Critical Mass

As the bell in the Ferry Building Tower tolls 6 pm on last Friday of the month, a mass of bicycle enthusiasts gravitate toward Embarcadero Plaza. The group grows in size until they become a single unit, a critical mass, at which point drums beat, whistles and horns blow, and the group takes to the streets for a wild spontaneously directed ride that can last several hours. This past Friday, the party included about 150 cyclists, a group strong enough to dominate the street, if just for a little while, as bikers spend most of their time fending off angry motorists for a little space along the edge of the street.

However, Critical Mass obeys no rules as its sprawling pack of riders run red lights, cut across intersections and bring traffic to a standstill. The group is tailed by several police vehicles; I assume there to keep the peace, because they definitely weren't there to stop the pot smoking, drinking and pedaling, or blatant disregard for traffic rules.

I met one particularly festive cyclist, donning a costume he described as the "Nuclear Jesus," a statement in protest to US conflict with Iran. Nuclear Jesus, aka Eric Hansen, of Santa Barbara, said that he has been to Critical Mass several times, and also dresses up for other festivals, like when he was "Baby Jesus" at Burning Man last year. Hansen said that his costume at this Critical Mass was "a remake of an old stereotype," that he was "playing with a cultural icon," but didn't comment further. Hanen appeared to have already ingested much of his namesakes symbolic"blood," and also rode barefoot with a large wooden crucifix tied on his back.

Smoke Bubbles

Smoking shisha in our hookah and blowing bubbles with the smoke.

A Comment on The Media and Photography

In 2008 all hell is going to break loose in the US: I will graduate from college, but of admittedly more importance, the American people will decide who shall lead this country for the proceeding four years. Hillary, the first women, Obama, the first non-white, Edwards, maybe Clark and Sharpton, prove to make things interesting, and that's just democratic side of the equation.

Political pundits are already predicting this to be the most expensive election of all time, topping the $1.01 billion spent on campaigning in 2004. Media, especially newspapers have faced declining ad revenue in recent years, but it appears the future cash cow of advertising revenue may exist in political boxing ring of presidential elections.

With the excessive advertising and fundraising that is demanded of a presidential bid, there is no doubt in my mind that the American people will be exposed to a barrage of negative ads and pointed attacks between the candidates.

While a photograph represents an actual event, it is not free of opinion or point of view. I think it is for this reason that the New York Times chooses almost exclusively to use a wide angle shot that captures a broad scene and not an individual person or object, for its front page image. In this way the viewer is able to decipher meaning from the larger image.

The fact that photography can be used to guide people to one message that may or may not be the truth is very relevant to political ad campaigns. Two photographs taken of Hillary Clinton at a speaking event, from the same angle, or even the same camera, can portray her in very different ways, conveying messages that even contradict one another.

Allow me to demonstrate. I photographed the "Drugs in a Free Society: Prohibition or Legalization?" debate at USF this past Tuesday. The event is one of many in a series titled Cicero's Podium, featuring distinguished scholars on different sides of a variety of topics. For this event, Ethan A. Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance presented a case for the legalization of drugs, and specifically for "alternatives to the war on drugs." I captured the following two images of Nadelmann, they are similar yet how they portray him is starkly contrasted.

Here, Nadelmann looks to be making a compassionate point. He seems caring, trustworthy, a "good guy."

Here he looks vicious, malicious, like someone you want to avoid in a dark alley.

It's easy to make a photograph bend to your whims, I wasn't even trying here, and I'm not talking about Photoshop, which makes a whole new realm of distorted truth possible. These two shots are taken within seconds of each other from the same spot where I sat on the floor in the front of the room, and tell the same story: man talking at podium. Yet the message and mood of these shots couldn't be further apart.

As campaign season heats up earlier than usual this election cycle, I expect to see a lot of this kind of advertising, distorted and loaded with spin. I vow to let me decisions be based on fact and issue, not songs, slogans, banners, photographs, and manipulated truth. Unfortunately, I feel that dramatic 30 second TV ads are what most impact the average American voter's election decision.

Experimenting with Atlas

Atlas is a program that allows users to add maps to their blog or other online content, with custom locations plotted. Web sites like Yelp.com, and Google Maps use similar interactive maps to plot restaurants, and other points of interest to the user.

I will use Atlas to pinpoint the location of things I blog about here at The Bicycle Diary.

My first experiment was to plot the location of my office at the San Francisco Foghorn newspaper, where I work as the Editor of Photography and Graphics. I spend a lot of hours in the Foghorn office; last night I there all night working toward our weekly production deadline of Tuesday morning. I slept on the office couch for a few hours between when I ran out of gas around 3:30 and when Starbucks opened at 5:30.

Today while wrapping up the details of the paper the mail came, and one letter was hand addressed to us with no return address or other markings except a post office stamp indicating it had passed through up-state New York. Inside was a piece of lined paper and this business card:

I don't know what the point is, but someone took the time and effot to mail it.

Poleng for Dinner

In my last post I talked about the realization I had earlier this week when it occurred to me that I live on the perfect street, specifically because of the proximate location of Starbucks, Poleng, and Papalote, a restaurant/bar, and upscale taqueria, respectively.
All that blogging made me hungry and on my way home today I cruised into Poleng, scoring a reservation for later tonight; which word on the street says is hard to come by. Our meal was incredible, after reading about the restaurant’s star head chef in the SF Chronicle last week, I’ve been eager to go for a full on dinner (before I had only been for drinks and happy hour snacks). We were most defiantly not disappointed as plate after plate of delectable Asian infused cuisine graced our table. We stared off with the Lumpia Shanghai ($6), a classic Filipino dish, which is like a smaller, crunchier egg role. Next, we had the Balanese Lemongrass Satay Sampi ($6.5) , which we both later agreed was our favorite dish of the night. This tender meat comes with a spicy peanut dipping sauce. Our third course was the Buddha’s Treasures ($6.5), a Chinese dumpling stuffed with vegetables, served with a spicy dipping sauce. We both agreed that this dish was our least favorite of the night, I liked the texture, and freshness of ingredients, but the overall flavor wasn’t a big winner in our book. The last dish was incredible, when the waiter described the tender nature of this pan seared cod preparation, he was alluding to the melt in your mouth dream, know on the menu as Golden Gindara ($12). This dish was served with a side of coconut rice, which was so good it could have been the main course all by its self.
When it came time for the dessert round, we were both too full and had to pass, but I hear good things about the rice pudding. Poleng serves exclusively “nibble and share” plates, which is a great way to sample the variety and uniqueness of the menu offerings. Four courses, with a side of rice was the perfect amount of food for two people. Our total bill including tax and tip was lower than expected at about $50.
This restaurant is great; it has been one of my favorite dining experiences in the city, competing with the likes of much pricier, fancier restaurants in Russian Hill, Cole Valley, and the Mission. I was so impressed that after the meal, I sought out the owner, gave him my compliments, and set up an interview with the head chef for a San Francisco Foghorn feature to come out early next month.

Don’t take my word for it, see what people are saying on Yelp.

A Profile of My Street

After six months of walking the streets around my new pad, I’ve decided that I live on some pretty happening turf. Fulton Street between Masonic and Central has all the comforts an active college student like me needs. First and foremost, the smells of strong, rich, espresso waft down the lane toward my door from a little shop know as Starbucks. Thinking about a hot Americano before class helps me spring out of bed each morning, a few slurps of the dark liquid wipes the glaze off my eyes and energizes me for the walk up Fulton hill to school.

When I come back starving from the gym, or a long Thursday night meeting, there is always Papalote to greet me and offer up one of its delicious super burritos. The fresh, healthy, Mexican inspired food here is cheap, delicious, and they’re fast. I’m in and out the door in 5-10 minutes with a hot, made to order burrito and a side of chips with their amazing salsa, for around eight bucks. I eat at Papalote at least one a week guaranteed, sometimes several times per week, and this is every week for the past 6 months. That’s at least 24 meals. Oh, and I only ever get one thing: the Super Burrito. This monster comes with cheese, avocado, and sour cream, along with the usual trimmings of beans, rice, salsa, and your choice of meat. I almost always get chicken.
Hard day, or week? Try stopping by Poleng bar, restaurant, and club. This suave location screams trendy, with a dark, tropical accent. Poleng, we’ll call it a bar, has great happy hour specials; all drinks are $3, and listen to this, the honey teriyaki wings are 25 cents each. When I was there this past Thursday, things were pretty quiet during happy hour, a few ladies sipped cocktails at the bar, a new waiter was studying the menu, the barkeep was posted up behind the bar chatting with the young women, and a small group nibbled on a platter of wings at a table while chatting quietly. I don’t know at what time exactly the energy kicks in, but pass by around 9pm and Poleng is a hot sweaty mess of young cosmopolites jumping to the music, there is fog on the windows and a line at the door. The place is actually much larger than it appears from the outside; a hallway past the bar leads to the main dance floor and dj booth. Its good for a relaxing happy hour booze, its great for some late night clubbing, and what’s more, their chef, Tim Luym was recently featured in the SF Chronicle article Rising Star Chefs of 2007. Luym and his staff offer up a menu of Asian fusion concoctions, served in small, meant-to-be-shared portions.
So after a coffee, a burrito, a drink, and a night of dancing, I can tread back to my apartment, exhausted, but ready to do it again tomorrow. This is a visual guide to eating a Papalote Super Burrito.

Indie Film Festival to Indie Rock

Indie Film Festival to Indie Rock

I went to the Human Rights Film Festival today in USF's Presentation Theatre to see Winter In Baghdad, a documentary by Javier Corcuera about his time in that city in 2004. I am fascinated by alternative points of view on the Iraq war, and this film did not disappoint. Corcuera follows several local Iraqi people, including one memorable little boy, a shoe shiner by trade, as they struggle for survival, normality, and peace of mind in what has become the most dangerous city in the world. Corcuera complies commentary from dozens of Iraqi men, women and children on how they view their life today. Many of the children expressed fear and mistrust of the American military machine; one little girl described a bad dream where she was gunned down by a US Army helicopter. The young shoe shiner describes how US soldiers are afraid of the wooden box he carries, which houses his supplies, because they think he has a bomb.

Watching footage of US soldiers armed to the teeth, and on guard, as they patrol the streets of Baghdad in pairs conjures up my own childhood memories from the movie Star Wars, when the imperial forces, in their white plastic body suits, patrol the desert space port looking for two missing robots. Star Wars simplifies this situation to bad and good, with the white "storm troopers" as bad, and our hero Luke Skywalker and his friends as good. In Baghdad, the situation is more complicated, there are no absolute forms of bad and good, the US soldiers are not bad, and neither is the US Army, while the Iraqi people are by majority, innocent bystanders. Yet despite this realization, I still feel a sense of fear brought on by the all powerful, overshadowing nature of these US foot patrols, in much the same way I felt about the storm troopers in Star Wars as a child. This feeling was further developed when the film showed what the US bombing of the city looked like from the perspective of an Iraqi at street level. There are flashed of light, roaring explosions, and the scream of jet engines in the dark sky. From street level, the bombing of Baghdad feels like a rain of terror willed by God. If my city were Baghdad, I would no doubt distrust and fear the owner of those bombs, and those troops.

I wish there were a way for us to explain to the people of Iraq that all we want is for them to have a peaceful country, with a just, democratic government, free of radical fundamentalists and terrorists.

Are current US operations in Iraq part of the problem? YES! Is leaving the solution? NO! Even if we have no other task than to keep the peace, we must stay in Iraq, leaving would lead to even greater destabilization, chaos, violence, and death.

Some people in Iraq hate America, and some hate other factions of Islam, and some people from both groups are willing to kill to release this hatred. Staying in Iraq will most certainly cost more American lives, and more taxpayer dollars. Leaving will cost US credibility abroad, and future global security.

Everyone loves to wash their hands of the fault and responsibility for this war. I stood shoulder to shoulder with thousands of my fellow Americans on the frigged streets of New York City on February 15th 2003 for the "No Blood for Oil" protest against an invasion of Iraq. I was 17 years old, I'd travelled more than 6 hours to get there. I knew that Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein had no connection, this was an understanding I shared with painfully few of my fellow citizens. Later, when President Bush found the justification he needed: whispers of hidden weapons of mass destruction, and speculation of African uranium, I changed my vote. I was ok with the war, a quick, find the bombs, restore democracy, turn around and come home kind of war. The majority of Americans were on my side.

Today, the bombs never existed, and we're stuck in a bloody, "no light at the end of the tunnel" war. Most Americans disapprove of the President, most disapprove of the war. What happened to all the yellow "support our troops" bumper stickers? The American people flip flop like a teeter totter, and the bottom line is that its not fair to the people of Iraq. We can't bomb their country, kill their leader, brew up a storm and then leave because it gets messy.

The indie rock part of this post's title refers to the concert I went to after the film. It was The White T's at Slims.

Final Reflections from Alternative Spring Break 2007

I'm sitting on the couch in my living room right now, computer on my lap as I write this and casually watch March Madness on TV in the background. It feels great to be back in my apartment in San Francisco after a week long stint in Lake Charles Louisiana with the United Way.

Overall, I have warm, positive memories of my time with the Alternative Spring Break program this past week. We helped paint a house, clean and paint a warehouse, and put down tile flooring in another house. All of our projects were with Habitat for Humanity.

This week, I got an inside look at how Habitat works, and also interacted with AmeriCorps volunteers all week, learning the ins and outs of that organization. We also met survivors of Hurricane Rita, Red Cross volunteers, the Mayor of Lake Charles, and the Police Jury for Calcasieu Parish.

This week I learned that there are a lot of public misconceptions about Hurricane Rita, which was very different from Hurricane Katrina. When Mayor Randy Roach of Lake Charles came to speak to us at the United Way shelter he explained that Rita is the most powerful hurricane to ever strike the Gulf of Mexico, yet not a single person died as a direct result of the hurricane. Mayor Roach explained that the reason Hurricane Katrina was so destructive and resulted in mass loss of life was primarily because the levees broke in New Orleans. Relative to other hurricane emergency operations, the Rita evacuation was well organized and executed. Also, the crime, murder, and disregard for human life that became a national news spectacle in the aftermath of Katrina were not prevalent in South-West Louisiana where Rita struck land and did the most damage.

The general feeling among the people of Lake Charles is that they have been forgotten. Hurricane Katrina greatly overshadowed the destruction caused by Rita, leaving those in South-West Louisiana to fend for themselves and dig themselves out of the physical and psychological chaos caused by the storm. This week we witnessed destruction on an incredible scale. Before the trip to Lake Charles, I was unsure how devastated the area would be; wondering if there would be stores or internet access. In actuality, the commercial heart of the town has recovered, including a Wall Mart Supercenter, movie theatre, and a dozen or so fast food restaurants that crowd the main thoroughfare through town. Driving through town it is impossible to tell that just two years ago a storm of wind and water ripped the area apart. Miles of rail cars line up outside refineries which in the next few years will increase output to 25% of domestic oil supply to the US.

The woman on the right, and her daughter pose with some of my ASB team members in front of their new Habitat for Humanity house.
Wile commercial interests like Wall Mart and Citgo have fared well, propped up by their deep pocketed corporate parents, the fringes of society continue to suffer. Those living in poverty before the Hurricane have returned to find splinters and toothpicks where their houses once stood. These people turn to organizations like the United Way, Habitat for Humanity, and AmeriCorps, to fill the void left by federal and state assistance. This week we have met many people in a seemingly hopeless position, rescued from an uncertain future by these charities.
This check, presented by ASB 2007, represents the amount of money raised for the State of Louisiana to repay their debt to FEMA. Jason, from University of New Hampshire, Eric, the team leader from Montana, and myself pose with the check for a photograph.
More than helping build and re-build houses, we were also helping the State of Louisiana repay its debt to the Federal Government. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, stipulates that all aid given in an emergency must be matched by an equal amount of State aid. Right now Louisiana needs to contribute many millions of dollars to meet this Federal requirement. Every hour of work an ASB student does counts as $18.50 of State aid, and at the end of the week we presented a check to the State of Louisiana in the amount of $173,517, good toward its debt to FEMA.

I think Alternative Spring Break is a great idea, and truly great things have been accomplished in South-West Louisiana as a result. The program requires a tremendous amount of planning and coordination, but if we could make it a yearly event I think that would be great. Maybe it won’t be in Lake Charles, but there will always be cities in need, be it the result of natural disaster or other circumstances.

Day 7, The Last Day of Work.

This was our last work day, tomorrow we load up the vans and head back to Houston Intercontinental Airport and split for good, back to our respective colleges around the US. A map of the US hangs in the hallway, and this week students have been using push tacks to mark their home towns. This informal map started filling up very fast two days ago when the United Way coordinators embraced our little vandalism with a new pack of tacks, hung up next to the map. There are about 50 pins in the map, but with over 120 ASB volunteers it by no means represents the collective group.

This week my group, animal code name "The Owls," has shifted between four Habitat for Humanity sites doing odd jobs and helping other groups with their projects. However, we haven't had the opportunity to see our own project through from beginning to end, which was a bummer for some team members as it became apparent that we were the only team in this situation. Today, we were at a Habitat home that was reclaimed by the organization after the owners defaulted on their 0% int erst loans to Habitat. Our job was to help the contractors remodel the house to the specifications of the new owners. This job included interior painting, which a group from Michigan did last week, and re-tileing the floor which was our job today. None of us had ever done tileing before, so after a week of painting and cleaning the warehouse we were happy to have an interesting project.
We worked hard prepping the floor for the tile, mixing mortar, and laying the tiles with the assistance of the Habitat Foreman, Terry, and his assistant Rusty.

Now, I am back at the United Way shelter, the general mood is that people are ready to go home. Sleeping in a bunk bed in a huge room with 50 other guys is not much fun. I'm happy that we were able to help some of the people down here in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and assist Habitat for Humanity and AmeriCorps. I have learned a lot about both organizations, and also about life in Louisiana, and about the effects Hurricane Rita had on the area.

I hope our being here sets an example for other college students and people in general to answer the call for help wherever it may be. Publicity takes a central role in Alternative Spring Break, we put our signs up at the work sites and headquarters, and were on the front page of the local paper a few days ago. MTV is our media partner, and their camera crew had been around all week shooting footage for the upcoming special: The Amazing Break, which will air on MTV later this month. Hopefully the more people hear about our story, the more they will be inspired to lend a helping hand.

The truth is that the ASB program is unorganized, we send more students to work sites than there are jobs for them, and many of us spent significant amounts of time hanging out, or waiting for materials or instruction. One day we went to a Habitat home and ended up waiting in our van for 30 minutes for the contractor to come unlock the house and show us what to do; he never came so we left. Our first two days here there were 24 students at a work site with two houses where the job was to put cabinets in the kitchens. This job requires only a hand full of people. The rest of us painted some trim boards, put in a few door knobs and then basically sat around. I didn't mind relaxing and socializing with my new friends, but I felt that we were a ready and eager labour resource that was being wasted. In total, we didn't accomplish a lot of work. We did help out a lot, but didn't put in the solid weeks worth of work that I would expect from 10 workers. This is why I hope our story is one of inspiration that challenges others to do good when and where they can.

A Community of ASB Blogs

Here is more information on our ASB 2007 experience than I could ever hope to compile on my own. This site is the public ASB community blog where all the participants post journal entries, photos, and video interviews called BlueTube.

http://blog.unitedway.org/asb/

Here is a community collection of ASB 2007 photos posted on Flickr.

http://flickr.com/groups/asb

Day 6, Back to the Warehouse

All week long people down here in Louisiana have been reiterating the deliciousness of Cajun cuisine. We've heard how it's the best, freshest food in the world, and heard rave reviews of gumbo and jambalaya. We've also heard a lot about crayfish, and tonight we got to try some. This was a big deal for my fellow ASBers (I've had them before), and they loved it, some people had more than one heaping plate of the shell fish; a freshwater hybrid of a shrimp and a lobster. Crayfish taste like a shrimp but aren't as sweet or tender.
Earlier this week , we had the opportunity to try jambalaya, which is a spicy chicken and sausage sauce over rice.
In general, I do not like Southern cooking, dishes like grits, collared greens, and deep fried everything don't particularly appeal to my northern pallet. However, I do like the Cajun flair added on to the Southern style, and if offered a hot Cajun meal, I wouldn't turn it down.
Today, at our work site we packed sandwiches for lunch, but after looking across the road at Church's Chicken all day, we didn't have the heart for prepackaged pbj when it came time to sit down for a lunch break. Church's Chicken is a fast food restaurant specializing in fried chicken, like KFC. I think Church's is a Southern chain, because none of my teammates from outside of the deep South had heard of it. The food was delicious after a hard morning of painting.
We were suppose to go to a new work site to put in the floor of a Habitat house, but the construction man never showed up, so after waiting a long time, we finally were told over the radio to go back to the warehouse we worked at yesterday. We finished painting the main lobby and one of the hallways, then spent the rest of the day cleaning the other walls of the building with sponges to get rid of the cobwebs and dirt that have accumulated after four years of dormancy.
I think my team has been feeling a little let down this week because we have not had the opportunity to do significant work on a house, nor had the opportunity to interact with or directly help people affected by Hurricane Rita. I think at the time we signed up, we were envisioning helping people get their lives back together, like helping remove a tree from the house of an elderly couple. Now that we are down here, it seems like all of that type of work is already finished. At the same time, helping out isn't always glamorous and we try to remind ourselves that all of the work down here is important. Our role in restoring the warehouse so Habitat for Humanity can use it will enable more houses to be built more efficiently in the future.

Day 5, The Warehouse.

Today, we went to the new Habitat for Humanity warehouse outside of Lake Charles. Habitat just signed a lease to use the complex which has 19 offices and lots of garage space for storing the programs supplies. Before the purchase of this building, Habitat stored their tools and building supplies at different locations all over town, including a garage shared with the police force. We were the first people to enter the building in four years, since it was sold by an oil company. In the mean time the building has fallen into ruin, the carpet is moldy and there are rats and chewed up fabric everywhere. We went through the place cleaning up garbage, tearing up carpet, and getting ready to paint. At one point we saw a rat run behind some junk in the corner of the room where it was trapped. Eric, our team leader and myself started moving the junk around and the rat ran out the door, proceeded by girlish screams in the hallway. We found old black and white portraits of the oil tycoon who founded an oil company and built the building. We also found beer cans and what one team member claimed were marijuana seeds, from a purported group of illegal immigrants who were squatting in the building.
The Habitat for Humanity warehouse where we spent two days painting and cleaning.
FexEx special deliveries brought us PizzaHut for lunch. In the afternoon we painted two rooms which will be the entryways for building. We worked at this site because it rained all day, and for the same reason forwent a planned trip to a Gulf Coast beach.
Emily and Janet, our AmeriCorps helpers this week take a break inside a Habitat for Humanity house we worked on this week. While resting in this photo, both are very hard workers and served as tour guides, leaders and taught construction skills. Both Emily and Janet were quiet and kept to them selves when they were first assigned to our team, but over the course of the week have come out of their shells, and began to participate in our jokes and games. We really appreciate their help, they give so much of themselves to help others.
The most interesting thing I did today was talk with the two Ameri Corps members who work with out team. I call them our “embedded Ameri Corps members.” They are Emily and Janet and both are really chill and nice. They aren't our bosses, but do take a natural kind of leadership role in the group. Jody is 24, and graduated from St. John's College with a degree in politics. Interestingly enough, it is forbidden for the Corp's members to talk about their political opinions, it is also against the rules to swear and they are subject to random drug tests. Both Jody and Emily are from the Sacramento, California, office and they have a bit of a rivalry with the Corp's members from Denver who are also down here helping out with Alternative Spring Break.

Jody said that while their team has yet to be drug tested, the Denver team, which is newer than her team was just drug tested. She speculates that their might be some shady characters on the Denver team, some of which might not be around too much longer she added. We all know that she is talking about one specific Denver team member, we've nicknamed Stars, for the tattoos on her arms.

Finishing the House

Today, we were up and on the road at 7 am for the hour drive to our work site. We worked on installing the cabinets that were delivered yesterday, we also put up the ceiling fans and put door knobs on the doors. FedEx delivered our lunch; sandwiches with white bread on one side and brown on the other, "diversity sandwiches" as one ASB member called them.
Last night, Randy Roach, the Mayor of Lake Charles and also Hal McMillin, the Police Jury for Calcasieu Parish visited the United Way base and spoke with the ASB teams. Mayor Roach told his personal story of evacuating and coming back to a house that was still standing but covered in mud, inside and out. The Mayor told us that he thought the town had been properly prepared when Hurricane Rita hit, pointing out that not a single person was killed in the storm. He also said that President George Bush visited the area shortly after and was very sincere and helpful telling Mayor Roach that anything the town needed they would get. Police Jury McMillin told a similar story, his house was also not destroyed, but a huge tree was knocked onto it, which Mr. McMillin jokingly told the audience, was used to make the boards that trimmed his cabinets and stairs. He spoke of the strong fiber and resolve that binds the community together, and said they were the kind of people that worked hard and didn't need a handout, however he made a point of thanking us graciously for our help.

More Thoughts on Today's Project.

This is the Habitat for Humanity Truck that delivered the cabinets for the house we worked on.The team unloads the truck. Sara and Electra show their muscles in this shot.

Chester tells the team what to do.

Building a House!

Today was the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) team's first day on the job. Yesterday, we toured the county or parish, as they are called in Louisiana, and visited a high school that had been virtually destroyed by Hurricane Rita. In my earlier blog entries I spoke of Hurricane Katrina, however, it was actually Rita that did the most damage in south-west Louisiana where we are working. We saw a house out in the bayou, when Rita hit in September of 2005 it blew the house off its foundation and out into the swamp where it remains today, unsalvageable due to water damager. Many houses were reduced to ruble, or simply blown clear away. When the residents returned to the area, they were told that to collect insurance money they would have to go out and find their homes. Many ventured out into the bayou and across the parish, and when they finally found their homes, often miles away from where they were built, the owners spray painted their name and address on the front so the insurance companies would know.
All that remained of the school we visited was the brick gym, the rest of the building, the classrooms and all, was gone. Now, the students use temporary trailer-like buildings for classrooms. However, even this is a recent achievement, before the temporary buildings were built the students were bussed to another school district that had not been as badly hit by the hurricanes. During that period of time, the students from the two districts split their time at the school. One group would go to school for the first half of the week, and the second group, for the second half of the week. Two and a half days of school proved trying for the students, their parents and the community. Parents were forced to get additional child supervision or change their work schedules. During the tour, we listened to speakers from the Red Cross who have been helping in south west Louisiana since the hurricanes hit (and even before). One Red Cross volunteer told us about how the refugees staying at the church-turned-shelter in Lake Charles became a close nit community, and how some of the children became sick after eating the candy in the relief kits because their families had never been able to afford such luxuries as chocolate and soda. The woman from the Red Cross also told us how she was frustrated when some women from the shelter left to gamble on the river boats, neglecting their four and five year old children who were left to wander around the church.

Today, we were up at 6:45 am. I sprang out of bed, rushed through a bowl of fruit loops, ate an orange, and stuffed a trio of mini muffins in my mouth, just in time to hop into the van with my team and roll out to meet the Habitat for Humanity team we will be assisting this week. We went through a brief orientation, learned about the Habitat program, were give some quick pointers and safety advice and were off again, this time to the work site.

Our project this week is to complete two houses which volunteers have been working on for the past three weeks. The houses are side by side, and are identical from the outside, but have slightly different floor plans. The contractor, project head, and our boss, Chester, a native of Louisiana, and staunch LSU fan, guided us through the finer points of trimming widows and doors, hanging cabinets, and putting on door knobs. He also provided us with hilarious stories about his life, and the lives of his coworkers, that could be summed up as being in line with our perceptions of “backward southern living.” And no thats not being narrow minded on my part, we heard the story about one of Chester's coworkers who caught his wife cheating with her brother in law. No, wait, that story was about Chester himself! But what's not to love about Chester, he's got a sense of humor, a heart of gold, and is about as lovable as a little puppy.
The Habitat for Humanity house that we worked on today costs $65,000 to build. Its a seven room, single story home, with three bedrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, and bathroom. The house is small, yet cozy, and provides a nice living space for a medium size family. This particular house will go to a single mother with a young daughter, and a son who is in a coma.
Chester predicts that this house would cost $150,000 to build. It costs Habitat significantly less because the labor is volunteer, and some of the materials, including windows, doors, and stove and refrigerator are donated. The recipients of Habitat homes are obligated to pay for their house, through a no-interest loan in an amount equal to the cost of the house. The mortgage on the house we worked on today will cost about $300 a month for the next 25 years. The home owner is also obligated to complete 300 hours of volunteer work, either on their own house, on another Habitat home, or at a community organization.

I'm back at the United Way center now, blogging and waiting for dinner. I also need to shower, I'm sweaty and muddy, it rained hard for part of the day.
So far I'm having a great experience meeting and working with my team of 10 students from colleges across the US. We jokingly make the comparison between ASB and a middle school overnight camp. The Cajun dance last night was fun, the band was rockin' we all got “honky tonky,” but when they slowed it down for “Tears in Heaven” people made a dash for the side lines. We have lunch lines, and elementary school style lunch trays, and little juice boxes and milk cartons. There is no eating in the lounge, only in the cafeteria that doubles as the gym. At night we play heated rounds of card games like spoons, last night we stayed up past “lights out” for some exciting bonus rounds of Scategories. Alcohol is strictly prohibited, even though many of us are over 21. Apparently two students from last week's session were sent home for having a beer at a restaurant. We we loaded the vans at 7:00 am this morning, one of my teammates, Sarah, said that she hadn't been up this early without drinking in a long time, implying that if she's up at 7 am its because she hasn't gone to bed yet.
Honestly, I'm having a great sober time, on spring break no less, and we're doing it for a good cause. For every hour we work, the State of Louisiana gets $18 deducted from their FEMA debt, which is many millions of dollars more than the people of Louisiana can afford. Tonight, it's round two of Scategories. What's “something that makes you late” and starts with an A? I know, ANTS IN MY PANTS!

The Team Assembles

As I write this, I am sitting in the FexEx computer lab at the United Way headquarters for south west Louisiana. Today was a long day, I left San Francisco at 6:00 am, landing at Houston Intercontinental Airport just before noon (CT). It was there that I started to meet my fellow ASBers, as we converged on the designated meeting spot at terminal c from all directions.
Our next task would prove trying. The normal two hour trip between Houston, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, our spring break destination, was significantly delayed by a tractor-trailer wreck. We ended up hauling into the United Way center after spending five hours in the van. The upside of this setback was that my van had tons of time to bond and play “getting to know you” games like Two Truths and a Lie. Any ice that may have existed between us at the airport was shattered on this trip. We had great conversations, and the ride was actually kind of enjoyable.
The United Way headquarters reminds me of an elementary school, with a few large classrooms converted to dorm rooms. All the guys are in one large room packed with bunk beds, and down the hall is a similar configuration for the girls. In total, 120 college students will call these two rooms home for the next seven days. The complex also has a cafeteria where out meals will be prepared, this room also houses the internet cafe, which was specifically set up for us and features 25 new laptops with a high speed wireless connection, everything for the cafe was provided by FexEx, who is one of the major sponsors of ASB (Alternative Spring Break) 2007.
I was assigned to a work group which will support an ongoing Habitat for Humanity home construction project in the area. Tomorrow we will tour the site, and then on Monday morning we'll throw on our work clothes, pull out our hammers and tools, and start building. There are 12 volunteers in my group. Other groups are doing similar projects, and some groups are cleaning up a kids camp.
Its midnight here, and the staff just declared a full on knock out tournament in the gym, I'm there!

Background on Lake Charles, LA.

In a few hours my SuperShuttle will pull up to the curb and whisk me away on a spring break adventure to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for a week of community service and post hurricane reconstruction. I've packed my bags, I'm ready to go, my "Alternative Spring Break" t-shirt is laid out on my bed, ready to be put on.

I'll be in Lake Charles for a week, and will be heavily documenting the experience for my blog coverage, as well as for the Foghorn (the college newspaper of the University of San Francisco).

I've been doing some preliminary investigating, here is some basic background information on the area:

Lake Charles is in south western Louisiana, it has a population of about 70,000 and a 50%/50% African American/White mix with other Race's representing 1% or less of the population. The median household income is about $30,000, and nearly 15% of families are a single mother household. Per capita income is $17,000 and 20% of the population live below the poverty line.
Louisiana has the third lowest per capita income of any State in the US. In contrast, San Francisco's per capita income is $35,000, and we have one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country, suggesting that those who are working are earning even significantly more.

To keep its economy afloat, Lake Charles relies on the petro-chemical companies Citgo, ConocoPhillips, and PPG Industries, as well a thriving tourist trade related to legal gambling.

As I do some background research on the area, a picture of a very stereotypical southern town develops in my mind, and I can also understand why these people need my help. Before the hurricane, many people here were just-getting-by, now that it has ripped their town and their lives apart, they have nothing, no money and no support, to help them rebuild and get back on their feet. I hope the work we do with the United Way this spring break makes a real difference in the quality of life of the people in Lake Charles. We're about to find out how much good 300 college students can do!

Note: I don't know how much of a technology black hole Lake Charles is, I may not be able to post many pictures, or much of anything until I get to San Francisco next Saturday.

Prepare for Departure!

I'm a planner, I think things through long in advance, so as I look back it doesn't surprise me that I started thinking about Spring Break this past fall. And somewhere along the way I became determined to do something meaningful on my break. In doing research for this "meaningful" experience, I found a program called ASB, short for Alternative Spring Break, where college students get together and do community service in Louisiana as part of the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.

It sounded perfect to me; a structured worthwhile program specifically for college students during Spring Break, so I applied. I had no idea how selective the application process would be, the fact that the program pays for meals and lodging suggests that their is some degree of competitiveness, so I worked hard on my application and essay, making sure it was well constructed and free of spelling errors, the demise of oh so many applications.

Weeks later I was so excited to receive an email saying "welcome to ASB 2007."

Now I'll be headed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, this Saturday morning, for a week of community service, doing mostly physical labor removing debris and painting and cleaning up schools and other community buildings and homes. The program is sponsored by MTV and the United Way, and we will be staying in the shelter at the United Way headquarters for the Lake Charles area.

I unexpectedly received a package from the ASB program yesterday. Inside was a t-shirt, box of candy, and a FexEx planner and stuffed animal.

When I head to Louisiana this Saturday, my blog will take on a new focus: my Spring Break experience and comments and views on the ASB project, and South West Louisiana in its current state.

I wanted to go to the screening of the Spike Lee film, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" to get some more background information before by trip, but I had to work when it was being shown at USF last night.

Busy Day at Lake Tahoe

I went on the USF trip to Squaw Valley Resort today, departing campus at the oh so early hour of 5 am. Traffic on the way up to the mountain was heavy but moved at a moderate pace. When the weather is bad, the combination of heavy traffic and lots of snow can reduce the flow of cars to a near stand still and tack several hours on to the normal four hour drive. When we pulled into the parking lot it was nearly full and a steady line of SUVs and four wheel drive vehicles continued to pour in after us with no end in sight. Looking back down at the parking lot from the tram I could see that all of the lots were full and cars were beginning to park along the edge of the road.

Due to the huge traffic volume, it is no wonder that car companies and ski resorts have a strong relationship. Ski resort patrons are the natural targets of marketing campaigns by car companies because most people who go to ski resorts drive themselves, usually meaning they own their own car, and also because the majority of skiers are affluent consumers who buy new cars fairly often. At my home mountain of Stowe, in Vermont, the resort has a partnership with Chevrolet making Chevy "the official vehicle of Stowe Mountain Resort," and several of their shiny new SUVs and trucks are parked next to the base lodge. Stowe is like many other US ski resorts that have entered into promotional agreements with car companies, however these car companies aren't trying to market all of their models, but rather focus specifically on their all-terrain and four wheel drive line up. Companies like Subaru, Audi, Ford, and Chevrolet are all heavily marketed at ski resorts.

Now, it took a conversation with my European friend on the ski lift today for me to realize the irony of this situation. Global warming is here, and we know its here even as governments including our own, intentionally shield the public from such information. Cars, specifically fuel inefficient vehicles like SUVs and four wheel drive trucks are adding greatly to the problem, while at the same time it would be relatively easy to reduce the problem by switching to more fuel efficient vehicles. One would think in an industry like skiing, where global warming will have a tremendously negative impact, that the companies in that industry would have more foresight geared toward survival and longevity instead of focusing on the bottom line for today.

My "European friend" is actually Tito Hubert, a USF junior like me, with whom I share a passion for snowboarding and the natural environment. On the lift today he told me about the small Swiss ski town of Zermatt where cars are not allowed, except the electric kind, which of course was declared dead in the US this year by the film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

Ski resorts make a business of giving people access to the beautiful outdoors, I would like to see them also take more responsibility for the mountains and environment which has helped them become profitable companies. As the US consumer continues to back away from the SUV market in search of more economical vehicles it is possible that the problem will to a large extent fix its self. However as was evident today by the majority of SUVs in the Squaw parking lot, ski going consumers seem to be resisting this trend and still largely prefer the kind of vehicles that they can depend on to plow through mother winters nastiest, and also the kind of vehicle that companies have made synonymous with the ski industry, through marketing.

I'm waiting for the day when I see a Smart Car with a roof rack full of skies zoom up the road to Squaw. Maybe then there will be enough room for all the cars to fit in the parking lot.

UPDATE on DEATH at USF

The "older woman" described in my breaking story earlier today has been identified as a member of the USF community and the wife of the new Dean of the School of Education.

This has truly been a horrifying day at USF. A young man from LA, up in San Francisco to promote a retail event saw his friend and co-worker hit and later pulled out from behind a car to be brought to the hospital. A woman was struck and subsequently died from the car crash, her husband went to work at USF today expecting to come home to his wife tonight. Two young USF students hang in the balance as the drivers of the two vehicles involved, where fault has yet to be placed. The USF community, expecting the academic week to wind down leading to a fun weekend, was instead faced by a flood of police and rescue workers, and now are immersed in the cloud of sorrow that hangs over the campus.

BREAKING NEWS: 1 DEAD 1 WOUNDED after TRAFFIC ACCIDENT AT BUSY INTERSECTION AT USF CAMPUS

Today at approximately 3:00 pm a black Cadillac SUV traveling westbound on Turk Street attempted a u-turn at the intersection of Turk and Chabot next to the USF Lone Mountain campus, the SUV collided head on with a Nissan Pathfinder, also black, traveling eastbound on Turk. The Pathfinder deflected to the right side of the street, smashed two mail boxes off their mounting and proceeded to hit two pedestrians, and crash into a house, pinning one elderly woman under the Vehicles, and a college aged Asian male (non-USF student) against the building. The older woman later died, and the young man remains in a serious condition at the hospital.

The young man was standing on the corner of the intersection distributing promotional fliers for a jeans sale held by his LA based company. The man and a coworker had flown up from LA and were attaching the fliers to cars around campus when the accident occurred. Nothing is known about the deceased woman.

I heard what sounded like squealing tires followed by a crash, from a third story room of the USF Harney Science Center located one block from the accident, where my math class was winding down for the day around 3 pm. Several minutes later I looked out the window to see the street full of police cars and ambulances. Police officers were beginning to rope off an area around the crash. I quickly rushed down to the Foghorn office, passing my co-worker Bobby Lee on the way, he was rushing to the scene of the crash with his video camera, I grabbed my camera and ran after him up the hill to the bottom of the Lone Mountain steps where the accident took place. When I arrived, I saw the Pathfinder partially inside the wall of the house on the eastern corner of the intersection, with debris scattered around, two large post office boxes were on their sides, and police and students were everywhere. I made my way through the crowd to Turk street, and say a line of 6 or 7 police cars, in total there were probably 12 rescue vehicles around. Traffic was blocked going eastbound on Turk but the westbound lane remained open. There were no bodies or injured people left on the scene when I arrived, just a bunch of onlookers and freaked-out looking witnesses who had been herded into a garage and later would be interviewed by the accident investigators. I spoke with the young man from LA whose friend had been hit, and also spoke with a camera man and some other witnesses and pieced together what happened. Later I listened and took pictures as the police spokesman gave an official statement.
The entire time I was at the scene, the drivers of both vehicles were kept in separate police cars. A police officer shielded them from the view of the press, however I was informed by witnesses and friends of the drivers that they were both USF students. As I snapped photographs of the police car that contained one driver, his friend got angry and asked me to stop. I took one last photo and moved away, mostly because I got the shot I needed, but also because I felt bad and did not want to get involved in a conflict with him.

On a more general note, I feel strongly that it is the responsibility of journalists, photographers, filmers, bloggers, exc., to get the story. It may be hard, people may not like you, they may hate you, but that is your job, even more, it is your duty at a journalist to get the shot and to share it with the world. If a president does something bad, he may hate you for intruding and taking a picture, but it is your job, and also it is the right of the world to have access to that story. How many images have you seen of a child or parent holding a loved one who has just died in a war zone from a bomb or gun wound or other act? That person must have hated the journalist who took their photo in their darkest of hours, but I believe that the information it conveys to the masses is more important than the apparent insensitivity shown by the photographer at the moment. Thus it can be the hardest job to be a photographer, but what we do is important, information is power. Please know that I am not defending the paparazzi, or other celebrity photographers, they are profiting and making peoples lives miserable for a purely economic gain, the information they provide is frankly garbage. I am defending the acts of dedicated responsible news photo-journalists who are strong enough to remain objective in the face of an extremely emotional event so that the world may understand, and learn and comment and as is our hope, work toward changing what went wrong so the future is brighter.



This photo from last weeks the week in pictures from msnbc.com is a perfect example of what I am talking about. This is war, this is tragedy, its terrible, but should we not take these pictures? Should we not show these photos? Should we not talk and discuss these photos? Will images like these not force us to accept what is REAL and what IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW in the world, and prompt us to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT? Or, of course we could always live censored lives, because it is not appropriate or sensitive or "nice" to collect this kind of news.