Big Bad Bill and Amy

Southern hospitality

Cupcakes!!! & Meghan and I after hammering rebar till dusk.

Picture of some of the field crew outside a Salvation Army while a fog was rolling in. Also notice the trees in the background - Live Oaks

The field team floating drywall for Walter's non-profit organization: Katrina Rebuilds Lives (Bill, Amy, Meghan and myself)

Thanksgiving dinner at the Grand Casino in Gulfport

Kevin Saves

Darwell's: a live music patio we frequent. Singing is Bobby and Papa D

Address

My address down here is: 327 E. 2nd avenue, Pass Christian, MS, 39571. I will be leaving Dec. 21st to go back to STL and then to Minneapolis on the 23rd.

A picture of me playing table-tennis and the girls (from L to R Cat, Meghan, Amy and Mia) playing monopoly

When the smoke clears

Hey all - I just wanted to write a little about the situation down here pertaining to the organizations and volunteers involved. The last 3 days we've been working with a home builder by the name of Walter; he's near 70, from Long Island Ny. He came down last November, saw all the destruction and poor without homes and decided then that he wanted to build 20-30 homes over a 3 yr. span. He's a great, jolly man and sadly has had so much trouble getting help from organizations and volunteers. He's a quarter million in debt because he's putting up almost all of the money for these people and when I asked him how he can do that he said,"The Lord knows about it, he'll provide". (There's another guy named Scott who works with Walter and has lived on $3.50 a day for the last yr. in order to stay down here as a volunteer. While I'm on this rant in parentheses the group of families we're building 4 homes for refuse to help us - today while we were busting our butts able men and women my age were out barbequing just watching us - they don't have jobs...). We're trying to partner with a lot of other organizations (Randy's Rangers, Operation Help Thy Neighbor, Persevere) but some have major ego problems and don't want a bunch of "kids" messing things up - the truth is we, Americorps run things a lot better than most of the organizations.
On another note the animals down here have been raising hell for us. Rats got into our tents a few died from poison, but unfortunately in a couch so it smells like death in our kitchen. There are also black widows in our tents and today a crew member named Cat got bit while putting on her pants and went to the hospital.
Don't get me wrong things are great - 99% of the people we work for are so appreciative and I've met some really great people - I'm just taking it all in - the good and the bad.
Peace, Kevin

A place we slept at in Marrekesh and us on dunes

Me on sand dune

Pictures of us on the sand dunes, at Marrekesh and me on a camel

Some pictures from my trip to Morocco I found

A Picture of one of the rows of tents we're staying in, there are 4 rows (or columns) - collectively called Tent City

Thanksgiving and New Orleans

Howdy ya'll. Sooooo...last thursday, two thursdays ago my crew of 10 drove down to Pass Christian to replace the crew that has been down here for the last month. I'm on the field team with 4 other members (the other members are doing databasing and administrative work). We had the bonfire shown in the picture the first weekend we were down here while the other team was still around - it was great - as has been the norm. my ipod and speakers have become an integral part of the entertainment and were well used at the fire. Since I've been down here the field team has been doing a lot of work on a resident's house, his name is Jon. We've been insulating and putting up b-board for him. He's a great, friendly man and we've also come to know his father Ames too- since he helps out when he can. In fact, Ames invited us over for gumbo on Monday which we graciously accepted - it was fantastic. I felt bad for the girls who went cause Ames and my roommate Dolan got to talking about hunting, fishing and roofing for more than an hour and their passionate conversation dominated the airwaves. We've also been constructing and putting in a playground for a nearby town called Long Beach. This has been very easy, enjoyable work. Today we moved boxes and random shit in this stinky house for a guy with a broken back - it wasn't great. He was a cooky old man who seemed to want to tell us about every single item in his house: where he got his different canes, and what his girlfriend made him...he gave me some art work consisting of beer cans and shotgun shells screwed to a 2 by 4 with a van gogh like guy painted in the background.
We had Thanksgiving day off so I went for a run on the beach, played some frisbee, looked for stingrays (didn't find any but Amy found 2) and then we went out for dinner. We went to the Grand Casino in Biloxi and had their $20 Thanksgiving day buffet which Americorps payed for. It was tremendous - a very gluttonous time for all of us. Afterwards we went to a bowling alley - and though I didn't bowl - I bought a pitcher and danced to the jukebox. Over this last weekend we went to New Orleans, we checked in to our hostel (only $15 for volunteers), picked up some pocket-size liquors and headed to Burbon st. There were a lot of people walking on both Canal and Burbon st. - hundreds - more than I expected- 10 white peoplr in a pack stood out but I felt safe the whole time. There were also a lot of cops out in small bands of 10-15 usually with two on clydesdales which strikes an intimidating picture. The first bar that drew us in, The Grand Opera ended up being a bar we would go back to throughout the trip. The have live music most of the time, and the night we stopped in they had a band doing covers of oldies songs. We went back there later in the evening to dance - the dj was playing some good hip hop. The rest of the night we just went from bar to bar picking up drinks, people watching. The dancing was the highlight for me. The next day we walked around the French Quarter: the market, saw street performers and street bands and went to art galleries and book stores. The French Quarter looks great since it was virtually untouched by the storm - we drove to some parts of the 9th Ward and you see a lot of abandoned buildings and water lines - it looks like someone took a dirty green paint brush and went down every block painting a line half-way up the houses. The bad, bad parts of New Orleans are blocked off.
Also Good Morning America was in Pass Christian last week, 200 ft. from our tent doing a segment on the city with a focus on a particular guy by the name of Jonathon Price who ran from L.A. to New York to Pass Christian raising money for the city. He raised over a $125,000 for the city.
Well, that's all I got time for right now, peace and love, Kevin

Bill, Amy Hedges, Pat (not on my team) and Meghan

The beach front and abandoned pier 5 min walk from our tent - unknown man and girl

Picture of my team and the team we are replacing at a bonfire on the beach over the weekend

My house on Mardel ave.

AZ, Maggie, Elaine, Aaron, Me, Justin and my friend Jon Burkhart in my kitchen

From left to right: AZ, Amy, Andrea, Jess, Trish, Whit, Me (I'm Moses), someone, Dave and Meghan at a costume party

My good friends AZ (who is now in Seattle) and Paul sizing things up in Crosstown (60+ homes were damaged or destroyed)

The saw and I - My friend AZ is right behind me and Jason in the blue

Paul (in front on right) and other Americorps members in front of burn in Crosstown

Myself, Beth, her friend Andrea and her bf Devon

Beth, her nephews and niece and I in SD over the summer

Some of the same people with the addition of Dave Koppel and my roommate (and Amy Hedges' bf) Brian Dolan in the yellow. This is at Aaron Bobb's.

A picture of (from left to right): Hillary, Trish, my roommate Amy Hedges, Aaron Bobb, my roommate Justin and Josh

Heading to Pass Christian in Miss.

Hey my lovelies. I got back friday night from Peck Ranch. It was a very good week. The work sometimes sucked - the brambles and vines are really thick in these Missouri woods - much like the Smokey Mts. I remember viewing over the summer. My arms and neck got really cut up from stumbling through the thickets. Our goal is to eradicate the invasive species autumn olive from the 26,000 acre conservation site - a goal made even more difficult by the vitality of this plant - it is very hard to kill off even with herbicides. So out team was split off into pairs: one with a chainsaw and the other with a back-pack sprayer - some areas we pretty much had to clear-cut the autumn olive was so thick. I know that there is the lingering notion - is this the right thing to be doing from an environmental or maybe evolutionary perspective and I think so. This plant would turn Peck Ranch into something of a monoculture if we didn't curb it's advance, and lack of diversity isn't good for habitats or the ecosystem...or evolution. We found an old radio to listen to the election results on Tuesday - what an exciting evening and joyful too. We were all really surprised when we found out the next morning Claire McCaskill got the seat over Talent and shocked when we heard the stem cell research ammendment for MO passed...you wouldn't believe the billboards we saw on the 4 hr. drive down to Peck: "Vote No on Ammendment 2 and stop cloning" or billboards about forcing women to get abortions so the fetus can be used...wtf? Yeah, it's MO, rural MO. Yesterday I saw the movie Borat - it was pretty good, though he just makes fun of the ignorance and closed-mindedness in the south - which isn't very hard to do as shown by the daily show. And last nite we went to the Venice cafe, a very cool art/hippie bar. Our friend Ron has a brother who plays in a reggae band called dubkitchen, they're really, really good. I got one of their demos, and I can't wait to get their album when it's released later this year. The djembe player is from Stillwater and somehow he found out I was from st. cloud so we were talking for awhile - he also studied in Madrid and now teaches spanish to 12 yr. olds in St. louis - he seemed like a really good guy. I'm leaving for the Pass on wednesday now, a little earlier and I'm looking forward to it. The team that is down there right now is having a great time, and also, the team I'm with is awesome - we're going to have a blast.
Well there is much to be happy about, not the least of which is that my faith in the American people has improved. I can't wait till we don't have to read about Iraq or the Bush administration everytime we check out the news...you too? Peace and Love.

To Peck Ranch Again

This is going to be very brief. Beth came last weekend - that was great. We spent friday afternoon sleeping, got some groceries and cooked a feast for my roommates and friends of grilled chicken, potatoes and salad. We spent the rest of the night dancing and drinking at a bowling alley the Americorps team was at (the alley had a dj). Sat. just made costumes for the halloween party at my house that night. It was a great party. Sunday we went to the Zoo for most of the afternoon and then watched the exorcist I and II on AMC - by the way II sucks. The rest of the week Mia and I have just been getting some training in setting up community disaster units and goofing around - it's been a really easy week. I got friday off because yesterday some members and I went to Jefferson City to meet with Dante, who works at SEMA as a director of volunteers. The building is very impressive: underground, the latest equipment (radios, flatscreens all over, security locks and cameras, etc...) and is safe from nuclear fallout. Also, my roommate Dolan, had his mom come visit this weekend. She is very cool and sweet. We all went to the zoo (again), the chimps were awesome. The baby chimp was antagonizing the others and then swinging away - it was very amusing. Well, I'm off to Peck Ranch this week. Much love.

Peck Ranch

Got back from Peck'r Ranch Thursday night. We drove down Monday - 4hr. drive and then just hung out the rest of the night. They split us off into 2 groups and my group chopped down invasive species in the 24,000 acre park: chinese pear, autumn olive and honeysuckle. It was alright - I used a handsaw for awhile and then a back pack sprayer (we have to spray what we cut with herbicide). Wednesday I got some chainsaw training from some good ol' boys who had some difficulty reading the instruction booklet to us. In the afternoon we split off into small groups and we all got to saw down a tree. My face and back cut sucked, but I learnt a lot from it and put the tree where I wanted to - it was pretty awesome the force of a 100 ft. tree crashing through the canopy and body-slamming the earth - exhilerating. I can see why people get really into it (The instructor loved telling us about a logger competition he was in 2 weeks prior to our arrival - all one could do is nod and smile). Thursday we got some fire-training which consisted of sitting through a really crappy power-point presentation and taking an "open book" test. Yes folks, that's apparently all it takes to get your level 1 fire certificate. We get more fire training through the government sometime in the spring. We were given Friday off which was really nice - Paul, Josh and I made a great dinner at his place (Josh is a kid from NY - very political - knows every single senator from every state, etc...): steak and peppers, salad, rice and ice cream and then went to a b-day party. We were supposed to dress up as something which started with "C" - I went as a crouton (stapled lettuce to a cardboard box). Saturday some of us went to the Zoo - which was really enjoyable - it's free!! My friend AZ's dad was in town so we went out for pizza at Black Thorn - really good and had a few while we watched the cards play. AZ's dad is a real good guy we played shuffle board at the bar for many hours and then went back to the Mardel house to hang out. This week is b.s. week again...organizing maps...Next week I'm staying in town again - I have no idea what I will possibly be doing - only Mia and I will be in town the rest of the team is going to different conservation areas.

My blessings, Kevin

Training

This last week was also one of doddling: cleaning chainsaws, making shelves, playing soccer in the office...The highlight was going to the Shaw nature reserve on Thursday. We just walked around the woods the whole day with a worker there named Bob who told us about the woods: the non-native species, how the land formed, fires that came and went...it was a very relaxing day. We also sat beside the Merimac river, a very beautiful turquoise color (and very clean), and threw rocks at drifting branches - well it was just the guys, the girls sat and ridiculed us for having to bond through indirect means never relying purely on conversation as women are more prone to do (whatever). Last night we went to the "One Night Stand" bar for a white-trash party (trust me we fit right in dressed as such). Americorps kinda took over the bar with 30+ of us putting request after request in - it was really fun. This next week I'm going to Peck Ranch for some chainsaw training and then I believe to Columbia, MO for fire-training, though everyone thinks something different as the higher-ups aren't even sure the exact schedule. If no disasters come up I'll be going down to Pass Christian in Miss. Nov. 19th and coming back Dec. 21st - hopefully coming back for Christmas. Beth is coming to visit Oct. 27th which I'm really excited about - we're going to throw a Halloween party here on the 28th - should be a great weekend. Hope you are all doing well. Love, Kevin.

Biding the Time

Hello all. Not a whole lot to report. This last week was an exercise in trying to look like you're doing something useful. We had to stay at the office this week and wait till some groups went out on conservation and others will go to Pass Christian in Miss. I "organized" the gas cans for 2.5 days!!!! (I worked with a guy named Paul from Philly - he really likes to ridicule my accent - I still don't believe I have much of an accent. Paul and I have gotten close - we both love to dance). Well, I actually did some useful organizing and throwing-away of 0ld mixed-gas. This last weekend was quality. Went to a costume party on friday, I went as Moses - inspired by Melissa - and brought blank tablets to be filled in. On saturday we all hung out, played b-ball at the nearby court and then saw The departed. Jack Nicholson was dynamite. The dialogue was unbelievable and cinem. very well done - scorcese knows how to direct a movie. I highly recommend it. This week shall also be filled with appearing useful - or so I am under that impression. I am direly hoping they give me the 27th off so Beth can come visit, I will find out today. Peace and love, Kevin

Tornado Disaster - Crosstown

There's a lot to write on so I'm going to have to be brief right now. Two weeks ago I saw RJD2 and Mann Mann play - the RJ show was pretty good the crowd was as usual - not as energetic as I was - standing there like statues - it hurt the experience. There was some good breakdancing behind us so half the crowd turned to watch them. Then we took off to go catch Mann play. We walked in right behind Honus and no one asked for a ticket, which was nice. It was at a really cool venue - just a big frat looking house, great show, again the crowd not dancing as they should.
I took off Sunday in a van with 10 others to Crosstown, SE MO. A bunch of tornadoes hit this area, an F4 hit Crosstown. 60+ homes destroyed, 100's of acres of trees downed - no one died luckily. Throughout the week more and more of the ERT team arrived until we were at 26 memebers out of the 34. My week consisted of dragging branches, non-burnables and carrying blocked wood (from the sawyers) to seperate piles. Yep. I got to chainsaw a little bit, about 1.5 hrs total - it's really fun. I was in a crew of 5 most of the time with Adam Z. as my leader, we got pretty tight during the week. We worked for a guy named Gary Bonert (the 't' is silent - no joke). He would drive around on his 4-wheeler, no shirt or unbuttoned shirt, cigar in his mouth telling us where he wanted this and this and what to clean up in his yard. He was a hoot. I can't explicate the type of southern, hick drawl he expounded with. We bumped into him at the Super 8 in a nearby town (Perryville) where they were bbqing food and providing beer for the volunteers. He was heading to the hot tub with a bunch of rum and cokes and provided amply for "his crew". We were also working with the Amish and Service International. I tried to chat up some Amish guys but they sure are men of few words. They were from near Carbondale, IL and they were alerted of a tornado nearby due to oak leaves falling to the ground all around their property - they said it looked like a dark cloud steadily dropping down. The Amish, contrary to common belief, are "allowed" to use chainsaws - a fact I was unaware of. Also, they can ride in vehicles if someone else drives - practical measures I suppose. We stayed at a First Baptist church, which was also a hoot. This particular Baptist Church had a "Judgement House". From what I could gather from the pastor - a loquacious, exuberant, impulsive man (no surprise)- there were around 7 different rooms the ticket-payers would be escorted to portraying life and death. There is supposed would be a disaster of some sort dramatized and then some of the people would go to a room called "Hell" and others would go to a room called "Heaven" depending on the deeds of each involved. And Yes!!! Hell had pitchforks, they pumped in sulphur and their would be a horned, red devil. Classic. It opens Oct. 5th and takes 70-100 volunteers to run. I hope I can go.
Red Cross would drive around handing out food during lunch and dinner time - but the food the community provided was 10 times better so we would try to avoid them and head to the Catholic church where the food was stationed. We all ate extremely well. Fried chicken, Muscacholi, beef stew, salads, chili, and a tables and tables of desserts. Yum. Last nite it was one of the Americorps staff's birthdays - it was pirate themed and the bar we went to had a few "washer" courts - a game where you throw a washer into a box 30 feet away - good fun. 12 of us will head back to crosstown Monday and they might rotate us in and out as needed. I am doing well and really enjoyed this last week. Oh by the way, I think all of Crosstown had a Playboy subscription from the 70's as I can tell from the debris lying hither and yon.

Hope you are all well, peace and love, Kevin

Friends, feel free to send me articles or write opinions you feel others need to be aware of or things you are tuned into - it's important to me to still keep up on what's happening even though I can't access it all (a.k.a. the internet) as readily - I will for sure check out what you send. For me I've been checking out: www.guerrillanews.com, the independent paper out of the UK, and pitchforkmedia.

Hey all - hope you are well. I will get right into my week. Monday all 80+ members took off to southern Illinois in a 9 vehicle caravan to begin "Quest". We were split up into teams of 15 and my group had 2 leaders. The leaders were there just in case of an emergency - the team was given maps and compasses and thus began are mission to find locations in the woods and get to out campsite. We each had packs of about 30 pounds. Our group was pretty good at orienteering and so we found the locations fairly quickly. There is a girl named Whitney in my group from Oklahoma - and is one of the funniest people I've ever met - she kept morale up. I also spoke a lot with a guy named Jon - who is very musical and eerily enough shares the same sentiments on almost every issue as I do. We found a cemetary in the middle of some dense woods, which was pretty cool - stumbling upon it around 9:00 p.m. We got into camp around 10:00 p.m. and slept under a rock ledge - being that our campsite was in a very cavernous, rocky area. The next day we hiked for a while and canoed out. The rest of the week we were at a Lutheran camp - just for use of their bunkhouses, mess halls and cooking. We learned about the CCC and how Americorps started intersperced with some activities - skits, a talent show in which Amy my musically talented roommate (she has a cd) and another guy named Jon sang a Shins song and Jon and I sang the sweater song. On thursday we split up into 2 groups: one painted and the other did various jobs with the park service near by. My group moved rocks from a river bed to the slope nearby to stop erosion - I don't have to tell you it was hard work, but our group worked really, really well together. On friday we had a stick ceremony - everyone found a stick which represented them: past, present or future. It got long, but it was a great way for people to vent emotions about their hopes this yr. and their struggles pre-Americorps. The couple who run the show: Kathleen and Bruce Bailey are very cool. I got a chance to talk to Kathleen one on one and she weaved her way into discerning my past - a very perceptive woman. She's done so much and has committed her life to helping St. Louis. We had a party at the Mardel house on friday, which went pretty well...I was sleeping (I have been taking Benedryl for my poison ivy which I have all over my arms, legs, back and some on my face and it makes me quite drowsy) but our neighbor to the left called the police with a noise complaint and the party ended without a bit of drama I heard. Yesterday, some friends and I went to the Science Center - we got lost along the way and didn't know it ended at 4:30 - we arrived at 4:15. Luckily, there was a hot-air balloon launching in a park near the center so we walked over there and saw about 25 take off - it was slightly magical seeing all of them riding the wind toward the arch. I've also been reading a fair bit - "the omnivore's dilemma" which is really good and the last temptation of christ. This next week we will be getting some CPR and emergency first respondent training. I will speak with you soon. Also in case anyone wants it, my number is 320-237-2956, call anytime.

till then, peace, Kevin

Just getting started

So the bus ride down here was well, greyhoundish, not pleasant, but could have been worse. I sat next to a heavy smoker during the brunt of the trip and wow would that have been a good experience for all us social smokers. She hacked up her lungs between cackling with a raspy laugh and wrinkly yellow face. On to better things: Tom and Justin my roommates here in St. Louis picked me up at the bus depot and we were off to visit first the ERT office and then our house. Tom's from Sweden and has done a lot for just turning 21. He speaks 5 languages, studied the culinary arts in Mexico and is well traveled. He's not in the ERT program, but is living here and taking EMT classes with aspirations of becoming a paramedic. Justin is from NY, graduated from Richmond with a degree in Chemistry. He's a stout, boisterous Italian with a hearty laugh. Amy's another roommate. She's a college dropout from Ohio, she wants to finish her degree in Philosophy...sometime. We have similar musical tastes (wolf parade, Andrew Bird, Devendra, etc...). Brian Dolan also lives here. He's 20, from upstate NY - a very interesting cat. More on that later. AJ's the last roommate. A good guy from Iowa - he's a big drinker. I've met a ton of other people, there are around 80 in the program, half are ERT's the other half are in Education. Yesterday we went on a tour of the Budweiser factory in St. Louis - the headquarters. It was boring, but we got some free beer at the end and it was pleasant talking with everyone and enjoying the warm, sunny day. Tonight, we're all going to a potluck at some other Americorps members' house, and afterwards to a box wine party. Next week, we're all going on a week long "quest" trip into the wild....The activities are a guarded secret, but I'll try to inform you of them as soon as humanly possible. Everyone's really cool, educated, sincere and excited just like I am to see new places and help out. I'm feeing great. Hope you're doing well.

Kevin