PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

#2 from pittsburgh to new orleans
by vincent / blast furnace radio Thursday, Dec. 01, 2005 at 12:53 AM
eirene@telerama.com

reflection of my latest trip to the new orleans region

VERY ROUGH DRAFT


it is very late and i will try again to send you a reflection of my time in new
orleans, nov. 16-21.

this time around i flew into new orleans, the price of gas was too great to
justify. it was cheaper to fly than take greyhound. with me came a great photo
journalist, renee and a grad student from duquesne university, alison. alison
kept a detailed journal of the trip.


a few highlights

*** renee seemed over prepared for the journey, but in fact alison and i were
not prepared for 30 degree camping... soooo here we were in washington square
preparing meals in an open are kitchen and begging blankets. this did not work
and renee took us shopping for sleeping bags, hoodies and rain gear.

**** renee hussled the arkansas national guard to show us where the levey broke,
give us a tour of the clean up and took us to some of the hardest hit parts of
the gulf port. after a while it was one big blur of mangled steel, ruined homes
and fishing boats. it was like looking into the sun, you could only look so
long, then you just had to close your eyes. the captain and his side kick were
recently in iraq and then were sent to la. they were so touched by the need
that they sighned up for a second hitch to work in the continued clean up so
sorely needed after hurricane katrina.

*** we took a trip to jackson, mississippi to meet with those i had been working
with but never met...i got a call from folk from the new waveland cafe that
they needed fresh produce. so i went to my local coop and we looked up the
closest coop to waveland. it was the rainbow coop, and it was 150 miles away!
after many phone calls, i made up a flyer stating the need for fresh produce
and in a short period of time 500 dollars was collected for a van load of fresh
produce, purchased at cost and delivered for free to feed the victims of the
hurricane, and relief workers. these young hippie kids said i was the
"condiut", moving things from one place to another.

*** then we went to the "new waveland cafe". there we stayed the remainder of
our time down south. there is no way of describing the expansion of the open
air kitchen. from a small eating area and kitchen to several tents and a
geodesic dome tent as big as a house. to be honest i spent most of my time
soaking up the stregnth and courage of those who had lost there homes and those
who came to help.

*** on a final note...although i will be sending out more about this trip i must
mention jenka and others who helping with the disaster relief by the devestaion
now coming to be known as "hurricane FEMA". i heard of endless account of the
city of new orleans wanting to shut down the feeding of the needy in washington
park, evitions by the score, promises of help only to be told by insurnace
companies/govermental agencies that the home owners had the wrong insurnace,
the government was not done with its acessment...on and on and on...jenka and
others in a group called "common ground relief" are trying to address these
injustices as well as establish a medical clinic. recently a victory was won
against the injustice of the mass displacement.

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when we flew home we arrived in atlanta ony to find our flight to pittsburgh had
beed delayed. in disbief we made to the gate we would leave on 7 hours later.
and who do we run into but pittsburgh folk singer ann finney. she stummed away
and sang and sang. the crowd did not know what to make of this spectical, but
eventually allowed themselves to be touched by a human moment in the insanity
of the US' busiest airports.

ann generously gave us a ride home. it was not untill 1.30am that i arrived in
pittsburgh.

the next morning i was greeted by my family i missed so much, rebecca, caitlin,
chenoa and our various cats and our dog webster and our latest, a chinchila. it
took us days to get ready for our thanksgiving, tofurkey feast, and fifteen
minutes to eat it.

i am trying to listen to what the lesson is of my second trip...it will take
over a decade to rebuild what i saw. but the connection i am seeing is a moment
that hit me i stood by the broken levy, the identify marks put on wealthy and
poor homes and by the seeing the relief that came to the arkasas nation guard
to be doing some good for others as opposed to being in iraq...thier words not
mine. the levy was a flimsy concrete wall that could never have held back the
water that flooded new orleans. the identifying marks on the homes were first
used in the door to door search and eviction of homes in fallujah. the
stupidity of the war and the vulnerability caused by a missed built levy hit me
hard. all of this needless death and destruction was intention by those in
power. and even those who fought in iraq were glad to bring to life a selfless
compassion that the war tryed to sear out of there conscince.

i must thank my friend gus, manager of the east end food coop, who recently
passed, for providing the funds to fly to new orleans. for my employees that
carried on our little handyman buisiness when i was gone, and of course
rebecca, who cared for our spirited children and offered nothing but
encouragement for my second pilgrimage to new orleans. i hope, as a family, we
can all go in the spring, when new homes will start to be built.

i will be going back this winter and would ask, if so lead, for you to
join me, it is such a boost to people morale to meet people from all over the
world who have expressed the concern, where our governtment has failed. what do
we do when it is the end of the world, we begin a new one...good night.


more soon,

vincent scotti eirene'


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more info >>>

http://neworleans.indymedia.org/
http://rainbowsandbelievers.com
http://commongroundsrelief.org

notowar.com