DAY 1 - Left my heart in California

So, "When the Monitor Met the Merrimack" will be transformed into my own personal Teach for America blog for the next 2 years. Recently this little blog has been getting a little dusty. Thats all about to change. I am going to update it as much as I can as a way to keep in contact with everyone. Please keep in contact with me through the blog as well. I already miss you all (those that I left) and I want to keep you updated on me and keep myself updated on you.

I'm sure you all know that I am moving to Nashville, Tennessee to serve in Teach for America. I will be teaching high school social studies in an under-preforming school. As you can tell, I do not yet know what exactly I will be teaching and I do not know where. In time, I will figure all of that out.

Alex Hirsch reminded me today that JFK once said "A child mis-educated is a child lost." I guess thats why I am going to Nashville. A whole generation of American children are in danger of being lost. This is not there fault. It is ours. And I am going to do what little I can to right that wrong. Going to Nashville is still a big leap of faith but our world and the ills of our nation require leaps of faith. President Kennedy's brother gave a few speeches as well and in one particular address he argued that "this world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease." I am young and I do possess as well as hold dear these qualities of youth. It is this state of mind, temper of the will, imagination, courage (I hope), and love of adventure that gave me the motivation and strength to take up such a task. In retrospect this paragraph seems kind of self congratulatory but I promise thats not what I meant it to be.

Well today is Day 1. 511 miles. I left home (Menifee, CA), my mom, my sisters, my best friend/other half, and my senior citizen but still puppy at heart Blondie. I am driving to Nashville in the blue ranger with a new, kinda ghetto, mismatched shell filled with all of my belongings. I am caravaning with a friend from Berkeley who is going to Nashville to teach just like me. Today took me all the way to Winslow, AZ. I have yet to stand on a corner but that will happen in the morning. Today took me from the state I love and will forever call home to the middle of the Arizona desert. I drove past accidents, meteor crater, and a giant natural gas blue flame geyser (haha). I drove through a tumbleweed tornado and a forest fire. Pretty exciting day. Except I was all alone in my truck for 8 hours. I listened to Yellowcard all the way out of California, then Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros almost put me to sleep but Elton John brought me back to life.

Well I am really exhausted and am going to get to bed. Hopefully I can update this thing everyday. That would be perfect, even if a post or two are rather short. I will be busy so bear with me. See you tomorrow.

K

P.S. I really want to go to http://www.bearizona.com/ one day. Its like Jurassic Park but with bears haha.