Back Home Once Again

I arrived to my awaiting bed at around 1 AM this morning from what could be seen as the five most amazing days of my college career. My week consisted of waking up at 7, breakfast, morning meeting, group skit, discussion groups, lunch, afternoon meeting, afternoon activity, action groups, cabin time, dinner, sometimes an evening meeting, night activity, closing activity and getting to bed anytime from 12:30 to 1 am... and then waking up at 7 and repeating all that for five days straight.

I knew being a collegetown counselor would be a difficult job and would require me to be on my game 24/7 but I never knew it would change me as much as it did.

doing intense skits on gender, different families, oppression, prejudice and genocide was at times incredibly difficult and emotionally draining but seeing all the ASU students (delegates) crying and in pain and doing difficult emotional work was worth it because through that we inspire change and hand them the tools to go out into the world and initiate change.

It felt right coming home on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and remembering an incredible figure in our history that dedicated his life to changing the world. The quote on the back of our collegetown shirts really sums up what we were trying to achieve up in Prescott this week

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that has."

Today think about how far we have come and how we have still to go and go out into your community and out into your college campuses make a difference.

This week I will be blogging about last week and how really life changing it was to be with those 100 people freezing in Prescott...

but today It's just a simple message that I'm back home, in love with the idea of living in a better world, and dreading unpacking, doing laundry, and starting my spring semester of classes tomorrow.

If you want to learn more about the anytown program you can email me at

comeflywithme (dot) mari (at) gmail.com

or visit this website

ps- I totally learned how to do "The Jerk" up there so be prepared for some awe inspiring moves =)