That's right, isn't it?
I went to this awesome session today about Ann Arbor Public who holds a SuperMarioKart tournament for the kids in their community. They totally go all out and produce it and have interviews with the finalists, like SportsCenter. It was totally awesome and make me wish I had gone into YA services. But then I remembered that I'd probably hate it.
Last night I saw a screening of The Hollywood Librarian. We saw about 35 minutes of semi-edited footage and it looks pretty good. There is a fair amount of book-cart-drill-team footage, which certainly adds some glamour to the whole thing. It isn't finished yet, pending funding, so if you have $50 that you'd like to contribute to helping the reputation of my profession, feel free to PayPal it their way.
Today I spent a fair amount of time on public transportation. I decided that I didn't have an extra $50 for the "Devastation Tours" and I talked to a couple of people and was rather discouraged to just jump on any old bus and head out to the 9th Ward. One guy said that it is "pretty lonely."
Instead, I took some of the more regularly running routes. I took the Canal St. Streetcar from end to end, and toward the North-West end (closest to the lake) you could really see the difference from the French Quarter area. Yesterday, the NO Public librarian told me that there were initiatives among the locals to really get out and clean up the Quarter and the Convention Center area before we all came. She said there were kids out picking up trash and sweeping the sidewalks and everything. I almost cried when she was describing it to me, but I didn't really think of it again until I saw the difference leaving the Quarter area. Some places looked okay, but most of the houses up there had a very distinct water line about 4 feet up the side of the buildings. It was really incredible to see house after house with this line across them. On the side streets you could see the FEMA trailers parked in front of the houses and lots of construction crews and trash on the sidewalks. I have some photos which I hope to upload after I get back.
2 comments:
hey dewster
just so you know, jes has this co- worker who has this friend that works with an organization called Common Ground. i think the website is www.commonground.org
they provide direct services to folks in the 9th ward- health clinic, donations of clothes, meds, etc. there is a good chance jes and i will go and volunteer for a week in august (her doing volunteer legal stuff and me doing legal amdministrative stuff). it seems like the organization is on the up and up and making an impact.
Oh my god-- that movie sounds awesome. Sounds like you're having quite a time in New Orleans!
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