New Orleans

Letter from New Orleans: Leigh McLaren Featured on Boston.com

May 12, 2011 – 9:58 pm

Day One at Habitat for Humanity, and one of the many things I learned today, is that New Orleans is HOT. Not just like the New England summer heat that we complain about in July, but really, really hot.

Despite the heavy heat, we had an amazing first day. We were not sure of our location until we arrived in New Orleans, and we ended up being placed in the 7th Ward, on Allen Street. Berklee College of Music has been a volunteer group to New Orleans every year since 2007.

Read Leigh’s full dispatch on Boston.com!

Read more blogs from the Gracenotes New Orleans 2011 Trip.

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Berklee NOLA: Day 2 and 3

May 11, 2011 – 10:55 pm

Lady from Allen Street (sarcastic and with a smile): “What are you going to do when the rivers of the Mississippi floods us again?!”

Michael Heyman: “We’ll come back and build some more!”

This is the spirit that my team has been clenching onto this week. It’s been two days … we’re tired yet jovial, exhausted yet determined. I think it’s safe to say that we are facing one of the biggest challenges in our lives. For me, I’ve done mostly everything in my life for my own survival … for my own pursuit of knowledge, enrichment, and growth. But standing on the grounds where people have died for much less, and driving through the Ninth Ward by the levees, has really made me rethink everything I’ve done for myself up until this week. Read More »

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what is knowing?

May 11, 2011 – 10:00 pm

this morning, our fearless leader mike popped out the side door of the house and told us how psyched he was that he could trust us to handle the concrete on our own. michael, magen, corinto and i looked at each other, like, “is he talking to us?”

he was. apparently, now we know concrete. in the words of magen tracy, “it kind of made my day.”

corinto posing with the rebar for our concrete

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Berklee NOLA: concrete poetry

May 10, 2011 – 10:04 pm

Corinto is seriously into concrete.  See his steely stare.  Witness his protective stance over our concrete form.  Let him stand as a metonym for us, the crew of NOLA 2011, now, also, seriously into concrete.  The other bloggers have mentioned the wonders of our work today, from painting to near-fainting, but I shall mention things otherly.

Here are some things we have learned.

All the new houses are up on blocks—at the exact height of Katrina’s standing water (about 4 feet here in the 7th Ward).  The storm surge was more than double that.

The blocks are bolted to the foundation.  The rods are bolted into the blocks.  The frame is bolted into the rods.  This is so our house does not, at some point in the future, decide to unmoor and roam the inland sea.

In this part of town, the 7th Ward, the housing is mixed.  The community has returned, and, though most people were at work while we were around, we saw some friendly faces in the surrounding homes, a smile and wave from drivers by.  Many have returned the to community, but many have not.  Some houses stand as they did just after Katrina, blasted and beat.

More to come from the whole crew… stay tuned!

Michael Heyman

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Day 1: Cement, paint, and shovels

May 10, 2011 – 9:10 pm

IMG_0850

It’s day one on the worksite and we managed to finish a cement pad before lunch. I never realized the amount hard labor involved in pouring cement. Now I know. Trust me, my whole body knows.

We continued work on the inside of the house in the afternoon and also did plenty of painting of plywood for the homeowner to use in the event of another storm. Leigh sacrificed herself toward the end of the day to finish up the painting. It was in direct sunlight and must have been brutal. Thanks Leigh!

While Leigh was baking in the sun, I helped dig out holes in the back for the AC support structure. Hard work, but at least it was in the shade! After that, we measured windows and began cutting the trim for the window sills. Tomorrow we’ll finish those up and maybe start on the rest of the trim for the interior. Who knows what else is in store?

So far New Orleans has been incredible! I’m far too tired to get into specifics but I will post more about the food and culture when I get a chance.

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