Day One & Travel

Monday...
A great program that followed a timeline of Mississippi history.Prayer beadsAfrican and indigenous oppressionBlack code simulationCivil RightsA Taste of the South,by Sammy ForcumNew friendships are made, Revive the last,We talked to the locals who have paid the costThe infectious heat we strive to beat,is burning up our little feetWith lots of good food and barely any sleepOur anticipations for Biloxi start to creepWith two plane rides and six mini-vansWe are running on schedule, according to plansWe have nine days to go and we're hardly bored...I CANT wait for Mississippi to do the work of the LordDay One...The landscape is a lush green on an overcast gray, sort of like a photograph in sepia, or one of those old hand-colored photographs that were popular in the forties. It seems that the past comes through to our time in the form of rusty old windmills hodgepodged with the new shopping centers. There is no real evidence of the disaster except for a few boarded shops, a few garbage piles, and the fact that none of the telephone poles are straight. As we go further towards the coast I see massive roadwork... We're getting on the freeway.(Next Day)Scratch that, over the past day or so I've been educated as to the plight of New Orleans. When I look at the destruction I feel as I think I would feel if I was looking at the corpse of someone I never knew; sad but reverent. I notice the signs that Search And Rescue spray painted in the sides of the houses notifying us with all the feeling and description of a bar code of the lives lost inside these houses. And then i see it... the head of a statue of The Virgin Mary sticking out of the mud like a lilly among the thorns. A small gleam of beauty in the face of unspeakable horror and adversity. I think i might write a song about this... There is a man mowing his lawn, he has no neighbors. Many of the abandoned houses on his street bare markings that their owners are dead. This man must have a lot on his mind as he is mowing his lawn. It must take a lot of strength to mow your lawn when chances are there is no one to enjoy but you. However, it is a break in the silence that here is as thick as the humid air, for that I'm thankful.-Justin C These last few days have been pretty intense. When we gat on our red eye flight everyone was so excited. Pretty much o one got any sleep and the layover in Atlanta wasn't too long but we were sitting in the airport at about 3 am which was weird. When we finally rrived on New Orleans we rented vans that look realy creepy when we're all lined up together because they're the same model but 3 are blue and 3 are white. The drive to Biloxi wasn't too long but we made lots of stops which got annpying because the humidity was unbearable at first. The air felt really thick and you didn't want anyone else to be close to you. The damage we saw on the drive was unbelievable. Lots of trees are mangled and broken, we even saw one huge tree that had fallen on top of a house and has been there since the hurricane happened, almost a year ago. There is junk in piles everywhere and all all the homes and former businesses don't look usable and you can't help but thinking, "I wonder what it looked like before?". It's sad to see such beautifu homes and neighborhoods virtually abandoned and hopeless looking. You truely get the impression of sadness that must overcome the residents. Yet at the same time, lots of homes have trailers in their front yards were the home owners live while fixing up their own house slowly but surely, attempting to return life to normal. A lot of the business that are open have help wanted signs showing that much of the population still hasn't returned which isn't that surprising but it's what this area needs the most. The sense of destruction and lonliness is so strong and it's hard to imagine so much damage, with buildings completely wiped out besides the basic frame. And the spray paint on the doors give a small indication of the tragedy that occured here in terms of deaths and the day it was inspected which was sometimes 3 weeks after the hurricane. I am so glad to be helping, there is so much work that needs to be done. Everyone is really really tired/exhausted, we've all been up for 38 hours with a few hours of sleep here and there. We're also happy to have finally gotten settled and it is obvious our bond as a group is growing everyday. Love to all at home!-Claire McConnell}