A sick blog, informing peeps about Agrro Berlin and German hip hop.
I'm a fan! Check it out:
http://www.daad.org/?p=derangriff
Friday, July 11, 2008
Crossing under the highway overpass, through the intersection of N. Claiborne and Canal, I looked left and then right and saw a community of tents. How bizarre I thought. What are tents doing in such a urban center? Why have people gathered here? My stomach stank because tents in an urban center equals poverty.
Within my first two weeks in New Orleans, I would travel through this intersection several times to visit friends in the Mid-City and Lakeview neighborhoods. I finally asked Gabe and Lynzie (2 friends, who are part of the OK-Oregon Krewe) what they knew about all these tents. Lynzie said that the people gathered in CBD (Central Business District) by City Hall, initially after Hurricane Katrina because the area was one of the highest elevated in the city.
The next day, I met Catch, a fabulously bold and outspoken Louisianan with ties to the Northwest, who works with UNITY. She named the tent community, Tent City, and filled in more details about its history. Originally, the group was comprised of mostly homeless individuals, organizing themselves as Homeless Pride, and choosing to stay next to City Hall. Ignore the cynicism here if you can. :P Needless to say, somehow the government was able to convince the people that it was unsafe to stay in the area because of future construction projects. The community migrated to the somewhat weather protected land under the I-10 overpass. Catch explained that the community then became more infested with drug pushers and scammers along with the homeless.
What's more is Catch explained that every time New Orleans hosts an event, the city tries to 'clean up' the impoverished scenes, especially in the popular tourist spots, ie the French Quarter. Tent City is right outside of the French Quarter. New Orleans has hosted many large events in the last year, including the Sugar Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game, Jazz Fest, and most recently the Essence Festival. I passed Tent City of July 4, Day 1 of Essence Fest and the area was more than half cleared. The right side was completely blocked off, enclosed with New Orleans Police Department signs. I was shocked that I actually witnessed the 'clean up' which Catch explained It urked me the rest of the weekend and continues to, even more when I get closer to the community.
Within my first two weeks in New Orleans, I would travel through this intersection several times to visit friends in the Mid-City and Lakeview neighborhoods. I finally asked Gabe and Lynzie (2 friends, who are part of the OK-Oregon Krewe) what they knew about all these tents. Lynzie said that the people gathered in CBD (Central Business District) by City Hall, initially after Hurricane Katrina because the area was one of the highest elevated in the city.
The next day, I met Catch, a fabulously bold and outspoken Louisianan with ties to the Northwest, who works with UNITY. She named the tent community, Tent City, and filled in more details about its history. Originally, the group was comprised of mostly homeless individuals, organizing themselves as Homeless Pride, and choosing to stay next to City Hall. Ignore the cynicism here if you can. :P Needless to say, somehow the government was able to convince the people that it was unsafe to stay in the area because of future construction projects. The community migrated to the somewhat weather protected land under the I-10 overpass. Catch explained that the community then became more infested with drug pushers and scammers along with the homeless.
What's more is Catch explained that every time New Orleans hosts an event, the city tries to 'clean up' the impoverished scenes, especially in the popular tourist spots, ie the French Quarter. Tent City is right outside of the French Quarter. New Orleans has hosted many large events in the last year, including the Sugar Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game, Jazz Fest, and most recently the Essence Festival. I passed Tent City of July 4, Day 1 of Essence Fest and the area was more than half cleared. The right side was completely blocked off, enclosed with New Orleans Police Department signs. I was shocked that I actually witnessed the 'clean up' which Catch explained It urked me the rest of the weekend and continues to, even more when I get closer to the community.
Friday, March 21, 2008
NOLA volunteer links
http://www.pnola.org/
http://dirtycoast.com/home.php
http://www.reliefspark.org
http://www.handsonneworleans.org
http://www.kidsmart.org
http://www.cafereconcile.com
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/
http://www.ccstb.org/
http://www.acorn.org/
http://www.stbernardproject.org/
http://www.help4families.org/
http://hope.okcancel.org/
http://www.habitat-nola.org/
http://www.greenlightneworleans.org/
http://www.teachNOLA.org
http://www.nooutreach.org
http://www.pslrecovery.org/
http://www.pcusa.org/katrina/index.htm
http://www.ladeltacorps.org/
http://dirtycoast.com/home.php
http://www.reliefspark.org
http://www.handsonneworleans.org
http://www.kidsmart.org
http://www.cafereconcile.com
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/
http://www.ccstb.org/
http://www.acorn.org/
http://www.stbernardproject.org/
http://www.help4families.org/
http://hope.okcancel.org/
http://www.habitat-nola.org/
http://www.greenlightneworleans.org/
http://www.teachNOLA.org
http://www.nooutreach.org
http://www.pslrecovery.org/
http://www.pcusa.org/katrina/index.htm
http://www.ladeltacorps.org/
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Looking back at Chemawa
yo! i'm finally writing on this spot...i was encouraged from so many experiences thus far at Chemawa as well as reading a couple friends' blogs regularly-shouts to Yasmin and Brenda. :D
anywhoo i've been wanting to journal and express what's been going on at Chemawa. i do wanna say that it is not easy but such a great job with many consistent rewards from students, tutors, and staff.
two students i met earlier in the year, Tana, and Chris, i hardly spoke to for several weeks, only saying hello and recognizing their face each day. i remember sitting down with chris and his friend patrick now and then, just chatting, catching a laugh. i also remember messing up the pronounciation of Tana's name EVERY day.hehe. she was probably really annoyed cuz i asked all the time and tried to pronouce and always did it wrong.
later in the term though, one night, both of them just brought chairs to the desk where i work and chilled with me. they continued that each day that week. by the end we had nicknames and a family name...hehe..Chris 'C-Honey', Tana 'T-Bucks', and i 'Liz' :D....family TLC. that was good times-we bonded and clowned on each other a lot.
a new term started 3 weeks ago, started rather normally, got to see a few students i met last year, Maureen and Patches. it was fun to reunite with them--i was excited to see them, but not excited that they were on the mandatory list. we had a fun first day together and also worked on writing paragraphs-so sucessful times 2. :)
last week was spirit week-lots of fun and entertainment-crazy games and relays and meeting up with students i know and just chattin, chillin--good bonding times. Marla 'Daddy'and her friend Creanna, Maureen, Patches, Samantha, Tana and Tylynn, etc. Cool people! Got candy beamed at us!! hehe
this week, today, definately the best day--spoke with new students, laughed from the start, with some of favorite tutors and lots of people came to tutoring tonight--lots of work with a positive mood. i met Becenti, Victor, Rene, and Daniel...saw Maureen and Patches again today :D. i hadn't seen them in a bit.
but yea...Becenti and Victor came in after having scarfed down pizza on the way over and started talkin amongst themselves about pizza-stained passes. i picked up on it quick and said "We don't accept stained passes". :) i got a look like what but then they picked up on my humor quick. it was a joke the rest of the night..i got the background the stains later on after i kept trying to get to know them. i even was like "daaaaaang...did ya'll use it to wipe ur mouth" and picked up the passes and made the motions. i just act a fool to get some laughs. hehe we all busted up. we talked about their grades and what they could do about it. anna gave them each multiplication worksheets after a while of chattin about school, life, and such. they were trying to go the whole time too--"we don't have any work, can we go?" hehe..NO! but yea they ended up stayin almost the whole time, working, behaving, and tellin stories about life and good stuff like that. i met Daniel and Rene too and we talked about where we're from. they were curious about my accent, which gets stronger when i try to talk faster and around people that remind me of old days...haha "are you from texas? tennessee?" naw...but i lived in Georgia. we talked about my ma and the army==bout adventures and life then they all headed out. hope i see them again..end of term is next week and the students have some work to make up and i hope they get it in so they can pass their classes.
i'm out cuz my battery is about to die.
L8r(sumethin i picked up from Chemawa)....
anywhoo i've been wanting to journal and express what's been going on at Chemawa. i do wanna say that it is not easy but such a great job with many consistent rewards from students, tutors, and staff.
two students i met earlier in the year, Tana, and Chris, i hardly spoke to for several weeks, only saying hello and recognizing their face each day. i remember sitting down with chris and his friend patrick now and then, just chatting, catching a laugh. i also remember messing up the pronounciation of Tana's name EVERY day.hehe. she was probably really annoyed cuz i asked all the time and tried to pronouce and always did it wrong.
later in the term though, one night, both of them just brought chairs to the desk where i work and chilled with me. they continued that each day that week. by the end we had nicknames and a family name...hehe..Chris 'C-Honey', Tana 'T-Bucks', and i 'Liz' :D....family TLC. that was good times-we bonded and clowned on each other a lot.
a new term started 3 weeks ago, started rather normally, got to see a few students i met last year, Maureen and Patches. it was fun to reunite with them--i was excited to see them, but not excited that they were on the mandatory list. we had a fun first day together and also worked on writing paragraphs-so sucessful times 2. :)
last week was spirit week-lots of fun and entertainment-crazy games and relays and meeting up with students i know and just chattin, chillin--good bonding times. Marla 'Daddy'and her friend Creanna, Maureen, Patches, Samantha, Tana and Tylynn, etc. Cool people! Got candy beamed at us!! hehe
this week, today, definately the best day--spoke with new students, laughed from the start, with some of favorite tutors and lots of people came to tutoring tonight--lots of work with a positive mood. i met Becenti, Victor, Rene, and Daniel...saw Maureen and Patches again today :D. i hadn't seen them in a bit.
but yea...Becenti and Victor came in after having scarfed down pizza on the way over and started talkin amongst themselves about pizza-stained passes. i picked up on it quick and said "We don't accept stained passes". :) i got a look like what but then they picked up on my humor quick. it was a joke the rest of the night..i got the background the stains later on after i kept trying to get to know them. i even was like "daaaaaang...did ya'll use it to wipe ur mouth" and picked up the passes and made the motions. i just act a fool to get some laughs. hehe we all busted up. we talked about their grades and what they could do about it. anna gave them each multiplication worksheets after a while of chattin about school, life, and such. they were trying to go the whole time too--"we don't have any work, can we go?" hehe..NO! but yea they ended up stayin almost the whole time, working, behaving, and tellin stories about life and good stuff like that. i met Daniel and Rene too and we talked about where we're from. they were curious about my accent, which gets stronger when i try to talk faster and around people that remind me of old days...haha "are you from texas? tennessee?" naw...but i lived in Georgia. we talked about my ma and the army==bout adventures and life then they all headed out. hope i see them again..end of term is next week and the students have some work to make up and i hope they get it in so they can pass their classes.
i'm out cuz my battery is about to die.
L8r(sumethin i picked up from Chemawa)....
Monday, June 4, 2007
Path Ideas for 2008 and beyond
-Sojourners Internship (1 yr) Washington, D.C.
-Mending Wings/InterVarsity Internship (1 yr+) Yakima, WA
-Servant Partners (2 yrs) Los Angeles, CA
-Fulbright Teaching Assistantship (1 yr+) Germany/Austria, Korea
-Edelweiss Hotel Attendant Program (1 yr) Garmisch, Germany
-Willamette Masters in Teaching Program (1 yr)
-InnerCity Teaching Corps (1 yr+) Chicago, Illinois
-Teach for America (2 yrs) possibilities urban/rural USA
-Peace Corps (2 yrs+) possibilities anywhere overseas
-Mending Wings/InterVarsity Internship (1 yr+) Yakima, WA
-Servant Partners (2 yrs) Los Angeles, CA
-Fulbright Teaching Assistantship (1 yr+) Germany/Austria, Korea
-Edelweiss Hotel Attendant Program (1 yr) Garmisch, Germany
-Willamette Masters in Teaching Program (1 yr)
-InnerCity Teaching Corps (1 yr+) Chicago, Illinois
-Teach for America (2 yrs) possibilities urban/rural USA
-Peace Corps (2 yrs+) possibilities anywhere overseas
Where to live in the future??
Taking an online quiz....just fun or rather significant!?!?
inland options-meaning i did not select the 'i must live near the beach':
continued options-meaning i selected the 'i love live near the beach':
inland options-meaning i did not select the 'i must live near the beach':
| American Cities That Best Fit You: |
 65% Washington, DC 55% Atlanta 55% Chicago 55% Las Vegas 55% Philadelphia |
continued options-meaning i selected the 'i love live near the beach':
| American Cities That Best Fit You: |
 60% Washington, DC 50% Atlanta 50% Chicago 50% Las Vegas |
http://www.blogthings.com/whichamericancitiesbestfityouquiz/">Which American Cities Best Fit You?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
