At Ms. Vivian Mason's house today we began to add color. We had students up on two level scaffolding, extension ladders, A-frames, and even seated on the ground to paint the bottom of the lattices. The sun was out all day, with a pleasant cool breeze tickling our noses. We have been eating lunch across the street from the work-site along the sidewalk and in the grass. Today, Ms. Mason's neighbor who lives behind the area we enjoy our bagged lunches in came over to talk to us and offered us water. This is just one example of how friendly everyone we have met is, and we are always asked where we are from. The city is flooded with other Alternative Spring Breakers, and there is a lot of amazing work being done here. At the end of the day, we had completed the entire left side of the house and half of the back....with only minor paint spill accidents and students changing their hair color. ;)
This afternoon we were picked up by a car service driven by Larry, the same driver the group had last year. Larry drove us from United Saints Church where we are staying, and over to our tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. Larry was born and raised in NOLA, and he is very easy to talk to. Larry told us that the only time he has ever left New Orleans was because of Hurricane Katrina, and he was so homesick he had to come back. He said simply, "There is no other place like it." When we asked him about his concerns for future natural disasters he chuckled and responded that "Hurricane season is coming up and you don't know what the future holds." Larry commented on the progress that the city has made since Katrina and said that it is groups like ours that helped put the city back together.
We met Derreyl from The Sierra Club (http://neworleanssierran.blogspot.com/) outside of The Holy Cross Church, his long grey beard blowing in the wind. He informed us that he has not trimmed his beard since September; however, he has not shaved since 1972. Derreyl took us to the Industrial Canal Levee, Bayou Bienvenue, the Global Green Project homes, and the Make It Right Foundation community (http://makeitright.org/) ...AND THEN WE SAW BRANGELINA! ...Just kidding we didn't see Angelina, just Brad. Just kidding we didn't see Brad either. But we did play with an awesome puppy and a couple children with cool bicycles.
The Global Green (http://www.globalgreen.org/articles/global/115) homes are sustainable, fashioning solar panels on the roof. As our engineers would say, they are Lead Certified Platinum. The Make It Right Foundation homes are as well. Most of the students were struck with all of the innovations going on. New Orleans is truly an amazing place.
As we twisted and turned through the streets of the Lower Ninth Ward we couldn't help but wonder how the locals felt about tours constantly coming through their neighborhoods. Derreyl and Larry both talked about how most tours are not allowed through, they are now mainly only volunteers and those involved with doing work for the city.
On Friday we will be seeing Larry again. We are looking forward to asking him more questions and learning more about the locals here in New Orleans.
Until next time!
Stephanie, Mark & Isabel
Please check out these pictures of us at the works site! Painting Khaki and White!
Don't forget to check out our website. www.hillel.org.vt.edu
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