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Wed, Mar 14, 2007 at 4:29 PM hi everybody, i made it to new orleans ok. juan and friends, including one i know from emergency communitiesin arabi, la last year, turtle, came and picked me up at the airport. we went to common ground at st mary's school in the 9th ward for an hour or so and it is very busy. lots of people coming and going. i guess tons of college kids are here for habitat for humanity and others, americorps, church groups, etc. and a lot of people stay at the school building and have meals there. then we went out on the town -- to the french quarter and had beignets at cafe du monde, it has been there forever, and later we went to some fancy kind of restaurant and had shrimp po boys. and then we went and heard a really great jazz band, the rebirth brass band, the tuba player especially was amazing. we stayed overnight at a friends house and then drove to buras this morning, well, afternoon. things are starting to be rebuilt, compared to last time i was here april 06. on the road to buras though there were still ragged hunks of metal and plastic up in the trees and lots of ruins with fema trailers scattered around. here at buras we are camping in the shell of the ruined ymca buildings. there is a kitchen which was shut down by the health dept because of things like hippie guys with no shirts on making coffee, but we got the ok today to start serving meals again. i had this very strong coffee this morning and have been just jumping out of my skin. i set up my tent on some pallets in record time and then swept the dining area and front entrance of the ymca bldg where meals are served. it is concrete floors, kind of like a garage i am just quick sending you all a note now to say hi, and if any of you are around the area, buras or 9th ward, drop in -- they can use people even for a few hours. they are on the web-- i don't have the address handy but google emergency communities and common ground collective. also there a lots of gnats here and i am twitching as i type, but things are great for me in general and i hope i can do as much as i can to help a bit. there still is a monumental task to be done here, all along the gulf coast. um i wont start ranting about the government. love wendy Sat, Mar 17, 2007 at 9:57 AM [i was very depressed before i left wisconsin, my seasonal mood disorder makes me suicidal in early spring, and being in buras helped but i still had residue. plus i still am very nervous about trusting friends after the divorce] dear gaby, i am real depressed today. it is great here and all, and juan and i had a wonderful conversation last night about how we are in each other's lives, and he said this morning i shouldn't be so paranoid, he won't ever dump me. but last night it was really really windy too, and we sleep in tents in a ruined building with concrete blocks hanging on rebar and loose galvanized metal roof and all this junk hanging and everything was rattling and creaking and i heard crashes nearby and a metal pole was rolling around on the concrete in the wind. it kept me awake. plus i do just feel like krap even though it has been fun and i'm doing lots of work and being with juan and all. its biochemical. juan doesn't quite believe it, i think, he says think positive. oh well. i took lots of good pix. today we are going to nola after lunch. love wendy Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 7:15 PM back to madison tomorrow (wed) hi everybody, i am at common ground, at st mary's school, in new orleans right now, and coming back to madison tomorrow afternoon. things have been crazy and hectic and emotional and exhausting. i will have to write a lot more when i get back. the internet keeps going down here. st mary's is a big chaotic place. but today juan and i and about 50 other people went to a community garden that common ground collective helps with. there are vegetables there, and some grapefruit trees, and lots if spring flowers--well, weeds--blooming but really nice. it was fun, we prepared beds for a flower garden, and talked a lot of political/sociological stuff. there are a bunch of students from howard univ now, plus random people and some other schools. anyway it was good to be outside. the past couple days i was just in the building, mostly cutting vegetables etc, and it is kind of depressing inside-dark and run down and just a weird feeling. tonight juan and i and i'm not sure who else are going out tonight to the french quarter for my last night here. we came up from buras on the 17th and went to a st patrick's day parade and there was so much waste--they were throwing cabbages, potatoes, onions, carrots, plus tons of beads and toys etc from the floats. well i love mardi gras beads and got tons. but it bothered me to see all the food on the street. some guy was going around with a box picking up cabbages and all. so i was glad to see that. the other night juan and two other guys, one very rastafarian, walked to the french quarter and it was interesting, spooky, walking down dark streets with one house on the block lit up and all the other houses ruins, but nice with them all reciting their poetry, and juan freestyling and the rasta guy talking about biblical and anthropological things and herodotus (so now i want to read a book i have at home, herodotus' travels-- i'm probably spelling the name wrong) we could see orion in the sky overhead, faint... in buras the stars were huge and bright. i will have to write more later, and develop my pictures. anyway, just wanted to say hi :-) love wendy Sat March 24 pictures from new orleans in couple weeks hi everybody, i'm back in madison, as some of you have already ascertained in person ;-) . i got back late wednesday. the plane left new orleans two hours late because of thunderstorms in chicago, i missed my connecting flight, ended up taking the bus to madison from chicago, etc. but all is well. i have about 20 rolls of film to develop and i will have some pictures online for you to see in a couple weeks. anyway, i highly recommend this kind of vacation to everybody. not just going to emergency communities or common ground, but anything similar in the world. it isn't grueling work, it is fun work and nobody is making you do it, and you get to rest when you want to, and it is very gratifying to do something to help out, and you meet a lot of really nice interesting people from all over. love wendy
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