week 2!

5:30am felt extra early this morning after I didn't sleep well last night. But I made it up to the Upper East Side for our 4 mile run in Central Park at 7:45am. I saw some familiar faces from last week, and met some new people. I think the pace groups will be pretty well formulated soon, but there is flexibility to speed up or slow down depending on how we're feeling on a particular day. I ran with the 13s again today (comfortable mile pace +2 minutes, the Galloway rule). It was perfect out, sunny and breezy, and I felt much better than last week. (Amen to that!)

After the run, I took the time to stretch the way Gopi (super physical therapist) has been showing me. She has different thoughts on stretching than some of the Galloway folks do. I trust her and stretching makes me feel better, so I'm sticking with what I know. I'm reminded of Coach Adam's refrain, "Don't do anything different during the marathon than you did during your long runs!" So, stretching it is. And coffee (and water!) immediately following!

Next week, 5 miles in Maine, since I'll be there to celebrate B's "graduation" (in quotes because he has an internship until July) from UNH. Maybe I can get Dad to run/walk with me!

Thursday: Tamborine and Fan

On Thursday, I returned with a group of five other people to continue our work with Jerome Smith, the director and founder of Tamborine and Fan. On Wednesday, we met with Jerome and had the honor and privilege of hearing his narrative. For four hours, he spoke in a beautiful rhythmic cadence about his many rich life experiences. Just to name a few of the topics, he talked about his experience growing up during segregation, the amazing teachers that influenced his life, the music of New Orleans, his experience as a Freedom Rider, and his interactions with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Despite his life experiences, he explained that nothing compares to the trauma and injustices imparted upon the children in the aftermath of Katrina. In his humble recount of his life, he spoke in reverence only when referring to the children and the youth of New Orleans and their heroic deeds during the storm. Tamborine and Fan, housed in the Treme Community Center, is an organization dedicated to the youth and children. Tamborine and Fan incorporates reading, sports, social activism, music, art, dance, and history into the lives of the children encouraging and fostering growth and leadership. Since Katrina many of the children have not come back to New Orleans, therefore Tamborine and Fan has become committed to bring the children back to Treme.

After having such an incredible experience on Wednesday, we were charged to work and give all that we could. We were asked to have one group walk through the local neighborhoods and document the addresses of homes still vacated and destroyed. The other group was asked to research these addresses to find the names of the owners. Then the organization would attempt to track down the owners and begin to help the families rebuild and move home. I took on the latter of the tasks and went with another student to City Hall to research land titles. Although we were completely clueless in this process, we eventually found all of the names, primarily due to the assistance of many helpful and friendly people. Once we finished, we joined the other group in walking through the neighborhoods of the 7th and 8th wards. We were led by one of Jerome’s protégés, Belden Batiste also known as “Nuni”. He is a man of twenty, yet an incredibly wise and strong leader of the community. As we walked through devastated neighborhoods, he talked of the continued horrors of the aftermath of Katrina and lack of resources and attention given to New Orleans and his community. He spoke of his disappointment and lack of trust in the government, but remained hopeful of the community’s will and determination to persevere. After obtaining 90 addresses, we took a break and enjoyed delicious New Orleans Soul food at one of the most popular local spots, Two Sisters. We left the day feeling profoundly affected by the work of Tamborine and Fan, the presence of Jerome Smith and Nuni, the devastation of Katrina, and the continued injustices of the aftermath.

Rock N Bowl What a night:-)

Tonight a few of us along with our two amazing and 'hip' (LOL) professors went to a local NOLA spot called Rock N Bowl. And after many experiences with or sights of racial divides during our trip in certain communities, we found every ethnicity dancing with someone from a different background, even young dancing with old. The bowling alley is not what I am used to anywhere else. To think there were no fancy score monitors and someone had to write the scores by hand! :-o This place was different, yet amazing! There was a live band playing that night called MVP and Nu Step- one word AMAZING music. One guy was playing on a washboard, there were drums, guitarist and the lead vocalist had about 4 different accordions! We literally forgot about bowling and danced all night! The music was a combination of R&B with zydeco. The locals were so friendly, one woman took my hand to teach me how to move New Orleans style, because instead of doing their "Mississippi stomp(?)" I was doing the Electric Slide:-/ They looked similar:-) Anyway, that night we bowled, danced, and fell in love ~ with New Orleans :-)

Women Making Change – Monday & Tuesday in Biloxi

Coastal Women for Change (www.cwcbiloxi.org) is a grassroots organization that began after Hurricane Katrina to respond to the need for involvement of women and communities in the rebuilding process in the Biloxi and surrounding areas. The organization was founded by Sharon Hanshaw, a life-time resident of Biloxi. Programming includes support for rebuilding, local and national political advocacy, childcare capacity building, and support and organizing for single mothers and elderly residents. CWC’s members are a multiracial group, including Black, Vietnamese, white and Latina women.

Two other students and I signed up to work with CWC based on the name (it’s catchy, isn’t it?) and a two-line description of the organization. In particular as Monday was our first day of work, I had no idea what I was in for. We drove the 90 minutes over Lake Pontchartrain and the Louisiana/Mississippi state border, past a short stretch on the beach with towering, shimmering new casinos and remains of homes and hotels, to arrive at the CWC office. We walked in with our gloves and peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, ready to build a house. Ms. Hanshaw warmly greeted us and explained that one woman in the community needed her roof taken off. Unfortunately, three social workers with limited skills in construction were not the right people for the job. This situation appears to be increasingly common in Biloxi: there is an array of well-intentioned volunteers who simply do not have the necessary skills to do the physical work to rebuild people’s homes. Instead, Ms. Hanshaw and the other CWC staff explained, residents need money for supplies, skilled laborers (like a plumber or electrician), and trustworthy contractors. Unfortunately, even the variety of non-profit organizations who have set up offices in Biloxi and offer to provide some of the resources and skilled labor for rebuilding, do so with many stipulations which often do not prioritize the safety and timeliness of rebuilding homes. Contractors’ rates are outrageous and, since many come from out-of-state, they continue to drain the region of its resources. Thus many, many people have been unable to return to Biloxi and, of those who stayed or did return, many continue to live without the stability and safety of a home.

Since what is needed is, in many cases, money, we set to work to support Ms. Hanshaw and her staff to create databases, fundraising letters, and systems for connecting donations to families in the community who need support. By the end of our second day of work, we contributed what we hoped would be a few helpful documents and ideas and, in response, were welcomed into an incredibly beautiful, strong, and resilient community. We were invited to a family barbeque on July 4^th (on the condition that the owner’s home is completed in time), next year’s CWC International Women’s Day Event, and to be members of CWC. After two visits to the local take-out eatery, we were known as the New Yorkers who bought an entire tray of peach cobbler (which the owner made for us upon our request the first day). Sharing the peach cobbler with our new friends, better said role models, seemed like an embarrassingly small gesture of gratitude. So was “thanks.” I was speechless.

(See also the entry and photos “Rebuilding Biloxi” from 3/14/07)

Thursday; Hitting the Streets in Central City, NOLA

Wow, what an experience! Today, I, along with 4 of my classmates went into the streets of Central City to gather signatures for a petition. We were assisting Miss Audre, from Central City Community Partnerships in attaining signatures from community members. The petition was in regards to Home Depot "setting up shop" in the community. The members of the coalition wanted to ensure that Home Depot be responsible to the community for three points in particular:
1. Hire local residents @ the living wage
2. Contribute to the rebuilding of Booker T. Washington H.S. (a historical
Black H.S. in the community, not yet reopened since the storm), and
develop an apprentice program for the students
3. Assist in the rehabilitation of homes of the senior citizens in the
community.
After arriving and speaking to Miss Audre about our task I was a bit nervous to say the least. For one, I have never been to New Orleans, let alone Central City. Secondly, I am not in the habit of walking up to strangers and engaging in a conversation, let alone trying to convince them to support a cause and sign a petition. When we went to our first stop and the owner expressed his views and did not want us to "bother his patrons" with a cause he did not totally agree with, I knew this was going to be harder than I thought.
But, when we went door to door in the community, speaking to the community members I experienced a totally different reaction. Many of the people I spoke to, when told about the cause jumped at the chance to sign the petition. I had such a transformative experience today. I did something I would not have seen myself doing a week ago.
But it was not what I was doing that influenced me as much as it was the people I met. Listening to their stories touched me on so many level. I truly understood, after this day, why I was here--this is definitely not to take away from the week's earlier experiences.
Though Central City was not one of the hardest hit areas by the storm, I could still feel and see the devastation Katrina and the aftermath caused this community. Though many people have come back, many are still not home! It is hard to explain in words what I experienced while doing this work. Words could not and would not do it justice. I wish I could find the words so that you could vicariously experience what I did, see what I saw, hear what I heard, and feel what I felt. One thing that I want to convey is that the residents are resilient people. I felt the passion they had for their community in the tone of their voice, the way their body moved as they spoke about the love they have for Central City, the look in their eyes as they shared with me stories of their lives pre- and post- Katrina.
I haven't processed everything yet, but I do know that this experience has re-confirmed that everyone who can physically come down to NOLA needs to make their way down here. As much as we hear that things are getting back to "normal" and "business as usual," this is not the reality for many of NOLA residents. I cannot express enough the necessity for everyone to "pay it forward" to the folks in the Gulf Coast that continue to deal with the devastation of Katrina and the aftermath that followed!
-Nichelle

9th Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association

Janet, Jenn G, Selene and I (Moira) went to NENA (see above) on Wednesday and Thursday this week. We worked on a mapping project under the guidance of Quintus Jett from Dartmouth, who happened to be in NOLA with a group of students mapping Gentilly and the 9th ward.

To read about his project (and see a picture of us!) visit http://www.gentillyproject.blogspot.com

Wednesday March 14th (and Beyond)

"I've always been a leader in the community," Ms. Audrey Browder of Central City Partnerships said, "this time I decided to follow." Ms. Browder met with us at 9am Wednesday morning to discuss the work we would be doing during the day. We began our day with her Katrina story. She followed that day in Mississippi as she turned left out of the hotel where she and a church friend has spent the evening. Katrina had passed right through the town where they had found lodging after driving out of New Orleans. She followed a line of cars to a Red Cross Shelter in Monroe where she stayed for two months and worked until December 2005.

I have visions of that day--what it meant to drive without knowing where one was going, having no clue whether family and friends were alive or dead, whether a house was standing or collapsed or full of 10 feet (or more) of water. Since we've been here, folks have talked about exile, about diaspora, about end times. Nehemiah 2:20 has become a rallying point…"Let Us Arise and Rebuild." Rev. Tyrone in Plaquemines has adopted the verse as his motto, but I find myself thinking it all over the place. I am amazed at how folks are trying--how folks are living, returning, rebuilding and trying to make HOME again. And folks all over the city have told me, "I know it will never be as it was, but I love this city. No where else I'd rather be."

We walked through Central City for hours Wednesday gathering signatures for a petition asking Home Depot to enter into a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the community as they plan to build. The Central City coalition hopes to propose the CBA model as a way to rebuild this city. We attended the New Orleans city council meeting on Thursday where they presented their work. I have to admit that I see no plan in the council, and not enough attention to the work of community organizations racking their brains, spending all their collective energy and hours and hours of person-power attempting to imagine how to arise, how to rebuild, and how to bring EVERYONE (not just the rich) home.

We gathered over 200 signatures, and we talked to folks for hours who didn't even sign the petition. It felt just as important to hear the stories, to bear witness to tragedy, survival, and to the deep faith that keeps folks coming back to this city in ruins. It is going to take more than faith, though, to rebuild in an honorable way. There is crime in New Orleans right now--only a small bit of it is happening with guns in the streets. Most of it is happening in government, contracting, sub-contracting, rent-hikes, state and federal squandering of monies…Rebuilding is one thing. Justice is another.