Out in the field

Above is a slogan that I fell in love with in the Ninth Ward. Unfortunately, the restaurant itself still isn't open.

Today was a business as usual at NENA. The beginning of the day was a little slow, so I called a few more folks I had hoped to survey before. With a little extra time, I compiled all of the spreadsheet data I had into graphs and pie charts. A word from the pseudo-wise: When in doubt, organize. That rhymes!

I went on to do research in order to publicize our Fight the Blight program. There were actually pretty fascinating RAND Corporation articles on the effect of blight and general uncleanliness on local business, public health, and youth violence.

At around 2:00, a local Salvation Army worker came to work with us on a neighborhood beautification program. It turns out that in late July we'll be receiving forty volunteers for four days. We plan to use the volunteers to provide free grass cutting, flower and tree planting, and other landscaping to ninth ward residents. We left NENA headquarters to walk around the nearby streets, surveying homeowners about what services they might like (if any). It was interesting to truly walk around the area; in my high school volunteering days I was always shuttered within one or two streets for fear of violence in the area.

It was difficult to accept the lack of change in the area. Though there were certainly vibrant, fully rebuilt houses on each block, countless others hadn't been touched since the storm. Our Salvation Army coworker described the effect of the area on her quite well, sighing, "it makes my soul weak." There were, however, a few gratifying moments when we informed the homeowners of our intentions. Some residents lit up at the mention of free beautification. Those moments were worth every minute of dispair. I'll be continuing to survey the area for those who want the beautification services as well as leading a group of volunteers when the day itself comes.

After we returned to NENA, I compiled a list of poisonous plants which are often mistakenly planet at homes. We don't want to get the residents sick after promising them a brand new lawn. . .

We just started our Urban Geography of New Orleans class. It seems like it will be fascinating. To introduce us to the concept of human geography, our professor showed us many maps which supposedly measured the density of a certain human factor and had us guess which factor they represented (for example, most males per country, most African-Americans per county, etc.). For now, I'm planning on watching When the Levee Broke, a Spike Lee documentary about Hurricane Katrina. Adios!