The Most Funderful Time of the Year
State of Our Union
Q: Why do you live in Greensboro?
A: We are involved with social and cultural projects to integrate refugees and immigrants more fully into Greensboro. We want to play a part in the transformation of a typical Southern city into a patchwork of roiling, diverse neighborhoods filled with interesting people from the world over.
Betsy: I continued to work with Montagnard refugee weavers, documenting their practices and bringing them to arts festivals and cultural events. I planted and harvested vegetables with the women at a neighborhood garden. To expand my documentation skills, I've got a new digital camera and am taking a writing course.
Andrew: I coordinate a refugee women's learning group that empowers moms and grandmothers through community-based projects like neighborhood garden tours and food demos. I'm part of a university research network on refugee and immigrant health and took part in the organization of a refugee- and immigrant-run soccer league.
Kitty, Tabby: We sleep. We catch mice.
Mayan Prophecy
Q: How has the Mayan prophecy of doom affected you?
We: We replaced our home's ancient windows and immediately saw our power bill drop (yay). We've been slowing tearing out our old kitchen. We built a new tool shed from the scraps of the old one (also built on recycled material) that has a nice work space for miscellaneous garden work.
Our tiny garden gave us great veggies and herbs, but we got plenty of freebies from our farmer friends (yay). Our long job drought is over. It is nice to have a little pocket change. We're happy Obama was reelected. Greensboro voted blue (yay).
State of the Economy
Our paying jobs — Betsy is the student services coordinator at Reading Connections, a literacy nonprofit, and Andrew is the coordinator of volunteers at Guilford College — are pretty much extensions of what we'd been doing for several years now as artists and advocates.
We feel very lucky and thankful for our new careers.
State of Our Union Q: Why do you live in Greensboro?
A: We are involved with social and cultural projects to integrate refugees and immigrants more fully into Greensboro. We want to play a part in the transformation of a typical Southern city into a patchwork of roiling, diverse neighborhoods filled with interesting people from the world over.
Betsy: I continued to work with Montagnard refugee weavers, documenting their practices and bringing them to arts festivals and cultural events. I planted and harvested vegetables with the women at a neighborhood garden. To expand my documentation skills, I've got a new digital camera and am taking a writing course.
Andrew: I coordinate a refugee women's learning group that empowers moms and grandmothers through community-based projects like neighborhood garden tours and food demos. I'm part of a university research network on refugee and immigrant health and took part in the organization of a refugee- and immigrant-run soccer league.
Kitty, Tabby: We sleep. We catch mice.
Q: How has the Mayan prophecy of doom affected you?
We: We replaced our home's ancient windows and immediately saw our power bill drop (yay). We've been slowing tearing out our old kitchen. We built a new tool shed from the scraps of the old one (also built on recycled material) that has a nice work space for miscellaneous garden work.
Our tiny garden gave us great veggies and herbs, but we got plenty of freebies from our farmer friends (yay). Our long job drought is over. It is nice to have a little pocket change. We're happy Obama was reelected. Greensboro voted blue (yay).
State of the Economy
Our paying jobs — Betsy is the student services coordinator at Reading Connections, a literacy nonprofit, and Andrew is the coordinator of volunteers at Guilford College — are pretty much extensions of what we'd been doing for several years now as artists and advocates.
We feel very lucky and thankful for our new careers.
