GSA Daily 2008: Community Service Day

GSA Daily: Community Service Day

Friday, June 27, 2008

This morning’s performance was my favorite so far, and it was the perfect way to start off Community Service Day. The group that performed, Public Outcry, is made up of Kentucky writers and musicians who have come together to inform the public about and fight against Mountain Top Removal. Public Outcry’s members are: Silas House, Jason Howard, Jessie Lynne Keltner, Kate Larkin, George Ella Lyon, and Anne Shelby. In addition to singing songs they’ve written about the mountains and their destruction at the hands of coal companies, they showed a PowerPoint with images and facts that spoke for themselves. The group insisted, however, that they are not unrealistic about our need for coal and claim, “We’re not anti-coal, we’re pro-mountain.” Some of the members have miners in their families too, so they stressed the fact that coal companies have created a myth about their role in creating jobs in Appalachia—especially since Mountain Top Removal relies on explosives, not manpower.

Instrumental Music students help out at the University of Kentucky Arboretum.

Architecture Faculty Member Jeff Rawlins explains the project at hand at the Miller House.

To help us visualize what is going on in Appalachia they told us to imagine that we were standing on the end line of a football field looking over to the other end line. Next they told us to imagine that the field was flipped up, so that we were looking high up into the sky—and to add a field on top of that, and another one on top of that. So there’s our mountain. Then they told us to measure out about eighteen inches with our hands (two feet if we were feeling generous) and to put that at the bottom of our mountain. Coal companies will destroy that much mountain for a deposit of coal only eighteen inches deep. Many of us had never seen images of the destruction caused by Mountain Top Removal, so it was a lot to digest. The group also told the audience, “As corny as it sounds, your generation really is the generation that can save the earth” and they stressed the importance of using our art forms to make a difference and fight for our own causes. They also invited everyone to join them for “I Love Mountains Day” in Frankfort—every year on Valentine’s Day people gather at the capitol to send a message to legislators that it’s time for Mountain Top Removal mining to end.

Hearing these artists speak about the importance of writing to our legislators was extremely empowering, especially since that is a crucial part of advocating for programs like the Governor’s School for the Arts. Listening to Public Outcry this morning certainly inspired me to become more active in our state’s government by writing letters, and I hope that other audience members came away with that same energy as well.

After the morning performance the students split up into their disciplines for community service trips. Here’s a glimpse at what was on the agenda for today:

Architecture students went to the Miller House, a modernist masterpiece designed by Le Corbusier protégé José Oubrerie. Built in 1991 and sold in 2006, the house has fallen into disrepair and has been damaged by graffiti, so the Architecture students got to learn about historic preservation and lend a helping hand to this architectural marvel.

Musical Theatre students went to Lexington Country Place, a nursing home in the area. The students sang Broadway songs and entertained the residents.

The Miller House is in need of a lot of help after being abandoned and vandalized.

Creative Writing students went to GodsNet, an organization that was formed to “build a safety net with the internet for those in need.” The students sorted through and organized books that GodsNet sells online to fund inner-city programs. They focus on helping people in need pay their utility bills, since losing electricity and water is often the first step towards becoming homeless.

Dance students helped out at the Fresh Approach Lunch Program. Fresh Approach provides lunches during the summer for students who qualify for free lunches during the school year. The students sorted cans for the organization to help families in need.

In the evening we watched a performance by Flamenco Louisville which helped prepare us for tomorrow, Dance Immersion Day.

Community Service Day was rewarding to say the least, and I look forward to listening to my new Public Outcry CD tonight.

Until tomorrow, this is GSA ’08 intern Laura Lamping Greenwell signing off.