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.