Being here, this place, it's a kind of post apocalyptic frontier lite. I'm staying in the Lower 9th ward where about 1 in 20 houses are occupied. Military helicopters fly overhead and Humvees patrol on occasion. The architecture is similar to the that of Oakland and Berkeley and it's not hard to imagine this happening there.Here are some of the surrounding houses. I'm in a house with one small solar panel on the roof with a do it yourself water flushing toilet and we use the unoccupied neighbors hose and backyard (with permission) for showers and non-potable water. It's not recommended to drink the tap water here. I hear that in the Upper 9th ward there are only foundations of houses with front and rear steps. The rest was washed away.
The difference between those who have and those who don't is startling.
One of the many beautiful things about this place is that so many of the people I've met here are here because they have a contribution they want to make, if only for a short time and off and on again. People say that they decided to stay for a week and ended up being here for 2 months or 2 years. There's so much organizing happening here and that's been the case for a long long time. I've seen so much active and young postive energy and young people in their 20's dealing with multitudes of issues and finding solutions each step of the way.
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