Leah's Journal

24 May 2005

Michelle Obama and I are now on first name terms. On Saturday, the 21st, I volunteered for the University's annual day of reflection and giving. Michelle spoke to our group of about 100 volunteers - apparently this activity falls under her perview in her capacity as a U of Chicago employee. Her talk was seamless and inspiring - I was ready to impact the world, or at least, the surrounding community. After a quick breakfast and Michelle's speech, the volunteers piled into buses (the old-fashioned, yellow ones) for transport to our various assignments. I was scheduled to go to the Woodlawn Community Gardens. The projects that were begun, and completed, are amazing. Large areas were cleared for planting, borders were laid, benches were constructed and some seedlings were planted. Because of my hand injury (stepped into space at Tinseltown in Houston four weeks ago and am now a one and a half handed person, functionally), I was limited in what I could do to help. The lady who started the community garden wanted a sign created that would be mounted at one of the garden's corners. Another young girl and I tackled the project and we were delighted with the result...........the corners of the sign were festooned with cheerful, colorful flowers - Watch out, Grandma Moses! During a lull in the effort, I decided to embellish a sign that was already standing and on its way to being faded, faded, faded. And I enjoyed a hearty laugh.............
The hand printed sign that announced that all were welcome to the Woodlawn Community Gardens ended with the advisory "Keep your neighbor safe and clean." I'm sure that she intended to promote a secure and hygenic neighborhood.