RCA - Bobcats!! 7-14 April

This week I took time in the field to write out my stories… The writing isn’t as well done, but it does account for my activities.

As written in my Field Journal…

7-14 April, 2010

This week I was assigned to the Bobcats. I was excited to return to their group - they were a lot of fun three weeks ago with Rising Wolf and Cedar Elk. Last week at Shindig the Bobcats did a ‘Meow Mix’ count off in honor of Blue Ridge’s cat. “Bobcats! Count Off!!!” “One! Meow meow meow” “Two! Meow meow meow” “Three! Meow meow meow…” Blue Ridge was my H.I. again this week so at our first camp site the boys did it again.

Another reason I was looking forward to the Bobcats was to return to the origins of my student given earth name. Western Stubby Shadow Dream Wrecker – Western Stubby for short. Stubby because I almost cut off my ginger, Western because I’m always happy, Shadow because I come from the unknown, and finally Dream Wrecker because I crush the dreams of developing teenagers. Student Aaron had a write up and everything for me – awaiting the day I returned. This week Aaron was with us for about twenty minutes. He was moved to the Eagles to try and humble his reign among the Bobcats. He said he’d pass the write up on to another staff to give to me. I don’t really care about it – it just makes for a fun story.

The Bobcats are probably the more functional group in the field. Two red suits that haven’t been much trouble… musical mornings, poem time at night, riddles, soul questions, and always a couple of British lads…

Last night in the shelter the boys were being awful chattery in their sleeping bags. I told them that if they wanted to continue talking their words had to be in song form. They sang their conversation for a few minutes and then drifted off into their sweet dreams. Snoring has become rather soothing to my ears out here in the woods. If they’re snoring then they’re not awake being sketchy.

I’ve set the goal to do pushups every day out in the field. I also want to make a jump rope somehow. I told the boys my plans and student Trevor suggested we do 25 pushups for every half quart called throughout the day. (As I write this another half quart was called – pushup time) After 150 my chest and arms are super stiff. I’m not sure how the last 50 are going to go…


Hand Drill

Sweet Bear and I were talking about alternate fire sources a few weeks back. I told him that with it being winter I didn’t have access to any materials with all the snow on the ground so he sent me a box of sticks to play around with. My first attempt was in the middle of the lodge back at Jacob Lake. Surprisingly, I got a little bit of punk and a few puffs of smoke. The next week in the field I brought a set along with me. The first day in the field I couldn’t do any better… I blistered my hands and bore through two holes in my fireboard. A few days later one of the kids asked to go tandem with me and my set. I started off drilling first – and noticed that I was producing a significant amount of punk and smoke rather quickly. I told student Calvin that I was going to go solo on this one. I bit my lip and put more down pressure on the shaft. A few moments later I had a glowing coal as fat as any bow drill could make. Whoa!! I hurried for my nesting bag and threw together a small nest to blow into flame. I blew that baby into flame and shouted for joy. I had now joined the elite group of hand rill fire makers – and had a pound of M&Ms coming my way :)

The next time I brought out my hand drill shaft was half the size and not worth newly blistering my hands. I let the kids mess around with my set for a bit – student Trevor got fairly close with it. My co-staff Blue Ridge pulled out a new shaft and tried his luck with hand drill. After a few hours of off and on attempts he got a coal as well! I borrowed his shaft and busted a coal in a few minutes :)


Mind over Matter

The weather this week was way too nice to be hauling around my wool pants – they stayed at home. Wednesday Night was beautiful! My 0 degree bag held its own, the fleece liner being almost too much. Thursday night however was a different story, the skies were clear and it dropped down to 23*. I put on all my layers around the fire pit and still didn’t stop shivering until I drank a hot cup of rice milk with cinnamon – AKA Orchata. About this time I looked around at the kids and noticed that not a single one of them had their jackets on. A few of them were only in their t-shirts even! I thought to myself – “Mind over matter – If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.


Hand Cart

Some groups are assigned a hand cart for various reasons. Sometimes there are hiking restrictions placed on students for health reasons such as being extremely over or under weight. Other times groups get them simply to build team work. The Bobcats had two underweight students and therefore were placed under a four mile hiking restriction with a hand cart. The boys toll their packs like normal and put them in the cart to pull. As we were explaining how to use the cart properly and where each student should be – a memory came back to me of when my family went to Martin’s Cove with the Strickers several years back. Baylei was in the yoke of one of the carts we were taking a picture with. I scurried around to the back of the cart singing, “for some must push and some must pull…” I smiled to myself and went on with the training. Haha – I did NOT sing that one to the boys out loud.


Sling

A few months back I was very grateful that I wasn’t a ten foot giant named Goliath when a student struck me right in the middle of the forehead. This week I found an old leather glove and was about to throw away when the young Philistine David come to mind. I cut out an oval piece from the back side of the glove and poked a hole on each side. I cut two arms length pieces of parachute cord and fastened one to each side of the leather. On one end I tied a loop to fasten to my middle finger and on the other a knot to hold between my thumb and pointer finger. With that – I had myself a stone hurler, also known as a sling. During breaks I’ve been pulling it out to practice on fleeing students. Just kidding. I can hurl stones into the stratosphere but can’t seem to hit a tree twenty feet in front of me. I think I’m meant for more the artillery slinger than the sniper. After spending several weeks with me and after observing me weave my own chair seat, develop the Natural Child 3000, a bailing wire jump rope, and a few other crazy things, student Joe in his British accent commented, “You’re really productive Dave… just something I’ve noticed…”

In trying to hone in my slinging skills I’ve had several fall out/back fires of which a few have come close to hitting students. One time a kid had to pull a matrix move to keep from getting one in the face. “Dave! You’re going to kill me!” My response of course was, “Nah James, I don’t kill, I just hurt or maim.” British Joe developed a “Lat tee da” chant for every foolish thing that I did, “Law Suit!” I smiled and told him to shut it, with a wink.


Bungalo

There are a number of RCA games that the kids pass on through the generations. Some of them are group games that they play around a fire, some while on hikes, and others that you get tricked into. If some one calls your name and you offer a positive response twice in a row, they then start chanting, “Let me see you Bungalo, let me see you bun-ga-lo.” After which they go into a rhythmic chant repeating, “Bung – ga – lo, bung, bung – ga – lo – o.” The person being ‘Bungaloed” then starts out by singing, ‘My hands are high, my feet are low, and this is how I bungalo.” After which he breaks out an interpretive dance to the chanting of “Bung – ga – lo, bung, bung – ga – lo – o.”

I hate being bungaloed. HATE IT. Student James was on the other side of the fire put doing some phase work while I was doing paperwork at my desk in my office – the other side of the fire pit. Student Will to my right engaged me in a conversation after which James called out my name. Yeah? He called my name once more. Maybe he didn’t hear? I repeated a little bit louder. “Yeah?!” As soon as the word left my mouth I knew I’d been had. James almost instantly jumped to his feet and shouted, “Let me see you Bungalo, let me see you bungalow. I glared at James as the whole group joined in singing, “Bung – ga – lo, bung, bung – ga – lo – o.” I stood up, did a few twirls, the granny shimmy, and finished off with an HJ dead fish head banger move. The next night the kids got me again with the same setup! RAGE! I’m learning to respond to my name with ‘what!’ rather than a ‘yeah?’ Stupid Kids. (smile)


A Blue Ridge Moment

Friday morning was a slow morning for the kids. It took them several hours longer than the day before to get out of camp. In waiting for certain kids to finish their chores and pack up, Blue Ridge and I pulled out our slings and started hurling rocks. He was going for precision and I for distance. When one of us made a breakthrough in technique we would share it with the other. After awhile the string around my finger was rubbing off skin so I had to put away my sling. Almost instantly my ADD kicked in and I started gather round flat rocks around camp and discuss through them out off into the trees. Blue Ridge threw a few as well until his shoulder started acting up, to which he went back to observing the kids from his camp chair. Student Trevor had been watching me spin with the rocks and asked to have a go at it for himself. His first time wasn’t too bad – especially for being in the woods throwing unbalanced rocks. With a few pointers he had a good rhythm going. It felt good to slip into coaching mode for a bit. When that was no longer amusing to either of us I sat down next to Blue Ridge and drug my fingers around in the dirt. I noticed a dirt billie (coffee can) about ten feet away and started throwing pebbles at it. After a few minutes I could get most of my throws to go in. Blue Ridge was on the Radio with one hand and searching for small rocks with the other. He missed every single one. I was looking down and around for a few more pebbles when I caught out of the corner of my eye a huge rock flying at the billie. The baseball sized rock sent the billie another fifteen feet away landing upside down. “Oh, great…” I looked over at Blue Ridge who calmly looked away as if nothing had happened. He might have even started whistling.


Peace – like the Mountain.

Two months ago as an intern I spent a night with the Bobcats where I was first introduced to Joe from London. He was fairly new and there for mistook me for ‘Therapist Dave’ and thought I was there to give some sort of therapy or group discussion. I worked with Joe a couple more times – the next a few weeks later in the same group. Joe and I got along fairly well, giving each other a hard time joking around. The boy had a doll face that I didn’t let him live down. His cheeks were just too rosy red to ignore. One time he threw a Juniper berry at me and then quickly looked away as to not be detected. I knew it was him and walked to the nearest Juniper tree where I gathered a hand full of berries. I sat back down, and proceeded to throw berry after berry until I had no more left. Throughout the rest of the week at random I would unload on the kid with Juni-berries.

Our relationship deepened when he was moving a bit slow one morning. We were getting out of our sleeping bags to leave the shelter and I was at the very end right after Joe. It was his turn to bundle his stuff up and exit the shelter but he had yet to get out of his bed. I gently encouraged him to hurry his butt up because I had to water a bush like no other. He smiled at me and over exaturated how slow he was going. At this I raised my voice yelling, “Joe! Get out of the shelter before I pee on your face!” Startled with surprise Joe jumped up and got himself out.

Another time I wouldn’t pass off his Plant Identification for phase 5 because he couldn’t tell me that the needle of a Prickly Pear is especially useful because it’s sterile. Haha, I made the poor kid start over. A week later we met again at Shindig where Joe was wearing a bone mask made from what he called a ‘cow anus’ that he had found that week along the trail. I couldn’t resist and commented (with a smile) that I had a hard time telling the difference between a cows butt bone and his face. Now back to the present – this week I was walking behind him as he pushed the handcart with the rest of the group, I noticed his shoes were untied and tried telling him a number of times. Either he couldn’t hear me or didn’t’ care to respond because I didn’t get any reaction from him. I thought to myself, maybe by stepping on the lace I could get his attention. I skipped up real quiet like and put my foot down on one of his already tattered shoe laces. To my surprise – instead of tripping the boy up the lace broke off under my foot. Embarrassed I slowed my walk and hid my giggle as he moved forward with only half a lace on his untied shoe.

With this background of the interaction I’ve been able to have with student Joe – I continue on by telling about one of the more special experiences I’ve been able to have with RCA.

All week Blue Ridge and I had been talking the kids up about the Petro cliffs nearby. We promised a day hike to visit them if we could get close enough and had enough time. These cliffs were especially cool because ancient tribes would use them to ceremonially bid farewell to their Elders. On our layover day the kids all did their full body hygiene (showers) early enough to buy us some time to go visit. We hiked into a long valley with mountains on each side. Petro cliffs to one side and a mountain with a rock shoulder on the other. When the Elders were about to die they went themselves or were brought to that place to spend their last moments. A supply of wood was kept there for the Elder to continually feed the fire until he passed. Others from the Petro cliffs on the other side of the valley would watch for the fire to die out – signifying the death of the Elder.

We hiked about a mile up a hill to find natural washouts with Anasazi type paintings on the inside. And sure enough – across the valley we could clearly see the cliff shoulder where so many years ago Elders of the tribe went to die. We looked around for a bit, did a half quart, and sat down for a break. Blue Ridge came over to me and snuck a student knife into my pocket asking me if I’d ever done a knifing before. I hadn’t. Nervously I zipped up my pocket and took a moment to gather my thoughts. We had been planning to knife Joe since the beginning of the week - so naturally I thought about what I would say if it was I that was to knife someone. Trust was something that I had had on the mind for several days now and thought this an excellent time to share my thoughts.

I called the kids over to a drop down ledge sheltered from the wind. My voice changed to my teaching voice and I began my trust speech. I tried to make it appear as unplanned out as possible by commenting on the beautiful view and how sometimes it’s good to climb a high place to be able to see the bigger picture. Each student is here for different reasons – maybe drug or other abuse, emotional problems, etc. Whatever the reason – it all boils down to trust. I quoted the field saying, “trust is lost in bucketfuls and gained back in spoonfuls.” For one reason or another we’ve lost that trust and were thus sent here to try and return to the basics. Again it’s good to take a step back, get pulled out of our everyday lives every once in awhile and try to catch the vision once more. We often lose sight of our goal or overall purpose with tedious daily tasks.

I shifted my comments to those of symbols. “Symbols play a great part in today’s society.” I corrected myself, “Symbols used to play a huge role in our society. A hand shake was considered more binding that a signature, a flag more meaningful and uniting… Today we’ve lost a lot of those positive symbols that serve as reminders of trust and integrity.” I took a moment to pause, “and we all know how easy it is to lose sight of that – to no longer be considered worthy of a loved one’s trust.” I continued, “In returning to the basics here at RedCliff, we like to use symbols and tokens to reward and recognize trust.” I motioned towards Trevor and said that that symbol is the one hanging around our necks. Both he and I were wearing our knives from our necks. I pulled out a new student knife from my pocket and called Joe forward. “Joe – Blue Ridge, myself, and your therapist feel that you have earned staff trust – and we would therefore like to knife you in this moment. Come on up.”

I picked up a stone and had Joe throw it as far off the mountain as he could to signify his advancement from the Stone Age. I then tried to put the lanyard over his head but his boonie hat was just too big. We both laughed as he took it off and we tried again. I offered to the rest of the group that they always live a life worthy of a knife. We gave the boys a few minutes to spread out a little and enjoy the view and take some time to think. Smiling, I sat down next to Blue Ridge. We were both on the verge of tears! We shared some thoughts with each other on how it was those sorts of good times that make this job worth it. He pounded my fist and said good job on my first knifing.

That night I read in Trevor’s journal “…there was this moment lying on the hill/mountain that I felt total inner peace and contentment.” I had felt it as well. With all the things going on in life that were weighing my heart down I could look out over God’s great creation and know that everything was going to be okay. Today on top of a mountain I was able to witness a moment of growth for a young man and take a moment to reflect upon my own life. It was on top of that mountain when a peaceful moment took over my life. Truly, ‘Peace like the Mountains.”


Lost and Found Auctions!!

Each night before bed the kids are asked to secure their things by their packs. After the kids are in the shelter tucked away snuggly in their sleeping bags I do a sweep of the fire pit and pick up left behind items. The most common lost and found items are water bottles and leather gloves. The first night I was easy on the few that had lost their things. “Please secure your gear at night boys.” I gave Joe and James back their things. The next night I reminded them again to put their stuff away by their packs. Surprisingly enough I found even more things that the night before! I gathered them up and stowed them by my chair.

The next morning during breakfast I pulled out an armful of student gear and sat down around the fire. I cleared my throat several times to catch everyone’s attention and set the items out one at a time in front of me. Joe’s gaze hit the dirt as he saw that two thirds of the items were his. I explained to the group that we were going to hold an auction and that they could bid for their things back. James lucked out and got his Nalgene back with a promise to not leave it out again. A leather glove went back to its owner for a free bungalo. Joe however couldn’t think up enough things to bid with to get all his possessions back. His water bottle went back fairly easy as well as his leather gloves. The main item of the morning was his willow bow. Nothing that he was offering was appealing to me so I opened the bidding to the group. I was tempted to sell to the kids offering to reject their portions of meat and cheese enabling leftovers to go to staff... Blue Ridge however came across with the deal breaker. He pulled out his bag of hand drill M&Ms and threw them in my lap. “Done.” I handed Blue Ridge the bow, to which Joe buried his face in his lap moaning ‘nooo!!!’

Blue Ridge played along for a few minutes until he gave Joe back his bow. To further Joe’s anxiety about his most prized possession Blue Ridge whittled his name into the bark. “Well since it’s mine I might as well have my name on it…” Haha I love that man. By the end of the week the kids had gotten tired of having their stuff being snatched away and secured it with the packs.


Poems

Every night before dinner the kids write a page in their journal recording the day’s events. On the other side of their journal entry they write half a page about their therapeutic goal and then an original poem of their choice. Some kids will let you read their journals and poems which I enjoy very much. Sometimes I’ll leave feedback or write down inspiring quotes that I think are relevant to what they have written about. Other times I will add a short poem of my own to the end of theirs. I recorded a portion of Trevor’s poem and my own that I added to illustrate.

Trevor:
I’m coming back to you at last,
Will it be the way it was in the past?
Whatever it is at least I’ll know,
If I should stay or if I should go.

To which I responded:
Or if not, others can be sought
With qualities like her, to make your heart stir.
The woods is turning me into quite the poet I’d say! :)


A moment of group A.D.D.

To illustrate how A.D.D. we all sometimes are… here’s an experience we had last week.

I was asking student Will what he was working on when I noticed a plane behind him in the sky going extremely fast. I commented saying, “Whoa, that plane is going fast!” To which student Trevor looked up and said, “Yeah that plane is going… Whoa that’s a pretty cloud!”

Here it is again:
Me – Will, what are you working… Whoa, that plane is going fast!
Trevor – Yeah that plane is going… Whoa that’s a pretty cloud!

We both looked at each other and laughed. :)

RCA Retainer - 11 March, 2010

...As written in my field notebook...

I drove from Veyo this morning to work. I was especially looking forward to this week in the field because of my over stuffed food bag. Back at the lodge I had taken my snack bars to the next level; melted down caramel candies, Reese’s pieces, honey, and butterscotch for a little extra flavor. I had also premade all my bread as well – a full ration of wheat with chives, garlic, salt, and cayenne – rolled out with the rolling pin machine, cut out and baked on cookie sheets. Those babies tasted good in the lodge – I couldn’t imagine how amazing they would taste in the field!

Shotgun, our staff meeting before going into the field, went fairly normal. Nurse Karen gave a presentation on skin diseases and treatment in the field. Because Warrior was gone for the week, Medicine Bull wrote the group assignments on the whiteboard. It brought back feelings from the mission when transfers came along. Bull wrote the group name on the board and then the staff assigned to them underneath. As each group came and went my heart started pumping harder. I had to be coming up soon… nothing. I raised my hand as Bull sat down. “Uh, Med Bull – is there a reason I’m not on the board?” He paused for a moment, walked back to the board and wrote, ‘RT – David.’ “Sorry about that.” The meeting was adjourned and everyone began their final preparations. In passing Bryan mentioned that he had asked to put on Retainer for this week – and that if I wanted we could ask Med Bull to switch us. Med Bull was a little hesitant when we first approached him, “Yeah there’s a reason for that – we’ll keep David on retainer this week.”

I met with Allison briefly to learn Retainer duties and responsibilities. I was basically on call all week and to be an extra hand where needed. She gave me a sheet explain that I wasn’t to be drinking while on call, that I was to be available by phone 24/7, and that I was always to be within an hour of base. She gave me a heads up of a few events that she knew were coming up. “We have an intake tonight, a med run on Friday and a graduation on Monday. So it looks like you’ll get a few days in this week.”

I stowed my pack back in my car and took a shower before heading back down to Veyo. While in the shower, Jordan yelled in through the door, “Hey Dave! Is that you?” Yeah! “Hey come see me before you take off.” Sure thing, is that C.W.? “Nah, it’s Jordan – Lynx.” K - be out in a minute.

I put my blue jeans back on with my new Jacob Lake –North Rim shirt and headed over to Jordan’s office. He sat me down and apologized for not having brought me in earlier. A few weeks back I had requested an interview with him to sign off my internship. Jordan had mistakenly shrugged me off and told me to catch him next week. Well – the next week I returned to find his office empty. Timeliness was going to be an issue because February was coming to an end and time sheets were due. If I wanted to get a pay raise then I needed Jordan’s signature. I should have told him that I instead met with Warrior but thought the conversation would be a good way to build report with Jordan.

…back to work – to be continued later!...