Conflict resolution? I'm holding a freaking weedwacker.
Somehow Kacie the 'freelance writer' must not be very successful if she has to work manual labour in the summertime. Anyway, today, waste in the parks department. Tomorrow, Watergate. She has the makings of a great investigative journalist.
PS, having worked my share of outdoor hard labour jobs, I agree with the OP that if we spent one paid day sitting in an air conditioned room listening to a speech, I wouldn't have written the newspaper.