A Mixed Bag

Above is a picture of a house that I took from the car driving into the Ninth Ward.


Work today was different than usual because my boss, Nivan, wasn't there. As a result, I was assigned some busy work, namely calling a bunch of small business owners to ask if they'd like to come to a free seminar we're holding on how to increase their business. It took a long time, but it was nice to hear the excitement of some of the business owners.

I also typed up a list of instructions on how to use Microsoft Word for the business across the street. It was a strange experience; I certainly don't consider myself someone who is technically proficient. Still, my time here has taught me that it's a blessing even to have these small skills.

Work ended on a sour note when I spoke to a woman who was very upset with NENA's service. She was frustrated about all the documents she had to collect in order to get service. It's true, there are about fifteen things to be scanned, photographed, or retrieved in order to gain service from NENA, but most of them are reasonable. Even so, it was awful to hear the anguish in this person's voice. I spent much of the day trying to reconcile how I, as a low-level employee at a non-profit, could provide humanitarian assistance despite (necessary) bureaucracy. It's certainly going to be the subject for my first photo project for class. Below: My desk!



Tonight was fun. My friends and I hung out at the house of a few Xavier folks who were friends with someone in our program. Later, we went to the French Quarter. It was a typical French Quarter night: beautiful architecture, balmy weather, and scantily clad women practically throwing jello shots at us. Oh, New Orleans. Below is a beautiful alley in the French Quarter. My friend Petra took the picture for her photo project.

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!

10 hour day

Sheesh. Work 9-5 and class 6-8:30. I'm fairly sleepy right now, so please excuse me if this is incoherent.

Work was interesting today, if fairly emotionally taxing. I did some form-making: questionnaires for residents who might want free landscaping from a NENA-Salvation Army partnership, surveys to see what goods or services homeowners are in need of in order to help NENA prepare, etc.

I used the latter survey to call one hundred (count 'em!) Ninth Ward residents to ask a) if they were living in their homes, b) how complete their rebuilding process was and c) what things were necessary to their immediate rebuilding needs. As usual, almost every person I talked to was incredibly kind and helpful. You know you're not in New England anymore when someone you've only talked to for a few minutes is referring to you as "sugar" and "baby."

Even so, some of the stories were hard to hear. Along with many residents who simply didn't have the time, money, resources, or energy to rebuild, many have suffered horribly from contractor scams. These scams have been rampant in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and are pretty much what they sound like: phony contractors requiring a down payment of several thousand dollars to supposedly fix a house before bolting with the cash. Quite obviously, losing this much money often makes it impossible for the homeowner to rebuild.

After work, we attended our first Creating Space: Race and Gender in Urban Spaces class. Today was very introductory, but we learned that our first assignment will be to create a photo essay of a space in New Orleans. I think I'll be using my photos to contrast the more run-down, neglected areas of the Ninth Ward with the few extravagant houses there. For example, the famous Steamboat Houses:
We'll also need to keep a weekly journal about the many readings for the class. Additionally, we have a photo montage of a space we've been working in (example pictured below) due once a week. Our final project will be a short movie about the place we've been working in. It should be a lot of work, but also lots of fun.

First day on the job

Today was my first day working at the Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association, or NENA. NENA's homepage (9thwardnena.org) best describes what they do:

"NENA utilizes an innovative resident-based approach to the comprehensive rebuilding of the Lower Ninth Ward, providing services and implementing sustainable programs in community outreach, case management, design and construction administration, home and school rebuilding, and economic development.

NENA has 17 staff members, in the areas of management and administration, Outreach, Case Management, Economic Development, Volunteer Services and the Design Studio. Its Board of Directors includes seven members, all of whom live, work, or worship in the Lower Ninth Ward.

In addition, NENA has ongoing partnerships the Loyola School of Law, Tulane University, Crescent City Alliance Recovery Effort (CARE), and numerous local and national organizations and supporters. NENA is the lead facilitator of the Lower 9th Ward Stakeholders Coalition, and is a member of the Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership."

NENA has ten full-time employees (most of whom are from or live in the Ninth Ward).

I found out today that I'll be working in Volunteer Services, which is great. I've been a volunteer in the New Orleans rebuilding effort several times, so it will be wonderful to see it from the other side. I'll also be surveying houses to see how to best begin each individual building process.

Today was all about the learning curve. I shadowed the other Volunteer Services coordinator as he oriented a volunteer team from UC Berkeley. We took the group to the house where they would be dry-walling and introduced them to the homeowner and their NENA assistant.

I then did an inventory of NENA's extensive supplies for volunteers and Ninth Ward residents. In case anyone was wondering, counting a pile of rakes is very difficult.

I went on to create a backlog of all the volunteer groups we've had in the past few months. Predictably, months like May were very slow, whereas months like March and January have huge peaks in volunteers due to their school vacations. I happened to pick up a waiver filled out with volunteers from my church in my hometown, which was very exciting.

Just before leaving, I created a chart with which to assess the progress of each home in the rebuilding process. I then received my very own NENA t-shirt, which I apparently am supposed to wear every Friday.

NENA headquarters:

To be frank, the Ninth Ward is much as I remember it when I last saw it in 2008. Due to government neglect, few renovated houses stand in the middle of many, many dilapidated ones. Some homes are only half-redone as a result of their owners running out of the money or the energy to fix them. Often, what appear to be large fields of grass have, upon closer inspection, the grooves of lost house foundations. Needless to say, there is much to be done.

Sunday, lazy Sunday

Due to it being our last day of rest (and the fact that much of the group had a lot of fun on Bourbon street last night), today was pretty laid back. We spent the afternoon on Magazine Street (pictured above), famous for its old houses, good food, and many fancy boutiques. It feels strange to be living the good life with so much post-Katrina destruction just around the corner, but all that will change very soon. And by soon, I mean tomorrow at around 7:00 AM, which is when I will somehow make myself wake up.

Out on the town

Nothing really starts until Monday, so today was mostly just full of fun things to do. The entire group had a meeting at 10:00 to discuss what the next two months will be like. Generally, we'll be working from 9-5 with classes from 6-9 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Every other week there will be a special lecture or panel discussion; Ray Nagin may be a speaker.

After lunch, I went to the New Orleans City Park (pictured above) with a friend from home. The botanical gardens and artwork were breathtakingly beautiful.

Afterwards, we went to a free Save the Wetlands concert in the French Quarter. It was mainly jazz musicians, all of whom were incredible. The goal of the concert was to gain congressional funding for wetland restoration in the area (politicians are currently debating the amount of funding that may or may not be given). The wetlands, besides being ecologically unique, are an extremely important part of hurricane protection. Roughly, a mile of wetland prevents an entire foot of storm surge. For more info: http://saveourwetlands.org/

I have arrived!

I got in at noon today after a very uneventful flight. Above is St. Martin Deporres Hall, where I'll be living for the next two months. My room is downright palacial: I get an open double complete with a bathroom, a fridge, and a microwave. What did I do to deserve this. . .?


And, as the building I'm in (seven stories!) is just about the tallest around, there's a pretty great view of the city:
The Xavier campus is beautiful and unique; the buildings are a mixture of old and new and are quite interspersed with the surrounding area. The University is historically black and Catholic, so, needless to say, I stick out like a sore thumb. But sticking out like a sore thumb is a useful experience to have.