An update from New Orleans and St. Bernard's Parish

Mike McNeil (AKA "MAC") send the following. It is well worth your time! (note particularly how important it is to measure success in tiny bits. His email is full of much good information. (and he did approve my posting it).

The Metro area is not a nice place these days- "New Orleans, The Big Easy" is now referred to locally as "New Orleans, it ain't easy"- the devastation here is hard to describe- on top of that, there is no getting away from it- it has a way of over powering you gradually-

The depression and heaviness sort of sneaks up on you- people who have come here to work and help out have reported having some Mental Health issues long after they leave- we recommend debriefing a few times after you get back-

You can work here and not feel as though you are accomplishing anything- success here is measured in small steps- do what you can and be OK with that-

The area of St. Bernard was particularly hard hit- it is a working class and middle class environment populated by people who left New Orleans in the 50's and 60's looking for space and freedom- they passed these values to their children and their grandchildren- friends of mine who still live their have aged 10 or 15 years in the past 6 months-it is hard to see and deal with-

Bring sunscreen as the sun here is different from upstate NY- drinks lots of water (only bottled water)- mail and phone service is more 3rd world - you won't find a lot of amenities in St. Bernard- not a lot of electricity, water, gas, heat, a/c- the French Quarter and CBD are up and running and look good-

People here still want and need to tell their story- people here will dig through muck and mire to find a few possessions that might seem trivial to someone else-I think it is their way of saying that I'm not defeated and IT didn't take everything-

Some helpful Web sites to go to get a feel for the area-WWLTV.com (a local TV station); NOLA.com (the site for the daily paper); these sites will also give you links to other sites pertaining to the area