The Hicks Place

Carry Nation, The BCS, Brad Pitt

Some one like Carry A. Nation is desperately needed to take on the Big Ten and NFL Networks today!  Millions of men are being driven into sports bars and therefore are spending huge amounts of money on alcohol, depriving their wives and children of their attention, food and other necessities of life, because these husbands and fathers can't see their favorite sports team play on the television in their own home.   In the mean time, the money hungry University Presidents, Athletic Directors and coaches and NFL players are getting huge salaries.   Teddy  Roosevelt would see the injustice in all of this, but none of our elected officials are interested in enforcing anti-trust laws anymore.  Cable companies don't expect to show any of these events that may be of interest to local areas without charging a special pay-for-view fee.

Example.  The  IU-Oklahoma State Insight Bowl game on Dec. 31 is being shown on the NFL Network, but unless one of the local stations can make a deal with that network, people here in central Indiana won't be able to see the game.  And of course, we still are not able to get the Big-Ten (actually little Eleven) Network on cable.  Someone, please, step up and do something for the little people in this country!

The BCS.  While I'm on my high horse I may as well voice my opinion about what is wrong with the College Football Bowl situation.  Who thinks it is necessary to crown a national champion anyway?  Not me.  Am I the only one?  Isn't it possible to be over competitive?  Besides, half of the fun is being able to argue with fellow workers and family members over which is the best team.  We got along fine with that for a century!  We also got along fine with allowing football to be the one sport where two teams could fight their hearts out and finally decide that the game could end in a tie!  Don't tell me I'm an old foggy!  Life situations are often best resolved when there isn't a winner or a loser! 

But, given the present situation, the problem is that during the regular season there isn't enough inter-conference play.  I guess it was the NCAA that decided to go to a 12 game regular season.  So what did the big conference teams do but try to pad their winning record by scheduling some smaller school they thought they were sure to beat.  Ohio State for example played Youngstown State, Akron, and Kent State, all smaller Ohio schools.  Their only other non-conference game was at Washington.  I'm sorry (Craig), but that isn't a tough schedule.  Illinois was the only Big-Ten (Little Eleven) school to play a Big 12 team (they lost to Missouri); none played an SEC or ACC team.  Some played Notre Dame, but we know how challenging that was this year.  If the BCS is to work, especially these big schools that always dominate the bowl scene must play at least two strong teams from the other major conferences during the regular season!  And don't even talk about some national playoff scheme!

Finally, on a brighter note, be sure to watch Larry King live tonight, Wednesday, Dec. 5th.  He will be interviewing Brad Pitt in New Orleans.  Brad has just donated $5 million to help rebuild that city.  It should be an interesting interview.

Crystal Wells at Camp Hope

Crystal first came to New Orleans in February, 2006 and we were on the same team, gutting houses in St. Bernard Parish and living then in Camp Premier.   At the time, she owned and operated two beauty salons near San Diego.  I came home after two weeks.  Crystal stayed and has spent most of her time in New Orleans as a volunteer since then.  She sold one of her shops and leaves the management of the other to an assistant.  Most of her employees have volunteered in New Orleans too.   It is safe to say that Crystal has been a primary factor in the success of Camp Hope.   I've been down and stayed at the camp twice since it opened, and Crystal was there, keeping the place running.

See http://www.habitat-nola.org/volunteer/camp_hope.php and also some of my prior posts about New Orleans for information about Camp Hope, and watch the video of Harry Smith in Post Katrina New Orleans (link at right under Site of the Day), in which he interviews Crystal.  I'm proud to say she is my friend.

Mardi Gras 2007

Today is going to be perfect, high about 70, low in upper 50's, bright sunshine!  It was cold yesterday watching the parades over on St. Charles street; it was 20 degrees cooler and the wind was blowing out of the north.  We had on coats over sweaters and sweatshirts, and I had on my stocking cap to keep the back of my neck warm.  I know we shouldn't complain because we still had it good compared to Indianapolis, but we had hoped for shirt sleeve weather, and today we have it.

I am sitting in the dinning room at the Creole Gardens, our B&B, having coffee, waiting for Marcia to get spruced up and join me.  We are going to the French Quarter later for the Voodoo Cemetery Tour.  Then later this evening we are meeting David and Alice for dinner.  I will expand upon our activities here later, but in the mean time you can see some of the photos I've taken in the NOLA2007 album at right.  The crowd is much bigger this year than last and the floats are more elaborate.  We were excited to see the Arlington High School Band from Indianapolis in the parade again yesterday.  They were here last year and the only out of State band we saw then.  This year so far we have also seen bands from Texas and Alabama, but of course most are local.  More later.  Keep Warm!

New Orleans Update

The weather was beautiful  Thursday and Friday; we worked in t-shirts.  Saturday was cooler, high in the 50's but I didn't make it to work.  Poor Sacajawea developed a problem on the I-510 bridge over Mr. Go on the way to the East New Orleans Habitat site.  I always pay close attention to her gauges, and suddenly I noticed that the battery was discharging.  Then the Check Engine light came on and the temperature gauge went all the way over.  My power steering was gone.  I shut off the engine and coasted to an exit ramp.  Checking under the hood I found the serpentine belt was off all of the pulleys.  A passing tow truck stopped and the driver checked the water pump pulley and it wouldn't turn, so he said that the pump had apparently locked up. 

I called AAA and their tow truck showed up in about 45 minutes.  My friend Crystal here at Camp Hope has had her car repaired at a place called Mel's about 5 miles up from the camp on St. Bernard Blvd., so I had the Jeep towed there.  Mel's is closed on the weekend, so I won't get a diagnosis on Sacajawea's condition until tomorrow morning.  I'm hoping for the best of course.  Being without a car won't be a problem this week because I can get a ride to work with either Jerry or John, who I made friends with a year ago and who both are here again this year.  But I do need Sacajawea to be well by Saturday when Marcia flies in for Mardi Gras.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I hung out with Casey, who Crystal introduced to me at lunch.  He is here from Miami with Habitat, but has a place to stay over in Gretna.  He is Haitian, and it took me a while to get used to his accent, but he wanted to see the lower and upper 9th Wards and Musicians' Village, and of course I could navigate for him.  Then we went into the French Quarter and walked around, winding up at O'Briens for a couple of Hurricanes.  Of course it was crowded, but a retired couple offered to share their table with us and it turned out that the "Turners" were from Indiana.  I was wearing my Colts sweat shirt and Indiana Hoosiers cap.  The Turners had lived in Terre Haute, Bloomington and Richmond before retiring and buying property in Slidell and starting to build a house there just before Katrina.  They were lucky to have had little damage to their under-construction home, but they weren't able to move from Richmond until this last year.  Both their son and daughter live in the New Orleans area.

Casey had been invited by his friend Sarah to meet her and husband Stew at Napoleon and St. Charles for the parade starting at 6 pm.  We found them with the help of cell phones and caught some beads while shivering some in the cold.  Afterward we met them at Juan's on Carrollton for good Mexican food.  Then Casey brought me back to Camp Hope.  We had a very pleasant afternoon and evening.   I particularly enjoyed learning a little about Haiti and listening to Haitian music in the car.

It has been sunny or partly cloudy since I've been here and no significant rain is forecast through next week.  However, the night time temp is supposed to bottom out in the low 30's on Wednesday and Thursday before warming back up in time for next weekend.  Our work this week will likely involve installing insulation, siding and roofing, but I promised Marcia I wouldn't get on the roof so I'll leave that to John and his son Brock.

News from New Orleans

Just finished my first day at a Habitat build site in the 9th Ward.  The house we are working on is ready for siding and roofing.  I spent the day putting in a window and finishing up some sheeting around the side door entrance.  Jerry Gammons and I were at the same site; he and I were at Camp Premier and gutted homes together here in St. Bernard Parish a year ago this time along with John Christman, Matt Fite, Crystal Wells, and others.  John and his son Brock are going to join us here Sunday.

It was zero at 7:30 Tuesday morning when I left Indianapolis in the Jeep, and I just got out of Southern Indiana before the 6-inch snow storm hit Indianapolis about noon.  It was 70 degrees here this afternoon and we were working in t-shirts, so you can maybe see why I might like to come down here this time of year. 

I did stay in Indy until after the big celebration for the Colts Monday night. Their plane  arrived at 4:30.  The players got to the RCA Dome about 6 and got on floats and in convertibles and pickup trucks for a parade through downtown in the 10-degree weather.  There were a lot of people lining the streets.  The parade ended inside the dome where about 40,000 people were waiting.  The players and coaches got a tremendous welcome from the crowd.  We were at home watching on television.  There were no local or national news broadcasts in Indianapolis Monday night.  Local stations carried only live pictures of the festivities welcoming the Colts, from 4:30 until 8 p.m..

We watched the game next door at Susan's house.  I made the chili and Susan had the spirits and trimmings, and neighbors Jay and Beth brought Jay's famous key lime pie and cheese cake bars.  We had a great time.  Susan was kind enough to pick up a Colt's championship hat for me Monday afternoon, which of course got a lot of comments from fellow workers on the job site today and elsewhere that I wore it on the trip down here.   People in New Orleans love Peyton Manning and still think of him as a local boy.

More from here later.

Thankful For Good Young People!

I just returned Sunday evening from New Orleans, where I was a volunteer with Habitat For Humanity helping build a home in an impoverished neighborhood in East New Orleans that was flooded after hurricane Katrina.  I spent eight days at the work site, ten nights at Camp Hope.   The first thing you notice about Camp Hope is that most of the people there are young, from high school age to their mid twenties.  If it weren't for the AmeriCorps  volunteers, Camp Hope could not function.  Yes, all ages, even I could join AmeriCorps, but mostly it is made up of recent college graduates. 

Every morning I was greeted by their smiling faces on the breakfast serving line.  I was up at 6, but they had been up an hour or so earlier preparing eggs, sausage, pancakes, grits, oatmeal, etc. so that we other volunteers could have a good, warm breakfast before we set out to gut, renovate, or build houses in the poorer neighborhoods in St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans which were devastated by Katrina.  Other mostly young volunteers serve as team leaders with Habitat for Humanity.  People like Adam, Ben, Pete, Tara, Stephan, Mike and many, many others who have been volunteering for months in the area with the technical building and people leadership skills necessary to  mold functional teams out of men and women who come to help but often need training to do the tasks assigned for the day. 

While I was there, we had a large group of high school kids who rode in vans all night from Houston just so they could gut houses for one day in St. Bernard Parish.  Another two bus loads of minority high school kids came down from Philadelphia and spent several days volunteering.  And they put on a talent show for the rest of us one night that completely turned me around on Rap.  When one girl recited a poem about losing her mother, I decided it really is music afterall. 

While volunteers come in all ages, it is noticeable that the majority are young but the next most populous group are older, retired folks like me.    Like Kate from Homer, Alaska, who rode with me a couple of days and who has volunteered with Rotary International in Mexico, South Africa, Russia, New Orleans and elsewhere.  Like Stephen from Dallas who was on my team, the other Don and his wife, Bob on my team, Sally Ann and many others whose names I can't remember.

Finally, my last morning at our project meeting place where the volunteers were broken out into teams, I was talking with a man and his wife from Charleston, SC.  They had done volunteer work with Habitat before, but the reason they were in New Orleans was that their college age daughter had organized a group of her friends from various parts of the country to come spend their Thanksgiving working to build homes.   

The experience of seeing all of these young people working side by side with seniors renews my faith in the future of this country and its young people.  Their is a lot of activity now in New Orleans.  Rebuilding is occurring, and with the help of dedicated volunteers, especially young people, it will continue. 

I took several pictures at Camp Hope and our work site, which are posted in the Habitat New Orleans Trip album at right.  If you want to meet good people, do volunteer work. 

Plans for Mardi Gras

Today and yesterday were my days off work with Habitat NOLA.  So, my mission was to find a place for us to stay during Mardi-Gras 2007.  Here it is, 1415 Creole Gardens Guesthouse.  We will be in the Cottage room 3.  Here is my picture of the place, which is within a few blocks of where we were last year, but the accommodations will be much better.
It is also within easy walking distance of the Avenue Pub where we spent most of our time on the balcony overlooking St. Charles Street watching the parades.

Marcia had a ball here catching beads.   

Sunday, I had breakfast with Matt and Crystal who were team mates of mine last February while we were gutting homes in St. Bernard Parrish.   Crystal has spent most of her time since then helping with administrative duties at Camp Premier and its successor Camp Hope, where I am now staying.  It is a former elementary school which was of course damaged by the hurricanes.  It has no heating system which has proved a negative since the temps have been in the 40's here the last two nights and are expected to be at least that cold later this week. 

Here are  Emily, also an administrator at  Camp Hope, with Crystal and  Matt at the entrance to the building.  It was great to see them again and to talk about what was and what may be to come.  Crystal, Matt and I drove by some of the houses we had gutted last February, and had mixed emotions about what is going on.  Several of the homes have been demolished and only their concrete slabs remain.  Others have FEMA trailers parked in the driveway and there are signs that renovation of the gutted structures is about to begin.  On one sight we found this new construction.

The owner said she and her family had just moved in a week ago.  They had lived on this site before Katrina, and she has lived in the area all of her life.  Obviously, they don't intend to be flooded out again, and lets hope that the house is sufficiently anchored to prevent hurricane winds from blowing it away. 

Tomorrow it's back to finishing the framing on the house we have been working on in east New Orleans.  I am really enjoying the work so far, and will reiterate that volunteers are badly needed to help Habitat build some 250 homes they hope to complete in the next year.  (You can click on the pictures for a larger, full image if part of any is cut off on your browser.)

Volunteers Needed!

Yesterday was my first day working with Habitat for Humanity here in east New Orleans.  The team I worked with put down the sub-flooring for one of several houses being built on Dale and America streets in a neighborhood where some of the residents have come back but many houses still remain boarded up and/or unoccupied.  Here we are at quiting time. 

Many homes  in the neighborhood have trailers parked on the site.  There is a lot more activity in the streets now than there was when I was here in February.  A small store about five  blocks from where we are working is open and doing a land slide business making various kinds of  lunch time sandwiches for workers in the area.  I made a sandwich yesterday at Camp Hope, (see http://www.camphopeonline.com/old_website.html  and more  about it  later)  where  I am  staying and brought it to the work site.  Today I bought a sandwich at the neighborhood store and it was so big I couldn't eat it all.

Today we built wall components and started putting them up.  I really enjoy this work, and a team of about 10 to 15 can work on a site and keep busy without getting in each others way.  Our team leaders are young people; most have been or still are with AmeriCorp.  They are well organized and well trained and they give us excellent instructions so that everyone works together.  Team members come from all over the U.S., and some here at Camp Hope are from Canada.  We have two married couples on our team.

This is Don whom  I worked with building wall components today.  His wife is the lady in the red shirt with her back to the camera.  She is from  Germany and they met while he was there in service.  Everyone I've met on this Habitat project has been so friendly and it is interesting to hear their varied backgrounds.  Volunteers are so badly needed to help New Orleans rebuild, and I strongly recommend the Habitat projects.  You will have a wonderful and very satisfying experience.

Yesterday on my way back to Camp Hope from our work site, I stopped at Musicians Village which is being built in the 9th Ward. A lot of houses are being built there for Musicians who lost their homes  and want to return to New Orleans.

John, Matt and Me

John Christman is a self made man.  In his 40's, he has his own business, the best Stucco business in the Reading, PA area.  He and his wife Sue have 5 kids, two of his, two of hers and one of theirs.  He and Sue each have a Harley.  They have a vacation home near the Delaware shore.  John doesn't have a college degree, but if he didn't tell you that you would assume he has an MBA.  You know what John is thinking because his thoughts come out of his mouth pretty much without censorship.  He says he doesn't read much, but his conversation indicates a well informed man about a very broad list of subjects.   John never met a stranger.  You get to know a lot about John in a short time, particularly if you live and work closely with him for two weeks as Matt and I did.

John is a problem solver and an organizer.  When tools were late in arriving at our work sites as we worked together on the St. Bernard Project (http://www.habitat-nola.org/projects/st_bernard.php),   John had an idea of what needed to be done and didn't hesitate to let those in charge know about it.   John was soon driving one of the trucks pulling a tool trailer to the work sites.   His solution to our national political situation; through all of the bums out and start a third party.  He has volunteered to be that party's presidential candidate, and I would certainly vote for him. 

Matt is the quiet, sensitive type; his solid frame and basic good looks enhanced by a shaved bald head and broad smile.  He is the type of guy my wife and step daughter find extremely appealing.  It takes a while to know Matt; still waters run deep.  A software guru, college graduate and former CIA intern (and that is not the Culinary Institute of America), he spends a lot of time when he can searching the Web and reading.  His heart suffering from a broken marriage, he decided to quit his lucrative career and devote a year to volunteer work.  Hence his current position with Habitat for Humanity and his work at Camp Premier.

I don't know how old Matt is; I suppose he is near 30.  But I do know he has a kind heart and feels there is more to life than money can buy.  I hope to be his friend long enough to see him truly happy, beyond his recent loneliness and sadness.

Matt's most recent blog at anyway  tells what is now happening at Camp Premier.  "This week, we completed about 170 houses with about 60 teams. I think we're around 350 now. Those volunteers reading this who were here when we were a one bus operation should know that now we're reliably scheduling and dispatching about 20 buses/day. Next week, it's going to be closer to 40, maybe even 50 as we have about 1100 HfH volunteers arriving, along with the 200 or so Samaritan's Purse and 60 AmeriCorps NCCC. I think we're scheduling for about 100 teams." 

That first night I arrived at Camp Premier, it was only John, Matt and me in the tent.  As the days passed the tent filled up and the second week we were fifteen.   I can't imagine what it is like now with all of those volunteers.

I was so fortunate to have made friends with John and Matt.  Me? I guess I may be somewhat of a combination of these two guys.  I suspect they hung out with me simply because of our early start there together, but maybe they actually liked the old guy.  I hope so.  I do miss them and will always cherish those days we had together.

Herbsaint Employee on NPR

As I was driving home along the Natchez Trace in northeast Mississippi last Thursday evening, I was listening to "All Things Considered" on NPR.   To my surprise I heard an interview with "Amy" who works in the kitchen of the Herbsaint restaurant which is at the corner of St. Charles and Girod, just a few blocks west of the French Quarter.   The team I worked with had dinner there, courtesy of team member Will, the next-to-last night of  week two (see photo in CampPremierWk2 album), and Marcia and I went back there our last night in New Orleans.  The food is terrific.  The point of Amy's interview was how service employees cannot now afford to live in New Orleans.  Rents have doubled from pre-Katrina levels due to the scarcity of  habitable space.  She noted that single Mexican males from Texas have come in and are living 6-7 to a room, but that families and most single prior residents who worked in the hotels and restaurants cannot find affordable space comparable to their prior homes.  Amy can only afford it because she is a college student who has returned to her dorm.  Most of the hotels are unable to provide daily housekeeping or room service to guests, and many are devoting rooms to housing a number of their own employees.   

I have loaded the photos I took while volunteering in St. Bernard Parish into two photo albums which you may view at right:  CampPremierWk1 and CampPremierWk2.   A separate "MardiGras" album has photos I took after Marcia joined me Feb. 25th for Mardi Gras.   Most of the pictures need no caption, but I have labeled a few of  them for clarification. 

Camp Premier is the name of the tent city where volunteers are staying while working on the St. Bernard Project.  The week I arrived, Feb.12th, I was part of only 2 Habitat volunteer teams working along with a couple of teams of Americorps kids and a similar number from Samaritans Purse.   Teams have typically 8-12 persons.  The second week I was there we had 3 or 4 Habitat teams.  Matt Fite, my team leader that 2nd week and now coordinator of transportation for the volunteers reports that he sent out 47 teams this week.    At the end of my 2nd week of work, Feb. 24th, 100 homes had been gutted in St. Bernard Parish of some 5,000 they hope to complete by the end of June.  I'm proud to say that the two teams I worked on accounted for 8 of those 100 homes completed.   If you want a rewarding and enlightening experience and have the time and desire, I encourage you to volunteer in the recovery effort.  Visit http://www.habitat-nola.org/  for info about the various projects underway and opportunities for volunteers.

Yesterday they started demolishing some homes which have been condemned in the 9th Ward and Lakeview areas.   Another body was found in the attic of a Lakeview area home.   The best way to keep up with New Orleans area news is by going to  http://www.nola.com/t-p/ , the Times-Picayune on-line site. 

There are some encouraging sights.  When I was there in October there were virtually no signs of life in the 9th Ward and Lakeview areas, and no one was even able to get into the lower 9th Ward.  Now, as you drive down St. Claude Ave. through the 9th Ward, a local seafood restaurant, Rally's, a couple of gas stations and some other businesses are open and you see several pedestrians and other activity along the street.  Even off of this main artery there is scattered evidence of people trying to return.  Similarly in Lakeview, several traffic lights are now working at major intersections and a few businesses show signs of trying to reopen along the major streets.   The Corps of  Engineers claims the levees will be repaired to pre-Katrina levels by June.  But thousands of people's lives and property were devastated, and will not soon be rebuilt.