to tap into my ability to memorize lines. I performed a lot in high school and always loved it. Its another environment I felt very comfortable and at peace in. I'm excited to be able to dress up and entertain people again! I have thought some about pursuing a career in performance, but at the same time I'm not sure I have the dedication. There are so many career paths I would love to take, but right now I'm just taking it a step at a time.