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...