Operation Minnesota

Hello friends!

I am typing from my brother's macbook in my cousin's house outside of Minneapolis. I am here for the Green Schools National Youth Summit, which starts tomorrow. I'm so excited!

I arrived last night around 8:45, and I made a point to sit on the left side of the plane to see the sunset. It was glorious! I wish the earth were molded like clouds, or perhaps I wish I could see the earth in all its expansiveness. For a while the plane sat between layers of clouds, so everything around us was highlighted in the dying golden light. Magenta, golden, brilliant clouds. There was a darker cumulonimbus fit for Zeus. Amazing I can be so high up above it all; I'm sure our ancestors would think it impossible.

Later, after the sunset, I began reading the training packet for The Waking Up Experience, which will be a section of the conference on Monday. As part of the National Leadership Team, we will be facilitating Wake Up, which I'm very much looking forward to. One of its parts is about looking to future generations for support amidst the epic systematic problems that we face. I hope that our children's children will be living in a safe, sustainable, thriving world, and on that hope we may act to create change.

Right now my second cousins, Maddox and Finn, are "tickling" my brother Ben on the couch. (I quote that because they are really jumping on him and screaming.) Maddox is dressed up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for a costume party in the neighborhood, and Ben and I are going to go to dinner and a movie with Monica later. I can't stay up too late, though, because I've a busy day tomorrow.

In the morning, Monica and I are going to attend a portion of the Northland Bioneers Conference at Macalaster College. Timothy, a friend I met at August Gathering and one of the founders of Grand Aspirations (the program in which Summer of Solutions is based), will be talking about our moment of choice in this rapidly deteriorating society. I heard a speech similar to this one in August, but I want to share with Monica more of what I've been working on in the past few months. (For those of you who have just started following The Paper Year and my project, Summer of Solutions that sparked my activism and Green Food Solutions -- learn more about it here.)

It's getting a little hectic, so that's all for now. Hopefully one of the people on the team will bring a laptop and let me borrow it for more updates. Thank you all for your support and kindness. I am able to pursue this incredible opportunity because of your consideration, interest, and donations. Please come back for more updates on my project (or, to make it easier on you, just follow me on Blogger or through Google!).

Thanks always!

Best,
Serena

P.S. I brought the camera but forgot the card, so you'll have to be patient for photos. (They're worth it!)