Hello again Folks!!
alec
checking this thing. I am down in New Orleans right now. For updates
on what's happening give me an email and I'll put you on my email list
for updates. I've pasted my first update below. It might be time for
another one. I miss you all and think of you often. Please email me!
love
a
Hello all you wonderful people.
If you are getting this that means I think you a great and might want
to hear updates from me on a somewhat infrequent basses. Or it could
mean that I just can't seem to find the time to write you all
individually.
For those of you who haven't heard a lot from me in ages I am doing
very well. This past year has been quite an adventure and sometimes a
dark one.
So I'm here in New Orleans finally after almost a year of trying. Is
it everything I hoped for? Well I've tried to not hope for anything
more than it is. The more I learn and grow fewer are the paths I have
to choose from. Soon the gift of choosing is gone and all that is left
is the joy of walking the path in front of me. And so I find myself
now.
Lots of excitement and a bit of sillyness has been with me on my trip
down here. Waiting for my first flight of the trip out of Portland
Maine the plane was over weight so myself and 4 other laidback folks
got to volunteer to miss the flight in exchange for $400 of airline
vouchers. It turned out that my new connection was getting into New
Orleans only 5 minuets after my first so it was not much of a
inconvenience. $400 for 5 minutes of waiting.
In waiting for my New Orleans plane to take off in Cincinnati I looked
out the window and saw folks taking my checked bags of the plane and
latterly drive off into the sunset with them. I asked the flight
attendant what vacation they had planned for my bags and she told me
that there was no room for them.
Needless to say the bags were not waiting for me at the New Orleans
airport. They now have the label of being officially "lost." My bags
had some irreplaceable personal things in them but I'm not to worried.
Worrying does little to find them and I need practice at letting go. I
only hope the bags are enjoying some pristine tropical beach somewhere
so that's it's worth all the trouble.
On the way from Cincinnati to New Orleans we were gifted a view of a
summer thunderstorm from the air. That's not something you see
everyday.
New Orleans is in the 90's now and has not gone bellow 90 since I got
here.
My good friend Emily Posner picked me up from the airport and I spent
my first night in the 7th ward in a newly "renovated" house with folks
working of the Commonground Bioramediation project.
It was a beautiful humid night and I was kept company by some friendly
fleas all night. There are my new friends.
I spent the next morning trying to find my bags and ended up having to
fix a network of 10 computers to get the internet working at the
Commonground house called the House of Excellence where they offer free
computers, telephone and legal advice to anyone who comes in.
After some hours of that I went over to another Commonground site and
visited with the Frida Bus. For those of you who don't know Frida is a
big green bus from Portland Maine that I was responsible for for two
years along with my friend Meg. Meg saw that the bus could be a
catalyst for empowering local communities after the hurricanes and with
a group of folks drove her down here in November. In early December
the bus rolled over and killed Meg. So needless to say I was expecting
some really hard emotions when I saw Frida. And in looking at her
broken windows and scared exterior I could only really remember the joy
I had working on her with Meg and as I stepped up into the bus and ran
my fingers over the steering wheel a big smile and tear came to my
face.
Well I suppose that's enough of that for now except maybe to say that
as with all things in my life there is a bittersweatness in this
experience. Someone said once that you can best see the true
brightness of the stars in the dark.
I experienced the next two hours building a bike from the frame. First
time trying that. Mixed results but it rides and the wobble helps
message my lower back.
The bike shop and Frida are located next to St. Marry's of the Angels
Elementary school which commonground began cleaning back in the spring
in exchange for the use of the building to house volunteers. It is
where I spent most of my time when I came down here in the spring.
St. Mary's is in a somewhat unsurprising state. A geardia and bed bug
outbreak have caused the building to be cleared out and cleaned. In
this cleaning commonground also hopes to clear out the drug dealers and
hangers on that were staying there. I fear that unless some
fundamental changes happen in the organization this process will repeat
again. I am happy to see that my more pessimistic predictions in the
spring of staff and scabies outbreaks have not come to be.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening were spent back at the
house of excellence trying to get the printer working. You will be
proud to know that I have successfully declined the insistent request
from the technologies work group to join their ranks, for now.
Hopefully I can keep to my plan of not doing everything all the time.
I spent the night getting to know the folks who work on the
bioramediation project. They are a group of amazing individuals with
astounding stories. I am excited to get to know them.
I spent Sunday morning typing most of this email and the rest traveling
around the neighborhood tending the bioremediation projects gardens.
These gardens a located mostly in folks lawns. Specific plants are
planted to draw toxins from the spoil and into the plant material. The
plant material is then collected brought to the dump. Most areas they
tend have been planted with sun flower that are extremely efficient in
remediating lead.
yesterday was spent at th Meg Perry memorial Garden. I got up at 5:45
to make pancakes for everyone and we worked from 8 two 6 in the garden
with an hour for lunch. But I spent most of that cooking. The garden
is beautiful and probably deserves an email of it's own.
That night I cooked dinner and set up a borrowed tent in the back.
Man this email is way to long. If you've read this far than you
deserve a metal. I'm tired of typing. I have to go work now
When I get contact information I will send it out to you all.
This will probably be the longest email I send out so I hope you
enjoyed it.
best wishes and love
:)
alec
Hah
will...@gmail.com
N.O. in the same day, which was odd after months of nothing. my cousin
apparently was down there too, donating some money to habitat for their
musicians village. i think Mumford went down a few weeks ago and did
some work for habitat too. i'm bumming around new zealand for the next
few months, but please keep posting updates when you get the chance.
later,
will