SURLI
I sometimes wonder if I hang too much of my volunteer work on SURLI. It was a major project, about 2-3 hours per week if you average it, which given my school workload is still a pretty tight squeeze. But still, it's sort of become the cornerstone of my college applications, it's the big thing I can point to and say "See, Sonofabitch? I DID do something important and permanent. I have facts, figures, and witnesses to back me up the whole way."
The problem is, the more I point at it, the less there seems to be of it. I'm pretty sure it's big enough, I mean, 40 hours a week during the summer especially, should be enough to have some heft. But so many of those hours were ephemeral, not out building gardens or walls, or pulling out noxious weeds, but instead sitting at a table, plotting away like some eco-crazy president's cabinet. Whispering to eachother plans to do this or that, get funds, call in favors, pull strings...if necessary, call our sponsor. Then, in a sudden raid, we strike, dozens of us showing up and within a day totally altering an area. Given a week we've turned huge swaths of neglected dirt into lush gardens.
But I've had to pin that as my Big Thing. Every college asks for the Big Thing that seperates me from the rest of that trash that just does their work and gets good grades. So every time, I've pulled out SURLI and shown it off, and every time it seems a bit more minor, the effects less striking, the effort less heartfelt.
Ah well, fuck 'em. The SURLI gig got me job offers from within the power structure that supports it.
The problem is, the more I point at it, the less there seems to be of it. I'm pretty sure it's big enough, I mean, 40 hours a week during the summer especially, should be enough to have some heft. But so many of those hours were ephemeral, not out building gardens or walls, or pulling out noxious weeds, but instead sitting at a table, plotting away like some eco-crazy president's cabinet. Whispering to eachother plans to do this or that, get funds, call in favors, pull strings...if necessary, call our sponsor. Then, in a sudden raid, we strike, dozens of us showing up and within a day totally altering an area. Given a week we've turned huge swaths of neglected dirt into lush gardens.
But I've had to pin that as my Big Thing. Every college asks for the Big Thing that seperates me from the rest of that trash that just does their work and gets good grades. So every time, I've pulled out SURLI and shown it off, and every time it seems a bit more minor, the effects less striking, the effort less heartfelt.
Ah well, fuck 'em. The SURLI gig got me job offers from within the power structure that supports it.