Mother

Mother,
this is from me and my brother,
your son and your other son
wishing you a happy day
in this way
right away.
We may be in New Orleans still
but soon we'll be standing on your door sill
asking for so much that you want to kill us.

Hope it's been a good four months
just you and Bill in our great big house.
Enjoy it while it lasts
cause who knows when you'll long for the past:
I don't want to be crass but I am the shit
and you'll want me around if you are with it.
Of course your fault it is,
raising us on healthy alternatives.

So thank you Mom
cause my life's a song
and it will be long
and I love you strong.

progress

This week the end of my project, getting Sheila's house ready for occupancy, came into sight. On Monday we began what could have been an arduous, drawn-out process: shoring up the soft subfloor in preparation for installing flooring. But we were motivated and industrious so we ended up finishing that same day at 6:30 pm. It was awesome to wield a framing nail gun again. Crawling around under the house like a commando I felt that this was real work, an actual accomplishment. Today we did more preparation for the flooring installation, including buying some of the flooring so it can acclimate on site. My parents are coming down to work this Thursday until next Thursday, and I've assigned them to the floor. Also, we're almost done with the walls, which is what I started on 2 months ago. I'm excited.

dynamism

Whenever I've been uncomfortable here, or especially when I've become keenly aware of the unsustainability of the systems in place for work and living, I've consoled myself with the mantra: everything here is temporary. Turns out it's true; I meant that I plan to leave in May, but the founder is in town and he has started the grindwheel of policy building. The informality and start-up feel of this place has begun to slip away and I am already missing it. Simultaneously, I feel my Boston-area relationships slipping because I don't have time and energy to keep them up. This is why I was scared of traveling.

The Whitest Mud

We're into our second week of mudding (drywall joint compound application) at Miss Sheila's and I think it's going well. The idea is to create a perfectly uniform surface so that when it's painted, there is no evidence of the structure of the house or the work that was put into it. All I can say is, "Dad, now we can definitely fix those holes we punched in the wall."

I woke up on the beach this morning.

In my mom's old north face two person, the indigo walls and golden ceiling were filtering the sunlight; my companion wore purple hair and a yellow shirt; I unzipped the door and saw the Gulf of Mexico, blue under the sun; then I looked into her eyes and realized they were watery blue with flecks of yellow right around the pupils. Thus began my day of rest at the end of my week of rest.

Craig and I are officially drywall installation crew leaders here at lowernine.org now, as officially as anything is here anyway. Last week we only had short term volunteers for one day so everything was pretty chill. Also it was just five of us long-termers living in headquarters, and the personal space was delicious. Now we're flat out for the next six weeks: a bunch of folks just rolled in tonight and the energy they bring is palpable and enjoyable. We will have them clean and buy food while we teach them how to get people down here back into their houses, a fair exchange if you ask me.

Welcome to NOLA

Today I ended my LDR and moved to New Orleans full time; my brother welcomed me with open arms.

free food

Five of us just pulled a week's worth of food out of the food salvage container behind Winn Dixie: bread, flowers, beans, TOMATOES , lemons, parsley, lettuce, waffles. Also from the food salvage containers at Pizza Hut and Papa Johns: 8-10 pizzas and one box of cheesy bread. Then from some other containers on veteran's blvd: 7 very large plastic bins, 3 power strips, a tree planter, a picture frame and a mirror star. We skitched the non-food home in the planter. Only one regret: no chocolate easter bunnies this time...

Sorry I haven't called you...

My northern brethren,
it's not you, it's me: busy.
I promise we'll talk...
eventually.

[title]

When life is easy,
it's hard to have self control.
[word word; word word word.]

lowernine.org

Two Saturdays ago Craig and I moved to a different organization. The church volunteer center was based in a large, mostly finished space, pretty far uptown in a nice neighborhood. It had an established bureaucracy that we had to work through to stay there and there were lots of rules and policies in place while we were there. Our work was scheduled out and parceled off to different organizations. Lowernine.org is based in a small, unfinished house all the way down in the lower ninth ward. We stopped by one afternoon two weeks ago and arranged to stay here; though we were told to fill out and email in applications as well, it was more of a formality. The work here is all rebuilding homes within walking distance of the headquarters. Leadership roles have been designated but the atmosphere is very relaxed and even some essential roles are filled charismatically rather than officially. Living and working here for the last week and a half has been hard, much harder than the work at the church. We work full days doing home rebuilding work, mostly drywall installation. Last week, eating and sleeping were irregular: we moved our beds three times and on Saturday, our friend took us to the food salvage location to pick up free food (and flowers). When it's not raining, we hang out on the street, shooting hoops and smoking; and by 'we' I mean everyone but me; I just hang out in the street. This place is awesome and you should donate money to it: lowernine.org; the founder, Rick Prose, just said: "We're the future baby!"