Becca Rothkopf's Story!

Here is another illustrious write-in story penned by the incomparable Becca Rothkopf.  She hails from the snowy peaks of Colorado, and is a truly lovely person!  May she go on to great success and happiness.

Hello! My name is Becca Rothkopf. I’m from Denver, CO, and was living in northern Colorado (in Fort Collins, to be exact) before moving out to Washington for AmeriCorps. Right now I am wrapping up a year of service at Truman High School/Internet Academy. It has been an incredible, albeit challenging, experience for a number of reasons.
          
 Last year I served in AmeriCorps in the same city I went to college in. I was a full-time art instructor at an after-school program. That experience made me realize that service means being completely devoted to helping and caring for people and the world around us. Instead of focusing entirely on myself, like I had as a college student, my days were spent trying to provide a stable, safe, and educational environment for youth.
In that aspect, my experience this year was a similar one, but I also had the challenge of living in a part of the country that was completely unfamiliar to me. I literally knew nobody in the state of Washington when I packed up my car and headed northwest.

 Additionally, I had no idea what to expect when I walked in for our first day of AmeriCorps training. I knew I was going to be tutoring students, but I didn’t know what school I would be at or what my other responsibilities would be. The only things I knew for sure were that the Washington scenery really did look like the Twilight films and the people in Seattle wore a lot of plaid.
 
 more after the jump!

New Story-Adam Wooten!

Hey friends. I thought I'd get a jump on the week and get this post in early!  Although let's be real, there was only the slimmest of chances that I would post anything on a Tuesday.  But maybe I will, and I'm just trying to lure you into a state of complacency, only to (WHAM) surprise you with my promptness! That's how it's done, folks.  

Anyway, enough with the preamble!  Here's Adam Wooten's story.  It's totally good.

Also, he is the only person I've ever met from Oklahoma, and that's fun! Except for Curly from the musical Oklahoma!, who  I have met in my dreams.

How have you changed since coming to AmeriCorps?

There are things that I knew I could do, that it’s forced me to have to do. Like talking in front of people and commanding a classroom. Doing this made me become comfortable in that atmosphere and now I have no fear about doing it in the future. Oh, and patience as well. ‘Cause, God, I was a very stubborn, impatient person and it’s taught me a lot about that. Laughs. I mean, being able to work with middle school kids and not strangle them on an everyday basis, is a testament to your patience. And learning better ways to deal with unruly kids besides just yelling at them. I don’t know, my dad was a big yeller--all I really knew was berating people.  I can’t fault him for it because that’s all he knew from growing up.  But,  [AmeriCorps] definitely taught me impulse control and patience.

more after the jump!

Just Pictures!!

This here's a visual post.  The COVER of the collection we gave out to our team:

And the endpaper:

A preview of stories to come!

And, why not, here are the lil pictures of us, bigger!

 In case anyone is interested in my "process", this is what a drawing looks like when I scan it in:

And this here's what it's like when I'm done.  Thanks, that one class on computer art I took 3 years ago!

Just Wanted to say Hey...

And remind everyone, we are always taking submissions for new stories (self-written or interviews)--second year FWPS members and new faces, that's a hint for all of ya'll.  Check out posts tagged "guidelines".  And you know I'm always looking for new beautiful faces to draw :)

And get ready for a MEGA post tonight.  It's happening.