Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Going Crabbing, Improving Response Structures

I confess that this morning I did not work on a Habitat house. Instead, Tony, an electrical contractor and firefighter, took two Habitat employees and myself crabbing. We drove out to Reggio, southeast of New Orleans, at 5:30 this morning. We got to a canal, tied chicken legs to string, and tossed about eight lines in. Then we'd cycle through, pulling in the string and catching the crabs, which clung to the chicken, in a net. We crabbed for over four hours and reeled in around ten dozen crabs. We then brought them back to the Musicians' Village and cooked a nice lunch. Tony was a wonderful guide and showed us through the whole process.

The Times-Picayune reported today on other visitors in New Orleans who are raising awareness in much more creative and visible ways. The article reads, "Artist Takashi Horisaki, intent on creating a sculpture to remind New Yorkers that the Crescent City is still badly hurting, arrived in New Orleans on Sunday and set about a most unusual artistic endeavor: covering a severely damaged shotgun in the Lower 9th Ward with a thick coat of latex. The young sculptor, who graduated from Loyola University and now lives in New York City, planned to hang the resulting latex mold on a frame built to the exact dimensions of the house, creating a life-sized soft sculpture to be displayed at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens."

Horisaki is having some trouble, as the house is slated for demolition next week- which he should be able to avoid with the proper requests.

In addition, the Times-Picayune reports that the canal flood prevention system has been upgraded, with emergency response structures centralized and streamlined- two ways to reduce the slogging indecision that made Katrina as bad as it was. They also now have plans in case canal walls break- plans that didn't exist before Katrina.



http://www.firstgiving.com/robsand

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Rob, I'm really enjoying following your blog! It brings the 'closer-to-home' feeling to the New Orleans situation that I have been lacking. I especially appreciate the way that you bring up both the positive and the negative aspects of current goings-on: its so much more realistic and engaging than the typical media portrayals.

On another note, I hope you'll be here for Nordic Fest- mark your calendar for that Friday night (the 27th of July)! A fabulous bluegrass band from the Cities is playing at the Market and I bet you'd dig it. ;)

Leslie Sand said...

Hi Rob, After re-reading this post this AM (something a mom sometimes has to do!) and seeing Kirsten's reply about the NF band, I have heard (and forgot to tell you)that John Henderson is playing at the Haymarket for NF....your old soccer coach! Another reason to be home to eat some lefse....Have a great Friday! Love ya!