week 17, post 4: enough said

This graffiti is on a window sill in the French Quarter. It makes me smile, and remember. Peace, Warren.

week 17, post 3: Shrimpers and Farmers

I continue to be impressed with the many parallels in the lives of the shrimpers and farmers. During the winter/off season, equipment is torn down, inspected, rebuilt. Equipment failure can cost thousands of dollars, at best, and lives at worst. Like farmers, shirmpers must be their own mechanics most of the time. Now is the time when the shrimpers are most busy on their gear. Our next door neighbor has a small/mid sized Lafitte skiff with skimmer nets. This year, he and his companions have removed them from the water, maintained the hulls, nets and engines. They are quite a sight sitting on stands in the yard. In a couple of weeks, they will be back in the water, running shakedowns, in readiness for the beginning of the season, about May 15.
Peace, Warren.

week 17, post 2: A prophetic voice

I wanted to share with y'all a quote from one of our most insightful prophets: farmer/poet Wendell Berry:

"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy."

I pray that as I offer myself as an instrument of peace in this place, all of us will similarly commit ourselves to live under the self-imposed laws of justice and mercy wherever we are privileged to serve. And remember: all knowing is subjective.

week 17, post 1: a little initiation

Cajunization just can't happen suddenly; it's a gradual thing that has to mellow, to be savored. It's best done in stages so one is not overwhelmed by the sensuality of the experience. Eating crawfish is one of those profound initiatory events along the way. Crawfish etouffe is a marvelous dish. But the real initiation is boiled. These wonderful delicacies are springtime food. Now they're in season, and one sees Cajuns and others fishing for them in roadside ditches everywhere. But the best ones come from the real freshwater swamps in the Atchafalaya basin, where old timers continue to harvest crawfish by the millions from these dark waters. It's a messy business, but I'm so glad for them. Yes, I even sucked out the heads! Bon Appetit!

week 16, post 3: A micro-play

Scene: Saturday morning, Andrew and Christine's FEMA Trailer
Andrew to Warren: Now don't tell me you was out clear till midnight counseling and doing paperwork!
Warren: No! It was the Quakers! I fell among Quakers at their encampment up at the Pentecostal Church! They kidnapped me and carried me with them all the way to Houma to the Jolly Inn, where they made me dance with them and play the rub board! They kept going and going and wouldn't stop -- all of us stone cold sober!
Andrew: harumph, harumph!

week 16, post 2: Teamwork

Kelly, Linde, Courtney, Elaine and I continue to become better and better as a team. Elaine and I try to stay close to the ground, close to the clients in need. Linda organizes and distributes resources. Courtney and Kelly do more administration -- building the healthcare and community institutions so badly needed. Courtney and I are expanding some of our activities -- reaching out and teaching visiting volunteers from all over America about the bayou culture and environment. It is awfully bold of me to think I can or should even attempt to interpret this area or its people. I'm an outsider and should never forget that. But what can I say? I'm Baptist through and through -- passionate and evangelistic about this wonderful place and its people. I'm also very afraid -- afraid that without help -- advocacy help from these many visitors -- that this wonderful land and its people will be abandoned to the sea, forever. I want the visitors to go back home not just with a feeling of satisfaction for having rehabbed a building, but with an ongoing mission to rehab a coastline, an estuary, to protect a precious part of America and the people who live there. I'm posting a photo of Elaine, our teammate. Peace, Warren.

week 16, post 1

Here's one that doesn't need a whole lot of words. Amazing creatures. Estimate it to be about 5' We saw about 9 more that day. Peace, Warren

week 15, post 4: more pictures

Here are more pictures. Peace, Warren.

week 15, post 3: Work continues

While I attend to emotional and spiritual needs, work continues on damaged homes in my neighborhood. 11,000 dwellings were damaged in Terrebonne Parish by Katrina and Rita. A neighbor had his trailer home lifted from its mountings and dumped onto the ground, shattering it. The flood waters then consumed it. A work crew arrived this week from one town in North Carolina, representing many churches. One member even joked he was a "Branch Davidian." (I believe he is actually Unitarian). These men are working like "men posessd." (which they are -- they belong to the Holy Spirit) If they continue on schedule, they will complete most of the house structure in a week. With a great deal less flair and spectacle, they will match a lot of what "extreme makeover" does. And they will impact the well being of a family just as much. Many thanks to these caring men.

Week 15, post 2: Domicile levitation

We're getting ready to lift my hosts' house. There are many ways to engineer such a feat: multiple pilings, chain hoists and girders is one of them. Here are a few pictures. Hopefully, within 2 weeks I will show pictures of the house lifting underway, and completed. We're all eager. Peace, Warren.

week 15, post 1: When Birds Play

All of us say that we are awed/delighted to watch eagles soar. Truly they are magnificent aloft, and the rarity of the sight adds to the sense of awe. But I have also been awed here by the sight of the white pelicans soaring, sometimes by the score. They are surely at play as they soar so high above the water, and they are magnificent flyers. I'm sorry that I do not have pictures of them to share with you, but they are at great altitudes as they wheel and dive aloft. This activity is surely play for them -- pure pleasure. And it is pleasurable for me to witness it. The eagles have their match for grace aloft in the white pelicans.
Peace, Warren.

week 14, post 3: a visit from journalists

Yesterday, after all the Mardi Gras festivities, our team was honored by a visit from journalists with the Orphan Grain Train ministry. They have been providers of much of the food and other relief supplies distributed through GLC to Katrina and Rita victims. One of the OGT members to visit us was Seth Kaiser, who currently operates a "volunteer camp" in New Orleans. Seth has some incredible stories to tell, from the viewpoint of the victims, the immediate responders and the late arriving volunteers. The journalists interviewed team members at the home of the Pellegrins, in Chauvin. On many occasions I have been useful as a listener. This time I and others were listened to. We were all eager to tell our stories, and it was healing to tell them. It reminds me how very much careful listening heals and empowers. Strange, isn't it, how I would forget that!

The OGT journalists will take our material and put it into a video documentary. I hope to share it with many someday. We got some beautiful footage of the marsh at sunset, plus shrimp boats, barges and all that surrounds Houma. And, as if just on cue, while they were doing the marsh video, Mr. Alligator showed up to get his picture taken, too. Right there in our fishing hole. About 5 feet of him. Right there where we go fishing. Yup. Right there in our fishing hole.
Peace, Warren.

week 14, post 2 additional pics

Here are some additional Mardi Gras Pictures:

another try at pictures

I think the pictures made it this time. Peace, Warren

pictures

week 14, post 1Mardi Gras

There are certain things I want to do at least once in life...more than once is uncertain. I've been through my first Mardi Gras SEASON here in Houma. There are 11 or so parades, over a period of 10 days. The biggie was yesterday. It was hot, loud, crowded, raucous. I've collected about 25# of beads and trinkets -- a very modest haul -- strictly beginner. Now, what does one do with 25+ pounds of this stuff -- per year? My prize beads are a string with little white boots (Cajun Reeboks), the kind worn by shrimpers, and blue crabs. The parade was definitely, I think, one of those events that go better with lots to drink--which I didn't. But I've done it, lived to tell about it, and it was lots of fun. The local residents dedicated themselves, as usual, to making sure I had a good time -- Cajun hospitality. I took my little sidekick, Sissy, with me. She did not have such a good time (just look at a crowd from one foot up), but she did like the hot dogs for lunch. Pictures are posted. Peace, Warren.