I can't believe that a month has gone by without me posting. I've been listening to stuff coming out of New Orleans, but my own bubble has grown to swallow me up. however, two things to note:

I presented my photos and story of volunteering to a group of architectural historians last week, with the woman who coordinated our work in NOLA. we had massive technical difficulties, mostly based on cable incompatibility, but the 30 or so of our 85 slides that we showed had great effect. it reminded me how important it is to talk about it as often as possible. someone at the presentation has asked that we do it again (sans technical difficulty) in a week and a half at UNC-G. I'm looking forward to it, if I can make powerpoint not suck.

Also, my friend-of-a-friend (quickly becoming a regular old friend) from NOLA is set on relocating here to Durham. she sold her house for more than asking price before it was officially on the market, and is perusing rental houses online while she makes sure the inspection will turn up nothing untoward. I'm very exciting that she's coming, and slightly nervous that I've somehow oversold this city of mine and she'll be terribly unhappy here. it's irrational, I know, but I realize that she's taking my word for many things and I feel a great deal of responsibility.

my personal bubble, the one that is so overwhelming, is that I've lost my job and two that were supposed to start within a week of each other. I'm in the midst of seriously considering a consulting business, because if no one else can hire me, I might as well put myself to work. however, that is rather nerve-wracking, and I'm kind of hoping that a knight in shining armor will offer me the perfect job in the meantime.

know any knights?

a great article in slate.com talks about NOLA from an architectural perspective: what isn't happening, why, and what the issues at hand are.  written by their architectural critic, he compares the city to those in the rustbelt, despite its sunbelt location.  and his prognosis isn't so good.  and another from slate is a fairly short piece on being there and working on a 1927 house... those are the ones that will survive.  and one published in reason which talks about the urban legends of katrina, called "they shoot helicopters, don't they?" which is excellent and debunks all the myths that started in the information vacuum.  everyone should read it, I think.

that's all for now.  happy new year, everyone.

last night I ran into a sort-of acquaintance, someone whose life has paralleled my own at times. she was just back from two weeks volunteering in NOLA, working with Common Ground and dealing with plaquemines parrish. she had the exact same shell-shocked expression and desire to communicate the enormity of it all as I did on my first day back, and speaking with her brought it all back.

we spent a little while debating the details, based on our different missions there, and then got separated into other conversations. I found her again later, and told her that she just needed to keep talking about it and to fully appreciate all that she had. that it was a weight, a heaviness that you pick up while your there, and when you're home that weight is spread out among your support network and community so that it becomes easier to bear. one of the tragedies of the disaster is that the locals have had that support network destroyed or dispersed, so that they have to carry all of the heaviness by themselves.

it felt good to talk to someone who had just been there and think about it again. in a couple of weeks I'll be presenting to some local architectural historians about the trip, with our fearless leader, and I wonder what it will be like to try to convey it again.

the holidays have (mostly) past, and I thought of new orleanians often. the first christmas away from home, the fuss over whether or not there will be a mardi gras, so on and so forth. I got this just a few days ago, and wanted to share. I have mixed feelings about some of the assertions (like enforcing green building to restrict haphazard development being part of this larger scheme) but it all bears consideration.



KATRINA AND THE SECOND DISASTER:
A Twenty-Point Plan to Destroy Black New Orleans
By Robert D. Bullard

As reconstruction and rebuilding move forward in New Orleans and the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Gulf Coast region, it is clear that the lethargic and inept emergency response after Hurricane Katrina was a disaster that overshadowed the deadly storm itself. Yet, there is a "second disaster" in the making-driven by racism, classism, elitism, paternalism, and old-fashion greed. The following "Twenty-Point Plan to Destroy Black New Orleans" is based on trends and observations made over the past three months. Hopefully, the good people of New Orleans, Louisiana, the Gulf Coast, and the United States will not allow this plan to go forward-and instead adopt a principled plan and approach to rebuilding and bringing back New Orleans that is respectful of all of its citizens.

1. Selectively Hand Out FEMA Grants. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is being consistent in the slow response in getting aid to Katrina survivors. FEMA's grant assistance program favors middle-income households. Make it difficult for low-income and black Katrina survivors to access government assistance. Direct the bulk of the grant assistance to middle-income white storm victims. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and several other legal groups have sued FEMA over its response and handling of aid to storm victims. FEMA has referred more than two million people, many of them with low incomes, to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to get the loans.
( Read more... )

from salon.com, about how much of the work is being done by individuals and volunteers, not some larger group.  and likewise, from the NYTimes, about how evacuees keep getting moved from place to place.  neither article comes as a shock, of course, but it's good to hear this stuff from the news organizations.

I am still mulling over all the potential fall out from this storm, as well as what I might be able to do about it.  there is a potential for me to write a short article, give a talk, stuff like that, and sometimes it's all very tempting.  and sometimes it's easier just to put it behind me.

news from the friend-of-a-friend: she's decided to put her house on the market and move (temporarily at least) to durham.  we'll be very happy to have her here, and I understand her need to leave entirely.  at the same time, though, it's sad that the complete lack of organization and improvement is chasing away good folks.  yet more evidence of the craziness.

schroeder915 who has posted here a few times has a space on blogspot, keeping up with a good deal of the news from inside the city. and since my blog is nicely listed with all the others in the sidebar there, I thought it was only fair to repay the favor.

speaking of the sidebar, that one has a rather intensive list of many NOLA related blogs... I may spend my afternoon perusing.

also, operation eden is continually updated, with some of the info on the ridiculousness of FEMA. apparently since the photographer bought his mother the trailer in his name yet he lives in NYC, FEMA is insisting that he's a landlord and won't give him any kind of emergency funds.

unrelatedly but fascinating in terms of preservation, the subway construction in NYC has come up upon the proverbial wall: a section of wall from the original settlement of the island. so cool.

When we were down in NOLA, we attended an open session of the Urban Land Institute's week long meeting. a lot of people spoke and were passionate about what they saw happening - again and again they said 'we don't want new urbanism, we want the old urbanism'... that makes the following article particularly interesting, what with Duany Plater-Zyberk, some of the high priests of new urbanism, being selected for south Lousiana planning. I wonder how it'll go over in New Orleans?

N.O.'s La. Recovery Authority member: Recovery is premier planning plum
CityBusiness Staff Report


In what Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco calls a major step toward rebuilding hurricane-ravaged south Louisiana, the Louisiana Recovery Authority announced Thursday it has engaged three nationally recognized firms to help communities recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. LRA member Donna Fraiche of New Orleans, who heads the authority's long-term planning task force, commended the Support Organization on its recommendation. She said the unique nature of long-term planning after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was an irresistible project for the nation's top planners.

"This is the premier project — not just in the country but in the world," she said.Calthorpe Associates of Berkeley, Calif.; Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh and Duany Plater-Zyberk Associates of Miami, Fla., will begin work immediately to develop a comprehensive regional vision for south Louisiana.
( Read more... )

12/5/2005, 2:32 MICHAEL KUNZELMAN The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Clytie Julien lost $60,000 worth of uninsured antiques to Hurricane Katrina, but she is intent on saving her most valuable possession: her roughly 80-year-old Victorian house in the city's historic Broadmoor neighborhood.

"This house will be restored," vowed Julien, 65. "It will be better than it was before the storm." That is good news for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose volunteers have been canvassing thousands of flood-damaged historic houses in New Orleans and encouraging owners to rebuild rather than bulldoze in this city of Creole cottages, shotgun homes, antebellum Greek revival mansions, 19th-century townhouses, American foursquares, century-old bungalows and Victorians.
( Read more... )

I've been trying to decide what to do with this blog now that I am home and (somewhat) settled from the trip. no matter what, I will continue to post interesting bits about New Orleans when I run into them, as well as information from the various NOLA email groups I'm on, but that will only happen so often.

other stuff I've got going on include my ever-continuing job search, the wedding planning, and what we are (not) doing to our house. all potentially bloggable. or I could just, you know, blather.

so, any opinions?

(random funny note: the spellcheck does not recognize 'blog'. sheesh.)

I just had dinner with our fearless leader, mary ruffin, and her husband john. over pizza, we talked about life in general and I got to deliver the mascot, jean la feet.mary ruffin and I both agreed that it's really hard to talk about the whole NOLA experience with those who have not been, and that said, it's kind of hard to talk about it with those who have been.  it's much easier to put it all in a box and move on to the rest of our lives. perhaps, given some breathing room, she and I will make a presentation to our local architectural historians' group or some such.  I think we both need a little space.
she, of course, is about to head back down to new orleans for another 3 weeks of work.  after that, I think she'll be organizing from a distance, back home with her new husband.

I've been doing my best to spend a little time thinking and talking about new orleans every day, but also get back into the swing of my normal world.  there's stuff like a wedding to think of, and family and the house and the dogs.  what's the balance between the every day and the greater good?

I've gone through almost all of the photos taken by the volunteer team - at least all the ones I can get my hands on - and am currently uploading the majority of them to my flickr account. there are a zillion (well, over 300), so it's a good thing I upgraded my account... it means there will be some repeats at the end, as I couldn't filter out the ones I had already uploaded, but y'all are smart peeps and can figure it out. I also culled out most of the undamaged 'ooh pretty it's the french quarter' photographs, so it's down to the essentials.

feel free to link to them, download them, whatever. if you want a high-quality original, email me and I'll hook you up.

the slate writer has updated his story, with some wonderful news. it makes me glad to see one family succeed, although I'm still so worried about everything else.

it's interesting, I think all of us who have gone through the volunteer program feel a little like we've visited a war zone.  julie mentioned to me while we were there that she wasn't dreaming, which was an anomaly for her.  indeed, I did not dream the entire time I was in NOLA, but have been having crazy-vivid dreams since I came home.  houses that look fine on the outside but are full of mold, strangers coming up to me, lost things and water water water.  chris wakes me up in the middle of the night and I don't recognize him, and it's very hard to wake up in the morning.  my unconscious is clearly doing some hard-core processing...

I wish that some of the volunteers were closer to my house, because I feel like speaking with them might help.  someone did start a message board for all of us but no one really seems to be taking advantage of it.  it's almost like we're all side-stepping around the heart of it all, not wanting to open the floodgates.

water water water.

it's interesting how new orleans is being portrayed in the news. in between what I've just read about katrina cough and whatnot, it seems like there's more out there than I originally thought.

this was just in the new yorker, apparently, and does a great job of describing some of the radical culture shocks happening to the displaced folks.  and from time, an article about how it's worse than you think (which, sadly, you need to be a subscriber to read).  and an article about the secondline jazz parade I was in... and an interesting one about how people coming back have had a chance to see the shortfalls of their own city - especially in comparison with their temporary homes.

UPDATE: one more article, with some actual figures of death tolls, etc.

I have such a good life. my house is standing, my pets and my fiance are warm and safe and inside, I am home in it and moreover everything is mold-free. and I have never been more grateful for all of those small things. the poignancy of doing all of this just before thanksgiving hit me today - I think it may be one of the more emotional holidays I will ever have.

last night I went over and visited some of my family, and tried to convey (without the use of my photos) what is happening in new orleans. and I think some of it came across, and in some ways words failed. later this week I'll have a chance to do it again with the photographs I'm sure, and I need to perfect my stories, hone them so they are sharp and pointy and poignant. I want to pull heart strings, to make sure people don't assume that in the three months since the hurricane hit, somehow they've got everything all sorted out. everyone on my team and all of those who worked with us knew that our reporting back to our families, friends, and communities is more important than what we actually did on the ground there. and now that I'm back, I realize it even more.

This whole experience is such a roller-coaster ride. The polar opposites throughout the city play out in emotions, too. At times I am so hopeful, and sometimes so disconsolate, about the future of the Big Easy. Here are some of the things that I worry about when I’m on the low end of the equation: ( Read more... )

Last night I went out to a lovely dinner with a native, a woman about my age who is living in her own home and grant-writing for a variety of groups. She stayed in the city (although not in her own home) through the hurricane, and fled afterwards as the water rose and people started looting. She was with her mother and fiancé, and the only way she got her mother to leave was by asking, “when we’re up on the roof, and they come in a boat to rescue us and won’t let us bring the dogs, do you have a gun? And do you want to shoot them so they won’t drown, or shall I?”

Her mother then agreed that it was time to leave.
( Read more... )

an update about our hood ornament: we've put him through the washing machine and decked him out in beads, and now he's ready for anything. he really cleaned up quite well, and apparently he's more of a mouse-type animal than my original guesses. here is the article I first read about the phenomenon about stuffed hood ornamentation, although we didn't necessarily consider the multi-ethnic ramifications of our car decorations!

given the gravity of the situation here, finding a little levity is so important.

our official session ended today, and so there was time for other things... I had heard from someone in my neighborhood that an evacuated family had ended up in durham, and wanted to know more about their home. without any real concrete information, they did not know what had been lost and what still remained. so, armed with their address, a camera, and a map, I went out with two folks to find st. bernard parrish. the parrish was one of the worst hit areas of new orleans, other than the lower ninth ward. we didn't know if we'd even be able to get into the neighborhood, and I'd heard that there was up to a foot of sludge from the nearby oil refineries mixed with mud all over the ground. indeed, as we came in one street had been blocked with a barricade of cars. erin, the local who was driving, said that it had originally been about 4 cars high. now, down to one, it seemed like they might be cleaning it up, but we couldn't tell.   we swung around on a different route and ended up on a strip of road that was once anywhere, america, and was now just erased.
( Read more... )

had a lovely time tonight, going to a cocktail party for various folks in the french quarter, and then dinner at a new(ish) party called amelie's. it was more than delish, and we had a great time there. we had met the chef earlier, during our first day's tour of the french quarter, and he'd invited us to the re-opening of his restaurant. we loved the dinner, enjoyed it massively, especially after another glass of red wine.

I picked up the brochure of a restaurant in the french quarter. as we walked by the lobby, it glowed as it was all lined with gold leaf. I'm looking forward to returning to the city after it is whole again, staying at that beautiful place. it'll be so wonderful to see this place again, once the tragedy is past.

one thing I must say for people around here, there is a wonderful sense of humor.  around all the tragedy, there's these little moments.

here's a lawn figurine wearing a breathing filter/mask thing, and a message to katrina.

( Read more... )