{"id":1171,"date":"2011-05-26T13:49:39","date_gmt":"2011-05-26T17:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2011-05-26T13:50:41","modified_gmt":"2011-05-26T17:50:41","slug":"saving-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2011\/05\/26\/saving-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was 20, I thought I could save the world. That’s the beauty of being 20.<\/p>\n

I have more modest aspirations now. Maybe I can do some good where I live.\u00a0 I think I have a positive impact because I say “yes” to\u00a0 unlikely or unexpected situations. Opportunity. You seize the chances that cross your path.<\/p>\n

Enter Pierre Nzuah.<\/p>\n

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Pierre at our kitchen table.<\/p><\/div>\n

Don’t get me wrong, it’s very much a two-way street. Pierre joined us at the farm when he finished his first semester at SUNY Canton and needed a place to stay and work this summer. He joined us as a farm apprentice a few days ago. We’re trying to help him figure out how to continue at SUNY Canton. If we can help him even a little bit, it will make me feel really good…because Pierre, who is 26, has been trying to get a college education ever since he finished high school in Cameroon. Finally, he made it to Canton for the spring semester, thanks to a private sponsor.\u00a0 That sponsor is no longer able to help Pierre.<\/p>\n

I think Pierre would say he is grateful for the opportunity to come to Canton, and to stay at the farm. I am incredibly grateful to get to know Pierre. Listen to this: within three days of being with us, he has driven a tractor for the first time, driven a car for the first time, used tools like a weed-eater and lawn mower for the first time, eaten his first asparagus (Cameroon, of course, is an equatorial country…no asparagus). He may think it’s fun to drive a tractor but do you know how much fun it is to see someone learning a skill like this? Holy cow.<\/p>\n

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Pierre driving, Billy McNamara escorting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Billy McNamara, who just received his degree from St. Lawrence University, is also spending a month with us. He had the pleasure (it was a pleasure, Billy, wasn’t it?) of giving Pierre his first car driving lesson.<\/p>\n

The things we take for granted: cars, college, lawn mowers…asparagus.<\/p>\n

I’ll keep you posted on Pierre’s farm escapades…oh, by the way, Pierre did not much care for asparagus, but he LOVED driving a car.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was 20, I thought I could save the world. That’s the beauty of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6109,6108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}