That's right, folks. All that work has finally paid off and I am now a working grunt. Though, I will I admit that I grunt a lot, even without a job. (har har)
I'll be working at a small private school that serves children with mild to moderate disabilities. The class is small (only 11!) and I'll have a teaching partner. Yay!
Checking the to-do list, the next item is to find an apartment. Then it will be Kyle's turn to find a job. I can't be his sugar momma forever!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
More Banksy
I was lucky enough to snap some photos of the Banksy works myself. These are all in the area close to where Helen lives.Someone even wrote an article about Banksy's appearance in New Orleans in the Times-Picayune, asking the Gray Ghost to refrain from covering up an internationally recognized artist. We shall see if the Gray Ghost is annoyingly stubborn in time.
You can also see Banksy's website for more of his stuff, thought I imagine his New Orleans work will be viewable for a limited time.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Dude! Banksy is New Orleans
For those of you not familiar, Banksy is a British grafitti-artist who uses satire to comment on politics and culture. He's pretty well-known and does not sell his work. Here is a piece that I snagged from flickr.
There are a whole lot more around the city, which you can check out here.
They are saying he came for the 3rd anniversary of Katrina.
Also, just to explain this particular piece, there is a guy by the name of Tom Radke who goes by the alias, Grey Ghost, and paints grey over all grafitti that he can find. All throughout the city, you can see grey squares or rectangles, patches really, on any surface: dark green doors, orange buildings, everywhere. The Grey Ghost does not care if it looks ugly. Community members are so upset by this that there are petitions out to get him to stop, citing that not all grafitti is senseless and some is even beautiful. Some of Banksy's pieces have already been painted over by this Grey Ghost.
Check out some of the work on flickr. Banksy is a funny man.
Update: I just read on Banksy's website that he came to New Orleans to "do battle with the Gray Ghost" because he's been wreaking havoc since 1997!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
We're Back!
After another long drive (this time with better brakes), we are back in New Orleans. Our time in Florida was relaxing and comfortable, with much time spent hanging with Kyle's grandma and cousin. Here's a whirlwind tour of our time there.
On the way to the car, we ran into another kind of brass band, just playing on the street. Music is everywhere in this town!
Last night we went to see our brand new evacuation friends play at the Blue Nile. It was a great mix of African drum beats and jazz saxaphone, trombone, and bass that made me wish I could remember more from my African dance class. Did I tell you their name is Africa Brass?
On the way to the car, we ran into another kind of brass band, just playing on the street. Music is everywhere in this town!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Our Hurrication
hurrication n. 1. a combination of the words "hurricane" and "vacation" 2. the forced vacation one takes when one must evacuate to escape a hurricane
We are like dust in the wind, blowing from place to place until the storm winds die down. After a few days in Folsom, Louisiana, we decided to head to Florida, where Kyle's family lives. Our days are now spent playing Hand and Foot, (Grandma Shirley's favorite card game) and watching the news to check on the status of the next 3 (!) tropical storms.
We thought we'd be able to hang out with Kyle's parents some more, but they were called back to work almost as soon as they came home from their previous trip. Instead, we'll hang out with Kyle's uncle this weekend in Tampa. What a hurrication!
We are like dust in the wind, blowing from place to place until the storm winds die down. After a few days in Folsom, Louisiana, we decided to head to Florida, where Kyle's family lives. Our days are now spent playing Hand and Foot, (Grandma Shirley's favorite card game) and watching the news to check on the status of the next 3 (!) tropical storms.
We thought we'd be able to hang out with Kyle's parents some more, but they were called back to work almost as soon as they came home from their previous trip. Instead, we'll hang out with Kyle's uncle this weekend in Tampa. What a hurrication!
Monday, September 01, 2008
Hunkering Down
I've heard that term a lot the last couple days. Whenever I hear it, I imagine people crouching down as close to the ground as they can in a dark candlelit room, holding a newspaper over their head.
We haven't really been hunkering like that, but we have been housebound for most of the day, mostly because of the rain. It's a strange rain, nothing like the consistent rains of the north. These rains are unpredictable. One minute it's drizzling and then you blink your eyes and it's a massive downpour, huge drops hitting the ground with tremendous speed. During these deluges, the rain comes from all directions at once, sending the trees into a chaotic and frenzied dance. At one point there was one huge gust of wind audibly pushed up against the windows in the kitchen and dining room. Someone heard a loud noise, and when we investigated, we found that a one of the trees in front of the house had sent a branch to the front porch. Further away from the house, some trees had split in half or were standing at odd angles.
Once when there was a break in the rain, I made a mad dash out to the car to get something. I was afraid it would rain at any second, so I frantically hunted for my desired item. The whole time I could hear the wind howling off in the distance like a looming enemy threatening to get me. It was pretty creepy. So creepy in fact, that I didn't join Jeanne and some others when they went for a walk. I was afraid a tree would fall on me!
New Orleans seems to have weathered the storm pretty well. City officials were worried that levees would breach, but so far none within the city have. There was some concern the Industrial Canal wouldn't hold (this is the levee closest to Helen's house), but so far, it's in good shape. Some water has gone over the top of it, but from the reports I heard, the Upper 9th Ward had only 6 inches of water. Helen's house is a good 3 and half feet off the ground, so this isn't too bad. There were some minor leaks in some levees in towns near New Orleans, but crews acted swiftly to close those up.
A good portion of New Orleans was without electricity, but it's getting back on pretty quickly. Here in Folsom, the power has been flickering all day. We were on generator power for about 25 minutes today before city power came back on.
From all the news reports I've learned a few things about hurricanes. There are three big dangers: wind, storm surge, and aftermath. As the storm hits your area, you worry first and foremost about what the wind can do. Midwesterners are pretty familiar with what tornadoes can do, so this was not that new. But what is this about surge?
After Katrina, I heard about these 25-foot storm surge waves that toppled the levees. I thought it was just one big wave the took them out, and I wasn't even sure how the waves were formed. Here's the deal: as a hurricane comes into town, the wind moves the water in Lake Pontchartrain (and other lakes) around. Depending on which way the wind is blowing will determine where the water goes. In the case of Katrina, the water was pushed towards the southern shore of the lake, which is the northern part of New Orleans. The 25-foot storm surge waves beat the levees repeatedly and they eventually toppled over. Because of the position of Gustav, people were concerned that the storm surge would hit the north shore of the lake. Surge also goes into the various canals throughout the city.
In the immediate aftermath of a storm, the biggest concern is downed electrical wires. These tend to be live, and government officials are asking people not to leave their current locations until all of the live wires and downed trees can be removed. After Katrina, Jeanne's brother went to his house to check it out. Under normal conditions, it only takes about 20 minutes to get there from his father's house. That day, it took 4 hours each way because of all the downed trees.
This post might seem like all I've been doing is watching the news reports on tv, when really I've been doing a lot of socializing. There's a good group of people here from various places in the world and a plethora of stories to share. We've played games, made music, and drank beer, ate food, and made lots of jokes. Without all of these people, I think I would have gone crazy, even though the worst of the storm didn't come our way.
I always feel like I should sign off somehow on these blog entries, but it's not quite like I'm writing a letter. So I'll just leave you with a quote. As we were sitting down to eat dinner last night, Jeanne's father said, "Bad situations happen to good people, and you are all good people."
We haven't really been hunkering like that, but we have been housebound for most of the day, mostly because of the rain. It's a strange rain, nothing like the consistent rains of the north. These rains are unpredictable. One minute it's drizzling and then you blink your eyes and it's a massive downpour, huge drops hitting the ground with tremendous speed. During these deluges, the rain comes from all directions at once, sending the trees into a chaotic and frenzied dance. At one point there was one huge gust of wind audibly pushed up against the windows in the kitchen and dining room. Someone heard a loud noise, and when we investigated, we found that a one of the trees in front of the house had sent a branch to the front porch. Further away from the house, some trees had split in half or were standing at odd angles.
Once when there was a break in the rain, I made a mad dash out to the car to get something. I was afraid it would rain at any second, so I frantically hunted for my desired item. The whole time I could hear the wind howling off in the distance like a looming enemy threatening to get me. It was pretty creepy. So creepy in fact, that I didn't join Jeanne and some others when they went for a walk. I was afraid a tree would fall on me!
New Orleans seems to have weathered the storm pretty well. City officials were worried that levees would breach, but so far none within the city have. There was some concern the Industrial Canal wouldn't hold (this is the levee closest to Helen's house), but so far, it's in good shape. Some water has gone over the top of it, but from the reports I heard, the Upper 9th Ward had only 6 inches of water. Helen's house is a good 3 and half feet off the ground, so this isn't too bad. There were some minor leaks in some levees in towns near New Orleans, but crews acted swiftly to close those up.
A good portion of New Orleans was without electricity, but it's getting back on pretty quickly. Here in Folsom, the power has been flickering all day. We were on generator power for about 25 minutes today before city power came back on.
From all the news reports I've learned a few things about hurricanes. There are three big dangers: wind, storm surge, and aftermath. As the storm hits your area, you worry first and foremost about what the wind can do. Midwesterners are pretty familiar with what tornadoes can do, so this was not that new. But what is this about surge?
After Katrina, I heard about these 25-foot storm surge waves that toppled the levees. I thought it was just one big wave the took them out, and I wasn't even sure how the waves were formed. Here's the deal: as a hurricane comes into town, the wind moves the water in Lake Pontchartrain (and other lakes) around. Depending on which way the wind is blowing will determine where the water goes. In the case of Katrina, the water was pushed towards the southern shore of the lake, which is the northern part of New Orleans. The 25-foot storm surge waves beat the levees repeatedly and they eventually toppled over. Because of the position of Gustav, people were concerned that the storm surge would hit the north shore of the lake. Surge also goes into the various canals throughout the city.
In the immediate aftermath of a storm, the biggest concern is downed electrical wires. These tend to be live, and government officials are asking people not to leave their current locations until all of the live wires and downed trees can be removed. After Katrina, Jeanne's brother went to his house to check it out. Under normal conditions, it only takes about 20 minutes to get there from his father's house. That day, it took 4 hours each way because of all the downed trees.
This post might seem like all I've been doing is watching the news reports on tv, when really I've been doing a lot of socializing. There's a good group of people here from various places in the world and a plethora of stories to share. We've played games, made music, and drank beer, ate food, and made lots of jokes. Without all of these people, I think I would have gone crazy, even though the worst of the storm didn't come our way.
I always feel like I should sign off somehow on these blog entries, but it's not quite like I'm writing a letter. So I'll just leave you with a quote. As we were sitting down to eat dinner last night, Jeanne's father said, "Bad situations happen to good people, and you are all good people."
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