Ranging in Washington DC!

So I am now officially a park ranger in Washington DC! It is very different from what I experienced at Wind Cave last summer, but I think I am really going to enjoy it a lot. There is an incredible amount of diversity in terms of what I am talking about here! I am basically covering every facet of American history from Colonial America all the way through the Vietnam War! It is a bit overwhelming, but I am sure I will be able to manage. :) It is invigorating and stimulating to be in an environment in which I can both draw upon so much from my previous studies and knowledge and also learn so many new things! It is a very different experience living here, but I have found a house to live in right in the main part of Washington DC within easy walking distance of the metro, which I am using to go into work each day. It seems like I am working with a good group of people, though there are 110 rangers working on the mall, so there are many I have not even met yet! One of the other new hires actually worked at Wind Cave the summer before I did and we have become fast friends.

I just got internet access last night so now I will actually be able to check email and do things online with some consistency! And I have cell phone service! Both very different from Wind Cave!

My address here in DC is as follows....

2125 4th St. NE

Washington DC, 20002

It is rather funny to ride the metro and walk around in a park ranger uniform in the middle of the city. All the other new employees are not in uniform, but with everything I already had (including the felt flat hat which I got this last summer even though I didn't have to yet) I have been able to put together a full uniform, which makes me look much more official and legitimate! We went through five days of training and then started on the job, actually being on site and interacting with visitors. I am not required to give talks, but I really want to so of course I am! I actually gave three talks at the WWII memorial the first day I was posted anywhere and spent the entire day out in the memorial talking to people. Just that one day was an amazing experience that was filled with unique and significant moments. Here are a few examples....

-I met a guy who was in the army during the war and stationed here in the US, but was set to ship out to the Pacific theater on August 7, 1945. That is the day after we dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. So from his perspective, the bomb kept him here in the US and meant he did not have to go and invade the mainland of Japan

-I met another veteran who served in the Pacific Theater in the Navy and was a part of the naval action surrounding Guadalcanal and other major conflict in the pacific

-Another guy started talking to me about how significant the memorial is to him because of how important WWII and the American involvement of America in it is to him as a Jew. He went on to tell me that he was from Israel and that the American involvement in the war was important to him, not only because it ended the Holocaust and removed Hitler from power, but also because it led to Israel becoming its own nation in 1948. He had come all the way here just to see that memorial.

And that is just a small selection from that day, my first day on the job! In addition to the actual job I am ideally positioned to see so much of American history. I spent five and a half hours going through the Holocaust Museum on Wednesday, which was very emotional and moving. Then that night I watched the movie "Inglorious Basterds," which was a perfect movie to watch after being so angry with Hitler and what he did!

In addition to my own joy in what I am doing, it seems as though my supervisors like me and that i have made a favorable impression. That was helped very much by me unknowingly making a very positive impression on a woman who I spoke to at WWII on Sunday. It just so happens that this woman is the Deputy Regional Director for the Pacific West region of the Parks service and upon returning from the memorial she took the trouble to write to her counterpart here on the East Coast, who then forwarded said comments to the higher ups at the mall, who passed in on to my supervisors who not only passed it on to me, but also read it aloud in front of the entire night shift when they were coming on tonight. Here is what she wrote...

"On my first day in DC I was roaming around enjoying the mall... ran across many of your staff, but most notably a really great interpreter at the WWII memorial named Garrett Radke. He was engaging, very knowledgeable, answering questions and volunteering information, making proactive contacts, letting visitors know (to their surprise) that they were in a national park, where else they might want to visit, and wearing the uniform well - including flathat - in this cold weather. Very professional, made us look good. And it turns out it's his first day on the job! Good hire."

Now that's confirmation! And then after I was made aware of this, the guy who hired me, who is also one of my supervisors, told me that I am doing a "kick-ass job," which made me laugh, but also think that I am in a good place! Who knows what will happen next?   

Off to be a Ranger in Washington DC!

To begin with I did complete my travels and arrive safely back in Phoenix after also moving out of my house in California. Now I am engaged in helping repair old things around the house and trying to deal with a whole lot of stuff to sort through!

A few days ago I received a phone call out of the blue from the NPS office on the mall in Washington DC offering me a nine month position as an interpreter. This morning I received a second call saying that my initial background check is cleared (since I just did it a few months ago at Wind Cave) and offering me an official start date of January 4, 2010. I accepted. So I am heading to Washington DC to be a park ranger! 

New Life Out of the Ashes

In the classic image of the Phoenix new life is birthed out of the ashes of fires that have come before. As I sit this morning in the quiet of my home in Phoenix, AZ the image stands prominently in my mind, made more potent because of what this day signifies. Today marks the 68th anniversary of the day that will forever live in infamy, the day that Japanese bombers and torpedo planes launched a remarkably effective surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor.

It was an attack that had many repercussions, most directly serving as a catalyst for the overt entry of the United States into WWII. No other conflict has ever so captured the multi-facets of humanity as profoundly. Ranging over much of Europe, North Africa, both western and eastern Asia, and both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it was a great conflict that affected the entire world and touched the lives of all of us. The number of people who remember those days is rapidly dwindling as the years roll by, and we who live now would do well to pay attention to the stories before they are lost to history. For the events of those years continue to influence and impact our lives today in diverse and multifaceted ways.

We are poised on the edge of a new era. Of that I have no doubt, but I also believe that we have the power to influence and determine what that era will be. Oft called the "greatest generation", those that lived through the experience of WWII and came out on the other side shaped world we are living in today. We have a responsibility to do the same. Must we wait until the fires of war consume us before we act, or are there enough fires already burning that we might affect change now and be born anew from the ashes?

Causing positive change is often far easier than we realize. Perhaps we can't rebuild the whole structure, but we can do much to make the existing structure better. I have spent much of the last two weeks working to repair, rebuild, repaint, and shore up an old chicken coop in my backyard. During the era of WWII it housed chickens in downtown Phoenix. Since those days it has sat idle, slowly falling into disrepair, filled with the accumulation of generations gone by. For decades it has sat in disrepair because it was too big of a job, too overwhelming to tackle, and too hard to fix the many problems contained therein. So the problems just kept growing worse and we did little more than watch it happen. Finally, we decided to do something about it, and it has been amazing to see the slow transformation, out of the dust of apathy, and into something new. It doesn't look pretty. It doesn't look new, but it is beginning to have a new identity. And perhaps someday soon we might be able to once again use the greek term Telios to describe it as "perfect," fulfilling its created purpose once again. See, the original intention of the structure was to house chickens, but the larger purpose was to provide shelter, so although the chickens have moved on we can repair and modify the structure to fulfill its purpose in a different way. It can still find a place and purpose in the postmodern world.

Perhaps the world at large isn't so different from an 80 year old chicken coop in downtown Phoenix. Perhaps by tackling the many issues one at a time and sticking with it we can begin to see our world take a different shape, one that still fulfills the intended purpose of its creator, but transformed into something new out of the old. Perhaps rather than sitting idly by we can remember that day of infamy as a catalyst for action and a catalyst for change and continue to carry on the legacy of those of have come before and help to bring new birth out of the ashes surrounding us.

Some "final" Thoughts

Funny how things end up moving so very quickly near the end! It seems like there is still much that I am trying to do before leaving and that doesn't even include such things as trying to see people, which is usually very much a part of this sort of thing! It was strange coming in to open the visitor center this morning and realizing that this is the last time that I will be doing that. The last time I will do the weather, put up the flag, anything... I close everything tomorrow for the last time. I am glad it worked out that way though, I will be the last person to leave the building tomorrow after closing everything down one last time.

I have been getting rather creative with food, trying to eat things up before leaving. I made an excellent pot of stew a couple of days ago that used up a bunch of vegetables and some beef that I had in the freezer. It actually turned out to be some of the best stew I have ever made! Now I need to eat up the rest of it so that I can clean the crockpot and pack that in the car! Other feasts have included such things as pancakes and bratwurst. I had bisquick that needed to be used so I made pancakes for breakfast yesterday morning and I had cooked up some brauts on the grill the other day but didn't have any buns so yesterday for lunch I ate the sausage wrapped in pancakes. It was... interesting!

So last night I was burning the last of the wood I had collected because I need to get everything cleaned tonight and having a bunch of wood stacked up is not the cleanest situation! So anyway, I ended up making quite the fire! The heat nearly drove me out of the room and I unintentionally released smoke out into the room, which quickly permeated the whole house. I discovered that I actually have four smoke detectors in the house, and guess what? They all work!

I have succeeded in getting a lot of stuff, not only packed, but actually in my truck, and will get even more of that done tonight. The plan is still to leave early Sunday morning and start heading east. I have all sorts of maps and directions and plans so we shall see how it all works out! I am attaching my "calendar" as best as I know it at the moment so you have at least some idea where I am! It is very much subject to change and modification of course, but at least it gives you the basic idea!

There is supposed to be rain for a good chunk of tomorrow and there is a 20% chance that it will turn into light snow after midnight Saturday night. I am really hoping that it will not do so, or that it will only be a light dusting, because that could make things a little harder with leaving!

I am also doing all the final check out stuff necessary for me to leave, which includes my official final meeting with Ted, my supervisor. So I had that meeting yesterday and it went extraordinarily well! He definitely did much to confirm me and my abilities as an interpreter. He told me that I have a gift as an interpreter and that he would not only recommend me in any way he could, but also push for anyone to hire me if he was ever given the opportunity. He also told me that I had received more visitor feedback forms than anyone else this summer and clearly was connecting with the visitors in a powerful way as well. And he rated me as exceptional in customer service, interpretation, and for working with others as a team, which are the three main evaluation categories. So basically is was a huge validation of me and what I have done here. He also told me again that they want me back and are planning on me coming in April, but that if something else came along that is totally fine. I have not signed a contract and do not have to come back here if I did change my mind for whatever reason, which was very nice of him as well! And Tom said very similar things today as he left, again telling me that I was a great hire and that he is very glad that he had me come this year and wants me to come back. So that is a pretty nice note to leave on!

Finishing the adventure and soon embarking on the next!

The End has Come: The board is Set: The Pieces are Moving

The end has nearly come! I am down to only nine remaining tours at Wind Cave. That is pretty crazy to think about being finished after doing so many! It has continued to be a lot slower...until today. Apparently schools in Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota all decided to have parent-teacher conferences and not have school today. Well that had a rather profound impact on us since all sorts of families suddenly showed up at Wind Cave! And only Charlie and I were working today so we had to get rather creative in getting people into the cave. Both Mary and Ted (my supervisors) ended up leading extra tours and we switched the later tours to natural entrance tours in order to facilitate more people. All told we took an extra 100 people through the cave in addition to what our maximum number would have been had everything sold out. Pretty crazy!

That meant I did get to do one final Natural Entrance tour, which was exciting for me. I enjoy that tour a lot more and had fun doing it one last time before leaving. I had all kinds of kids on the tour which is very different from what it has been recently! That meant that my whole tour ended up changing and being very different than what I normally would do. I also had several screaming babies on the tour. I really do not understand why parents bring their infants into the cave. What do they think their child is going to do in that environment?! They do occasionally sleep, but much more often they fuss and scream the entire time. Add to that the fact that I built everything up to the point of lighting the candle and turning off the lights in the post office (the first stop on the tour) only to find that the candle was completely burnt down so I couldn't do it! Luckily we do have a second point later on the tour where you can do a blackout and there is another candle, otherwise I would have had a lot of disappointed people! So it was a very interesting day at work today, to be sure!

I will soon be leaving and departing upon a journey that will take me across much of the country and end back in Phoenix. My first season as a park ranger is nearing its completion!

Living in dangerous wonder...