Not food or driving... but there is a map

So it was suggested that I start a work blog to chronicle my year at Americorps but I haven't really been sold on that idea. This isn't really the kind of job that makes for thrilling stories, at least not yet. Recently, however, as I've been doing research for the job, I've been coming across some really random interesting information. I'm not sure that I have the endurance to devote an entire blog to it but I'm thinking maybe I will put in a little feature post every now and again.

What kinds of things am I talking about? Here's some highlights from today's research:

1. While looking up social services resources I discovered a hotline called the Middle Earth Hotline. Obviously my interest was piqued immediately by a Lord of the Rings reference, but I was highly skeptical that it was indeed a LOTR reference and not just some sort of religious name.

To my utter delight, it was a LOTR reference, although it was not a hotline for people who want to become elves (as S suggested). In fact its a very serious and important hotline for teen crisis and suicide. I definitely appreciate the use of the name Middle Earth, even if it doesn't really make any sense. The crisis center that runs the hotline had this on their website:

Middle Earth Hotline was Long Island Crisis Center’s first hotline. In fact, we were first known as Middle Earth Switchboard, borrowing from J.R.R. Tolkein’s name for a land safe for young people. Like all our hotlines, this service is free, anonymous, confidential and open 24/7. Crisis intervention and suicide prevention counseling are available; counselors also provide information and referrals.

There's also a Middle Earth at University of Albany which is a counseling center which seems to have no relation to the Long Island Middle Earth, although it does also have its own hotline.

(Also, if you don't know what the real Middle Earth is, you may want to consider not reading this blog any more.)

2. I was looking for religious organizations in Hempstead and I came across a listing, on the website of the public library mind you, for The Church of the Four Leaf Clover. I was pretty intrigued by the name so I decided to try and find it. There were lots of general listings for it through all of those websites that list businesses like Manta and all those other internet listing sites, but I couldn't really find any solid information on it except on one pop-up ridden site. This site listed all sorts of weird spiritual places and included this.

Church of the Four Leaf Clover

(Defunct)

The Church of the Four Leaf Clover was founded in 1925 by the Rev. M. E. Claas. The four leaf clover is a symbol of humility, its four leaves standing for eternal life, everlasting light, divine love and truthfulness. The church emphasized the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. The church was among the early Spiritualist bodies which taught reincarnation and karma. There were, in the 1950s, four churches, all on Long Island. Headquarters were at Jamaica, New York.

Now, it says defunct and I haven't really found any other reference to this church so aside from calling them, which I may end up doing, there's not a lot to go on. Still, I find the premise of the church interesting since it seems to mix eastern and western religions.

So, those were my discoveries for today. Oh and I also discovered that the water taxes and dog licensing somehow fall under the same department. So, thoughts on the weird work news?