Blight Reduction on the move!

I'm a sharer. Always have been. I'm one of those people who always has a story (that you may or may not be interested in hearing) or a fun fact (that you may or may not care about). One of the best parts of this blog for me, then, is that I can write about all of the news items and fun tidbits in a venue that doesn't clog the email boxes of people just wondering when the next fundraiser is or how to donate to our cause.

Late last spring, I linked to a 60 minutes piece on NOLA Mayor Mitch Landrieu, in which he described his affection for New Orleans and his promise to eliminate 10,000 blighted properties.  It's great to see New Orleans get positive attention on the national media stage, so I was excited to send the clip out to our team. Now, though, I can post both the original video, and this follow-up article, describing the progress that has been made in getting rid of blighted properties, including implementing a system called BlightStat to give transparency to the blight reduction process.

In reading the article, I am concerned that of the thousands of blighted properties that have been dealt with, only a few hundred were able to be repaired by owners. While we, as volunteers, can't control the local government actions regarding when properties are seized and demolished, we all hope that we can make a real difference by helping to rebuild for those homeowners who might not otherwise be able to do so without our assistance. I know that I, for one, hope that the volunteer efforts will be able to keep up with the number of homeowners who would like to rebuild, and that with each BlightStat meeting, we will continue to see a number of homes rebuilt instead of cleared away.

Mmmm...Snoballs!

This past trip, we were reintroduced to a favorite New Orleans treat -- the snoball.  Similar to the classic snow cone or the Hawaiian "shave ice," the snoball was one of our favorite ways to beat the July heat in NOLA, especially after a long day's work.  Read all about them in this vintage (1943) article from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which mentions our favorite shop on Tchoupitoulas (Chop-a-two-las) street, just blocks from where we stayed this past year.

http://www.nola.com/175years/index.ssf/2011/11/1943_snowballs_are_a_staple_of.html#incart_hbx

New Orleans Trip Dates

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, the moment you have all been waiting for...
The announcement of the 2012 New Orleans Mission Trip Dates! And they are...

(Drumroll Please)

July 7 - 14, 2012!

While last year we experimented with a slightly longer, mid-week travel format, this year we are returning to our Saturday-to-Saturday formula, allowing us to spend Sunday worshipping at St. Augustine Catholic Church, touring the Lower Ninth Ward and visiting homes we've worked on previously. We will then work a Monday - Friday week and return home on Saturday in time for our Sunday worship service and photo slideshow.

Hope you can make it this year!

New Orleans book review #1: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Being both a dedicated reader and a dedicated New Orleans recovery volunteer means that sometimes those worlds will collide, leading me oftentimes to enlightening and well-written books on the subject of hurricane recovery. The first entry in what I'm sure will be a series of book recommendations is Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.

Zeitoun (pronounced Zay-toon) is the story of a family in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina who find themselves at the unfortunate crossroads of the FEMA Katrina fiasco and the Homeland Security's "War on Terror." The Zeitoun family, you see, is Muslim. And after days of paddling his small canoe around NOLA, rescuing neighbors, feeding abandoned local dogs, and faithfully calling his wife, Kathy, (who had evacuated to Arizona with their four children) daily, Abdulrahman Zeitoun was arrested and held for weeks, without trial, in inhumane and barbaric conditions, on suspicion of being a terrorist for no other reason than being a practicing Muslim born in Syria.

Being a Bay Area native in the age range I like to think of as "hipster-adjacent," Eggers is very much a household name. He's one of the founders of one of my favorite literary sites/charity organizations, McSweeney's/826 Valencia (complete with Pirate supply store -- more on pirates in future posts), as well as a frequent interviewer and guest in the City Arts & Lectures series. However, until fellow trip leader Chuck loaned me this book, I had only seen him and never read any of his writing. Eggers is not just a writer, but a true journalist. He completed extensive interviews with everyone he could who was even minutely connected to the Zeitoun's story, and thoroughly researched all the events leading up to, during, and after the hurricane to present as accurate a context as possible. On top of all of that, he paints a heart-wrenching picture of the agony Kathy undergoes not knowing what has happened to her husband, and the confusion, anxiety, and physical pain Abdulrahman went through during his time incarcerated.

It was a quick read but an absolutely moving story.

Rating: Four and a half (out of five) paintbrushes.

Inaugurational Blog

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