Email: Kirk Johnston

Hey Folks!

I write to you from my adobe room on the north side of the YAV house at 1050 South Verdugo Ave. Tucson, AZ 85745. By “adobe,” I mean the walls are made from a straw and mud construction.  I am living in the YAV house with six other YAVs, with another one visiting a couple of times a month from Agua Prieta, a border town in Mexico just across the border from Douglas, Arizona. We also have a neighbor who lives in a dwelling made of straw bale construction in the backyard. He shares our kitchen and house phone.

This year I am working at a placement with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. I share an office with Rick Ufford-Chase, the executive director of the PPF and former moderator of the PC(USA). Rick has mobilized the PPF in their pursuit for peace. The accompaniment program in Colombia, South America, is one of their amazing efforts to work for peace and justice. This program sends short-term mission volunteers in response to a request from leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia for us to accompany them as international eyes while they continue their risky human rights work and their work with communities that have been displaced from the violence during the 40 years of war in Colombia. I have the privilege to co-lead a delegation to Colombia this January with a former accompanier to introduce people to the accompaniment program and to Colombia. If you’re interested in this delegation, look for more information on our Web site and email me for an application before our deadline of November 1.

The Tucson YAV site has made a commitment to riding bicycles and the bus to get around the city this year. I have a completely different concept of traffic during my seven-mile commute to work on two wheels powered by my legs. My journey to work begins as I cut through the playground and park at the end of our street to join the Santa Cruz “River” bike path. I put “river” in quotation marks since the only time that the river has water in it is after a hard rain. If I get on the road early enough I can see some of the people packing up their overnight camps near the picnic tables along the trail.

At St. Mary’s Road, about a mile north of the house, I join the motorized traffic for an exciting bit. During rush hour, getting across traffic to the left-hand-turn lane can be a scary and sometimes impossible task. Most of my commute to work is on the designated route of University St./3rd. St., a road that restricts through motorized traffic, allowing for a safer environment to ride a bike. This route also takes me through one of the most dangerous parts of my commute, the University of Arizona campus. Though there is no motorized traffic—bar a university golf cart from time to time—the path is congested with college students hurrying to class with their cell phones or ipods in their ears, making them oblivious to the world surrounding them. These students are also traveling by various means—from bikes and skateboards to walking. Once beyond the university, I ride through neighborhoods where I see mothers walking their babies in strollers and occasionally get to see an older man on his front porch working out on a stationary bike.  One of the things that has struck me most about commuting on a bike is the amount of conversation that occurs between bikers and between cars and bikers. Sometimes I wish that people could have conversations between their cars on the way to work maybe that would even reduce some of the road rage on our streets.

I continue to ride my bike the way that I drove my car.  I like to ride fast and feel the wind rush by. I promise to all of you who worry about my personal safety that I am a very defensive biker, contrary to the story that I am about to share.

On my way home from a meeting at the office, as I am waiting for a traffic light to turn green, a pickup truck pulls up beside me. As it pulls up the truck stalls out. I glance at the truck, a purely involuntary reaction, and the passenger leans out the window with a proposition, “Hey homie, you want to race?”  I looked at him a little confused. I was used to people pulling up beside me and revving their engines wanting to race in my car but I was on a bike! “Sure, I’ll race you but you have to give me a head start cause I don’t have as many horses as that truck!” I replied in a joking tone. “Nah, man you have to give us a head start this truck is a piece of crap.” As the light turned green I gave it my all. I actually pulled on the truck. About a block down the road the truck caught up to me and the passenger yelled “you’re the greatest biker I have ever seen! You’re going 30 miles an hour! I’m going turn in this truck and buy a bike!”  I am proud that I am converting motorist to bicyclist one race at a time!

I want to thank you all for your continued support of me and for your prayers during this year of volunteer service. It means so much to know that there is a community lifting up my work in their prayers.

To find out more about my year you can explore my Web site and blog.

If you would like to financially support me over this year you can send a tax deductible check to:

St. Mark's Presbyterian Church
Attn: Linda Marshall
3809 East Third Street
Tucson AZ 85716

Checks can be made out to St Mark's Presbyterian Church with "YAV" and my name written in the memo line.

If you or someone you know might be interested in doing a Young Adult Volunteer year, you can find out more by replying to my email or by checking out the program online. Also feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone that you think would enjoy hearing stories about my work here in Tucson.

Peace,

Kirk Johnston