Hour 33 - ACE Mentoring: Wrapping up the Design

Setting it in Stone

With only two more meetings until the final presentation, today Team 8 worked on final drafts of the coffee shop's bubble diagram, floor plan, interior elevations, and structural plan. These deliverables have gone through multiple drafts the last couple months and today the team 'set them in stone'. Students also picked out interior architecture elements like lighting, flooring, counter tops, and furniture which will go into the cafe. Weeks of development are paying off with final products. These drawings will be scanned and made into power points slides for the final presentation. As a mentor, it is most interesting to hear the students ask questions about the sectors of the A/C/E industries that they are developing interests in. The questions and discussions that have developed across the months are an indication, to me, of the learning process going on in these meetings. The next couple meetings we will be focusing on a name/branding for the cafe, and the dreaded public speaking, in preparation of the final presentation in May.

The 'Do Not Throw Away' Pile

Hour 31 - Write Around Portland

This afternoon's volunteering was with Write Around Portland at their headquarters in downtown Portland. I came across WAP while searching Idealist, a world wide searchable database for non-profit related work.  Write Around Portland provides writing writing development oppurtunities (in the form of workshops) to those who otherwise wouldn't have access- adults and youth who are troubled, homeless, etc. Once the writers complete a 8-10 week workshop, they submit their favorite writings to WAP. I was drawn to WAP; as someone interested in writing, but also as someone interested in working with the homeless/needy here in Portland.

My role with WAP today was to help decide which of the submitted writings would be published in the Write Around Portland anthology. The books are published 3 times a year and can be found at local bookstores here in town.

For this anthology, WAP is working with 17 organizations in Oregon which provide services to the troubled, sick, and homeless. My group, of 5 other volunteers, reviewed entries of poetry and prose from two of these 17 organizations. We read each entry and ranked them in order of our liking and at the end of our meeting we talked about which were our favorites.  WAP will take the feedback on entries from all 17 organizations and pick the best writings to go in the Spring edition, which will be their 14th published anthology. I'm looking forward to volunteering with the group in the coming months to help them meet their aggressive print deadline for the book of writings.

Hour 26 - Operation Nightwatch

A handful of fellow volunteers showed up to help with last Friday nights Operation Nightwatch. During the brief orientation for new volunteers, Jimbo explained that Nightwatch's focus (unlike many other similar organizations) is to provide 'hospitality' for the needy of Portland. The 'needy' being homeless, but also those who sleep in homes but spend most of the days on the streets.  I was drawn to this distinguishing characteristic of Nightwatch...a place that provides a sense of welcome. Operation Nightwatch goes 7-11pm every Thursday, Friday & Saturday night. I learned about and signed up for this volunteer oppurtunity through Hands on Greater Portland.

This evening, 25-40 individuals (of all backgrounds) came in from the streets to socialize, play music and board games, or simply spend time at a place which welcomes them. It occured to me that many of these people spend their days being made unwelcomed in the public spaces where they live their lives. Coffee, cookies, sandwiches, and donated clothing were offered throughout the night. The bulk of the evening was folks talking and playing board games. A piano was played masterfully for the 4 hours.  I met a Yugoslavian woman with a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Cornell. I played 2 games of chess (one W, one L).  There were individuals there who, by appearance, fit the stereotype of a homeless person but there were just as many who did not. Tonight, at Operation Nightwatch, I learned of the varying shades of grey that exist in the homeless/needy population here in Portland.

Not my pic, but gives an idea of the scene at Op Nightwatch

Hour 24 - Friends of Trees

This past Saturday morning I met David for a cup of joe, and bounced out to SE Portland for some tree planting. When I sent my email to friends and family in January telling them about my 100 hours in Portland, I heard back from a few recommending that I get involved with Friends of Trees. The group organizes multiple tree plantings a week (in Portland and Eugene) and have been doing so since '89. I used Hands on Greater Portland to learn about and sign up for Saturdays planting.

David and I were part of a crew of 81 that planted 130 native trees and bushes alongside a paved trail that runs along Interstate 205. The workers were smiling, the sleeves were short and the trees were flying off the back of the FoT truck and into the eager soil. As we darted across a buzzing Powell Rd, back to my truck, Dave noted that we (and everyone else driving down Powell or I-205) will be able to see and enjoy the trees we planted today. Great day for a tree planting.

...and Dave said, "Let there be tree'

Hour 22 - ACE Mentoring: Interior Architecture

This evening, mentor Ryan talked to the team about interior achitecture- how materials and colors are chosen for building interiors. We then focused on what the inside of our coffee shop is going to look like by drawing  interior elevations for each wall of the cafe.

Eric gets after some interior elevations. Go on, son!

Last meeting the team laid out the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) systems for the coffee shop. You'll see below that the cafe is coming together. It's a good thing, because there are only 3 more meeting before the final presentation.

Hour 19 - Potluck in the Park

Every Sunday, since 1991, Potluck in the Park has provided the homeless of Portland with a well rounded Sunday afternoon meal. This past Sunday I helped serve food to those who showed up. I used Hands on Greater Portland to sign up to work the event. Since rain was in the forecast, the meal was held in the parking garage beneath O'Bryant Square in downtown Portland. There were 30 or so volunteers to help with the meal. I was put in charge of servin' up the asparagus. Asparagus is one of those funny things: people either big fans or are completely grossed out by the vegetable. Trivia about your author: big fan of the stuff. I was impressed with how well organized things were at the potluck, on the volunteer side but also from the service side. In 3 hours we served 668 ticketed guests & 847 second plates. Simply incredible.

Portland is a city with a sizable and, I would say, seen homeless community. By 'seen' I mean that this is not a city that chases away the homeless, sweeping them under the carpet, as many cities do. The community here, more specifically groups like PITP, seem to address the issue of homelessness (rather than ignoring) by working to assist those in need. I was suprised to see the diversity of those who showed for the meal. All genders, age groups, and nationalities were there today. Those that looked very different from me, but others that looked like me. In short, it is easy for me to differentiate myself from a person of the streets when I'm passing them on the way to work and focusing on the differences between us. Much is missed in those moments. I appreciated the moments during the serving of asparagus when I saw the similarities, the things I share with those who seem so different; the clues that we are not as different as it might seem in passing.

I didn't feel comfortable taking photos at PITP, but here's a
pic showing a bit of the soggy Spring we are having in Portland.

Hour 17 - ACE Mentoring: 50% Review

This evening was the sixth meeting for the ACE teams. Unlike the typical ACE meetings, in which individual teams of highschool students gather at the offices of their mentors, this was a gathering of all four teams. This afternoon was the ‘50% review’ of the projects. Each of the four projects (coffee shop, yoga studio, visitor center and bike shop) were represented in the large meeting room where we gathered. Each team grabbed a stretch of wall and hung up their work to date. The walls were covered with architectural sketches of buildings in plan view, floor plan layouts, bubble diagrams, and elevations which the students have been designing for the last 10 weeks. After a quick pizza break, it was time for the reviews. As groups walked from project to project, students from each project would present their design; describing why they chose their layout, or building materials, or how they plan to handle stormwater. Members of the other teams were then invited to ask questions of the designers. ‘Does your building have a fire exit?’, ‘What’s the name of your coffee shop?’, ‘Have you considered solar panels for your rooftop?’.

Team 8 in the house (I know...all these ACE pics look the same)

After every student made the rounds to each project, the individual teams had a short meeting to debrief on the evenings review. We talked about what important questions were asked by the other teams, what things we may have missed in our design so far. My team, which is designing the coffee shop, decided that they would like to design a roof with some elevation, instead of the flat (‘boring’) roof we have at this point. For many of the students this evening was an introduction to public speaking. It also became an opportunity for the students to think critically about other projects, and in turn their own design.

The yoga studio is comin' together