The City that Care Forgot

Last March I went down to New Orleans to assist with the rebuilding as a volunteer. It was gratifying and frustrating at the same time. The city is truly destroyed. It was outrageous then and even more so now over a year later.

Now Greg Palast has uncovered that it is not because New Orleaners aren't able to rebuild, but instead because it is not in the best interest of wealthy speculators and those in power to let it happen.

Private security firms like Blackwater run fenced RV parks for evacuated residents (often against their will) miles from the City. The only way in or out of these prisons is one bus, that only goes to Wal-Mart. Here Palast explains, residents are trapped:

They may only have a crappy little FEMA trailer, or they may be stuck somewhere else but if they come in (to New Orleans) they loose what they've been given. They're basically being paid. Like for example, the little tiny stipend, like $2,000 from FEMA. You go back to your place you don't get it. You don't get that rental subsidy, so what happens is that you are basically being paid to stay out of the city if you're poor.

You are being paid to stay out of the City.

But I want to emphasize, it's not just the poor, everyone's been hit. This is a city that is 2/3rds demolished, and they haven't taken out the debris yet...

There's is this idea that New Orleaners are saying, "Gimme a handout, gimme a handout."

Every New Orleanen I spoke with: white, black, rich, poor said, "We don't want a handout. Would Mr. Bush please get his foot off our neck and let us rebuild."

All we expect of the federal government is to fix the levees, so that we don't drown again. Tell us, see what the Bush administration has done is they have not made it clear where you will be allowed to rebuild. Some people are rebuilding houses not knowing if they are going to be told, "Sorry you can't move in."

So tell us what the rules are so we can move back in. Fix the levees so we don't drown while we're rebuilding. And then get out of our way. They're not asking for some big handout. Rahim and his group (Common Ground Collective) are building units with the local people. I met people who are doing it themselves, you saw Mr. Irving and his home... basically the federal government is taking every bureaucratic step to keep people from doing it themselves. Cause that's what they want to do.

New Orleans: Big Easy to Big Empty
Greg Palast, 25 minutes with 30 min. interview following

download or view on google video

I am going to return this spring and volunteer again, only this time not with ACORN whose St. Louis staff's non-existent work ethic frustrated me but with those locals who have returned and are working to rebuild New Orleans, the Common Ground Collective
.

I'll be putting together a crew to head down there this spring. We'll bring our own tools, find our own lodging and work like dogs. But there's many hours in a day, and I can sleep when I'm dead. Most of Common Ground's work right now is in Algiers and that means we'll only be a couple blocks away from crawdads and Abitas on the porch at the Old Point Bar.

Defiling the Beautiful Game

In September, I resumed playing football (or soccer as us Yanks are forced to call it) with a co-ed club after a long hiatus. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

Kicking the ball around is such childish fun. It's as if I'm back playing with my Tonka trucks in the sandbox. Last week was by all measures bad, but five minutes of chasing a ball around and stopping a shot with my genitals still couldn't wipe the smile of delight from my face.

Our first game is this Sunday and I'm a little worried. The one problem with having played so much competitive ball in my past is invariably I get too tied up in the competition and in it I loose the simple joy of playing. I'm hoping the fact that it is a co-ed league will keep it light. Apparently the guys on any one team can only score two goals total each game. This should present a fun challenge.

The only true negative in all this is that we'll be playing the bastardized version of the game known as "indoor soccer." The boards remove so much beauty.

Along the same lines, I just saw the blokes at Top Gear had a second Car Football Challenge and as always it's brilliant entertainment. Not quite as amusing as car darts or driving Minis off ski jumps but it sure looks like one heck of a good time. If I ever come into money this is what we'll do at parties my friends.

Tuning the Compact

The Compact is a good idea, but I think I found a problem. That of maintenance.

Good stewardship is essential. Of the earth, a bicycle, computer or pocket knife. A quality item should be maintained. It is fine to say don't buy new, but there are times when it is better to buy new parts to maintain a used item, than to junk one used item in favor of another. And there are times when it is better to buy something new of quality than go through a number of used items, but that's a different post.

I have two examples right now in my life:

1. My bicycle. I ride her to work every day and for many of my errands and trips downtown. She's a beauty and in fact, purchased used from a friend 10 years ago. Even well made equipment requires maintenance. I've broken the frame twice and had it repaired free by Trek (it was built in the days when things still came with a true lifetime warranty), replaced the brakes at least four times, worn five tires bald, broke a wheel and replaced all the gears once.
   
   Well, it's time to replace the gears again. For the last eight months I've been unable to pedal in my highest gear. The teeth are worn almost smooth. It was fine during the summer months to just cruise and enjoy the weather, but now that it's turning cold I could see a real advantage of being able to get to my destination more expediently. I should be able to buy new gears for my bike without breaking The Compact.


2. My computer. Mysteriously, my home computer will no longer boot in any mode. The primary hard drive is corrupted. I just purchased a new hard drive. You don't buy a used hard drive. That's like buying a used climbing rope. It might work, but I'm not going to take the risk.

Should maintenance (note I didn't say improvements) be allowed?

Calloused Clarity

I love my job. It's creative, interesting, challenging and I firmly believe I am doing good in the world. This is satisfying.

What my job lacks is reality. I create applications, web pages and maps. Most of the time I simply move ones and zeros around all day. Even a beautiful map, a work of art I might argue, is only paper.

It is not tangible like the patios, walks and stairs I used to build out of natural stone to pay the bills in grad school. It is far more gratifying to finish sweeping sand between the cracks on a patio, take a seat, and enjoy the beauty you've created. Stone is tangible. The feel of a perfect break as you cleave a rock in two. The joy and aggravation of piecing together the puzzle of sandstone into a beautiful, functional surface.

This is why I enjoy owning a house. It gives me a chance to actually accomplish something. When pipes break and flood part of your house it is not a joy. But even with the frustrations the work is tangible and worthwhile.

When I first moved into my house the floor joists in the kitchen had warped from a hot tub the previous residents had placed in the adjoining bathroom without proper support. There was a bow in the center of the kitchen that dropped nearly 3" by the time it found the far wall. I ripped the entire floor up down to the joists, patched in new joists, redid the subfloor and finished it off with a Pergo knockoff and new cabinets. Every time I walk into the kitchen is gratifying.

This is what my job lacks. And even though I've decided now is a good time to sell, and probably renting would better match my goals, I'll miss the joy of building a wall, planting a tree, the heft of a stone in my calloused hands.

Seven Zits

A friend of mine was bemoaning the fact that in her viewpoint Idaho, or maybe she meant Boise, had no real mountains.

Another friend overheard and asked, "What do you mean? Don't the Sawtooths and the Whiteclouds count?"

In response, she added, "No. I mean real mountains like Rainier and Baker and Hood."

"What!" he retorted, "Those aren't mountains, they're zits!"

I had to laugh heartily at that, but I have enjoyed my time spent in the Cascades. I haven't done that many volcanoes yet, just Olympus, Rainier and Glacier Peak but I've enjoyed my climbs and I will admit they do feel real compared to the nearly snow-bald 12,000 footers in Idaho.

TRIVIA BREAK:
Q: How many glaciers are there in Idaho?
A: Idaho has no glaciers, only permanent snowfields
(highlight with cursor to read answer)

Recently I've taken a pretty active role in redesigning my life to be prioritized around my interests. Two near the top are travelling and mountaineering. This combination brought to mind a great book I read as a child, Seven Summits about two ordinary, but very rich men who decided on a whim to climb the highest point on each continent.

Few consider me ordinary. So, I immediately started thinking about how I could pervert this to make it interesting. My first take was to take my favorite number and climb the 11th Highest Peak on each continent.

Gasherbrum I, public photo by blu sky
licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License

A little quick research made me step back a bit. I'm not saying I won't do it, but I am saying that the 11th highest peak in Asia (and naturally the world), Gasherbrum I (26,509 feet), is a little beyond my current abilities. In 2003 19 people summited and 4 died. This is an expedition-style mountain located in a remote region along the China-Pakistan border.

Retreating slightly, I continued my search and stumbled upon a list of the world's highest volcanoes and to my delight, I'd already summited the 11th highest volcano in North America!

I may just have found my next goal to propel me around the world. To become the first individual to climb the 11th highest volcano on each continent.

My Seven Zits
The 11th Highest Volcano on Each Continent

N. America	Mount Rainier	14,411ft	4,392m	Washington (United States)
S. America	Nevada el Muerto	21,286ft	6,488m	Chile / Argentina
Asia	Ushkovsky	12,936ft	3,943m	Kamchatka (Russia)
Europe	Hofsjokull	5,846ft	1,782m	Iceland
Africa	Visoke	12,175ft	3,711m	Congo / Rwanda
Oceania	Ulawun	7,658ft	2,334m	New Britian (Papua New Guinea)
Antarctica	Mount Terror	10,597ft	3,230m	Marie Byrd Land (Antarctica)

The Compact

Pursuing my new mantra of "Live Simple" this morning I stumbled into a story about a group of friends in San Francisco who created The Compact a yearlong agreement to not buy anything new. The idea intrigues me.

Could I do it? I'm tempted to try it. Their agreement began at the start of this year and more than a thousand participants have joined them.

They identify the goals of their Compact as:

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact;
2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er);
3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

This is far from a nihilistic retreat from materialism. They are not saying buy nothing just don't buy anything new with the exception of food, health and safety items and underwear (thank goodness I think I'm still scarred from my mother insisting I wear my grandfather's boxers after he passed away). For all other material goods that you must have buy used.

I'm going to experiment with using Craigslist, Amazon, classifieds and second-hand stores over then next two months. The hardest things for me to remove will be gifts, technology purchases (Craigslist may save me there), and music (though I don't think mp3s should count since the artist is remunerated for their work and I don't consume anything but bandwidth).

If my trial run works, I'll sign The Compact for 2007.

The result, John Perry the Founding Member of The Compact explained in Sierra, may be not just a reduction in consumption and waste but,

more time and money to spend hiking, taking classes, going to performances, and eating with friends. Life gets richer and more oriented toward experiences.

The Ecology of Fear

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 Inaugural Address

Seventy years later, our current regime is supported by spreading fear, far more effectively than the terrorists could possibly achieve.

Refuse to be terrorized and the terrorists are defeated.

Once again, Keith Olbermann states clearly what so desperately needs to be heard, as he did so memorably on the anniversary of 9-11 and last week as we watched this administration push through legislation allowing Americans citizens like you or I to be jailed indefinitely without a trial (there's something that should terrorize).

Thank you Keith.