Maura, Nicole, Olivia and Eli were placed, almost at the last minute,
with the Alliance for Affordable Energy (http://
www.all4energy.org/). It’s no exaggeration to say that it was not an
organization any of us would have chosen, if we were asked. But we
mustered our desire to do good and walked out to Broadway and St.
Charles on Monday morning to go to our assignment.
But there were a few disquieting portents:
* The President and co-founder of the Alliance is quite, quite busy.
Almost too busy to know what to do with us.
* She expected us to bring our laptops, but we didn’t bring our
laptops (the logistics sheet didn’t mention it).
* There is a very nice tabby — but 3 of the 4 of us are anywhere
from slightly allergic to not-at-all-slightly allergic to cats.
Average, first-day-of-work stuff. We get a variety of research
assignments and go on our merry way (away from the cat, bless its
little heart). But what intrigued us was, “What would we be doing
that is related to the post-Katrina rebuilding?” There was a video
shown at a Student Hurricane Network orientation at Loyola Law School
that had one woman lamenting her $500-600 utility bill. Some of us
thought that would be a very salient issue we could focus on during
our time here. But it was not to be — according to our supervisor,
it’s a very complicated situation regarding long-term contracts and
the ratio of current ratepayers and the amount of energy needed to
heat (or cool) substandard public housing stock and well … we’re
not going to the post-Katrina barricades. Our tasks are centered on
issues that the Alliance would have worked on 5-10 years ago and will
continue to work on 5-10 years from now: promoting conservation and
renewable/green energy generation, fighting “dirty” coal and
supposedly “clean” nuclear, working to get progressive ideas
implemented in other places implemented here in NOLA.
We were a bit confused. Then we got lost.
In theory, it was possible to make our way via public transit from
the DCC to the art studio/warehouse outside of the Central Business
District where the offices of the Alliance are located. We had
successfully taken the 12 St. Charles Bus, so we were optimistic.
But in practice … the public transit agency is operating 60% of its
pre-Katrina bus routes with just over half of the staff it once had,
according to the Times-Picayune. So, we ended up (a) on the freeway;
(b) driving through a very sketchy part of town and finally (c) in
Carrollton, essentially taking 2 hours to do a 3/4s circle (not a
complete one … that would have been too simple). We were nowhere
near the office and not close enough to the DCC to feel comfortable.
So, on S. Carrollton, we started walking and trying to figure out
where we could find a place to sit, have a cup o’ joe and use some
delightfully free wireless. At the corner of Sycamore and S.
Carrollton, we see a furniture store and Maura offers to go in and
ask where the nearest coffeeshop is.
Turns out the shop owners were in the process of building a coffee
shop in the back of their store. We were like heralds of good news -
they greeted us so warmly and told us it was karma that brought us to
their store, confirming that a coffee shop was what the neighborhood
needed. One of the owners explained his mission: to provide low cost
furniture to the people of New Olreans through a virtual store, and a
welcoming place to peruse catalogs and enjoy a cup of coffee. He was
also very confident in the return of New Orleans and the need for
community and entrepreneurship as necessary building blocks. We took
pictures of the inviting space and admired the handpainted mural on
the floor, completed on New Year’s Eve. The owner also organized us
into a game of odds and evens, which Nicole won and she got her
choice of a beautiful, ceramic nightlight cover (appropriately, she
chose the jazz music rendering).
Despite the problems we had locating the office that morning, our
delay turned into a memorable experience. We were in awe and
refreshed by our random encounter. And later at the office, our
supervisor was so pleased with our progress and our willingness to be
engaged in these seemingly arcane yet quite critical issues. It’s
not what any of us may have chosen, but we are glad we were here to
help.
1 Comment
March 9, 2007 at 3:57 am
friend of Maura, reading from SF, and very familiar with the ways of NOLA, thinking, ‘that’s the way things have been there for a long time.’ a true New Orleans experience. thanks for your efforts!