Some Thoughts on "Getting There"

So this morning is my last entry from New Orleans. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning and probably do one more post on the plane on the way home to detail today's activities (Health fair for National Hispanic HIV Awareness Day, and outreach on Canal Street), and some thoughts on the week in general. Before jumping the gun on that though, here are some things from yesterday...

Today's post includes a lot of different things, both an acknowledgment of my own lack of understanding of the world, and yet progress toward it. And, some excitement about the fact that I can now "drive like I live here" There's a piece by slam poet Bradley Hathaway called "Manly Man." While my purpose for using this quote has nothing to do with the general idea of the poem, one of the lines is this: "Like David I want to be a man after God's own heart. I'm not there yet but I'm past the start." I think this summarizes 2 things that I am always grateful for and areas where I am always forced to grow when I am here. First, I do hope to be someone who really seeks God and seeks to be who God wants me to be, and the influence of Bruce and Deborah, combined with an opportunity to live out my faith and committment to it, allow me to grow in that way. Second, I like the idea of not yet being who we want to be, but being past the start. I know I have so much more to learn and understand, but I am glad for the opportunity that is presented to me here to get past the start. So now, thoughts on "getting there".

I spent a lot of time in the morning packing condoms and literature for today's health fair, and in the afternoon I went out to do marketing with 3 of the other HIV workers. We went down to the French Quarter and put informational flyers about our program on the cars parked on the streets and saw some things that were both interesting and infuriating...ahh New Orleans.

I would like to preface the following with a quote from "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou (1969). After having spent some time as a runaway, and having to return home and to school in the fall, she writes: "without willing it, I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware. And the worst part of my awareness was that I didn't know what I was aware of." As soon as I read this, it resonated with me immediately, with the combination of what I learned last time and during this trip, I am overwhelmingly aware of my own ignorance, and it is something I do not entirely know how to explain or handle.

In one of my classes "Diversity & Oppression" we have been reading a book called "Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen" (Hilfiker, 2003) and, as it's subtitle implies, it explains the process that forms American ghettos. It actually is really interesting and makes a lot of sense. I am going to do my best to summarize it and then tell you how I know it's true. One of the major points of the book explains how the construction of major highways, particularly roads that are literally high above street level, are a source of the segregation that contributes to the formation of ghettos. When a new highway is built, it brings traffic up out of the city, taking business away from mom and pop shops. Also, it requires that many houses and businesses be torn down for building. Last, it creates a physical divider between two places. As time goes on, whichever side started with more money or white people is better able to maintain itself, and prospers, while the other side becomes more run down, until after a while, the two sides are total opposites.

When I read this, it was the first time I had thought about it, and it made sense, but yesterday I saw it in living color. Ask me if I was mad. So, we started out at the corner of Esplanade and Claiborne, which are downtown near the French Quarter. We parked right under I-10. I had drove to the parking lot from the same side of the city as I have been staying this week. While it does have its nice areas, it is definitely more poor, more "ghetto", and more black than what I saw on the other side of I-10 yesterday. On one side of the highway, were a couple gas stations and little food marts. There were mainly African Americans around, including some who looked rather disheveled and one who felt it appropriate and necessary to relieve herself right in front of all the traffic by the side of the road. (Only in New Orleans..) However, once we started walking away from I-10, the scenery quickly changed. If you aren't familiar with New Orleans and it's politics and oppression, the French Quarter is like the crown of the city. It is guarded from the river with a super-high, super-thick levee, while some areas have a dirt hill. It experienced very little if any flooding when the rest of the city was under water. So we start walking away from I-10 and here's what we see...

-HUGE houses. Maybe not real big by upstate-NY standards, but about 4 or 5 times the size of a shotgun house and most were 2 or 3 stories.

-Everybody Here White - As was so well captured by the girl in the camp program over the summer, the color difference was crazy. White people everywhere and very few other colors around.

-Hurricane? - No, not the drink on Bourbon Street, but Katrina. I think I saw 1 or 2 houses with the Xs on them with who inspected the house, the date, and if they found anywone. I saw one run-down building with the tarp shreds still on the roof. Other than that, no sign of a hurricane, when the rest of the city is covered with empty lots, abandoned and dilapidated houses. Ew.

So after we handed out the flyers for quite a while, we headed back to our cars and this is where my other excitement comes in. When we do outreach everyone drives separately so the workers can go home at the end of the day. This translates to me driving Deborah's Lexus. This is frightening for two reasons: a Lexus? those suckers aren't cheap. Navigation? please. I use my GPS to get around Horseheads and I have lived there my whole life. However, Pastor Bruce told me yesterday that I can't be afraid - "You gotta drive like you live here, not slow like an old lady" Okay.. So anyway, the excitement was that I drove to the HIV building, then to the meeting spot for marketing, then back to Bruce and Deborah's yesterday without getting lost and without the GPS or any major accidents. Woo!

A little later we enjoyed a hearty helping of New Orleans Red Beans n Rice! which, is delicious and my favorite : ). I went after that with Deborah to a choir reunion rehearsal for a choir she sang in when she was 19. She and some others from the group have stayed in touch and are doing a concert tonight to honor the woman who started it and is turning 75. It was great. I was amazed at how great they sounded and how much energy and sound can come from a small grup of 8 or 9 people. I also got to play for a bit with a little girl there who asked me if I was a grandma...not quite...not quite..but she was fun.

That's about it for yesterday..today I am pumped for the Health Fair. I get warm fuzzies out of educating and empowering people to help themselves, in this case protect themselves from HIV. Thanks for reading : )