homeward soon

HEY GUESS WHAT?! I’m coming home soon. This being said I feel no reason to do my bi-monthly blog update as I will be seeing everyone important sometime (and hopefully multiple times) between July 26th and mid Aug. I will divulge some random and maybe interesting tidbits of information despite my nearing homecoming:

1. Carrie and I moved! We now live in a new house in Fort Bragg with new roommate Claire.

2. I am awesome.

3. I forgot what other tidbits I was going to put.

Oh, I know! Read this neat blog post that boyfriend Nick wrote about our trip to San Francisco. If I hadn’t mentioned before he writes and does internet stuff for a cool alternative news source, the Anderson Valley Advertiser.

http://theava.com/archives/7407

That’s all for now!

See everyone soon.

From, kt

what about the boat times?

The Big River canoe trip for the Cancer Resource Center was great! Thank you again to everyone who gave me monies! I got to donate $145. Hooray! Here is the only picture I have seen of the escapade thus far. I am stylin’! (and by stylin’ I mean not paddling and being extrememly lazy. oops!). We saw two seals on the two hour excursion. Cute!

Also, here is a video from “AmeriCorps week.” We did a fun service day working with some kiddos Albion school. The day was centered around being healthy! Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48fnyTEK8CM

A Grand Cause

Ello! So here I am at Moody’s Coffee Bar in Mendocino, California realizing I need to take some action. Next weekend June 5th I am going to be one of 10 people paddling in an “outrigger” canoe down Big River in Mendocino. Why the heck am I doing this you may ask (and on a Saturday morning of all possible times!). Well folks, the answer is: I AM PADDLING TO FIGHT CANCER. Or more specifically, to keep available the many resources this particular organization offers members of Mendocino County who are faced with the diagnosis of cancer. YES! Being the avid and committed (ah HEM, let’s not forget I’m volunteering for another year) HealthCorps member that I am, I volunteered to paddle in this ridiculous canoe to raise money for the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County.

One of our members, Campbell, is stationed there and we as HealthCorps team are helping out his organization. They actually do a lot of really cool things like helping people get ready for their doctor’s appointments or even going with them and taking notes on what the doctor is saying because sometimes it can be overwhelming and scary for the patient. They also have lots of different support groups for people faced with cancer as well as up to date resources and information for those with a new diagnosis. Last but not least, they offer clients hats, wigs, bras, and breast prothesis.

Despite the great things they do they are a poor non-profit and have no money. Thus, one of the stipulations of participating in this event is collecting “pledges,”  meaning you are required to shamelessly and unabashedly ask people for money in the face of a recession, an oil spill, and the impending apocalypse. Suffice it to say I was not too keen about this aspect of my service to the Cancer Resource Center, I quickly realized that begging for money is a necessary evil for most, if not all, 501(c)(3)s.

With that being said, will you give me a mere $10 to support this cause?? When I volunteered to do this I also committed to be personally responsible for raising 100 dollars for our canoeing HealthCorps team. Seeing that the event is next week and the only money I have collected has been 10 dollars that I donated to myself I realized I better get on it.

You can donate online via the “causes” application on facebook (it works, I tried it) OR if you don’t trust the internets and crazy electronic madness you can always mail me a check (made out to the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County) or cash (I won’t spend it on beer, I swear).

To donate online go here: http://www.causes.com/causes/470332/about?m=0721b499

Mailing address: 144 S. McPherson St. Fort Bragg, CA 95437

Thank you for helping me and sparing me the lameness of standing outside the post office with a tin can asking strangers for change to help keep non-profits in the area alive.

Love,

Kt

abalone pieces.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

At this blog’s inception I pretty much figured I would slack off to the point of no return–only a few faithful fans clamoring for new posts and updates from my California life. Well, that has pretty much become a reality at this point considering my pretty established social scene and teen clinic work dominating my life. Despite that, I still want to do a post once in awhile. It’s a fun reflective process for me and hopefully mildly entertaining/informative for my lovely family members who take the five minutes to read through it. Anyway, a lot has changed since my last post. I have an official boyfriend Nick (oh yay!). He’s staring (glaring?) at me across the table right now since I told him I’m in the process of updating my entire family about our relationship status. He’s pretty cool; I’m hoping he’ll stick around for awhile and continue to make my life more interesting than it was before.

Teen Clinic is going great. All of you who are facebook inclined can check out our sweet MCC Teen Clinic fan page. I’m pretty proud of it. 82 fans and some awesome photos and information to boot. After spending a weekend in San Francisco at the Sex Tech conference I officially solidified what I already knew about teens and technology–if it’s not digitally expressed to them in one or another they’re probably going to care less.

But yeah, I’m still giving teens rides to the clinic for birth control appointments and I’m still teaching classes (although at decreased rate due to some administrators overreaction to a handout during one of my lessons at Fort Bragg High School) but everything overall is good. Basically I’m doing a lot of promotion and running of the Teen Clinic. Kids are showing up at a slow but steady rate. Considering our program has just gotten off the ground a few months ago everyone is really happy about how things are going. In general we have had over 30 teen patient visits since January. These are students who have texted me for appointments and have been brought into the clinic primarily through my outreach in the classroom, at health fairs, and other events. Some kids were patients at the Teen Clinic and then referred their friends to come after seeing how easy/cool it was. I’m just glad we are becoming an established resource for young people in the community. A common thing to hear from the kids I help is, “I couldn’t have done this without you,” or “If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have known what to do.” These are the type of comments that have motivated me to stay another year here in Fort Bragg. It’s crazy being so far away from home but what I’m doing is giving me really good experience and is actually helping people.  I get a break in August though so my plan is to come home and visit for a good amount of time then. Definitely can’t wait for that.

Here are some photos of random stuff I have been up to. Enjoy!

MLK Day!

Sweet video of our AmeriCorps group doing a service project on MLK day near San Francisco. It was really rainy.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=529035247152&ref=mf

birthdays!

[I started writing this last Friday and am posting it only now...Don't worry, I believe it to still be relevant and worth reading. Enjoy!]

Hey! I’m 23 now. Stellar, eh? I suppose another year passing in my life merits a new blog post. Sorry to all my fans who have had to wait so long–I’ve been busy with work and life which makes it hard to consistently update this thing.

Anyway, my birthday consisted of Carrie, Jacob, and I eating some gulten-free cake, drinking wine, and watching Arrested Development. NOT TOO SHABBY. Tuesday consisted of a continued celebration of dollar tacos and 3 dollar IPA pints. Wednesday, the greenest of all holidays, was fraught with grapefruit mixtures and dart playing. Thursday we drank some lemonade and danced to the folky beats of the Kerosene Kondors at the Caspar Inn. Right now I’m in Ukiah waiting for my deathtrap recalled car to get its pedal fixed before going to retrieve two dear members of my family from Santa Rosa. HELLO BIRTHDAY WEEK AWESOMNESS.

Let’s see what else? I need to take a poll. Or rather, I want to use my one and only lifeline: ask the audience. Should I stay another year here? Learn how to surf really well? Take classes for nursing at the local community college? Continue to make more friends? Keep learning/acquiring great skills and participating in trainings I need for life? Or should I go back to St. Louis where I have no plan and it’s cold? HELP!

Also, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and CASH $$$. Don’t worry you will all be receiving personalized and loving thank-yous in the mail but I just wanted to mention how much I appreciated getting cards and everything on my DAY where it’s all about me. I think I have enough to buy a wet suit if I wanted to. Jacob is trying to convince me. It’s almost working.

more nose.

Hey! Carrie took some more nose pictures with her phone. Niiiiice. My piercing guy was the coolest.

surf nose

CALIFORNIA KNOWS HOW TO PARTY. haha. yo! ready for some updates?! So I’m learning how to surf, thanks to a new found friend (Jacob) who has lots of time and extra surf stuff. I don’t have any good photos yet cause its hard to bring the camera to the beach but I’ll have one soon! I got to wear a wetsuit. Its like having a whale skin or an otter coat. Simply being in the ocean is pretty amazing in and of itself but I’m super stoked to be learning how to ride the waves as well. You may have noticed that I just said that I was “stoked.” People say that all the time around here. Its new California lingo that I have decided to adopt simply because it is both hilarious and extremely useful in accurately describing my excitement about something. Other words that are pretty prolific in the average young-ish northern Californian’s dialect include rad, gnarly, and hella. For the record, I will never use gnarly but I’m pretty ok with rad and hella. Yes!

The second order of business to discuss is my recent cathartic image modifications. I chopped my hair shorter (ALL BY MYSELF IN THE MIRROR) and got my nose pierced. Then I ordered some new shoes. Carrie Gerard gets all the credit for finding these hot kicks. Interestingly enough Carrie’s first conversation with Jacob was about how awesome those shoes are. Then, a few weekends later I borrowed them and wore them out and he chatted me up about them too. These interactions have culminated in both Jacob and me getting a pair. Basically, all three of us are going to have the same shoes in like a week. Coolest kids in Fort Bragg right here!

my nose

So anyway, after all has been said, done, bought, and pierced I am officially a new woman. I feel great and am HAPPY. I never realized how much unsatisfactory relationships were effecting my health and well-being. Now I can focus on the present and the new friendships I have here.

Below are some photos of  the awesome day Carrie, Jacob and I had today.

surf boards!

my nose

our awesome day (in pictures)

encouraging emails, office spaces.

So HEY. I took some photos of  my office for all you crazies who were requesting such things (Grandpa). Also, I thought I would COPY/PASTE an email my supervisor sent to EVERYONE in the clinic about all the stuff we’ve got happenin. It’s kinda a big deal, I think!

From: Stacy Pollina
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 2:18 PM
To: List.Everyone
Subject: Teen Clinic @ MCC

Hey Everyone!

I want to give you all the update on what is happening over here at Sequoia Circle with our Teen Clinic @ MCC. We are set to open walk-in hours for teens on Thursday afternoons from 3 to 6 pm, starting on 2/25/10!!!  Any young person in our community who wants access to free and confidential reproductive health services can just come on by and walk in the back door of Sequoia on Thursdays after school.  During those hours, we will be setting up the lobby with posters, info, resources, materials, and free stuff (including condoms and lube) to make our space as teen friendly and accessible as possible.

Katie (our AmeriCorps wonder woman) will be here to sign kids up for FamPact, and help walk them through the process.  They will see either Kei or Jenna at that time for a consultation, conversation, pregnancy test, STI check, or whatever it is they need.  Katie has been spending a lot of time at the different high schools, educating and getting to know the youth in our community.  We are already having kids coming in for appointments and walking in for services—pregnancy tests, STI checks and birth control.  It is all very exciting and new.

One of the big issues with teens is their confidentiality.  SO, there will be a learning curve for us as we serve clients who may be seen at the Clinic for other reasons—with their parents—but wish to keep their teen clinic visits confidential.  Contacting kids on their cell phones, texting and email will be a great way for us to be in touch, while maintaining their confidentiality.

We will be using regular medical charts.  If someone already has a chart at the clinic, we will have their Teen Clinic visits documented in there.  We are planning on marking all Teen Clinic charts with a lavender stripe on the front to identify them.  Also, the patient registration form—although the same as for all patients—will be lavender as well.  I am really excited that we are increasing awareness and providing access for young people in our community.

Stay tuned for more info.  I will be out of the office next week, and back on 2/23.

Please contact me with any questions or ideas.  Also, anyone can text Katie at 314/882-1954 anytime.

Thanks so much!  Spread the word.

~Stacy

Awesome stuff, eh??

Below are photos of where I work! My office, Stacy’s office, the hallway (HOW INTERESTING), and so on.  I don’t have to share my office anymore either. ITS ALL MINE (which is why it is waaaay messier than it used to be).

And finally an article from the New York Times that basically describes a large part of my job. Answering sex ed questions via text message. Pretty cool stuff.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/fashion/03sexed.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

meeting 2.

K I’m sorry I keep talking about TAG but gosh my students are really awesome! Today we had a meeting (even though they had a half day at school) and ate some sandwiches and made identity charts. (Thanks to Claire for the good idea!!) I’m super pumped about how motivated and willing they are to help make the teen clinic awesome, be helpers during middle school sex ed presentations, and do general outreach among their peers. Pictured below are a few of their “identity charts.” Basically they are addressing the question “Who Am I?”  pictorially. Its just a cool community building/getting to know you activity. Also, there a few “sex ed” cartoons that one of the girls found on the internets. Very excited that these kids have a sense of humor.

my chart and a creative paper airplane shaped one!

moar charts. we’ve got some straight artists!

Plz note that dudes face.

hahahahahaha!