The Campus

In an earlier post, I gave you some information about the city of Sacramento, but I'd like to bring you in even closer with some information about the AmeriCorps NCCC campus itself. As I mentioned previously, we are living in former barracks on the old McClellan Air Force base, but the area is actually much more colorful than that.

We are located along Watt Avenue, which we learned is famed for its underground prostitution ring. On our second day here, we had a training session during which a local police officer came in to talk to us about crime. After half an hour of dull, common-sense safety tips, he jolted all of us awake by warning us about the johns and hookers we may run across during any nighttime walks we may take. There is a hookah bar across the street from our campus that seems particularly shady. Every evening, the parking lot is packed with luxury cars, and police have conducted prostitution raids there in the past. We're by no means in a safe area, but the campus is well-lit and fenced, so I feel secure enough.

As part of another training, we conducted a "community mapping" project in which we walked through parts of town to talk to the locals and identify assets and challenges in the few blocks we were assigned. I learned that the community is the way it is because of the Air Force base, which tends to attract seedier businesses that play to soldiers' vices. Also, higher-income folks generally stay away from the military post and the jet fumes and loud noises that come with it. Now many of the former barracks have been converted into low-income housing. Since the base ceased operations and shut down eight years ago, the economy in the neighborhood has been particularly depressed. There are lots of homeless people wandering the streets, and drugs are a definitely problem in the area.

On the bright side, the base has been renovated into quite an attractive business park with a lot of government agencies renting out the buildings. Several people had a chance to talk with the locals in the surrounding residential areas, who were very friendly and gave an altogether different impression of the neighborhood: a close-knit and caring group eager to turn their reputation around.

As I mentioned in a prior post, we have physical training, or PT, four times a week at 5:30 a.m. We generally alternate between circuit calisthenics and running. Corps members have been divided into running groups based on our abilities, so the one I'm in, known as River Cats 2, jogs about three miles around the campus on those designated mornings. However, the worst part of PT (aside from waking up so early) is the stretches we do in the perpetually wet grass. It tends to get very cold and uncomfortable.

We have more leisure time than I realized, but most of mine is spent on graduate school applications. Many people go on jogs or play Frisbee, hacky sack, baseball, football, soccer or other sports on the adjacent field. A couple weeks ago, I had a blast with an old-school game of wall ball. There's a local dive bar across the street called Harvey's that's also really popular among the 21 and up crowd here, and an unfortunately named Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant/bar called Jee's Pot (try saying it out loud and you'll see what I mean).

For quick and easy shopping, corps members go to the nearby BX, or Base Exchange, which is essentially a mini-Target or Wal-Mart. It's usually only open to military personnel (a remnant from the days of the Air Force base), but the NCCC worked out a deal to let us use the outlet. It's great for buying those emergency toiletries or medicine, and I've also bought a deck of Uno cards, a flashlight, and a water bottle.

As I've mentioned before, there are plenty of tasty restaurants in the area. Adalberto's Mexican Food, located conveniently across the street, has dirt cheap food and is open 24 hours. There's an In-and-Out Burger joint a few miles down the road, but I still haven't gotten to try it! We actually make most of our meals ourselves. Two teams are assigned to each kitchen and cook their own food, and we get a debit card with which to buy groceries. Sure, there's a fair share of frozen pizzas and PBJ sandwiches, but I've also had some pretty tasty, pasta, tacos, and chicken. Our meals are definitely hearty and well-balanced overall. We all eat family-style in our community building.

We have access to computer labs (but no printers) and wireless Internet in the lounges. Each dormitory has a big-screen television where people can watch movies and contains an inventory of books, cards, puzzles, and games (including Apples to Apples and Settlers of Catan!). I managed to get a group together once to play Nertz, and I also taught some of my old pod members how to play Click Bang. There are a few people here who know how to play Mafia, but we haven't been able to start a game together, and I haven't gotten anyone interested in Bang! yet. Wah is apparently a really big deal here too.

Because many of us were leaving town for a project on Oct. 31, some corps members organized a Pre-Halloween Party here on campus. I duct taped an empty box of Total ceral to my chest, stabbed the cardboard with plastic knives, and went as a "cereal" killer. I didn't think it was that original, but I managed to take runner-up in the costume competition! My pod also choreographed a little performance for the dance competition, but we unfortunately were not as successful with that one.