Post veg class

Last week was a pretty great week even though I was nervous about teaching my class at the cove center. On Thursday, Missy and I went to Brooklyn with the intention of passing out newsletters but there was no one at the Bay-Brook offices. Instead, we went to FedEx and made copies of the veg class fliers to pass around. We also made copies of vegetarian recipes from my cookbooks. It was a rainy day, but we went to the same locations we had previously dropped fliers and hoped people would pick them up and attend!

On Friday I met Sarah at the high school in Masonville that was formerly called Benjamin Franklin high school. We met three students in the library and Sarah had a list of questions and a tape recorder. My job was to transcribe the questions and answers for documentation purposes. There were two boys and a girl, all 16. Sarah asked them about their opinions on the local parks and housing circumstances. I thought the kids gave great answers. They talked about people littering and how if one kid behaves poorly, others often follow. They said that the neighborhoods seemed to be getting worse and that drugs were a big part of it. They all seemed familiar with fellow students selling drugs as a way to make money.

All three of the students parents worked out of the area and had transportation to get there. They didn't feel there were any jobs available in Brooklyn and said that most kids go to Wal-Mart for groceries and shopoing necessities. It was a great experience talking with the children. I think it meant a lot that they had been asked to participate in the interviews. Sarah and I both let them know what a stand up job they did answering questions.

Friday I took off work and finished up my vegetarian class info sheet. I still had to make the worksheet for participants to fill out. I also bought some snacks at Whole Foods for the event and picked up the vegan cupcakes and brownies while at work on Friday.

I was hoping more people would come to the class, but I am still happy with how it went. Missy had helped me so much during the week and put together a cooking basket that someone could win. She met me early to set up as well! There was a table for treats and another with veggie cookbooks and recipes for pick up. I was really hoping Chip could make the event, Missy was even going to pick her up. She was too sick and felt bad about not making it.

I handed out the worksheets and was pretty nervous about my speech. I feel that I did alright, but I hope that I provided enough information that made sense. I wanted to speak in a clear voice and not say "like" too much. Making eye contact with my audience was another area I tried to succeed in. Other than my classmates and teacher, there were only a few unknown attendees. I will sat that the woman who won the basket really deserved it and was very appreciative. She was a fairly new pesca-tarian and was thinking about giving up fish. It was great to talk to her and explain the veg lifestyle. I also told her about One World and encouraged her to visit. Hope she does!

Everyone was great about my speech and enjoyed the desserts. Ying-Lee, the woman working at the Cove center was very excited about the class and had her husband come. They are also planning on trying out One World. At least I made some connections and got to practice my public speaking skills.

Unfortunitely, when I got home that night I deleted all the pictures on my camera by accident. I was fiddling around trying to fix the focusing on the camera and I hit a "format" button that deleted everyting! I even called my Dad in case there was a magical way for retrieval. Not so much.....oh well, Missy has some pics and they will go on the website.

Good stuff all around!

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hours: 20