Howdy partners!

I’ve lived in good ol’ Burkburnett, Texas for…exactly 6 weeks today. (Isn’t it weird that every time I’ve written any of these Texas town names that I’m dealing with here, I’ve had the uncontrollable urge to precede it with “good ol’”? It’s a necessary component to all of their names. Sorry, State of Texas, for being so condescending but consider it a term of endearment.) SIX WEEKS! And all of it has been a mystery as far as you’re concerned. Well no more! Today is the day I reveal the truth about my fast-paced, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants life for that last month and a half. (Excellent. I believe I have now adequately set you up for disappointment due to the basic lack of excitement that Texas has brought me :))

As many of you know, my project here is focused on filing taxes for low-income families. So after two weeks of being back in the classroom (which was awesome! I miss school!) all thirteen of us earned a VITA certification (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) that qualified us to do taxes at the Advanced Level. It sounds slightly cooler than it is. I mean, yes it’s great to have a better grasp on this immortal and eternal entity in the lives of all Americans that is taxes, but believe me anyone could get this certification. You could do it. Actually you should go get it right now so struggling families will no longer feel that the only way to get their taxes done is by PAYING some refund-robbin’ root-tootin’ sonofagun big time corporation to do so. Go ahead, get a move on. I’ll wait. I have all the time in the world because there’s not a darn thing to do around here. Luckily our work days are long, varying between either nine straight hours of taxes or a half day of going door-to-door and a half day of tax prep, because otherwise I’d drive myself crazy. You can only dive into so many books, can only watch so many TV shows, can only blog so much (haha :)) before going cross-eyed. So yes the longer days have been nice. We’ve actually had a ton of people from the community step forward and sponsor fun activities for us too, so that’s been keeping me at least mildly entertained. I’ll put up pictures (probably), but we’ve been provided everything from basketball tickets at the local college, to box seats at a D3 hockey game, to a tour of Sheppard Air Force Base (a pivotal U.S. base, actually), to a “Day on the Ranch” filled with horseback riding, paddle boating, canoeing, longhorn appreciating, and skeet shooting!, to a sponsored day trip to Fort Worth to see the legendary Billy Bob’s Honky Tonk, etc. etc. etc. We’ve gotten countless handouts in the forms of food, resources, even news coverage. All in all we’ve had an outstanding amount of hospitality thrown our way here; so much in fact that we haven’t really had many days off at all. So I’ve seen north Texas. A lot. And a lot of it. And on top of its fair share of noteworthy characteristics, it has also served as another place to mark off my list of future locales. So thanks for that, north Texas.

This work is definitely meaningful, so don’t confuse my natural boredom toward where I’m livinig with complacency. I have had some crazy interactions here.

One of my favorite “kinds” of families are the ones that were clearly working day in and day out to get themselves back up on their feet. The kinds of families that pull themselves up by their bootstraps even when they’re going without boots. The kinds who come in and give you six W-2’s and when you look back at them to express your amazement it is only then when you see the bags under their red eyes for what they’re worth. The kinds who are covered in tattoos that are turning blue with age, one of which is a tear drop underneath his left eye, who provide you with identification cards clearly stating that they are not to leave the state of Texas, and who despite their blatantly obviously haggard pasts have still managed to hold three honest jobs, stay married for ten years, and raised three heartbreakingly delightful children, all under the age of thirty. The kinds who end up getting the smallest refund you’ve seen all day but who jump for joy at the sound of it. The work I’m doing here obviously doesn’t have the benefit of considering itself to be as glamorous as, say, building a house in New Orleans or working on a trail in Boulder, but the importance of it shouldn’t escape a critic. I get to help people in need every single day, and with each new client I get a new sense of the way our system both assists these families in some ways while simultaneously keeps them right there where it likes them. Most of them will never get out of their income bracket, and most of them are not to blame for that truth. It’s just a byproduct of our society; if you don’t invest in education you miss out on an investment toward your future. Okay, I get that, but what about these people who couldn’t afford good education in a million years, America?? The people who weighed the cost of dropping out of 7th grade against losing their alcoholic dad’s farm, their livelihood?? This project has given me an up-close and personal look at the byproducts of our polarized culture, and no degree of boredom with Texas could cloud that vision.

So anywho, I know where I’m headed to next! That’s right, back to Nola to work with Habitat for Humanity again!!! It was my first pick for projects and I’m ecstatic. We shuffle up next round so all of the five Sun Unit teams are mixing around and melding into five new teams. By the sounds of it my new family will be just as baller as my current one, so it’s going to be a blast.

Keep in touch with me! Hope you’re doing well!

kt