Get Carter

OK some background. When I became aware of myself Jimmy Carter was President. My third grade class was the first to integrate and everything made sense. The Busing in my history book had finally reached these Yankee Indian Hills. There was something ominous to me in the idea that someone else would be President. I long imagined how could it happen. Watching the adults around me watching it happen I understood something totally new for the first time.
Today I understand it was history. Desegregation stopped. The white middle class deserted the inner-ring suburbs. The largest economy in the history of the world set to work upon their new markets and new suburbs. You see my generation was told a lie and an illusion. Yet we all pretend so well that something is real in race. Today it is the RTA bus driver who sets me to task, “we’re all in this thing together.”
I ride the bus almost everyday I come from Euclid I-90 west Cleveland 39F when I catch it. There is a place in the city I like to think I see the most. I live in Euclid on East 233rd street next to Sims Park. This stretch of Lakeshore Boulevard is considered downtown Euclid. As you drive through this area you are sure to be stopped by at least one red light. We couldn’t have people just drive through without stopping to have a look. We have a movie theater in our neighborhood, pizza delivery, blockbuster video, CVS, Marc’s and all the necessities for the downtown of an inner ring suburb. Of course the movie theater doesn’t take credit cards, I’m not too sure what that means, but I was sure taken by surprise and ended up renting a video that brisk April night. The link to downtown Cleveland here is RTA’s 39F, my bus. I don’t now what percentage of Euclid works downtown, but every morning I jump in the flow and every afternoon we make our way back to Euclid. As I pass downtown I normally see seniors going about there business, you see the kids are at school; the rest of us are usually at work and Euclid for those fleeting afternoons seems to be overrun with retiree’s. Later in the afternoon the families start to return to their natural majority. That’s when I come home normally. There is only one real reason I live here in Euclid. Well my grandparents and parents are here, but that’s not really the reason. I live next to Simms Park; you see here in Euclid and most places in Cuyahoga County there doesn’t seem to be any associated cost for living on the lakeshore. Everyday that we can we go down to the beach with our daughter and make believe we live somewhere on the ocean. You see I’ve been on many of coastlines in my time and they all have one quality in common: the water meeting the land. I haven’t lived in the Cleveland area five years so maybe I have a different perspective, but the shoreline here for me is as enjoyable just to watch as any other shoreline. I grew up in Euclid, but I didn’t learn that here. As I traveled I have seen coastal people and have always been envious. There is something about them that defies qualification. Maybe it’s too much sun on the brain, but there is always something. I normally find myself envious watching young children who have known no other life than the shoreline. There is a certain percentage of the population that lives on the shoreline and in my estimation they are in an advantages position; if just the simple sound of the water meeting the land to add a certain knowledge to their soul.
It is at this point that I normally remember that Clevelander’s are a coastal people. They’re not like any I’ve come across before. I guess when I think about it we have our boats and certainly an advantage over many a city, but there are many problems. The first thing that seems backward to me is that we seem to build too much industry along the shore. The St. Clair- Superior neighborhood is an example of this phenomenon of neighborhoods cutting themselves off from the lake. In Euclid it’s a different story, we have our access, but we just don’t seem to have our connection. As someone who grew up in Euclid I find it doubtful that I am the exception: I have never felt like a coastal person as I watch the fisherman bring in there catch along the Mediterranean. There are more beautiful stretches of shore in that part of the world, but there are worse and what’s more they seem to me the same. Well maybe it’s because Lake Erie sometimes has a tendency to freeze over in the winter. Perhaps this is the reason for our cool relations.
Simms Park comes to life with the spring. Walking there on a nice spring afternoon it is always alive, but seldom crowded. You can always find yourself 100ft of personal space. Between the lovers, families, friends and occasional marching band there is always more beach than us. The beach is unguarded and posted for no swimming and that I’m sure keeps the crowds away. Still as I look back to Lakeshore Boulevard it seems to me that many people are simply not aware of the incredible gift they have in Cleveland. Maybe even the only one; whoever decided to build downtown on a wind swept knoll may have though different. The Indians knew not to build there. Of course there are other things that keep people away. The first time I walked the beach this year in the sun I was overcome with the smell of dead fish. I tried to rationalize this fact, but of all the coast lines I’ve been down I have never seen such a situation. Big fish little fish all kinds of fish. No one seems overly concerned as the Euclid Park maintenance people plow the piles away. You see the kind of things I’m talking about are not the primary things they are concerned with in Simms Park. Sometime ago there was a decision made to turn this shoreline into a big drain for the freeway system. That’s just Clevelander thinking for you: the lake is nature’s way of making our sewage problems go away. Between where I live and the beach is a large concrete pipe that constantly brings runoff water from I-90. Around this pipe are more dead little fish and dead big fish. It is a sad place that no one seems to see. I would like to have been able to be at the meeting where this decision was made. As a resident of Euclid I find it hard to believe that it was made in my interest. Of course if we’re not really coastal people. All we need is a higher percentage of the fortune 500 in town? First we need to understand our assets.

When I arrive in Bosnia the war was still raging. Zenica is a central area and was relatively far from the frontlines. There was occasional shelling in the summer of 1995 in Zenica. I arrived in the Youth House with a very broad job description. I stayed in the center eight hours a day and was forced to create a place for myself. There had been constant problems with the video teacher, I had had a semester of video art in high school and took over the video department. I was responsible for creating curriculum for video classes and workshops. I lead many mixed video groups in various field experiences including documenting the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to the UMCOR office in Tulza. The Travnik Youth House was opened in September and my video project was expanded to include Travnik. I traveled regularly bringing children from Zenica to Travnik and vise versa. I also took an active role within the UMCOR office, but unlike the professionals I worked with I had an alternate space in the Youth House. I gained exposure to crisis refugee management including the building of a tent city after the fall of Srebrenica in July of 1995 and Zepa a week later. During these times it was not uncommon for 10,000 refugees to arrive in a single night. The war in Bosnia finished in November of 1995.

May 96 – Nov. 96 United Methodist Committee on Relief; Zenica, Bosnia
In early 1996 I passed up an opportunity to be the long term volunteer in Sarajevo. I had been part of the team that created the project after the signing of the Dayton agreement. While Sarajevo offered greater possibilities I chose to stay in Zenica as I had developed close ties in my work there. In May of 1996 I was offered the position of Community Services Officer, which included responsibilities throughout Bosnia. While I spent part of every week on the road I kept Zenica as my primary location. During this time I was the lead person for the creation of a Youth House Project in Sanki Most (northwestern Bosnia) and developmental plans for Gorazda (Eastern Bosnia). From my experience in Zenica I was able to create budgets, schedules, and most importantly I designed the usage of the space. With as many as fifteen activities taking place it was crucial to keep the space constantly in use. My primary tasks involved supporting the general implementation of Youth House projects (Zenica, Sarajevo, Travnik, Sanki Most, and Gornji Vakuf). My secondary task implementation of the video project "Witness" in cooperation with the Lawyers Committee on Human Rights. The Witness project was designed to give free video equipment to organizations involved with human rights in the hopes of expanded documentation. Along with my students we created several documentary films. The highlight of this time was a documentation of the tunnel that lead in and out of Sarajevo during the siege of Sarajevo. In the summer of 1996 I also worked as a featured extra in the movie “Welcome to Sarajevo,” I played the first of two cameramen for Woody Harlsons character. I was scheduled to work ten days including shooting in Croatia and Macedonia. I was only able to work four days due to my commitments to UMCOR. For two summers I supplied logistical support for the short-term volunteer program. At peak times I average 600KM travel distance a day. Through this process I was exposed to administrative task involved in large volunteer projects. There was on average eight groups coming for two weeks throughout the summer. At this time the Sarajevo Airport was closed and the airport in Split, Croatia was used as the arrival point. I along with one other driver were responsible for coordinating free time in Split for each group upon their arrival and departure. We each drove a passenger van with an average of eight volunteers each. During this time I had a perfect driving record driving on war ravaged roads and improvised United Nations supply roads. I also had extensive exposure and coordination with UNPROFOR, IFOR, and SFOR (Peace Keeping Missions). Eventually I lost my position due to a controversy involving intellectual property within the Youth House System. Students came to me with documentation of wrong doings that had earlier been passed over by the Head of Mission’s wife (then Director of Social Services). After an extended battle students asked me to return the material as they did not wish to continue. I was fired and hired the next day by our partner organization in Gornji Vakuf.
III. Secondary tasks involved coordination of activities with the UMCOR offices in Mostar, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Gornji Vakuf, Travnik, and Banja Luka in creation of video propaganda using youth house video students as implementing members.
IV. During my time I witnessed total implementation budgets grow from $1,000,000 to over 40,000,000.
V. Participation and performance as a volunteer led to a paid position with expanded responsibilities.
VI. Logistical support for outreach project serving 9 refugee camps throughout central Bosnia.

Nov. 96 – Dec. 97 United Nations Development Program; Gornji Vakuf, Bosnia
Youth Development Volunteer
I had worked with this volunteer group helping to create the Youth House project in Gornji Vakuf. From the start I worked in the over-all UNOV and as a subordinate to the local coordinator the Youth Club Project.

VII. Primary task involved developing and implementing a 15,000 DEM video income generation* and cultural documentation project within the project "Youth Club '96."
VIII. Including project design, proposal writing, logistics and general administration.
IX. Participation at Civil Service International’s Balkan Task Force conference in Slovenia in 1997.
X. Participation and logistical support at Pax Christi’s youth seminars throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bringing mixed groups of youth together.
XI. Secondary tasks involved coordination of activities with the Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Jablinica and Mostar "round table" of youth oriented local organizations.
XII. Responsible for documenting OSCE’s youth festival “Some Like it Hot” in 1998 working with youth from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
XIII. Logistical support for members participation at the Pavorati Music Center opening in Mostar working with youth from both sides of the divided town.

During my time there we registered Youth Club ’96 as a local NGO. Funders included OSCE and US Aid. Direct coordination of relationship with US Aid. Conflict resolution skills gained through summer camp with mixed Moslem, Croatian and Serb youth as well as various other conflict resolution skills seminars. Project administration, budget, proposal writing. Extensive logistical support of club members: planning, resource allocation and coordination with UNDP office. Created curriculum for video and newspaper sections in the club. Including supervision and training for desk to publishing. Extensive coordination with and exposure to the British IFOR/SFOR Headquarters Located in Gornji Vakuf. Attended weekly administrative meetings for the larger UNDP volunteer project. This project received a very good review by the UN, we considered ourselves the lowest level of the United Nations as the janitors in the building in New York were making much more money. During times of need the volunteers pooled money from personal stipend for the operating budget. The coordinator of the project went on to create a large rehabilitation project in Travnik with UNDP.

Jan 98 – Sept. 99
I moved to Nis, Serbia in Jan. 1998 after my contract expired with then UNDP project in Gornji Vakuf. I had saved five hundred DEM, which in Serbia was a very sizeable amount of money. I had met my future wife at the U2 concert in Sarajevo through mutual friends working in the peace movement. I arrived in Nis with hopes of working with the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Resolution. I had spent October of 1997 in Nis before deciding to relocate there. The language usage was very different in Serbia for me, but it is basically the same language. My wife is a refugee from Sarajevo and speaks a variant I was more comfortable with. I originally extended my visa by working as an English teacher at the University in Nis. I was not paid for this work, but receive free Serbian language classes. On July 4th , 1998 with my money running out we were married in Nis. We had decided to live with her parents in order for her to finish her degree. My wife was in her last year of Environmental Studies and was the coordinator of the environmental project “Eko Tim” in the center. Are estimation of the situation was that things would most likely not get worse. Serbia had struggled many years, but for the most part had not seen much change. We had made her degree our first priority. We worked in the center and lived with her parents in Nis. Her brother had recently relocated to Canada, which opened up space in her parents apartment. Most housing in Nis is allocated by the number of people in the family. I attended a weeklong interview process with the Balkan Peace Team in Holland. Eight candidates participate in workshops and “Long Role Playing” situations. I was later declined as a candidate due to my marriage to a Serbian woman. My daughter was born in Nis April 26, 1999. I was the only American present in Nis during the NATO Bombing campaign. I returned from Sarajevo the second day of the bombing (international border crossing – avoidance of conflict). I met with the Regional Secretary for the Global Board of Ministries March 23 (the reason for my trip to Sarajevo). I witnessed first hand so called collateral damage when my wife’s Grandfather was thrown out of bed and all his windows broken by the mistaken bombing of the apartment building across the street. The hospital my daughter was born in was also mistakenly bombed the day before the Chinese Embassy was mistakenly bombed. My daughter had been released the day before; I had taken my wife hours before to have her bandage changed for an infection she had received in the hospital. We relocated to Cleveland in September 1999 to complete my degree (My wife left six credit hours away from her degree in Environmental Studies) after 4-½ years cultural immersion working with grass-roots groups and Multi –million dollar NGO’s.