Digging New Orleans

Day 8 - 04.08.06

2006-04-18T23:12:00.000-04:00

*sniff* time to say *sniff* goodbye...

Last night Sarah and I went out on the town, and for some reason no pictures were taken. Ah, what happens in New Orleans... he he.

***
This morning Sarah and mine's plan to go for a riverside run in the morning were thwarted when we work up late (shocker). We had to get to the airport by 12:45 for our flights out. I think it is worth mentioning what we accomplished between 11am and 12:45:

woke up
both showered
both packed
drove to French Market
got books we've been wanting
got fleur de lis'
got voodoo dolls
hit up Cafe du Monde, got AWESOME coffee and beignets
had time to take this picture:

drove out of the long, winding parking lot
found our way to the highway
made the biggest mess of powdered sugar and spilled coffee you've ever seen in your life
returned rental car, got to airport JUST in time! (wasn't going to miss my flight on the way BACK too!)

The airport ordeal was scattered and the Fab Five were all in different terminals and had different flight times, so we were unable to materialize the sobbing/hugging scene that we all had assumed would take place. Probably a good thing. I cried until the plane took off, and then slept the entire way home, and for 11 hours that night. One of the best weeks of my entire life, hands down. I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

Signing off.

-P

Day 7 - 04.07.06

2006-04-17T20:29:00.000-04:00

LAST DAY! 8529 Victory Lane, continued.

[the day starts with the never-boring Donal (R) teaching Patrick/Peter yoga]

Everyone (almost everyone) was totally energized today! We were all overcome with emotion from the previous day's encounter with the homeowners, the week's impending end, and our progress on the house. A couple more action shots:

[(L) Susan smiles and wheelbarrows. (R) Teri and Dan break into a bedroom closet.]

The day flew by and before we knew it, it was lunchtime. We were working across the street from the park that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featured on their April 6 broadcast! So we had lunch in the park. It was nice, albeit surrounded by destruction.

We heard FEMA was in town to look at the 'Thousandth House' gutted by H4H and to announce if/how much they will extend the funding by. Susan was chosen to represent our group at the meeting, but her ride was late and she missed it - bummer! But the good news is that Camp Premier will be open until June 15. Keep TRUCKIN'!!

At this point, scroll back to yesterday (Day 6) and look at how the house looked...and now, after just 1.5 days:

[(L) after one day's work! (R) Sarah and I tended to 'own' rooms everytime we had a new house, which basically means we picked a room and went to town on it, owning everything from scraping up the insulation to knocking down the sheet rock to pulling up the baseboards.]

[(L) long lost picture of the owner's late mother! survived! (R) Katrina ain't got nuthin' on Barbie!]

[(L) Sarah takes out OUR LAST LOAD OF TRASH!!!! (R) Our team after a week of sweat and tears.]

This was just the most amazing experience and we were all sad to leave. We left the house with only the bathrooms left to go. On our way back to the camp, we finalized our team cheer. Here it is, in full:

We're solid gold
We don't like mold
Or leaving people
Out in the cold!
-
We don't like FEMA
We can't stand Bush
We're here to give
That extra push!
-
We're knocking sheet rock
We're breaking glass
We're pulling floorboards
We're kicking ASS!
-
We love the people
Of St. Bernard
And that is why
We work so hard!
-
We sing and dance
We have some fun
And that is how
We'll GIT 'ER DONE!
-
Team Gold #1: The Solid Gold Muckers, St. Bernard Parish, April 3-7, 2006!

***
That night our Carson City ladies invited Sarah and I to crash with them in the Hilton! YES, comfy digs! (otherwise, we were going to stay in Hotel Dodge Stratus since camp curfew was at midnight). We showered, packed, and checked out of the camp. Next stop: Hippie Camp, which we simply wanted to 'see'...ahem. Hippie Camp was a...camp of...hippies who ad-hoc volunteered and lived in tents on the campground. It smelled like patchouli and The Grass...mmm. Sarah and I had fleeting thoughts of living there over the summer. Then I remembered that I don't like being that dirty for that long.

We then decided to drive through the Lower Ninth Ward again (or, according to the man we met at the soup kitchen (Sarah, name?): Nnnaaaighn-Waahd). This time we took a drive through some of the side streets. This area has not been TOUCHED post-K (everything is pre- and post-K - for Katrina); the streets are deserted, no lights, and bugs everywhere. Reminiscent of a ghost town. (some of the pics turned out strange and spooky).

Amazing, huh? These houses were not made to withstand a hurricane greater than category '3' let alone a flood and multiple category '5' hurricanes. There is strong speculation that this area won't even be rebuilt, both because of the risk factor and also the fact that many people who lived there are not coming back. They've relocated in TX, AL, OK, other places in LA. They had to start new lives at some point, and since the government couldn't get their shit together to let them know when a plan will be in place (still no word, 8 months later!), the homeowners threw up their hands and started anew. (some of them now live in Oprahland!). I find it incredible that the tens of thousands who once lived here were just 'forgotten' by their own government. What a shame. What a damn shame.

One second of interlude here, to say I've never been one to have strong opinions about the government - mainly, I shake my head and move on - but this experience showed me that we can't depend on our government, we can't rely on their motives, we can't understand their missions. All we can do is TAKE ACTION OURSELVES. Everyone has a humanitarian inside of them...it's at our core...if people don't have each other, what do they have? stuff? Stuff is meaningless. Anytime I asked a local what their experience was with Katrina, the FIRST thing out of their mouths was about their families and friends.

Forget stuff. As Gandhi once said, which I have repeated to myself as long as I can remember: "BE the change you want to see in the world".

BE!

Day 6, continued

2006-04-17T19:25:00.000-04:00

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

After the emotionally draining workday, we took a side trip to Mississippi (and I checked it off of my 'haven't visited yet' states) to look at some of the coastal towns that were hit more directly by the hurricanes. (yes, that is a strange dog in my lap for those of you who were wondering. It was the girl who took the picture's).

[(L) Welcome to Mississippi! at the welcome center, they had a guest book and gave us free pop! hehe. (R) Teri, Susan, and Raelene stick their toes in the Gulf (kind of)]

I'll just post the next few pictures without captions. This is the coastal town of Waveland, MS, aka 'Ground Zero', which was just destroyed. Waveland was hit dead on by Katrina's 150mph winds and 35-foot storm surges reached as far as 3 miles inland...and as the water retreated, it took everything in the town with it. There is an island called Cat Island, 7 miles off the mainland, where they found cars strewn all over...there is no road to Cat Island.

After talking to the Mississippi MAN (goorrrgeous guy who was volunteering on the coast) we learned that absolutely nothing has been done in MS. They have the disadvantage of not being in the media, and are actually resentful of New Orleans. He said those homes and communities will likely never be rebuilt. So sad. I also learned that Mississippi is the poorest state in the country...

***

After what was hands-down our most emotional day yet, we decided to head into the city for a good dinner, drinks, and some live music. We had a spectacular time, the Fab Five tore it up!! First, my, ahem, my phone, ahem, died and we couldn't hook up with our NY friend. ;) we headed to the famous Snug Harbor and heard a great band led by a jazz basist. The drummer was off the hook; I was totally mesmerized.

[(L) the band jams. (R) Sarah and I with hurricanes as big as our heads.]

Huge Head Hurricanes in tow, we wandered around and ended up in a bookstore...a...special bookstore. Which perhaps can be summed up by Raelene's comment after we left about the book she bought: "I hope my book isn't about GAY dogs...". After splitting our sides laughing (normal at this point in the week) we ended up in another little joint and heard Patricia Corvair and Co. We were all charmed by her and ended up each buying a CD to support New Orleans Jazz...under the stipulation that we had to get a picture with all of them.

We headed home full, drunk, and happy and geared up for our last day.

Day 6 - 04.06.06

2006-04-10T19:24:00.000-04:00

[heheheheh rats. so gross.]

8529 Victory Lane (the rats were next door, thank goodness!)

Our first *untouched* house. What a mess. The flood completely covered this house and everything was ruined. Here are a few pictures which I won't caption, b/c it's just what a house looked like before being touched. The first one is a rosary which stayed in place and survived. Powerful. The last one is the bedroom, kind of spooky and Titanic-like how the bed is still made, just lifted and displaced and ruined. The pink stuff everywhere is melted insulation, from when the attic just FELL onto the ground floor.

This house was overwhelming and I think we all felt that when the day began. We were going to dump all of this person's belongings in a heap and demolish their house. Incredible. Since it was Thursday, we didn't think we'd get through this house; however in one day, we got through the front two rooms, part of the kitchen, and most of the sunroom.

Of course, we had fun, too (necessarily!). The night before, Sarah had said to me that she thought Patrick was so cool and that she would marry him so he could stay in America (he's Korean). The Carson City ladies - Raelene, Susan, and Teri - thought that was hilarious so they suggested a lunchtime wedding cermony. We were all cracking up as Patrick and Sarah "exchanged vows".

[(L) Ring Bearer Raelene and Champagne Lady Susan. (R) Exchanging vows: "I will cook you meat every day! (reference to Patrick's comment earlier in the week about how much he loves meat.]

[(L) the happy couple, haha! (R) 'carrying her over the threshold']

This was probably the height of our hilarity all week...at which point we came crashing down to reality as the owners of the house showed up. We all shut up and gave each other 'holy crap' looks.

They were a retired, sophisticated couple. They pulled up in a nice red pickup and got out of the car. It wasn't a minute before both of them broke down. "No more tears" the woman said, "but they keep coming". They had only come back for pictures. "48 years of marriage, 34 years in this house. We only want pictures." The man couldn't take it anymore and took a walk around the block. They're now living in an apt in Baton Rouge, about 1 hr away, and she said she hasn't yet found 2 of her aunts. She has 3 kids, all of whom are married, all of whose houses were destroyed, too. Everyone in the family is displaced all over the country. Still. Still. 8 months later.

Day 5, continued

2006-04-08T21:20:00.000-04:00

Jorgensen residence at 3908 Evangeline Dr.

The St. Bernard Recovery Project is partially coordinated by Americorps, and our Americorps team lead was Amata. She was wonderful and did a fabulous job managing 10 people older than her (she’s 21!). Since we had about 1.5 hours left in the day, she asked us if we’d like to check out another finish-up house; we said okay. It was just across the street. On our way over, she said “now, the last team refused this house…you have that option as well”. We all gave each other worried looks.

[Here’s why: the homeowner must have had tubs of grease in his garage/storage area that all exploded. Haz Mat situation!]

We decided we would clean every room in the house except the one with the grease. And, we decided to make it fun. We made a two-part ramp so we could run the wheelbarrow up to the top of the pile of debris. However, it was easier said than done…

[(L) best pic of the week: Sarah loses momentum after ramp #1. Notice the wheelbarrow on the far left, also falling over. (R) My aim sucks – (the wheelbarrow was lopsided!)]

[(L) Patrick eases onto ramp #2. (R) Sarah’s triumph!]

We didn’t get too far in that house before it was time to leave. During dinner, Sarah and I volunteered at a soup kitchen operated by a Baptist church which was just down the road from camp. The camp had been providing meals for residents for 7 months. It was incredible to talk with and meet some of the locals, most were homeless and/or living in FEMA trailers until they’re told what’s next. 7 months later. 7 months.

The nighttime consisted of a girls slumber party in the tent, lots of girls talk, deep conversation, and junk food. We were all POOPED and needed a night off from the action!

[will explain this pic if you’d like, just let me know].

Day 5 - 04.05.06

2006-04-08T20:27:00.000-04:00

3917 Evangeline St., continued.

The action continued in the two-story house. We still had a lot of floorboard left to go. One interesting thing about this family is that they wanted the kitchen to stay. Although it was on the 2nd floor, it was pretty damaged. We didn’t get to know much more about this family, although when we called to verify about the floor, he just said over and over ‘God Bless You all, thank you. Thank you’.

[(L) Raelene tosses some debris out the window. (R) Floorboard, Insulation, and Sheet Rock, Oh My!]

[(L) Sarah pulls down the sheet rock. (C) Sarah chucks the sheet rock. (R) The aftermath.]

Just after lunch, we finished the house. It’s such a great feeling to know that because of our hard work, they’ll be able to visualize rebuilding their houses and lives.

[(L) Oops, we forgot the pool…filled with Katrina leftovers. (R) Me with one foot on the 2ND FLOOR balcony and the other on the story-high pile of debris!!]

I must interlude here with some hilarious things that happened/ were said. Because truthfully, we’ve been keeping our spirits really high. We had to – being surrounded by this devastation all day can really get to you.

1. I made up a cheer for our team, which was Gold #1. We renamed it ‘The Solid Gold Muckers’ and here is our cheer:

We’re Solid Gold (clap clap)
We don’t like mold (clap clap)
Or leaving people (clap clap)
Out in the cold! (clap clap)

We don’t like FEMA (clap clap)
We can't stand Bush (clap clap)
We’re here to give (clap clap)
That extra push!! (cheer)

2. Donal, who grew up on a farm and is a macho kind of guy, is weirdly a vegetarian. He unknowingly grabbed the wrong lunch out of the cooler, and thought he got gypped and angrily threw the turkey from his turkey sandwich on a pile of debris. The lunch ended up being his girlfriend’s (also in our group, also weird)! Dan, our team leader, offered her his sandwich, and she didn’t even thank him. Everyone else felt awkward.

3. Teri cannot get people’s names right. So she kept calling Patrick, our ‘tool guy’, “Peter”. Eventually, we all ended up calling him Peter.

4. Extending on our ‘musical’, we made up dance moves for the choreographed dance. They were all inspired by our tools and our movements while mucking…we had the wheelbarrow, the chisel, the hammer, and the shovel.

Day 4 - 04.04.06

2006-04-04T18:39:00.000-04:00

On to 3917 Evangeline Dr.

Sarah and I are really awful at waking up. Today we woke up late, at 6:30, and had to rushrushrush to get to our bus on time. Not enough time for coffee, and it was a rough time there for a couple of hours after a late night in the Quarter. Advil was necessary.

We finished up our first house, 8404 Benjamin St. This is our entire team, in our first triumph:

And a couple of ironies we found near the end. On the left, a Hurricane Tracker Chart...which survived the hurricane. On the right, self-explanatory (it was actually a divorce book, but it landed just like that on the pile of crap).

I should pause for a moment since most of the people reading this don't know Sarah. She is my accidental-now-good-friend I met on Saturday at the airport. She is a teacher through Teach for America and lives on a Navajo Reservation 35 miles from Gallup, NM. i.e., BFE. She's originally from NY, went to Cornell, and we get along great - best part being that we have the EXACT same sense of humor and have been feeding off of each other all week. 2t, you'd love her.

On to our next house, a HUGE 2-story which had already been gutted, but not that well. To give you an idea of how high the water got in St. Bernard Parish, see pic on right. Where the mold stops is how high it got...on the 2nd floor!

Our main task with this house was originally to 'finish up'. However, while uprooting baseboards on the second floor (how COOL am I, I was pulling up baseboards while y'all suckers were at work/school) I noticed the oak flooring was really damaged, and in parts, still wet! We were told the owner did not want the flooring removed, but we asked the Americorps team leader to call him back to let him know it seemed dangerous to keep. He agreed; we were excited. Then the following conversation ensued:

Donal (sharp, unfunny dud in our group): Do y'all know how hard it is to pull up wood floors?!
Sarah: Well, I didn't come here to lift pillows.
Donal: And we don't have enough tools. This is going to take us all week.
Sarah (at this point we're both sick of him): Well, I didn't cut my nails, so I'm just going to go at it with my hands {insert hand-digging motion}
Me: Yeah, you know, I did cut mine...but I can just use my teeth {insert growling noise}

At which point, Sarah and mine's imagination ran wild. I would use my teeth while she held my legs wheelbarrow-style. Then we'd wheelbarrow it over to the window and I'd spit out the boards...but not the nails. No, I'd keep those in my mouth so I could spit them out rapidfire like in a cartoon, and spell out "KATRINA IS A WHORE" in the sky. Think arched, Broadway style. Then, all of the volunteers on the street would come together on the street in a choreographed routine, singing and dancing. The finale would entail me being thrown into the pool filled w/flood water and doing a synchronized swim with the fishes, jumping out, and with jazz hands, shouting "I'll be here all week".

[Me 'biting' the floor, and the actual floorboards I tore up, with a flat bar and hammer]

Today was great, all of us were in synch, and the house was big enough where we weren’t on top of each other. There was a point in the day when I noticed no one talking and everyone just trucking away and thought to myself how much of a well-oiled machine we had become in one day. Here are some action shots.

[(L) Susan knocks down some sheet rock. (R) Teri gets rid of the moldy stairwell wall]

[(L) Dan pulling up some baseboards. (R) The main room upstairs after we took out all of the oak flooring!]

The day breezed by, which we decided was largely due to the enlarged working space, cooler weather, and the great refreshing breeze. We decided to celebrate the accomplished day by going out into the city to cause some trouble. First we squeezed onto a balcony overlooking Bourbon St. and had a few drinks, then wandered in and out of bars until we ended up at Fat Catz, which had a live band playing hip-hop covers…

[(L) Left to Right: Raeleen, Susan, Patrick, Sarah, Dan, Me, Teri. (R) Raeleen dancing with her dude as Patrick looks on, at Fat Catz]

Day 3, continued

2006-04-04T18:09:00.000-04:00

First night in the city.

Wandered around French Q. again Monday night, got 3 for 1 beers (!) which we could drink on the street (!!) and ended up in a hole-in-the-wall live music joint (!!!) which, among the multitude of paraphenalia on the walls, there hung an old, framed poster of the Michigan Football team (!!!!)! (forgot to take a pic of that though) :(

[(L) The 'Swampwater Stompers'...from Indiana! (R) Lisa Lynn, sultry jazz singer]

[(L) $1 beers on the street, gotta love it (R) a guy who definitely doesn't need another one]

Day 3 - 04.03.06

2006-04-03T18:08:00.000-04:00

8404 Benjamin St.

OMG, everyone in our tent was up at 5:57am. I think all of you know how much I LOVE getting up early. Before I forget, here is a *forbidden* picture of our tent. (no photography allowed on campsite. I don't know.)

We met in our teams (GOLD #1!) at 7am (!) and boarded the busses for our worksite. Our team leader, Dan, informed us that we were going to be finishing up a house that was started last week. Typically teams get through 3-ish houses a week. Dan did a quick assessment of how long it would take us to finish the house: "about an hour". Yeah, RIGHT!

[everything is water damaged. All of the houses on this street were covered w/flood water. (L) Dan starting in on a bedroom; behind the archway was the bedroom which was untouched! (R) the closet in the bedroom; the clothes were still wet. You can imagine the smell.]

Around 10am, when we thought we were finishing up, someone looked up: "Is that an ATTIC?! full of STUFF?!" Goodness.

[(L) Sarah, myself, Susan in full PPE - Personal Protective Equipment. (R) Sarah in the attic.]

Around 2pm, I reminded everyone that it's GW's fault that we were breaking our backs down there. (he cut the funding for N.O.'s levees, so...). Pretty much everyone down here is Anti-W, so shouts of agreement echoed in the house. It was pretty ridiculous that things looked like this 7 months after the disaster...especially with hurricane season looming nearer and nearer...

A few hours later, drenched, drenched in sweat, we had stripped the entire place down to studs and nails. The project is to strip the houses so that the homeowners can rebuild. However, many of the houses have for sale signs (we're hoping they decide to stay after they see it was cleaned and rebuilding is possible), and no place in the Parish has yet been declared 'liveable'. And, as you can see above, the trash hasn't been removed yet. This is because...drumroll...FEMA cut the funding for the waste removal. Great. The Parish government is working on getting money flowing again. The Feds suck.

[(L) the 'after' shot of the closet!! (R) the 'after' shot of the bedroom!!!]

[(L) some valuables survived the flood! (R) Sarah and I in triumph at the workday's end.]

Tonight, we are going into the city for a couple of cocktails...I definitely need one, as I heard some not-so-good news re: something I will not post on *THIS* blog...

Day 2 - 04.02.06

2006-04-03T17:29:00.000-04:00

Strolling the French Quarter, etc.

After rushing to the mess hall justintime to grab some breakfast, Sarah and I cleaned up to head into the city before out 3pm orientation. We drove through the Lower Ninth Ward, which along with St. Bernard Parish, was the hardest hit area – Katrina, Rita, storm surges, levee breaks, floods – you name it, it affected these two areas. Here are some pictures.

(I'll put all of my pics from the trip online once I get back)

Since it was the only chance we’d have in the daytime all week, we wandered the French Quarter and Bourbon Street for a few hours. This area is up and running, people living, working, and of course, playing, drinking, partying. Bourbon Street pretty much smells like beer mixed with urine 24/7. Mmm.

We ended up at the riverfront and wandered around a huge French Market/ Flea Market. And, I met ‘Fats’ Domino…just kidding.

After orientation, I drove around for a bit (rte 10E towards Slidell, LA! Never thought I'd end up there!) and found Lake Ponchatrain, the lake whose levee broke. This lake is HUGE. (For my Michigan friends, it'd be like Lake Erie just spilling over). Apparently you can drive over Lake Ponchatrain, it's a 25-mile bridge. I think I would have about 43 heart attacks driving over that.

I was in for the night after our meeting. I will leave you with a great t-shirt slogan I found today. Sums up quite a lot about the city!

Day 1 - 04.01.06

2006-04-03T17:22:00.000-04:00

April Fool-who-missed-her-flight Day.

What was supposed to be a relaxing introduction to The Big Easy turned out to be a day-long airport nuisance.

(what I stared at most of the day)

Because NYC sucks, and there is always traffic and no signs pointing to LGA, I arrived at the airport at 9:30:00 am for my 10:00 flight. I thought this would be fine – pushing it, but fine – but because I arrived at curbside check in at 9:30:01, I was too late to check my bag. So, after blowing up at the gate agent like those people I always roll my eyes at, I was directed to a 40-min line to figure out what to do next and was put on a flight through Dallas arriving 8 hours later than originally planned. This sucks.

Then at the NO airport, the rental car guy tried to tell me my rental would cost $666!! Another fit of blowing up. After 30 min of being on the phone, he ‘figured out the problem’ and sent us on our way. (myself and a girl I met, Sarah, from New Mexico)

Of course. It’s April Fools Day.

We got to St. Bernard Parish around 10pm (after getting lost, naturally) and settled in the camp for the night.

2006-03-31T08:43:00.000-05:00

Testing, testing. Wish me luck on my trip!

Check out this great article about NOLA:
http://www.tripso.com/archives/2006/03/bad.html