North African Adventures, Homeless in ATL, WV Hoopla, Lebron James, and More...

What's up guys,

Thanks for the encouraging responses, snide-remark-friend to boot. Glad I can use this thing to put some thoughts into words and keep up to date with everyone in the process. Jon, if you like I'll paste all my posts into emails so you don't feel like you're getting left behind.

So the last month has been fairly crazy. Been spending time traveling a ton, navigating typical life decisions, developing perspective, reconnecting with old friends, celebrating new ones, evaluating new paths, grounding myself, and just trying to have fun in the process. A lot's gone on in the past month, so I'll try to make this easy.


Trip to Spain and Morocco
End of May - June 15
Left Atlanta on May 30th for a two week sojourn through Spain and Morocco. It was a fantastic trip full of old buildings, wine, art, hiking, biking, swimming, beautiful women, new ideas, Islam, cultural exchange, hookahs, new friends, looking touristy, awkward stares, strange Arabic words, haggling with taxi drivers, haggling with store owners, haggling with normal people, haggling with just about everyone in the f-ing g-dang country of Morocco, getting lost, getting found, boiled snails, broken Spanish, Lonely Planet references, live music, donkeys, writing, countryside excursions, maps, photography, interesting discussion, Berber guides who were unabashedly open about their intentions to marry their cousins, and, well... you get the idea. Bottom line is that the experience was totally awesome.

Over the trip I hit up about 8 different cities - Barcelona, Marrakech, Ourika, Fez, Chefchaouen, Akshur, Asilah, and Tangier, although the main cities were Barcelona, Marrakech, Fez, Chefchaouen, and Asilah. It was sporadically planned for the most part and I realized that it was just fun to be open to new experiences as they presented themselves. My original intention was to take the train up through Morocco, hop on the ferry across the straight, and then travel up through southern Spain back to Barcelona in time for my flight. However, after realizing how much there was to see and do - along with the sheer excitement of flying by the seat of my pants - I decided to take my time in each of the cities I got to upon arriving in Morocco. Just stayed there for the majority of the trip and don't regret it a bit, because I met some fantastic people from all over the world that I wouldn't have met under a more rigorous itinerary.

That being said, the trip was great for three reasons. A, it put a nice stamp on the end of Chapter 1 in Atlanta (don't know when or if Chapter 2 is in the cards). Two, it put many things into perspective regarding the road ahead and left me feeling more eager to tackle new challenges. And D, it was just really awesome to see some new places (Home Alone reference anyone?). To be honest, I don't think I've felt that energized about life in a really, really long time. So if any of you are toying with the idea of cutting ties to travel a bit and clear your head - I'd fully encourage you to do so.

















...because the stuff back here can wait.


Post-Morocco: Leaving ATL; "Small-Town," WV; and Washington D.C.
June 15 - July 3

Leaving ATL
After getting back June 15th I spent the following week putting myself back into an Atlanta rhythm - bouncing between a few friends' couches, breaking things down for my move back up north, enjoying the company of good friends, playing my last time with the band at Veritas, and preparing for my interview with ___________. Basically just floated around between friends places, tying up whatever loose ends I needed to before coming back. With that in mind, let me just say thanks to everyone who put up with me - especially those of you with available couches, cars, trunks, food, beers, and time to spare in helping me sort through the finer matters of transitioning! I came home feeling very grateful for a lot of the people in my life and the sanity ya'll helped me maintain throughout the process. So thanks.

"Small-Town," WV
After leaving Atlanta in a somewhat bittersweet state of mind, I made my way up north around June 22 to stop off in WV for a job interview. Met with this guy ______ at _________, an organization I might be working with this year. I interviewed for a temporary position involving grant writing, research, and community organizing for a few projects they have going on in the area.

The short version is that they're an economic development non-profit doing a lot of work I'm interested in. The long version however, is that I'm still coming to terms with the randomness of it all and the apparent "sacrifice" that will come with living in a place like WV. Since it's not exactly what you would deem as a "cool" place to live, I'm in the process of weighing some pro's and con's and trying to develop perspective on what exactly I want out of the experience. Seems worthwhile though, because I feel like I can learn a ton about myself in the process in terms of what I'm interested in and where I want to go in life. More to come on that later I suppose.

Washington D.C.
After getting to WV, _____ and I headed to DC for a short week to attend a workshop led by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. It was a somewhat wonky event that focused on renewable energy economics, environmental justice, and current clean energy solutions being implemented in communities across the country. Met a lot of interesting people and put some important things into context within myself, the prospective WV opportunity, and broader issues in general before heading back to WV to finish up the interview. Definitely grateful for the experience and a lot of the people I met along the way.

In one example, I came across several people from poor communities across the US that have been severely abused by big utilities and the nuclear power / coal industries. After hearing their stories and learning about how they hope to change their situations for the future, I became deeply touched. Whatever it was, the experience helped me to realize that this opportunity with _______ is more than just a short term position - its an opportunity to connect with a passion I've had for social and environmental justice ever since the middle of college. Can't really explain it but its been there for a while, teeming just below the surface. So we'll see. Hopefully the experience with __________ this year will help me see these things in a lot clearer perspective.


Back in Akron, OH
July 3 - Present

Which brings me to my current destination - Akron (ahhhh, just in time for Lebron's much anticipated free-agency announcement...which, by the way, he's holding an hour-long ESPN special this Thursday to break the news. You'd think he was the President or something). So glad to be home and putting time in with a lot of people I haven't seen for a while, although its weird to feel 18 again. I'm really enjoying it though - figure I'd better soak up the late nights, sloth, parental pampering, disc golf outings, Highland Square bars, and home time in the home town while the getting is good. Never took much time to do that after college, so it'll be nice to get some in for now.

Been thinking a lot though lately that if there's anything I'm bad at (beyond the laundry list of the obvious), it's sitting still. There are a lot of people and places here I'm eager to put time in with. There are also a lot more interesting places in the world to be living in than "Small Town," WV. However, I guess I'll just have to take the long view on this one since it seems like I've pretty much made up my mind. I don't know. There's a great story from "The Alchemist" that's put a lot of this into perspective for me lately. I'll probably include that in a later post...

Either way, that's the short and skinny for now. Talk to you guys later.

Drew