yesterday

Yesterday we woke up, had a delicious breakfast and ran down the street to catch the bus. We arrived at our site, The Little Black Pearl, early so we could take a look at our surroundings. We walked in the direction of the Obama mansion. The houses got bigger and bigger and then... there were cop cars. They beeped at us when we tried to keep walking on the street. Luckily Megan rocked, and figured out the back way...
The little Black Pearl gave us an awesome tour and we talked with the founder and director, Monica. LBP was created to give kids in the neighborhood goals and dreams. Monica had talked to many of them and they had told her that they didn't think they'd live past thirty. She also wanted to give African American kids role models in the arts as direct examples that an art career can happen. LBP does a huge range of things from having a huge PEArlFests, which creates money to support the non-profit, but they also hire artists and give them salaries and benefits, which sounds amazing if you ask me... Hire me, please...
Today we worked with kids who wanted to learn about ceramics, woodworking, painting, mixed media, mosaics and in the future glass blowing as well as the skills to market these things.
Of course the day was great, but when we were leaving the bus was flagged down, and i couldn't find my bus pass!
"OMG Where's my Bus Pass>>!?! AHH i don't have my BUs Pass!!! Wait!!! My bus pass is lost!??!!!!" all while running towards the bus... Mind you this is Chicago bus time, not TWin Cities- they don't wait for you... Anyway we tried to sneak someone else's bus pass... didn't work...
When we got off the bus in the Blues District, we saw a complete opposite to the Obama area. Trash was everywhere, buildings were boarded up and not maintained well.. Kids in this area are also served by LBP...
Then we went on the 'L' and went to our next place.
DRAMA Girls! The director of RED Moon was a Hamline Alum!! This is an awesome program that takes girls in 4-8th grade. When we got there we played a quick game of Red Light, green Light, and other openers. The girls began working on their fairy tales while we created bubbles of paper mache. the purpose of Drama Girls is to keep the girls in that age group wanting to be involved. The founder had realized that girls that age began to step bag in mixed group settings, allowing the boys to do all of the stuff that was going on while they talked in the corners.... The point of the Drama Girls is to give them mentors and give them a voice. Their main goal is the play that they create and put on in the summer.