Monday Mornings
July 2, 2019
06/24/2019
The sun radiates a warm yellow as everyone awakes to breakfast. The grass stands still without the wind to come dance with it. Breakfast is done as well as the safety circle. As the blazing sun beats on everyone’s skin, the project partners, Neal and Caleb, drag on about tool safety. Everyone is eager to work. People fidget, yawn, cross their arms, shift on their legs, and sigh. The workday begins and everyone starts off breaking down barbed wire fence. Their faces tighten as they roll up the wire. The more wire they drag out of the ground, the more people fumble, stumble, and grumble. The thousands of pieces of metal eaten by Mother Earth had to be pulled out piece by piece by piece by piece by piece. A boy had cut himself pulling staples out of the fence posts.
“I cut myself”, the boy rolls back his sleeve, lifts his arm, and presents it to the crew leader.
“It’s fine”, as the crew leader dips his head in to look, “we’ll clean it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
As half the crew splits off, the other half continues to rip metal out of Mother Earth’s bosom. The other half clears a path for them. They move forward. They cut and cut and cut while the mosquitos bite and bite and bite and bite and BITE. The workday is over. Everyone sulks and hags their head as they march back. A few kids keep spirits up. They play and play and shout and laugh and shout and laugh.
- Jerry, 17 – Oakland, CA
Jake (bottom left), Lyric (bottom right), Sylvia (middle right), Jerry (middle left), Hannah (top right), Jens (top middle), James (top left), Bryan (horizontal)