Guest Blog and Photo By Elaine Ramos
“All work needs to be moored to an idea,” my photography professor Dan Powell says in class while discussing conceptual art. It’s my first day back in school since my spring break experience and it’s a bit of a culture shock, a reintegration of sorts. How do you readjust to non-communal showers, sleeping alone and beds again? Well, the bed part was easy. Actually the physical, surface description is easy to adjust to. It’s the empty space where passionate people filled my day and a sense of daily purpose was prevalent that I miss. How do you explain your experience? You can describe it all you want but the experiential quality of the trip won’t ever fully be captured by words. Nonetheless, I keep attempting to tell people about the trip.
During my Alternative Spring Break, I visited southeastern Oregon and saw towns I had never seen and hardly heard of. I met passionate, well-spoken, dedicated people each doing a part to help the community. In the town of Burns, for example, a population of 4,000 guarantees that everybody knows everybody. At the domestic violence shelter HHope (Harney Helping Organization for People in Emergency), Laura Van Cleave explained that their security is their neighbors. They look out for one another and know everyone in town.
It is this sense of community that I was struck by in all the places I visited: Lakeview, Klamath Falls and with the Klamath Falls tribe. By helping others you better both yourself and the community as a whole. This notion that everybody matters is something I reignited within myself and is an idea I want to tie my life and service work to. Everybody deserves humanity. By painting shelters and youth centers, learning about other cultures and lending an ear and a helping hand we were able to empower both the places we visited and ourselves. I’ve never felt so efficient and effective. As I return to Eugene for spring term I’m determined to be more service oriented in my surrounding community. I’ve done service before but it’s been a bit sporadic. It’s a struggle, balancing class, work and sleep, but my hunger to help has never before urged me forward so strongly.
Learn more about Ethos’ weeklong series, My Alternative Break.
