Another Body Found in East NOLA

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW ORLEANS - Eleven months after Hurricane Katrina hit, firefighters broke through a back door of a destroyed home filled with debris and furniture and found skeletal remains, the Orleans Parish coroner's office said.

The remains were found on Monday in a home in eastern New Orleans. The discovery was made after the Louisiana Family Assistance Center in Baton Rouge received information from a woman's son who said he believed she was still in her house.

The assistance center received the information at some point in the past, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said. He did not release the name of the woman or her son.

Wow. I wonder how long ago the son reported that he thought she was still in her home?

Slight Change in Format....

As part of continuing this blog, I've decided to start spotlighting organizations and people who are doing their very best to help out, reach out, and educate in the ways of self sustenance and recovery for those living in disaster or poverty zones.

Making Love in a Disaster Zone.....

And this is how it's done, folks; lay down your ego, leave your presumptions at the door..... here is how to make a real change.

Go, Gene Taylor, Go!!!

Well, it's been a long time since I posted here, but it has not been because there isn't a lot still going on in regards to Hurricane Katrina.... people are still homeless, getting screwed by their insurance companies, and there are still areas that have not even been touched as far as cleaning up. Of course, we Coastians have known that the rebuilding of the devastated areas would take a long time, so that's no surprise.

I'm restarting this blog to show the progress, lack thereof, and both the positive and negative of the current situation on the Coast. I may even re-visit my personal account of the story to finish that tale. As a partial update, my brother and his family have moved into their new home as of June, and are getting settled in.

The story I am reporting on here is just too good to let go by..... Rep. Gene Taylor took off the gloves in reponse to former FEMA director Michael Brown's comments in a recent Playboy interview. Despite Brown's stated intentions to restore his reputation in a "dignified way," he tells Taylor to "Bite me" in the interview.

But hey, go read the story yourself...

Back From Nothing!

My cousin, Lois Lawrence

Here's a copy of a story about my cousin Lois whom I mentioned below:

ADA REID/SUN HERALD
Like the watch that “takes a licking and keeps on ticking” or the battery that “keeps going and going and going,” folks who know Lois Lawrence of Long Beach can vouch for that to be true of her as well.
    Lois and her late husband, Warren, opened Lois’ Flowers on Aug. 1, 1959, on Jeff Davis Avenue in Long Beach. She had been in that location across the street from Harper McCaughan Elementary School ever since, until Katrina struck. Hers is among the oldest continuous businesses in Long Beach. Lois’ uncle had built that building in the 1940s. It housed a movie theater first and then a dance hall.
    Camille blew the window out of the shop and caused damage, but nothing like the wind and water from Katrina. Two weeks after Katrina destroyed her shop and everything in it and Lois had had a good cry over it, her great-niece, Kathie, who works with her, came to her and said, “Aunt Lois, let’s go find a place to open Lois’ Flowers.”
    With no flood insurance, she had no funds to begin again but soon money was coming in from around the country. With that, and family and friends it was possible for her to open again in a new location at LaRosa Street and Pineville Road in a strip shopping center there.
    She said she is grateful to all those who helped and especially to her loyal employees and family and the church crews who came to help. She plans to rebuild in her Jeff Davis location, and she believes God’s hand was with her making it possible for her to re-open in September, so soon following Katrina.
    Lois was born in Long Beach to Addie and Avington Woodcock. She had three sisters and five brothers. All five brothers, Emile, Leslie, Odus, Leroy and Harold and her sister Lillian are deceased. Her sister Lyra Allen and brother-in-law, Jerry, live in Long Beach and her sister, Dorothy Collins and brother-in-law, Dayton, live in Pass Christian.
    Lois graduated from Long Beach High School across the street from her shop, which is now Harper McCaughan Elementary School. She started working for Loraine Flowers in Gulfport and soon found that was her calling. After she spent 12 years there, she and Warren opened their own shop in Long Beach. Warren was from Long Beach and a friend of one of her brothers. They corresponded while he was in the Navy during World War II and when he came home, they married on April 12, 1946.
    Her mother and sisters Lillian and Dorothy worked with her and she has had four generations of family work with her since the beginning. Niece Donna Asher, great-niece Kathie McCool and an “adopted” niece, Betty Adams, plus her delivery person, Jaime Seppy, and part-time employee, Randy Glenn, are with her today.
   Lois has a birthday on Feb. 4, and no one asks her how old she will be. We do know she has been arranging flowers for 59 years. She has been a member of Antioch Baptist Church in Long Beach all her life and started playing the piano at age 13 and the organ when the church bought one. She took music from Allie Toomer. She taught pre-school Sunday School for many years.
    Lois loves to fish and crab with her sisters and their favorite place was in Waveland, which is not there anymore, so they will find another spot. They also love to go shopping together.
    Lois’ Flowers is now on LaRosa temporarily, because she plans to rebuild in her original location in the future. The building has been deemed structurally sound. They can still be reached at their old phone number, 863-9767 and are available for flowers, fresh or silk, and plants for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals, Mardi Gras, other occasions and holidays from 9 to 5 weekdays and 9 to 12 on Saturdays.
    Valentine’s Day has always been their busiest day of the year. On the busy holidays, Lois has a tradition of paying off-duty firefighters to deliver flowers, which works out well since they know all the addresses, and she has extra help that people love.

Merry Non Denominational Winter Holiday!

Allison, Emily, and Kaillee Hilton

So, I've been sitting here trying to find some sort of Christmas-y jpg to put on my blog, and well, nothing I searched for hit home for me. I looked for holiday images of the Mississippi Coast - none. I looked for Kris Kringle - meh. I looked for Peace images - same old. After exhausting my Google abilities to no real avail, I started thinking; What is it in this world that is important to me, and gives me a reason to want Peace on Earth during my lifetime?

Of course, there is Jeff, all my little creatures that share our home, our parents, our friends, music, art, and all the other things that give me a reason to get up in the morning..... and then I remembered that my sis-in-law, Kristen, sent me some photos of my nieces the other day.

I cannot think of a better reason to want Peace on this Earth than for these young humans. And I don't mean just them, even though they are the closest to my heart.... symbolically, they stand for all the children in this world. Even closer to home, they stand for all the kids who are currently displaced due to Hurricane Katrina. For the last 3+ months, these precious girls have been staying in different homes, but not their own. And they are lucky... many of the Katrina Kids are still in tents, travel trailers, hotels or shelters.

Katrina left our beautiful Coast with the biggest challenge we've ever faced. To be able to recoup after she shredded the Coast to its very core is a challenge all in itself, but the bigger challenge rests with the people: love, laugh, and rebuild. And rebuild we shall.

My Christmas wish to all of the Coast is for 2006 to be a time of renewal and rebuilding, both of physical locations, and of the soul. It breaks my heart to be so far away, but know my heart is there with all of you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kwaanza, Solstice, or whatever you celebrate....

Alive in Truth

The New Orleans Disaster Oral History & Memory Project

Alive in Truth is an all-volunteer, grassroots effort to record oral and written history about the lives of displaced New Orleanians, in their own words.

The project is founded and coordinated by New Orleans native Abe Louise Young. She is a nationally-awarded poet who's also been a Fellow for the Project in Interpreting the Texas Past, the Danish-American Dialogue on Human Rights, and the Jewish Women's Archive (collecting oral history of Jewish activists in New Orleans.)

The project is supported by generous friends, volunteer interviewers, therapists, transcribers, photographers, and consultants.

News From Robin in NOLA

Got another long update letter from my girl on da ground in NOLA. I love getting these letters as it somehow seems to keep me connected in a small way to what's happening down there. Here's some of the highlights:

My brother, Billy, and I finally got Mom settled into a new place to call her own until she can go home to Gulfport. She is living at Loyalton (a retirement community) in Hattiesburg right now. She seems to like it and there are other people from the MS Gulf Coast living there, so she's not alone. The people who work there are phenomenal and are really looking out for her. This frees me and Billy up enough to get on with life and not have to worry about our sweet mamma.

I have to say, my mom still has the best attitude and outlook on life. Even when I was freaking out that I had nowhere for her to go and that I was dragging her around the Southeast....she said, "Well, I've only been in 6 different houses". She hasn't complained. She said, "Well, we lost everything in Camille (1969) and it took us 36 years to lose it again...we'll be okay".

Of course, FEMA has dropped the ball where my mom is concerned. they contacted her recently to tell her that she voluntarily withdrew her request for aid. Yippee, I get to fight with FEMA. They withdrew my request because the guy who lived in my house before me used my address and they won't pay 2 people at one address. Oh, I have a great time ahead of me.

So, life in New Orleans is still weird/invigorating. I am not sure what you see on TV these days because I am sure the rest of the country has moved onto the next disaster, but our government is still moving too slow for the average person. We only have 60,000 people in this city each night, so it's pretty weird. We still have a 2am curfew that people are becoming restless about. Restaurants/stores still close early and have limited staff. Most restaurants still have limited menus, as well. Our game of finding the next business to reopen is still on...we run out each time someone reopens...always supporting the economy.

Traffic is horrible around here. A lot of the traffic lights are not working, so there are 4 way stops in a lot of places. This seems to be driving people crazy. It's kinda funny, though, because the 'burbs of New Orleans are crammed with people, but the traffic is no worse than Atlanta traffic...we're just used to getting around a lot faster and easier. I went to the Westbank today and it took an hour to get home, twice as long as usual.

Of course, our comfort level is being messed with a little, but we are still very fortunate. I can handle the traffic, I guess. Curfew is messing with people, as well. A Night Out Against Curfew is going to happen on December 20, with Hank Staple from the Maple Leaf heading the pack. This should be fun. A few of his employees were arrested last week for ignoring curfew. Some nights, the National Guard/Police ignore the fact that bars are still open and, then, on other nights, they stormtroop the bars and hassle people.

The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund is having a party tonight to give toys to musicians kids. We now have swag, so if anyone is interested, please go to www.nomrf.org. We have been able to get a lot of financial assistance to musicians and we are receiving instruments to distribute now. Jeff and Karen have been doing an amazing job.

I am still working with Hart4Humanity, as well as the NOMRF, but this organization is not able to gel and get focused to my liking. They were going to do an event at the House of Blues this month, but backed out. The guy who started this organization has a big heart, but he keeps shifting gears and expecting the people he is working with in New Orleans to be able to keep up. Believe me, shifting gears right now can be difficult.

I am also working with the New Orleans Musicians Coalition, helping musicians get housing, work, etc. We have only had a couple of meetings, but it is a cool group of music industry people. It feels good to be in a room with so many people with the same objective...getting the musicians back.

Getting the musicians back home....oooh, now that's a goal of mine that can put me on a major soapbox...I'll save that for later. Needless to say, I have been ranting and raving on this subject to many musicians. I understand they are scared/confused/have no place to live, but these cats are the ones who played a major part on building the culture of New Orleans and I don't want to lose that, dammit!!! I didn't listen to those knuckleheads pontificating about the culture of New Orleans for the last 20 years to have them move to Houston/Atlanta/wherever and have our music homogenized, durnit! I am truly scared of the future of the New Orleans culture and her music.

I plan on a day trip to Gulfport this Sunday....not sure I'm ready, but they opened Hwy. 90 and I really want to go visit some friends. I hope to make it to Bay St. Louis, as well. I have only been doing 1 MS Coast town at a time because it is so overwhelming. I say am ready to see my hometown from the perspective of Hwy. 90, however, there is no true way to prepare yourself for what is to come. The devastation that I have seen so far is indescribable and awesome. It's difficult to soak it all in.

Overwhelming...it's almost 3 months after the storm and it seems to be sinking in more and more each day. The enormity of the aftermath is incredible. You can't grasp the scope of this in one thought...it's too much. Not to sound depressing, but we have all been doing such a good job of living, cheerleading, etc. that I think that some of us have either been avoiding truly thinking of the job ahead of us. Of course, I know that the journey we are on is a very long one as well as a very important one, but I don't want to get bogged down with the reality of how f*&ked up everything is. I want to watch the news to stay abreast of what's going on, but it just pisses me off. I am so tired of people spouting conspiracy theories, blaming people, etc.

I finally had a breakdown last week and sobbed for 3 hours straight. I think it started building in me that morning, when my friend, Clark, called me from Bay St. Louis and he couldn't tell where he was. Then, I received an email from my friend, Judy, from a Chattanooga newspaper in which the writer spoke of the forgotten people in MS, the fact that many will not have much of a Christmas. Then, I went with Spike and Co. to Gentilly/Ponchartrain Park. I guess that, on top of the last 3 months is enough to break the damn, huh?

Even though I feel more alive than I have in a long time, I am heartbroken by the City of New Orleans being ravaged by floodwaters as well as the MS Gulf Coast basically being blown off the map. I know we will be okay, but I just had to admit to myself as well as those around me that this SUCKS!!! Just knowing that people I love are having to deal with no homes, either sleeping in tents on slabs or in trailers, and the weather is getting cold and rainy just freaked me out. I want to do more, but I just don't know what else to do but be there when someone needs me.

I want to continue to cheer and be positive for those less fortunate than myself, but every time I ride by the Superdome, I get these horrible visions of what happened in there as well as people walking down the interstate, trying to get out of town. I won't continue this train of thought because it is so depressing, but how can that happen in America? I understand that katrina was the largest natural disaster to hit the United States, but damn.

I am dealing with two monsters...the flood of New Orleans and the devastation on the Gulf Coast. I want to be in both places at once. I am dying to see all of my friends on the Gulf Coast, but it is an impossible task these days. They all seem to be doing okay...they definitely have an amazing fortitude and attitude.

Hang in there, Robin. You know South MIssissippians, & New Orleanians are a tough bunch. It's going ot take a while, but it will get better!!

Revisiting Some Photos I took

Jeff Davis Ave. in Long Beach


More Jeff Davis Ave. in Long Beach

I had wanted to put all of my photos in an album, but I think I'm just going to post them on the blog in intervals.

I really did not get that many photos, as I was busy most of the time either cleaning up around my Mom's house, my brother's house or cooking for everyone while they were trying to get stuff done.


What used to be the First Baptist Church, Long Beach


The old A&P Shopping Center that was destroyed in Camille


Random fuckedupedness