Last Lecture

Here is a link to
Randy Pausch reprising his Last Lecture

Watch it and learn.

Buras: K plus 30

Photo courtesy of Patrisha Walker
Thirty months post Katrina and the little town of Buras finally has a watertower again.
Some may recall that Buras was the first to feel the storm's power in the Gulf south region


Photo courtesy of Weatherunderground dot com

In May of last year, I blogged about how very, very slowly the recovery was going on down there. What may not seem like a big deal to those living outside of Plaquemine Parish, something as big as the watertower IS important news when you've seen everything you knew washed away



Here's a link to a website of a Buras resident. She says Today, it is shining in the afternoon sun; the golden tower overlooks our new lives post-Katrina. In Buras there is still enormous evidence of the destruction of Aug 29th, 2005. But, there also is enormous evidence of repair and growth. Many, many are coming home to South Plaquemines. In one single morning my husband counted 4 double-wide trailers pass on highway 23 headed south. Plenty are actually building homes. And I do see growth in Buras.

It is good to be home and to have a water-tower!

Her section of town still doesn't have telephone or internet service. They may get it by the end of this month.

Last August, Charles Anderson visited Buras. In his article "Forgotton but Not Gone" he recalls being welcomed into Plaquemine parish:....a burly fisherman approaches me, reaching out one of his beefy hands..."Welcome to the bottom of the world," he booms in a playful, yet gruff voice. "Nobody comes down here. The money stops at the parish line. The government thinks we're not important enough, but we're staying."

Yeah, Forgotton but not gone. That's Buras, Louisiana. Bless them all!!!!

Mashups

Thanks to Greg Peters who mentioned this link today:

Flickervision dot com

A website showing realtime geotagged Flickr pictures.

This awesome mash-up(In technology, a mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real-estate data from Craigslist, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.)
) by Dave Troy is the ultimate geo-photo fun! And it’s hypnotic to watch!

Here's a little you tube piece explaining mash ups.


So, you've learned something new today!

AD Update

After the Deluge has posted Chapter 10

Bill in the 9th Ward

Schroeder has a great post detailing Bill Clinton's visit to the 9th Ward over the weekend for the groundbreaking of his Clinton Global Initiative University.

Be a Tourist in your own backyard

Spring is here at last and to me it is the finest time to enjoy the bounty offered by the Gulf Coast area. Nearly three years post K, this area's denizens have shown the strength and determination within themselves by coming back bigger and better.

Hubby and I are rabid festival-goers and this is prime time for us. It's not just the festivals we enjoy, either.



Last Saturday we ventured down to Napoleon House for lunch. The bruschetta was mouthwatering and I could eat their muffaletta every day.



By the time we finished, it was late afternoon, which proved to be a great time to snap pictures of the classic architecture of the French Quarter.



This Sunday is dubbed "Super Sunday" in NOLA. Wish I could be there to witness the Mardi Gras Indians. Hat Tip to Ashley Truely a treasure, the Indians will strut their stuff, so bring your cameras. Their artistic costumes are like nothing you've ever seen!! My hubby works on Sunday, so I'll be one of those folks enjoying the blogger reports, like Ashley's, on Monday.



About a mile from our house is the Slidell trailhead of the Tammany Trace where bikers, walkers and horseback riders have the opportunity to experience a quiet off-the-road tour of five communities along the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain St. Tammany Parish: Covington, Abita Springs, Mandeville, Lacombe, and Slidell. It's a great way to get away from your hectic week for a few hours. You have the opportunity of biking 40 miles in a few hours. Talk about burning calories!!! We've biked from the Mandeville Trailhead to the Abita Brewpub , had lunch and burned it all off by the end of our roundtrip. Now THAT'S my kind of exercise!!




The last weekend of March is the St. Bernard Crawfish Festival. We've never been, but crawfish WOULD be nice.....



Speaking of mudbugs, April 19th is the date set for the Crawfish Cook-Off - St. Tammany's Biggest Cook-Off Event at Fritchie Park in Slidell.
This is the third annual cookoff and it gets bigger and better every year.
50 Teams will compete for the title of "Best Tasting Crawfish". Live Musical Entertainment Lost Bayou Ramblers,Four Unplugged and Top Cats.
Money raised benefits the Fund for "End of Life" Care. Over 45,000 lbs. of Crawfish to be boiled. Tickets may be purchased prior to the event at any Northshore Whitney Bank and at the gates the day of the event.


On the weekend of April 5th the Picayune (Mississippi) semi annual street fair happens . This is a really great fair which spans for miles through one of the city's main thoroughfares. There are always plenty of assorted vendors (approximately 250) selling Antiques, Arts & Crafts, Woodwork,Plants,Iron Work, Preserves, Jewelry,Unfinished Furniture and a variety of foods. If you're a people watcher, this is a fair for you!!



The springtime is a great time to take Highway 90 to the Gulf Coast. While driving towards Biloxi, be sure to look out for the incredible carvings done on oak trees killed by Katrina along the median. Heck, pull over to get a real good look at them. The details are incredible.





While you're over there, support the economy's rebirth by having lunch at one of the lesser-known eateries, like Rickeys in Bay St. Louis. Or Los Tres Amigos in Waveland. Both places serve up some great food.

French Quarter Festival which is IMHO one of the best festivals around.



Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, it runs from Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13 the FQ Fest offers 250 hours of free entertainment, featuring more than 150 musical performances on fifteen stages throughout the French Quarter. Nearly 60 food and beverage booths located in Jackson Square, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, and elsewhere will make up the “World's Largest Jazz Brunch,” a signature event featuring authentic local cuisine from renowned area restaurants.

Also on that weekend is the Pontchatoula Strawberry Festival



It's held in downtown Pontchatoula and is a festival you have to attend at least once in your life. Irma Thomas will be entertaining on the Sunday of the festival.

So be a tourist in your own area and boost the economy by having fun.

Thanks, Katrina

Going on three years post Katrina and her wrath is still being experienced by so many people.

Tim of the nameless blog writes about his bittersweet experience of finally getting a real home.

FEMA is now acting urgently to move people out of the trailers before the summer, and all the elderly within two weeks. Even if the mass evacuation is achieved, there are huge health implications, especially for small children whose immune systems have been weakened by two years in these trailers.

There are good things too. Like the fact that thousands of high school and college students are participating in the third Alternative Spring Break by coming down here to help rebuild/ cleanup all areas damanged by the storm.


I salute and thank you all.

My kind of activists

The KatrinaRitaville express, a very underreported initiative to tour the country with FEMA trailers to spread the word about criminal enterprise known as FEMA


photo from foodmusicjustice.com

What they're about (from their website)

Several Gulf Coast organizations have purchased two FEMA trailers, which will tour the country over the next year to raise awareness of the ongoing nature of the crisis in the region, and the continued lack of coherent government action to rebuild the region, particularly to rebuild in a manner that meets the needs of its poor and minority residents.

The trailers will be used as a focus for local education and organizing, as a challenge to presidential candidates to make their plans for Gulf Coast reconstruction clear, and as a rallying point to help to mobilize the many thousands who have volunteered their time in work projects to now join in the political efforts to force meaningful government action.

what a fraud

From the T.P.

Two U.N. advisers labeled the planned demolition of four New Orleans public housing complexes as "discriminatory" even though neither visited the city to research the issue. The U.N. specialists now acknowledge that they haven't been to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina and were basing their opinion largely on the views of activists who have waged an unsuccessful campaign to halt the demolitions.



Miloon Kothari of New Delhi, India, the U.N. Human Rights Council's specialist on adequate housing,



and Gay McDougall of Washington, D.C., the U.N. independent expert on minority issues, joined ranks with opponents of the demolitions already under way at the St. Bernard, C.J. Peete and B.W. Cooper complexes.



Although the duo say they released the statement to influence the U.S. Congress, the timing of their comments could have broader influence.

Here's the part that bothers me

"Yes, some people were consulted," Kothari said, "but the fact that people's property was destroyed.......

They are public housing units, Mr. Kothari.

In a related article in today's paper , the University of Texas at Arlington found in a survey they did that 70% of people who lived in public housing pre-K don't want to return

Federal and local officials reacted strongly last week to the pair's statement. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., called it "theater of the absurd."

HUD said Kothari and McDougall "are misinformed about the state of public housing in New Orleans," adding that the plans to demolish old, hurricane-damaged complexes is part of a wider effort to move to a mixed-income model that will help "minority and low-income Americans . . . live in a socially and economically integrated environment."

One House at a Time

Still volunteering in Pearlington and the coast after 30 months, One House at a Time continues building homes for those left without anything in Hancock County, Mississippi.

From their website:


Pearlington lies in the southeast corner of Hancock County, along the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina brought widespread devastation to the county with 40 confirmed deaths and millions of dollars of property damage. Nearly 70% of the county’s homes were left uninhabitable. The coastal communities were among the hardest hit areas. Pearlington, a small community of 2,200 people, was particularly devastated, as nearly every home was either completely destroyed or severely damaged. There is no Habitat for Humanity affiliate along this area of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Hundreds of residents were living in tents in the aftermath of Katrina. Many have only what they were able to salvage, and in many cases they have nothing at all. As of Feb. 2008, there are dozens of residents STILL living in FEMA trailers.


If the video can't be seen here, here's the link to it

From the creator of this video:

I began filming this story one month after Katrina came ashore, and I recently returned to the devastated and impoverished town of Pearlington Mississippi. Even though its several miles from the actual coast, the storm surge and the wind brought this place to the brink of its very existence. The waves that came through this town and destroyed everything in their path first had to pass through a few Chemical Plants and Oil refineries out in the Gulf of Mexico. This was not merely sea water that carried these homes away, it was a deadly stew of unknown and unreported toxins.
This story follows the recovery efforts of one group that has been based in Pearlington as soon as the roads were clear enough to get in. One House At A TIme is building homes for people of Pearlington who want to stay in the place where they call home. This video tells a little of their story, but anyone who has been there will tell you, there is no video that can be shot that can express the sort of devastation that has occurred on our own soil, to our own people. So go see it for yourself, and bring a hammer.

Thanks to Clayton Cubitt for bringing this to light

Formaldehyde in Trailers

here is a website dedicated to providing information about formaldehyde poisoning in FEMA trailers and RVs sold to the general public.