Lights, Camera…Activism!

So you’ll have to put up with the less eloquent JS for this entry, but Joyce is out so I am posting.  What a day! 

Getting started.  We arrived at 7:45am at the “Musician’s Village” site where Habitat for Humanity is building homes for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina.  We ended up assigned to a home project in the Upper Ninth Ward on the corner of Desire and Law Streets. 

The workday. Our task was to lay the subfloor over the joists on a new foundation.  Lots of nailing, snapping of chalk lines and grouting the joists throughout the morning left us ready for our PBJ and ham & cheese sandwiches (Habitat volunteers provide their own lunches, Joyce and Carly generously provided a luncheon spread after a late night grocery store trip last night).  But we were in for an unexpected treat! 

Lunchtime! Margeurite, a local resident who welcomes the Habitat volunteers because they help bring residents back to her neighborhood, served up a “crawfish boil” for lunch.  After a quick training session by fellow volunteer and Louisiana native Andy, we were ready to pinch the tails and suck the heads, mixing the wonderfully peppery “boil” with the succulent tail meat. Back to work after lunch (and some naps for exhausted kids, what a week…tiring but exhilarating) for a couple of hours. 

Rolling up.  Rain forced us to stop a little early, and although the students were really into their jobs, no one complained!  We returned to our hotel to clean up, and everyone enjoyed dinner at the nearby Acme Oyster Company.  Bedtime came early for all of us, and when we asked why the lights were going out before curfew, one student answered, “Hey, we just built a house today.”   Not quite, but the Habitat volunteers were impressed and grateful, and one former New Orleans resident can come home again.