been busy

For weeks now, I've had all sorts of beautiful blog posts in my head about the many wonderful things I've been able to see and enjoy. I guess I got too busy seeing and enjoying to keep up with writing about it.

For Mardi Gras, I enjoyed Endymion with my host family and took my first walk through the amazing City Park; I went to a parade in Houma just to see and got pelted with beads; I took a bike ride at 6AM on Fat Tuesday itself all over New Orleans, at first in search for Mardi Gras Indians but ultimately just to enjoy families out in their yards, wishing us a Happy Mardi Gras as we rode by...

My dear little sister friend Abi visited on Ash Wednesday through the end of the week. We explored the French Quarter, the Lower Ninth Ward and Lakeview. We planted trees in a big freshwater diversion. We enjoyed awesome jazz at Preservation Hall. Perhaps the least expected part was how we spent International Women's Day: celebrating my friend Kalpana at a traditional Indian baby shower, where the women sang and offered blessings and we feasted on seven different kinds of rice. It was so, so beautiful.

I attended a workshop at UNO called Building Resilience the following week, and met a lot of great scientists, public workers, community organizers, and coastal residents. We discussed physical and human resiliency along Louisiana's coast, which is good and all, but the real point was driven home by Cherri Foytlin, a journalist from South Louisiana, who said, "I don't want to be resilient, I want to thrive!"

I visited Isle de Jean Charles for the first time. What a stunning place, and the people there have been totally written off by the government, who won't acknowledge their nation and build a flood protection system that excludes them.


I don't usually dress up for field work. We went straight after church.

I went to VA and DC for Ecumenical Advocacy Days and, well, let's be honest, to visit some people I adore. Reagan Airport is definitely in my top five, for being easy to navigate, Metro accessible, and a very sweet welcoming committee:


(That's Arlo, watching my plane land. I LOVE HIM. And his parents!)

It was a whirlwind, as my visits to DC/VA usually are. I got to enjoy visits with camp friends, college friends, and one of my cousins. The conference was great, offering advocacy training as well as a chance to connect with others working on issues of eco-justice. I spent a day on Capitol Hill visiting my senators' offices. I even got to enjoy a pretty snowfall. I had a wonderful, wonderful visit.

And now I'm back in Louisiana. I've been focused on this policy brief thing that I'm contributing to, to be presented to the EPA in a week and a half. I was supposed to plant trees in Isle de Jean Charles today with a group of high school students from DC, but instead we had flash flooding and intense thunder and lighting. Slowly catching up as I get ready for a lot more traveling this spring...

finding the right place

For the next few days, I'm taking part in the Building Resilience Workshop, a group of difference people addressing natural and human hazards that affect Louisiana's coast. I'm one of those people!


The meeting began with a reception tonight at a lovely farm just a few miles outside of New Orleans, past the Bywater and the Lower Ninth Ward. I've driven by here several times on various adventures to St. Bernard and East Plaquemines Parish-- there is a nice pecan grove across the street from the barn, and trees line the highway, creating a beautiful arch over the road. I love driving down roads like that.


I was keeping an eye on the mileage on my car-- Google Maps had said the place I was going was 15 miles from my last turn, and I was only about ten. I decided to go to Taize worship at Lakeview Presbyterian Church before hand. It's peaceful and contemplative and private. And peaceful. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I was enjoying my music. The second car ahead of me slowed and put on their signal to turn into a farm, which got me questioning if I had the right farm in mind or not, whether or not I really had a few miles to go still. The car right in front of me didn't slow down at all, and rear-ended them as they turned, sending them sailing into the drainage ditch alongside the road.

I had a split second to decide whether to follow that car as it sped off, or see if the people in the car were ok. I pulled over. One woman in the back seat broke her wrist. That was not exactly pleasant to see. Everyone was ok though.

I offered to stick around and help with the 911 call, and getting everyone out of the car. After busting down the fence, the car stopped precariously perched over the ditch, which probably had about two feet of water over soft ground. Everyone but the woman with the broken wrist could get out though. I got water to help settle everyone's shock. The driver asked me to take some pictures for her insurance company.



Turns out, this was a car full of speakers and panelists for the meeting this week-- I would have missed the farm if not for pulling over to check on them. Not the ideal way to meet, but they were all very pleasant and surprisingly calm people. After talking with police and getting cleared by paramedics, we had a nice evening talking over some great local food. I met a few new people working in the natural resources field, which is always helpful.

I was so mad at the driver who hit them, who sped off. Part of me felt horrible for not following them to get a license plate-- I could only offer a description of a white car with Louisiana plates. Helpful. Not. But seriously, if someone slams a car off the road into a ditch and then speeds off, it's probably not a good idea to follow them anyway.

Amazing sometimes how close you can be to disaster, and yet still feel like you were in the right place at the right time.

More on this meeting, Mardi Gras, Abi's visit, and other adventures soon. I've been keeping busy.

My Top Ten Airports

You may have heard a rumor somewhere that I travel a lot. It's true.

Last week I traveled home for my friend Amanda's wedding. I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids (she's also one of mine!), and thrilled to join so many friends in celebrating her and her husband. It was a beautiful weekend and everyone had a great time. Yay Amanda and Mike! Congratulations!

My flight home included a layover at a new airport for me, Memphis-- my 25th airport that I can remember passing through. Small and quiet, I was actually won over by the coat rack in the bathroom. I had been carrying my bridesmaid gown with my arm stretched above my head all day, trying to prevent wrinkles and/or complete destruction. It was so nice to hang it up for a brief moment. But it was really pleasantly peaceful, especially compared to my layover in Atlanta a month before, which was UTTER MAYHEM SPRINTING ACROSS AN ENORMOUS AIRPORT THAT SEEMS TO HAVE AN ENDLESS SUPPLY OF STAIRS.

So, needless to say, Atlanta is not on my top ten list. But Memphis easily is. My (current) definitive top ten airports list:

10. tie between JFK and Laguardia: What points they lose for being complete and utter pains in the ass to drive to, they make up for with their proximity to New Jersey and easy access to roughly everywhere in the world. I have flown to some pretty cool places (Malawi, Seattle) from each of these, and I have also picked up some awesome visitors from each. I hate the traffic but enjoy the people and places I associate with each of them.
9. Cancun: I flew to Mexico for my Masters field work just weeks after swine flu broke out, with eastern Mexico as its epicenter. I was really impressed with these fancy pants thermometers that just had to be held next to people's foreheads to prove them healthy and pass us through customs. It was also no small miracle that I made it through ticketing, check-in and security with no knowledge of the Spanish language beyond my then-impressive forestry and food vocabularies. I was pretty tired, but I'm relatively certain that's a well-signed airport with a helpful staff.
8. George Best Belfast City Airport: This was the first time I disembarked and boarded planes from the tarmac on a staircase, which I thought was really cool. Also, I had my first Guinness here. Also, it marked the beginning and end of a pretty wonderful adventure with a dear friend of mine.
7. McCarran (Las Vegas): While totally overwhelming, I found the airport to be a pretty good representation of the city it's in. I don't generally believe that layovers count for having been to a place, but this one is legit enough to me. I mean, you pretty much fly down The Strip when coming in for a landing.
6. Atlantic City: This was the first airport I ever flew out of. I almost never go here, but I love that drive down the Parkway, through the Pine Barrens and wetlands, plus there's a Wawa right outside of the airport!
5. New Orleans: I like it. Small, navigable, and has one of the only Dunkin Donuts I've found in Louisiana.
4. Philadelphia: This one has gotten a lot of traffic from me lately. It's slightly more of a pain in the butt to get to and from Toms River, but it still counts as one of my major regional airports. Also, I get to sing I-76 or Philadelphia Freedom shamelessly during those to's and from's.
3. Memphis: I am really, really that grateful for the coat rack.
2. Blantyre, Malawi: Because of the different way of doing security, I was able to receive a most beautiful sendoff from a group of singing, cheering women I met in my first days in the country. (see here)
1. Newark: Well duh, it's in New Jersey. Maybe you don't get teary when you land after a while away, and you can see the skyline of Manhattan and the Elizabeth Seaport and the Meadowlands and know that you are already home in New Jersey without having to sit on an interstate for a while first. Well, maybe you don't have a soul.

Later this month I will be traveling to Washington, DC, flying into Reagan Airport. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.