Congrats Liz McCartney and the St. Bernard Project

Kevin and I spent a really nice Thanksgiving feasting in Chicago with family. While in Chicago, I was able to catch the “CNN Heroes” special that honored 10 ordinary people doing something extraordinary to help this world. One of the nominees was Liz McCartney who started the St. Bernard Project where I volunteered a couple of weeks ago. I was actually able to meet Liz at a home dedication and thanked her for the great organization that she has worked hard to put together. The St. Bernard Project is planning to expand their efforts to not only help people to rebuild homes, but, to also open a mental health facility and low cost housing in the New Orleans area for seniors. Anyways, while all of the “CNN Heroes” are championing great causes around the world, I was rooting for Liz to win the big prize of CNN Hero of the Year. This would give an extra $100,000 to the St. Bernard Project. Liz ended up winning after about 1 million people voted online. Yipee! Kevin and I were at least two of those votes.

Anyways, as promised, here are just a couple of pictures of my volunteering with the St. Bernard Project.

The home that my team worked on for the week.

My team of One Brick volunteers and some women from a Northern VA church

A home in St. Bernard Project that still needs work since Katrina

Homes built in the lower ninth ward by Habitat for Humanity - the Musicians Village

Last day of building in St. Bernard Parish

Today is our last day of building here in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Over the week, we have put up some dry wall, taped, mudded and sanded most of the house. On Wednesday, we were able to texture some of the walls in three bedrooms. Finally, yesterday, we primed and began painting the three bedrooms. By the end of today, the bedrooms should be complete and the hallway and living room will probably be completely painted and textured, as well. I think we ladies made a lot of progress for a week!

At lunch today, we are breaking to attend a rally for Liz McCartney who is up for “CNN Hero” of the year. She started the St. Bernard Project when she came down to the area after Katrina. She found that there was a real need for an organization to help rebuild people’s homes. Now, the organization has renovated at least 120 homes for people who’s homes were devasted. (Vote for Liz on CNN.com) We met one of the gentleman yesterday afternoon. He was an elderly gentlemen with three adult sons who all lost their homes in St. Bernard Parish. He’s been living with his wife at a friend’s home in Kentwood for the past three years since Katrina. His home is now done and his whole family will be spending Thanksgiving there this year. He thanked all of us at the house and took some pictures of us for the organization and hopefully the owners of our home who we haven’t met.

Tonight, some of us got a hotel room near the french quarters and we fly out of here home tomorrow afternoon. I’m happy to say goodbye to the communal showers, bathrooms and Camp Hope food. But, I guess for $25 a night, we can’t ask for much!  This has been a great experience and the one thing that surprised me are how much remains to be done here. There are so many homes still abandoned and in shambles in addition to churches, storefronts, restaurants, gas stations, etc.  Hopefully, more people will come here to help these people who have lost everything and we are helping to bring them back to their home.

Mudding and Sanding in St. Bernard Parish

For the past two days, I’ve been with a group of 8 other women and our supervisor, Johnny helping to rehab a house in St. Bernard Parish through St. Bernard Project. Unlike Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses from the ground up, St. Bernard Project is rehabing homes that were ruined by Hurricane Katrina.  The house that we are working on was the home of a young woman and her son who are now living in an apt. while their home is being worked on (three years after the hurricane!). In fact, one thing that surprised me about coming down here was how many homes are still abandoned and in various states of disrepair. I’ve taken a bunch of pictures that I’ll post later. You will find a street with some beautiful homes (that look brand new) next to another home that is just in ruins (broken windows, roofing falling off, overgrown yards, etc). Many houses have FEMA trailers in front of them because they still cannot move back into their home. I thought they took all of the FEMA trailers away already… apparently not. They are still all over these parts.

The home we are working on has most of its sheet rock up already. So, we have been putting up “mud” and then sanding it. I’ve been spending most of my time “sanding”. I often feel like my arms are reading to pop off. On our first day, we were all starving by 10 AM. We eventually held out until 11 AM to have our lunch. Our group is a lot of fun though despite the exhaustion that we feel throughout the day. Four of us are from One Brick and four others are from a church in northern VA. All of us are women. There are definitely more women volunteers than men. hmmm…

After our day ends around 4 PM, we’ve been trying to do things in the area. Last night, we went to the French Quarters because of a couple of the girls had never been. I had beignets at Cafe Du Monde for the third time in less than a week. Good thing I am getting all that exercise! Today, we drove to see the homes that Brad Pitt’s organization built. We also saw “Musician’s Village” in the Ninth Ward. The Musician’s Village was built by Habitat For Humanity to help bring muscians back to the area. Musician’s village had beautiful multi-colored homes. Of course, next to these homes were also some ruined and abandoned homes. It just goes to show how much work still needs to be done in this area. In St. Bernard Parish, only 1/3 of the people have returned. Many churches, restaurants, store fronts and gas stations still remain damaged. Who knows when it will all return.

I also had dinner with an old friend from college. She organizes groups of volunteers as well as retreats in the New Orleans area. If anyone wants to organize a trip for any group, let me know and I’ll hook you guys up!

Spending time in NOLA

Kevin and I landed in New Orleans last Thursday. We stayed in the French Quarters and the Prince Conti Hotel which is one block off of Bourbon Street. On Thursday night, we walked to a nearby market to have our first Po-Boy (but, not our last) sandwich. It was pretty delicious, but, HUGE. We also had a couple of beers and shared a “hand grenade” on Bourbon street. We spent most of the night soaking in the atomosphere, listening to music blaring out of various places and watching some very enthusiastic karaoke singers at “Cats” bar.

For the next two days, we did a lot of walking through the Garden District’s beautiful house (you wouldn’t know there was a hurricane here three years ago) and following food. We tried to eat as much of the New Oreleans goodies as possible. Food stops included:

- Creole Creamery (homemade ice cream in the Garden District)

- Red beans and rice

- crawfish in a creole sauce (this wasn’t that good)

- a jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace

- Hurricanes

- Beignets at Cafe Du Monde (twice)

There was a lot of eating and drinking. On friday night, I made Kevin go into the “Bourbon cowboy” since you can’t find a country bar anywhere near SF. The bar even had a mechanical bull. At one point, all the soldiers in the bar (which were a lot ) were asked to get on the bar and they played Toby Keith’s ‘American Soldier’ song. This was probably what Sarah Palin would definitely call, “real America”. Personally, I enjoyed it since they were playing country and it was so different. I don’t think Kevin minded watching the various people get on the mechanical bull.

On our last night together, we watched a jazz show at Preservation Hall. This place only has three rows of benches for seating. We caught seats on a cushion at the very front. We were squished, but, had front row seats. It was amazing. The show only lasted 45 mins, but, I loved it. It was an amazing experience. I hope to go back sometime this week.

Now, Kevin is off on a plane back to SF and I drove to Camp Hope with other oneBrick volunteers. Camp Hope is about a 35 min. drive from the French Quarter in st. Bernard Parish. On the way over, we witnessed a lot of new construction as well as structured that were ruined and abandoned by Katrina. We have an orientation here for volunteers in an hour. then, we’ll begin working to rebuild homes down here tomorrow and for the rest of the week. The place is like living at summer camp or a retreat. (not that I ever went to summer camp, but, I can imagine). We had a big hall for food service, a converted classroom that is full of bunk beds for sleeping and a room with showers and toilets. It will be quite an experience. I can’t wait! more to come soon…

There is still more change that needs to come to America

Tuesday was an amazing day that I think I will remember for a long time. I got up in the morning around 4 AM. I tossed around in bed feeling a lot of anxiety for what the next 24 hours would bring to our state and this country. Finally, at 5 AM, our alarms rang and we were out of bed and showering preparing to be in San Mateo by 6:15 AM to begin a morning of canvasing for No on Prop 8. We were tired, but, had lots of adrenaline for the hour. Kevin, myself and one other woman, Becky, were originally assigned to a polling place in So. San Francisco. I was a bit worried that they were only sending out groups of three people to each polling place. This didn’t seem like a lot of people if we ran into a big group of Yes folks. Unfortunately, they were limited on volunteers and therefore, we had to spread out in smaller groups so that as many polling places could be represented. On our way to our assignment, we saw dozens and dozens of Yes on 8 signs. It made us mad. Where were the No on 8 signs? How could they be so much more organized than us in a city just south of San Francisco?

We got to our site and stayed the required 100 ft. away from the polling station which I discussed with the election officer inside. We took turns holding up our No on 8 sign while one other person tried to hand out a card with No on 8 endorsements and info to any pedestrian heading to vote. I noticed that most people going to vote were either white, Latino or Asian. We got about half thumbs up signs and half dirty looks or head shaking. One older Filipino lady put her window down and asked me if I was a Christian. I said I was Catholic and she shook her head. I felt like I got the most positive acknowledgment from young Asians.

Because the foot traffic was low in this polling place, we were called to go to a different one. Unfortunately, this one also had a challenging setup. The cars often parked too close to the polling place for us to talk to them and there just wasn’t that much traffic.  While there, a guy in a big UGLY truck came by to yell insults at us. He then later came by driving and honking with his big YES on 8 sign. (There is always opposition).

We were later joined by a nice couple of volunteers who had flown out from NY to help the cause. How great! They believed that helping in CA would eventually bring the issue to their own state. After about an 1.5 hours at this location, we were kicked off of one side of the street. This didn’t seem fair because we were 100 ft. from the polling place (as the law requires), but, we didn’t argue with them too much. The official seemed fair enough though. She also had the guy in the truck take down the Yes signs that he had put up around the church’s property.

We finished our shift at 10:00 AM and I headed back to SF. I was happy to be back in our liberal utopia where people were pretty positive seeing me in a big No on Prop 8 t-shirt. I even wore this t-shirt around at work. If I offended anyone, no one would have said anything…that is how liberal my workplace is.

In the evening, we joined friends in San Mateo to watch the election results trickle in… we had Pennsylvania, then Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota… things were looking good. By the time, CA polls closed, Obama had cinched a victory. Everyone seemed elated, but, I couldn’t help, but, just feel more and more anxiety waiting for results of Prop 8. On the way over, we had just passed a Yes on 8 rally. Apparently, this rally had been going on most of the day. Our friends, Gabe and Jen were so angry to have them so near to their house that they stood out there with their one No on 8 sign for two hours. I made an effort to get Gabe and Jen some help by calling the volunteer coordinator in San Mateo to get a group of other volunteers to join them. Unfortunately, the coordinator said they just didn’t have enough people to send to a polling place that wasn’t one of the busiest in the county.  I felt sad that the No on 8 campaign just couldn’t organize enough to motivate more people to volunteer. The YES people were everywhere south of San Francisco.

Still, I felt pretty excited listening to Obama’s speech. I felt like America really had shown that they have the ability to be colorblind and vote the first black president into office. And what a candidate he is. Obama is so inspirational!

After some time in San Mateo, I felt that I needed to watch the Prop 8 results trickle in with other volunteers. Others who had put their heart into the cause (much more than I had). So, we went to the Westin in Union Square where they had a party for No on 8, No on 4 and Obama. The atmosphere in Union Square was insane. People were ecstatic in the streets, rallying, happy, screaming, and surely hopeful with our new president – elect. Many of the people held up No on 8 signs and gay flags. This made me a bit angry. I wondered, “Where were all of you when you were really needed? Why weren’t you out rallying when it wasn’t already too late?”  Inside the Westin room with Prop 8 volunteers, people shared other stories of hate that they encountered while out canvasing. Apparently, one of Kevin’s co-workers who also volunteered was faced with a situation where police had to be brought in.  Of course, people had good stories too. But, the mood was generally somber although people were also celebrating Obama.  By 11:15 when about 39% of precincts had reported, we were still 8% down and I was emotionally drained. So, we went home. By the time I went to bed, 52% had reported, we were still 6% down and SF county and much of LA had already reported. At that point, I pretty much knew we had no hope of winning. In the end, it ended up being about 52.1% of the voting Yes, and 47.9% against. So close, yet, so far. On election day, chickens and pigs gained more rights from Proposition 2, but, gays lost their right to marry the person they love. This just didn’t seem fair at all. How could a loss of about 4% change the CA constitution?

Today was still somber. However, there were some stories of inspiration. One of my coworkers who is Indian talked to her dad about our new president elect. He was so excited and said that after 30+ years in America, he never felt fully accepted as an American. But now, seeing that a minority can make it to the top office, it truly was amazing. We really can achieve our dreams in this country.

This past evening, we ended up attending a No on 8 Rally that attracted 2000+ people to city hall with candles and signs that read things like “Everyone deserves the freedom to marry”. The rally had many speakers from the community, black, white, straight and gay. They were inspiring the crowd to know that the fight wouldn’t end until this community was no longer second class citizens.

At one point during the rally, the speaker asked the crowd to thank all of the straight allies who put up “No on Prop 8 ” signs in their windows to support the LGBT community. One guy in the crowd yelled out, angry, “They shouldn’t have been voting on my rights in the first place!”. This really made both myself and Kevin angry. This guy was lumping all straight people against him and the community. I wanted to yell at him and tell him that I called strangers for him, I stood on streets and got insulted for him, I raised hundreds of dollars so that he could have rights that I already have. Those negative comments devasted me, but, then, I thought of my gay friends who have shown true appreciation for the time and heart that we’ve put into this and I have to tell myself to ignore that guy. Truly, on all sides of issue, anger didn’t help anyone and only hurt people. Generally, the crowd was very positive and continued to stand together knowing that work still needed to be done and that someday, these rights will be equal for everyone.

I’m headed to New Orleans for 10 days. I will be glad to clear my head in a new place.

One last thought…

Kevin and I early voted today at city hall.  Standing next to such a diverse group of people, I was very proud to be able to have this right. I was also proud to be an American and believe that our country has come so far.  Tomorrow, we’ll be canvasing in the morning against Proposition 8 in hopes that the people of CA allow everyone to keep their equal rights to marry.

Where were the Sarah Palin costumes?

Halloween fell on a Friday this year, so, we expected crowds of revellers in San Francisco. I was hoping to spot a bunch of Obama, McCain, Clinton and Palin impersonators. However, we were surprised to see only about three Sarah Palins! I met one on the bus coming home. It was a guy in a tight red suit jacket, pig nose and lipstick (lipstick on a pig). He needed bigger clothes, but, his hair was a pretty honest rendition of Palin’s hair. We also saw a Palin in a liquor store and one walking down the street carrying a cabbage patch kid next to a hockey dad. We spent most of our night at a party in Noe Valley where there were no Palin costumes. We did see a young girl in a pregnant suit standing next to her teen-looking boyfriend. We immediately thought it was Bristol Palin, but, it was actually Juno and her bf Paulie.  So much for the presidential costumes.

I, however, could not pass up a presidential year without doing a political costume. So, I dressed up as an election ballot. Kevin revived his costume as a postal service worker. Although we hadn’t planned a “group costume”, people seemed to think we planned on being a mailman delivering your ballot. We spent some time in the evening soaking in the scene walking from 15th and Mission to 24th and Sanchez. Luckily, we didn’t get much rain (although it was expected). Along the way, a large subburban truck stopped in front of us. The window was open and 2-3 scary, big, dogs started growling at us. We were scared they were going to jump out and maul us. I honestly think that they saw Kevin as a target since he was wearing the mailman uniform! Its like dogs are born with a gene to attack mailmen.

Anyways, we eventually arrived at the party where we met up with some of Kevin’s coworkers: The Kool-Aid guy, a beer wench, Joe the plumber, a king, a handyman and some others.  Other cool costumes at the party included: Tom Cruise from risky business, a dinosaur, and workers of the “George W. Bush Treatment Plant” (urging people to vote Yes on Prop. R).  Here is a picture of some of them:

My election ballot costume ended up being a great conversation piece at the party. People kept wanting to change around the votes on the ballot. I had removeable black bars that you could move around votes for.  A few people also got some of my jokes inserted into the ballot such as listing John McCain’s running mate as “Caribou Barbie”.  Anyways, it was a fun night. Here are pictures of our costumes:

The postal worker, here to deliver your political junk mail and your absentee ballot!

My election ballot costume. This looks like the first page a real San Francisco ballot including votes for your president, congress representative, state assembly members, judges and board of education. I also couldn’t leave out writing in No on Prop 8 at the bottom of the ballot. Below is a closeup of my election ballot:

Close-up of my election ballot costume.