NOLA-
Francesca McKenzie
1/26/11
On MLK Day, the Louisiana Delta Service Corps worked with the Fight Back Center in St. Bernard. About twenty of us spent the day on an old house that looks out onto the new housing developments that are where the project used to be before the storm. This old house with its peeling white paint and old broken shutters used to be a hub for community events. The plan is to rebuild the space so that the community can use it again.
I spent most of my time on top of the roof with David pulling aluminum siding off and throwing old tiles and empty paint cans up into the air and into the huge dumpster. We wrestled with cat’s claw that had made its way to the very top of the building, cracking through the cement laying claim to the back wall and destroying everything in its mighty path. We stayed busy through the morning, enjoying each other’s company and orchestrating our actions as efficiently as possible. By the end of the day the backyard looked completely different. We tore the back patio and dog cage out and threw what we could not reuse in the dumpster. A team of gardeners removed stumps all along the side and then began the garden bed project. The group in the front learned how to build scaffolding and cleaned the front with bleach. There is still a lot of work to be done but it was satisfying to be the inaugural group to start this large scale project.
Endasia and other community members prepared food for us and its smell filled the air as we neared lunch time. Most of us took a piece of front lawn and enjoyed the holygrove salad, satsumas, and bbq sausage and chicken. Endasia thanked us for coming and said this is how we should remember Martin Luther King, Jr. We shouldn’t glorify or worship him, but strive to be like him and take action as we did that day and every day we do service at our respective host sites.
I enjoyed using my body and skill to build something good. I could feel with every pull and nail that I was contributing to a place that would nurture happiness, produce joy, and create laughter. Across the street people from the neighborhood came to watch, curious atop their milk crates and chairs. It felt like being in the monkey exhibit, I wanted them so bad to come and join me on the roof, or I on a black milk crate next to them. Isn’t that what solidarity really is anyway?
Endasia gave us a tour of the new housing projects and told us what the neighborhood used to be like. The area was silent and devoid of the culture or pulse that it used to have before the storm. There are a lot of empty places in the neighborhood and Endasia said the people that used to live in St. Bernard don’t want to come back because of how different it is. There are new regulations such as a noise curfew and criminal record checks that some people feel are too rigid.
As a relatively new New Orleanian resident I don’t feel educated or experienced enough to have a strong opinion on the city’s contentious housing subject. I think it is unfair that people cannot come back to their homes. It was extremely unjust to tear down the projects (many of which withstood both Katrina and Rita and were still torn down) and not give residents the decency to get their material possessions out. I did not grow up in St. Bernard, I can only bear witness and listen to those who do call this place home and have something to say about it. It was a memorable day that got me thinking a lot about what is a home and what is necessary for a strong community. Does it matter what materials make up the walls? Who cares how many floors or kitchen appliances you own. Give me a gregarious next door neighbor with three kids and a dog. Give me a community I can fight with and cook for and love and bear witness to through the glorious and the tragic until we aren’t alive any more to do so.
Baton Rouge -
On Monday, Jan 17th, our Baton Rouge LDSC AmeriCorps members partnered with Mid-City Redevelopment Alliance (also one of our host sites) to clean and beautify Sweet Olive Cemetery on North Blvd. About 100 volunteers were present for the project, having been recruited also through Mid-City for the MLK day project. Members painted and revitalized gravesites and tombs in the cemetery, and also assisted with general cleanup of the cemetery. Sweet Olive is a very historic cemetery, and without a caretaker, many of its inhabitants are subject to natural ruin and decay. After the project, members gathered for pizza and reflection before ending the day of service.
Francesca McKenzie
1/26/11
On MLK Day, the Louisiana Delta Service Corps worked with the Fight Back Center in St. Bernard. About twenty of us spent the day on an old house that looks out onto the new housing developments that are where the project used to be before the storm. This old house with its peeling white paint and old broken shutters used to be a hub for community events. The plan is to rebuild the space so that the community can use it again.
I spent most of my time on top of the roof with David pulling aluminum siding off and throwing old tiles and empty paint cans up into the air and into the huge dumpster. We wrestled with cat’s claw that had made its way to the very top of the building, cracking through the cement laying claim to the back wall and destroying everything in its mighty path. We stayed busy through the morning, enjoying each other’s company and orchestrating our actions as efficiently as possible. By the end of the day the backyard looked completely different. We tore the back patio and dog cage out and threw what we could not reuse in the dumpster. A team of gardeners removed stumps all along the side and then began the garden bed project. The group in the front learned how to build scaffolding and cleaned the front with bleach. There is still a lot of work to be done but it was satisfying to be the inaugural group to start this large scale project.
Endasia and other community members prepared food for us and its smell filled the air as we neared lunch time. Most of us took a piece of front lawn and enjoyed the holygrove salad, satsumas, and bbq sausage and chicken. Endasia thanked us for coming and said this is how we should remember Martin Luther King, Jr. We shouldn’t glorify or worship him, but strive to be like him and take action as we did that day and every day we do service at our respective host sites.
I enjoyed using my body and skill to build something good. I could feel with every pull and nail that I was contributing to a place that would nurture happiness, produce joy, and create laughter. Across the street people from the neighborhood came to watch, curious atop their milk crates and chairs. It felt like being in the monkey exhibit, I wanted them so bad to come and join me on the roof, or I on a black milk crate next to them. Isn’t that what solidarity really is anyway?
Endasia gave us a tour of the new housing projects and told us what the neighborhood used to be like. The area was silent and devoid of the culture or pulse that it used to have before the storm. There are a lot of empty places in the neighborhood and Endasia said the people that used to live in St. Bernard don’t want to come back because of how different it is. There are new regulations such as a noise curfew and criminal record checks that some people feel are too rigid.
As a relatively new New Orleanian resident I don’t feel educated or experienced enough to have a strong opinion on the city’s contentious housing subject. I think it is unfair that people cannot come back to their homes. It was extremely unjust to tear down the projects (many of which withstood both Katrina and Rita and were still torn down) and not give residents the decency to get their material possessions out. I did not grow up in St. Bernard, I can only bear witness and listen to those who do call this place home and have something to say about it. It was a memorable day that got me thinking a lot about what is a home and what is necessary for a strong community. Does it matter what materials make up the walls? Who cares how many floors or kitchen appliances you own. Give me a gregarious next door neighbor with three kids and a dog. Give me a community I can fight with and cook for and love and bear witness to through the glorious and the tragic until we aren’t alive any more to do so.
Baton Rouge -
On Monday, Jan 17th, our Baton Rouge LDSC AmeriCorps members partnered with Mid-City Redevelopment Alliance (also one of our host sites) to clean and beautify Sweet Olive Cemetery on North Blvd. About 100 volunteers were present for the project, having been recruited also through Mid-City for the MLK day project. Members painted and revitalized gravesites and tombs in the cemetery, and also assisted with general cleanup of the cemetery. Sweet Olive is a very historic cemetery, and without a caretaker, many of its inhabitants are subject to natural ruin and decay. After the project, members gathered for pizza and reflection before ending the day of service.
RSS Feed