Thursday, August 30, 2007

One More Thing


This is a video I was tipped off to by the filmmakers. It is due to come out this fall I believe. It is - at least this segment - filmed in D'Iberville. For all of us who went down - and I know many of us have gone - it is good to see the other side.

If you can't watch it here, try this link

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Two years

Noting that two years has passed since the big storm - not that the media was going to let us forget - I killed some time trying to figure out how D'Iberville has progressed. Cheryl, Charles Marks, Scott Schaefer, Sharon LaTour and I spent five days or so helping to pick up the pieces around a small town just a few miles inland from Biloxi and the casinos in January of 2006.

I found some good news.

Ed Cake and Irene McIntosh are still involved in leading the efforts and are getting recognized for their work. Youtube has a video of Irene receiving an award from the AMHCA.

The Volunteer Village continues. It is still located at the baseball field we stayed at but I think folks have moved out of the plastic tents which PDA has relocated over to Ocean Beach and into the old army tents that had been housing folks without land. Volunteers now eat in the big tent - or at least did so until a big storm came along a few months ago. Here is another video highlighting the damage done.

There is now a website for the Volunteer Foundation itself where we can catch up on projects completed and still underway.

There are more videos and some stories and photos out there if one googles or youtubes D'Iberville. It isn't over - and help can still be put to work but I just want to leave y'all with this image taken at the other sports complex where the volunteer effort used to be headquartered.

Click Here

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Cha-cha-changes

I am no longer working for Covenant Network of Presbyterians. This is, for the most part, okay with me except for 1)income and 2)identity.

The income is not life or shelter threatening - but will be missed and needs to be replaced both for the good of the household and my own self-esteem. I've got plans however....

The identity shift is more in play. For a long time I've had a great front row seat on some major theological/polity struggles in this denomination. Now I don't. Nor do I have anything solid to replace it with - ie "Pastor Anitra" or "Executive Director Anitra." The closest I have, while I wait for the next thing is "Writer Anitra."

So, this morning's first task is to clear my desk of the past and then open up the MS Word screen to see what might be in the future.

How are you all doing? Who is going where for Labor Day? We'll be doing the last gasp summer campout up in the Redwoods. (oh boy, sleeping on the ground, I can hardly wait!)

Peace