mcsactivism

MCS Students share their Day of Silence Experiences

2011-04-15T12:05:00.000-04:00

On Friday April 15th, MCS students joined students from around the country in taking an oath of silence for the day to raise awareness about the impact of bullying and homophobic slurs on the LGBTQ community. They carried cards reading:

Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the Silence?

Students. Please share something about your experience of the Day of Silence by commenting on this blog post.

MCS Fifth Floor Students to Participate in National Day of Silence

2011-04-14T11:02:00.002-04:00

by Kai W. & Kyle

A young woman walks down a school hallway. As she makes her way to her locker, she is whispered about, jeered at, yelled at and threatened. By the time she reaches her locker she is panicked and scared. The word dyke is written all over it. She is a target of bullying because she is being herself. But there are others like her, afraid of becoming a victim like she is. They walk on in silence.

For students all over the country, school, home and life is a battle. To come out and tell the world who they are could result in violence, bullying, homelessness and many other consequences. These students are told that they are freaks, that they are wrong, and that they are dangerous. These students are shrouded in lies and secrets and spend a lot of time in pain because they cannot explain who they are or talk about the things that are important to them without fear of ridicule. But these students haven’t done anything wrong. They aren’t weird or different. They are human beings. They are people with lives and hopes and dreams who might have to hide their identity because society won’t accept them. They are hiding because uninformed, scared people (including parents, peers, teachers and significant community members) act out against them. They are members of the LGBTQI community.

Day of Silence is a day-long nationwide event organized by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network (GLSEN) to draw attention to the LGBTQI students who suffer through the silence and are afraid to come out and share who they really are. This Friday, April 15th, the Fifth Floor Students of Manhattan Country School will join students across the country in pledging a vow of silence for the day. Teachers will plan classes that will respect those taking the vow and students who elect not to be silent will be vocal supporters of their classmates. The silence will begin at 8:30 am and last until advisement when a representative from the New York Civil Liberties Union will come and speak to Fifth Floor students about the legal rights of LGBTQI students in schools. In keeping our mouths shut will we be speaking out on behalf of the students who cannot speak.

MCS’ participation in the Day of Silence is inspired by this year’s activism project SAFE: Schools Are For Everyone, an attempt by MCS Fifth Floor students to become more conscious of the power of our words, to raise awareness within the MCS community about how to take a stand against bullying, and to build partnerships with other New York City schools to create more safe spaces for all youth.

MCS Activists Walk Greenwich Village to learn about the History of the Gay Rights Movement

2011-03-28T12:03:00.023-04:00

Written by Altana, Kai W, and Vaughn. Photos by Ana

On March 22nd, fifth floor activists took a walking tour through Greenwich Village, a neighborhood that celebrates and embraces the history of the gay community. We were led by a wonderful tour-guide named Tom Bernardin who took us to many places rich in history and told captivating stories of the monumental events that took place at each of those sights.

We met at Washington Square Park and began by visiting the building in which the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire occurred. (This wasn't directly related to our topic, but it was the week of the 100th anniversary of the fire!)

We traveled west through the Village to a little yellow building with a neon green sign. It was a small bar called Julius’. Mr. Bernardin told us the story of how on April 26th, 1966, a group of gay rights activists called the Mattachine Society, invited reporters to follow them into Julius’, where they, fully aware that it was illegal to serve homosexuals drinks, informed the bartender of their sexuality and ordered a drink. The bartender refused dramatically and the picture that was thus sparking the Human Rights Commission, which the LGBT community started to overthrow the unfair Alcohol regulation.

We walked to the Stonewall Inn where we learned of the famous riots that had taken place there. Stonewall was a gay bar that was raided many nights by suspicious police officers. One night, June 1969, the police busted in for another raid and the customers decided they had had enough. It was their bar, their home, their place of fun and freedom and so they locked the police in and refused to let them out. A riot ensued. The Gay Pride parade was born out of the Stonewall riots.

We went through a little garden and stopped in front of two statue masterpieces created by the artist George Segal. The beautiful statues, known as the Gay Liberation Monument, were made of thick white material and showed four figures. Two women sat side by side on a bench. They leaned toward each other contentedly, their hands on each other’s thighs, heads resting against one another’s like a couple. The way they were positioned made us know they were in love. Two similar figures stood next to them, this time it was two men who smiled at each other and held each other around the waist and shoulders. This pieces of art expressed love and emotion. The same statues had been made in California, where they were twice destroyed by football players in a hate crime.

In the afternoon we visited the LGBT Community Center. We learned from our tour guide that a group of teenagers collectively gathered $2 million to make the center a reality.

The Center runs an active youth program, including a summer camp, which, although it is focused on creating a safe space for LGBT youth, is free and open to all.

Something that the center was very serious about was the difference between sex and gender, saying that your sex defines the body parts that you were born with, but your gender defines what you identify yourself as (clothing style, identity preference, etc.). The center even has gender free bathrooms to address the complexity many people experience using public.

The Center also serves as a gallery space for artwork addressing LGBT related themes. Often these pieces are too provocative to be exhibited in traditional galleries.

One piece we visited was a poem that had been written about the Stone Wall riots, personifying the Stone Wall Inn as the mother.

MCS Celebrates No Name Calling Week

2011-01-25T11:05:00.010-05:00

As the Fifth Floor begins to educate ourselves about the 2011 activism project, SAFE: Schools Are For Everyone, we have been thinking about how to expand our project to include the entire school community.

Toward that goal, the Activism Committee has initiated Manhattan Country School’s participation in No Name-Calling Week, “an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an ongoing dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities”.

From January 24-28, students from the Fifth Floor will visit different classrooms and lead activities and discussion about name calling and its effects. They will focus on providing strategies for kids to use to stand up for themselves and to help others, moving from bystander to ally.

MCS students will be invited to join in the fight against bullying by signing a public pledge that will be displayed in the courtyard. We hope that this week will be a learning experience for the community and heighten awareness of the impact of our words.

Students work to design logo

2011-01-04T11:03:00.006-05:00

Students attend Beyond Tolerance Workshop, December 10th

2010-12-22T14:17:00.004-05:00

Beyond Tolerance events are designed to bring youth, educators, and community organizers together around LGBTQ issues. This fall’s youth conference, offered a variety of workshops on a wide range of topics led by youth and adults alike. Kristen took three students to the Beyond Tolerance Workshop to participate in workshops and learn about what other schools in New York City are doing to engage young people in the work of making schools safer for all.

Kai reports:
I participated in an anti-bullying workshop. We examined the contents of a "locker" to learn about the owner of the various objects inside it. From what we gathered, the owner was a victim of vicious bullying about his sexuality. We then pieced together the owner's life by acting out his memories. We learned and discussed what could have helped the owner tolerate the bullying and about what others could do to help him. I thought it was interesting to peer inside the life of this young man and to create this character, his challenges and his dreams, hopes and fears.

Claudia reports:
Kai and I went to a workshop called Coming Out. At the workshop participants shared personal stories about coming out and also stories about their friends and family coming out. The leaders of the workshop showed a video about how friends and family react to coming out and and also about how LGBT persons identify themselves. Then we did some acting out of scenes and scenarios of coming out including the reaction of others to the person's coming out.

Announcing the 2010-2011 Activism Project!

2010-12-20T17:44:00.001-05:00

This year, the 7th and 8th graders have titled their activism project SAFE: Schools Are For Everyone. We, the students of the Fifth Floor, see the bullying of students for their sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, class, or any difference as a violation of civil rights. Recent media has drawn attention to bullying of Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, Questioning or Intersex (LGBTQI) youth. LGBTQI young people, as well as straight kids that do not fit gender norms, are often verbally and physically abused by peers in schools intentionally or unintentionally. We believe that students can only reach their full potential when they feel safe and accepted in school. Through this project we hope to become more conscious of the power of our words, to raise awareness within the MCS community about how to take a stand against bullying, and to build partnerships with other New York City schools to create more safe spaces for all youth.

Links for Learning and taking action about Montaintop Removal Mining

2010-12-20T00:17:00.006-05:00

This photograph was taken is Whitesville, WV in February of 2010, where the Clear Fork and Marsh Fork converge to become the Big Coal River. The difference in color between water flowing from both forks is the result of a surface mining related blackwater spill that polluted over 13 miles of the river, including the source of drinking water for the town and surrounding areas. Courtesy of climate ground zero

Take Action

Contact your representatives and encourage them to co-sponsor legislation that will protect our water

Contact the White House at 202-456-1111 and ask them to use their authority to change the rules.

The Problem: Taking advantage of a loophole that the Bush administration created in Clean Water Act rules, mining companies are using America's streams and lakes as dumping grounds for unlimited amounts of solid mining wastes.
The Solution: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to close the waste loophole in the Clean Water Act, and President Obama should instruct the agency to do so immediately.
Click here for talking points
Click here to see photos of a current direct action

Contact your electric company and ask them to stop buying power produced with coal from MTR
Switch to alternative energy providers
Limit your use of electricity

Turn off the lights when you're not using them
Unplug appliances when they're not in use! Studies show that appliances which are plugged in, but turned off, account for nearly 1/4 of the electricity consumed by appliances.
Wash your laundry with cold water
Take shorter showers

Install solar panels
Educate yourself and spread the word

2009-10 Activism Events Calendar

2010-12-20T00:10:00.004-05:00

November 20: Students present the MCS Activism program at the TedX Youth Conference.

September 25-27: A delegation of three students and two teachers attend the Appalachia Rising Conference at Georgetown University, presenting a workshop on "Youth Organizing", and marching to demand that the EPA do their job.

May 22-27: Activism trip to the Coal River Valley!

May 19: Wayne from Ford Foundation leads a workshop with 7th & 8th graders on real wealth.

April 26: Andrew from Coal River Mountain Watch speaks with 7th and 8th graders about how the recent EPA announcement and mining disasters are impacting the region and their work on mountain top removal coal mining

April 17: Appalachian Folk Music Concert & fundraiser for our trip 1-4pm

March 22: The Beehive Collective presents their graphic campaign on "MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL: THE TRUE COST OF COAL" to the 7th and 8th grade in the MCS Music Room from 1-2pm

February 25: Dea from Coal River Mountain Watch and Climate Ground Zero visited 7th and 8th grade history classes

February 15-19: Teachers went on an exploratory trip to West Virginia to make connections and plan for the trip in May. They visited with representatives of Coal River Mountain Watch, Climate Ground Zero, Larry Gibson, SEAC, OHVEC, NRDC, Sierra Club.

February 11: Screening of Coal Country with panel discussion. Thanks to Ted Glick and Builder Levy for their contributions! Thanks also to Patagonia's environmental grants program for generously donating the items for our raffle.

Why Mountaintop Removal (from February 2010)

2010-12-20T00:08:00.000-05:00

Why Mountain Top Removal?

We, the seventh and eighth graders of the Manhattan Country School, believe that anyone can be an activist if they care deeply enough. Activism means fighting for your beliefs and against social injustice throughout the world. Through our Activism Project, we apply what the Manhattan Country School has taught us about standing up for civil rights and environmental justice.

Each year, the 7th and 8th graders are given the opportunity to propose issues that we could work on. We research and discuss these topics and then vote to decide which to devote our energies to.

This year, the 7^thand 8^th graders have decided to focus our activism on the issue of mountain top removal coal mining. Mountain Top Removal (MTR) is a process employed in the Appalachian region, including Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The process involves blasting off the tops of mountains to gain access to the coal that is buried inside of them. When the top of a mountain is blasted off, the surrounding communities experience changed landscapes, polluted water, decreased property values and increases in asthma and cancer rates. The people of Appalachia are among the poorest in the United States, and are being taken advantage of by the coal companies. The 5^th floor has decided that MTR is a civil rights issue that needs to be addressed.

Our project begins with education and fundraising at home and will culminate with a trip to West Virginia for a week of programming. The program will have four main components: community service projects, such as work in the community greenhouse with the Coal River Mountain Watch or flood cleanup with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition; community and cultural connections, including museums, picnics and potlucks, cooking projects and sing-alongs; outdoor activities and “mountain appreciation,” including hikes and other recreational activities; and finally, a full day activism/lobbying “Teach-In” with community activists. Throughout our week in West Virginia, we will explore the complexities of this issue, focusing not only on the effects of the mountain top removal process, but also the economic challenges facing these communities and the community tensions which arise during discussions of mining, employment and the environment.

Appalachia Rising

2010-10-07T18:14:00.010-04:00

September 25-27, a delegation of MCS Activists traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend Appalachia Rising, a national event bringing together thousands of people from around the country around the issue of Mountaintop removal mining.

Kyle Bartos ('11), Vaughn Simmons ('11), & Janet Ortiz ('10) led a dynamite workshop entitled "Youth Organizing" on the MCS activism process and the specifics of our work last year around the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining. The thirty participants (ages 19-60) were captivated for all 90 minutes, and many stayed overtime to follow up with questions and ask us about sharing last year's student projects as examples to inspire their students in programs based out of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.

In addition to leading a workshop, a poster designed by MCS students was featured in the "Voices from the Mountains" exhibit in the Georgetown Conference Center. We also attended sessions on non-violent demonstrations and a workshop connecting hydrofracking to mountaintop removal mining and other resource extraction processes. The issue of hydrofracking for natural gas was of particular interest to us, because the MCS farm and NYC drinking water would both be impacted by hydrofracking in the Catskills.

After two days of learning, we joined forces with thousands to call for an end to Mountaintop removal mining. The rally began with speeches from our heroes Larry Gibson and Judy Bonds (by letter) as well as songs from across the Appalachians, including Native Americans from Thunder Nation. We marched and sang with familiar faces from our adventures last year, including many from West Virginia, the Beehive Collective and Reverend Billy and his stop-shopping Choir.

We stood on the steps of the EPA, hearing speeches from Lorelei Scarbro and younger friends from the Coal River Valley. And we called for the EPA to do their job.

The march ended at the Whitehouse. After we had met our train and said good bye to our dear friend and generous host, Rachel Sussman, hundreds of our fellow marchers risked arrest to sit in the picture spot and deliver a message to Obama about the urgency of the plight of the mountains, the water, and the people of Appalachia.

Appalachia Through MCS' Lens

2010-06-14T14:18:00.005-04:00

MCS sends a letter to Obama

2010-06-10T18:02:00.002-04:00

Dear President Obama,
We are 7th and 8th grade students from Manhattan Country School, a small independent school in New York City, founded on the beliefs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Every year our school chooses an activism project to work on. Over the course of the year, we vote on a topic, research it, fundraise for it, and act on it. This year our topic is mountaintop removal, a destructive form of coal mining.

Mountaintop removal is the process of blasting off the top of mountains to access coal buried inside. It leaves wildlife and nature in distress. Our goal is to abolish mountaintop removal and to help communities that have been affected by this form of mining. Mountaintop removal is practiced widely in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions in the union. We took a trip to West Virginia to learn about this issue first hand. We met with passionate activists from Coal River Mountain Watch and Climate Ground Zero. We also met with Larry Gibson, whose family has been living on West Virginia’s Kayford Mountain for hundreds of years. Larry has guarded his 50 acres with an iron fist from the Patriot Coal Company. His property is surrounded by land that has been devastated by mountaintop removal. As we walked through what Larry called “Hell’s Gate,” we encountered a place where Earth died and Hell began. We saw a human-created desert. Green hills surrounded stark piles of rubble and waste, where trucks rumbled back and forth carrying loads of newly excavated coal and waste. The sight of the destruction left us in tears.

We also visited Coal River Mountain Watch, a non-profit organization, whose mission is to stop mountaintop removal mining and to rebuild sustainable communities in the Coal River Valley. We interviewed activists about their goals and we learned of their personal experiences with the hardships of the mining industry. Coal River Wind, a project of Coal River Mountain Watch, is working to place wind turbines on Coal River Mountain. This could provide enough energy to power seventy to eighty thousand homes forever, but right now coal companies are in the process of destroying this mountain for coal.

President Obama, we don’t have time to wait. Children in Marsh Fork Elementary, which is situated directly beneath a Massey Energy processing plant, are suffering from respiratory illnesses, and living in fear that the slurry impoundment above their school will break, filling the valley with the toxic slurry, a bi-product of “cleaning” coal. That is not right.

President Obama, it’s time to perfect our union. We commend you on the proposed EPA guidelines, but there is still more to do. We need you to push legislation like the Clean Water Protection Act in the House of Representatives and the Appalachia Restoration Act in the Senate to protect the Appalachian Mountains and the watershed region stretching from the Ohio River Valley down to New Orleans. President Obama, you tell your daughters to clean their rooms; we need you to tell the energy companies to clean up their mess. You have pledged to focus on green energy, and have mistakenly included “clean coal” in the same category as renewable energy. Government money
should not be used to expand the coal industry. We urge you to focus on wind and solar power. Save the American people’s mountains, water, homes, and lives. President Obama, we pay a very high price for cheap energy. Let’s stop paying and start living.

Remember the mountains and generations to come.

Respectfully,
The 7th and 8th grade of Manhattan Country School

MCS meets with Rep. Carolyn Maloney

2010-06-10T17:47:00.003-04:00

On Monday, June 7th the lobbying group met with Carolyn Maloney and her staff to urge her to take a leadership role in stopping MTR. They presented her with the following letter.

Dear Congresswoman Maloney:

Manhattan Country School (MCS) in New York City is a school built on the belief that everyone should have a voice.In September, we decided that our yearly activism project should address Mountain Top Removal, a destructive type of coal mining. We all believed that this was a topic that was not only addressing an environmental issue, but an issue of civil rights.

We all realized that the people in coal mining areas of our country’s southern mountains were being exploited. Their communities and environments that they live in were getting destroyed. This was all happening because of our need for cheap energy.

The 7th and 8th graders at MCS made a goal to go to West Virginia, and get a more personal view of what was happening in our country’s coal fields. We needed to raise 30,000 dollars to reach our goal. We did this through a movie showing, a folk music event, and donations from friends and family. On May 23rd, we traveled ten hours to get to West Virginia to further educate ourselves about what we had been hearing about in our classes that addressed MTR. We met activists like Judy Bonds and Larry Gibson, who told us about their experiences living in Appalachia. We heard about their objections to coal and MTR, and what their goals were. We learned how we could be better student activists, and how affective it was to let people know what we are thinking.

We, as 7th and 8th grade activists, are passionate about the work we have been doing for the past nine months. We believe that we should all have rights to a healthy life and environment.

In Appalachia, the coal industries are using heavy explosives to blast off the tops of mountains in order to retrieve the coal buried within them to power America’s electrical appliances. This process of coal mining is called Mountaintop Removal, and it is the most efficient and most destructive form of coalmining there is.

Mountaintop Removal can turn the pure waters of Appalachia into poison. When the coal is extracted, the waste is shoved over the side, into the streams and the valleys. The solids block off the flow of the streams while the coal dust poisons the water. Most humans can only live up to three days without water. Just a few days ago, we saw a Mountaintop Removal coal-mining site. When we were there, we felt faint and short of breath. The entire mountain had disappeared. We thought to ourselves, “This used to be a whole Appalachian mountain. Now it’s just a flat rock plain. Where did the mountain go?” Now we know what happened. The mountain was pushed down into the creeks. Not into the creek though, but rather onto the creek, buried the creek and poisoned water that was perfectly pure.

All the water on earth is connected. These creeks lost under the rubble are linked to small rivers, which are linked to bigger rivers, which are linked to the Gulf. If one is poisoned or blocked, all the rest are also poisoned. An environmental scientist, Doctor Margaret Palmer recently called the headwater streams in our mountains the capillaries of the water bodies. If the circulation is killed on one, that part of the body dies.

We have shown how coal can harm the environment and water from above the ground. Unfortunately, coal can also pollute water from underneath the ground too. In Prenter, West Virginia, coal companies in the late 80’s injected coal slurry into abandoned underground mines. Coal slurry, or coal sludge, is what comes off of coal when it is processed and is either put into a huge dam or injected underground. The toxic sludge then leaches into the water table and poisons whole communities. Coal slurry is very unhealthy containing large quantities of Mercury, lead, and arsenic plus the chemicals that were used to wash the coal. The Mercury in the coal sludge has been know to create birth defects in newborn children. Coal sludge also contains Hydrogen Sulfide gas in which there was an average of 30 parts per million per household. At 1 part per million water starts to smell like rotten eggs and 15 parts per million is the legal evacuation level. Because of the water pollution, people in Prenter have to import their water, which is another fee added to the already failing economy. Just recently we spoke with the mom who’s son attended to the same school as a boy named Josh McCormick. Josh McCormick died at the age of twenty-two of liver disease. Not only does the water at Prenter poison people, it is also a fire hazard. Some people in communities with contaminated water can actually light their water on fire.

Adults always tell us to clean our rooms.

What about their own mess?

What about the mess that they’ve left for us in the world?

For decades, coal has been dirtying our world. Pollution of water has been coming from top and bottom. Rubble and dust have eventually gone into water after mountains have been destroyed, where the water is no longer drinkable or usable. Coal slurry is also often injected down into abandoned underground mines, where it leaks into water wells that are used day-today.

Any time we flick on a light switch, a mountain is destroyed, and water is polluted.

When you walk down Times Square, what do you think about?

Now after being in West Virginia, we think differently.

When we see the wonderful lights over Times Square, we think about the black sludgy water we encountered in Whitesville, West Virgina.

When we see an iPod charging, we think about the families in Prenter, WV, who are forced use their tap water even though of the disgusting injections of coal slurry into the ground have ruined it.

Do you think about the same things as us?

We are truly appreciative that you have decided to sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act, but we have another request for you. We want you to take a serious leadership role in this act. We want this mess to be cleaned up, and we can not do this without your help. The Clean Water Protection Act protects lives of people living in Appalachia by guaranteeing them safe water for drinking and using.

If you take leadership, the mess that the adults have left us will begin to be cleaned up.

If you take leadership, our future will no longer to be feared but embraced. We will be able to live a healthy and clean life, just because we have safe water to use.

It is up to you to take the first steps to clean up this mess.

Thank you so much for already signing on to sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act
Sincerely,
7th Grade Students
Manhattan Country School

Sharing our experiences; advocating for change

2010-06-10T17:19:00.007-04:00

On our final day in West Virginia we hosted a teach-in. The kids worked in 9 different groups with teachers & WV activists to develop ways to share their experiences in WV and advocate for the people, mountains and water of West Virginia back in our New York City community. Groups focused on designing a poster (see above), writing a song, lobbying our house rep, writing a letter to obama, making art, writing an editorial, producing a film, putting together a film exhibit, and stopping the proposed purgen power plant in Linden, NJ.

As the projects are completed we will post them to this blog.

We're back in New York City!

2010-05-27T21:56:00.002-04:00

Last night, after three long days of learning and work with Larry Gibson, Coal River Mountain Watch, Climate Ground Zero and the Beckley Exhibition Mine, the 7^th & 8^th graders of the Manhattan Country School sat in a circle on the floor of the Ponderosa Lodge in Lookout, West Virginia and shared their reflections on our trip. We wanted to share their thoughts...

It’s exciting how huge of a transition we made this year, from knowing nothing about mountaintop removal mining in the fall to really getting it now. The trip to West Virginia was very real. It was powerful and moving to see and meet the people we’ve been learning about and it was fun to get to spend so much time with each other as 7^th & 8^th graders. No matter how in depth they get, school discussions maintain distance from what we’re learning about. We met so many people on our trip who are doing what they believe in and everyone had their own story to tell and reasons for getting involved. They changed our perspectives on Appalachia. We feel the impact and power.

We liked meeting people who are really different from the people we meet in New York City and learning about a different reality in another part of the country. “I liked getting to eat all of the wild plants I’d never seen before.” “I was amazed by how much they rely on each other.” We were also impressed by how everyone treated us like family and allowed us into their lives without thinking twice about it; we were on a first name basis with people like Judy Bonds, who we first “met” watching the movie Coal Country. We appreciated making personal connections. In addition to working with activists, we got to hangout with and get to know activists like Andrew. It was fun meeting all the people with long beards, and the fact that activists had a sense of humor.

We learned about the importance of place and community in the Coal River Valley, and started to understand why people don’t just move. We were impressed by the sacrifices Lorelei makes because she loves her community so much, and the fact that she is working so hard to protect her family’s future. Larry Gibson’s talking hit really deep. Representing himself, not an organization, made him particularly credible. We were amazed by his connection to the mountains, that he turned down the coal company’s money in favor of protecting his family’s land, and that he shared his family’s grave site with us – it was so personal. “Hearing Larry talk about dedication to what you care about will change the way that I think from now on.”

The trip reminded us that it’s really important to be mindful about how we view people from other places. It’s kind of ironic that it turns out that southerners have heard just as many stereotypes about northerners as northerners have about southerners. We met a lot of really smart people in Appalachia; they might not all have lots of degrees, but they have a lot of education from life. Everyone we met was really nice, too, even the man who stopped us on the mine road. One student said, “I realized that labels like hillbilly and treehugger can be offensive.” It was also interesting talking to James and Mary and learning about the black community in West Virginia. That dialog really added to the depth of our experience.

It was shocking to stand on the edge of the mine site and see the mountain missing and the coal trucks rumbling below; to drive through towns like Whitesville and see all of the boarded up buildings and empty streets, and the friends of coal signs and confederate flags in gas stations and on trucks. It was scary to be stopped by the coal company when we made the wrong turn, but also a big relief when it turned out ok.

In a media training, Dea, Jordan and Ches told us: “Use your feet not your lens.” It’s important to use all you can to help the people you are reporting on. They’re letting you into their lives – it’s personal. We realized that we all have different definitions of activism at different moments and that there is no need to be scared of asking someone for an interview.

The trip made us appreciate all that we have and take for granted, like abundant clean water, rapid access to health care, easy access to abundant and diverse food, and a lot of opportunity. We realized that a lot of the things that we think are normal actually aren’t so normal. “It changed my perspective on my daily life and makes me feel very appreciative.”

It was inspiring to realize our collective power, through our teach-in, and the fact that we were able to inspire and recharge the activists we worked with. This felt like really substantial activism, like we were on the front lines. We’re looking forward to taking stories back to NYC.

We will post more pictures and projects soon.

Thank you to the following people and organizations for making our trip such a success:

Andrew Munn, Larry & Carol Gibson, Judy Bonds, Vernon, Adam Hall, Junior Walk, CRMW volunteers, Dea Goblirsch, Lorelei Scarbro, Bo Webb, Ed Wiley, Ivan, James and Mary, Julie and Delbert Gunnoe, Arthur, Laura, Jordan, Ches, and Ken, Jorene, & Liam Toney at the Ponderosa Lodge.

Our chaperones: Glen, Doris, Cynthia, Wendy, Jermaine, Tom, Carol, Vivi, Naomi, Rachel, and Flannery.

And for their help in preparing us for our trip: Wayne Fawbush, Chauncy Lennon, the Beehive Collective, Danny Chiotos, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, Stephanie Tyree, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Pam Curry, Economic Option, JOBS Project, the Sierra Club, the National Resource Defense Council and the Manhattan Country School Community.

indulging...

2010-05-26T00:36:00.000-04:00

Exploring the bounty of the Appalachian forests

2010-05-26T00:25:00.001-04:00

A great day on Kayford Mountain!

2010-05-25T00:12:00.004-04:00

Larry Gibson speaks to us about the importance of standing up for what you believe in.

Rachel & Flannery speak with a mine worker

Walking the ridge between Larry's property and the mine site

Vivi & Jermain in front of the mine

Our activism banner unveiled on the ridge past "hell's gate"

MCS with Larry Gibson

Larry with Hanna & Kelsey

We made it to West Virginia and we love the Ponderosa Lodge!

2010-05-23T23:58:00.004-04:00

Who knew anyone could be so happy to see a bus?!

2010-05-23T23:19:00.003-04:00

MCS is headed to Appalachia May 22-27th

2010-05-09T22:19:00.014-04:00

As of May 10th we have raised $28,000 of our $30,000 goal. Thanks for your generous contributions and support!

Thanks to all who joined us Saturday, April 17th for our Folk Music FUNdraiser in the South Bronx

2010-03-14T21:42:00.015-04:00

Musical performances will include:

Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
Blues & train songs with Jeremiah Lockwood
Old-time string band with Jacob & Pierce
Two-hearted's coal inspired country
Gaitas y Tambores, Colombian folk music

Event will also include games for kids, information on environmental justice issues/community organizing in NYC and Appalachia, and snacks.

Where: Digital Lounge - 175 Walnut Ave (Cyprus Ave 6 Train stop)
When: 1pm- 4pm, Saturday, April 17th
Cost: $10 donation