Monday January 15th:
The trees fascinate me, I am curious of the empty lots and my hearts sinks, as I take a deep breath and view numerous blank foundations, some with stairs to nothing. The beach is on my left through the thick fog I barely see the Gulf.
I am told we will be in tents for two weeks and my thoughts of this experience being like camp makes me smile.
As we pull up to Hands On, it’s a big box to my right and an interesting combination of regular and M.A.S.H. style tents.
Inside the good ol’ green is a lil’ commune. A “little America” as I would like to call it, all the same tents, small backyards and minimal side yards and only two per household. Oh and by the way, the nearest WALMART is 0.7 miles away, YIPPEEE!We set up another G.I. Joe tent and organize our new sleeping arrangement. James starts calling me Shanaenae. I meet the dog, named Helicopter (Animal Rescue team - he was one of 26 pups) and the cat, named Marmalade. (she acts like a dog and is determined to get a taste of your food)
I get a tour, by Matt, of our living situation; the Spin Cycle (laundry and local hangout for movies and video games) the outdoor showers and the Hands On facility, that I will refer to as the DoomBox, (no daylighting -kinda smells, and I always seem to get tired in there) has toilets, our kitchen and dining area, computers and the indoor sleeping areas in the lofts (which are disastrous).
Dinner time and Omar and myself get to stand up and introduce ourselves to a group of 60+ strangers.... food was not so bad, but I have to say its not like home!
We go to the pub a block down the street called, 'The Pub' - Have a few 2$ domestic beers and Omar starts the game "googly eyes." I get the nicknames; Jackpot and Swamp Ass or Swampy for short (Omar), personally I like Jackpot (thanks James).
During the night I froze, it rained and I barely slept.
Tuesday, January 16th:
First day of class. Class?! I spend the morning stapling insulation into the stud walls within this church that is being renovated to be the new location for the Gulf Coast Community Design Center. We are told to hold off on covering the electrical so we do as much as we can. What I learned: I need gloves that fit my small hands, I almost stapled my hands to the studs 20x today. At lunch we had roast beef sandwiches and chips. We skim through the book 'Before and After Katrina' - a book that gave great incites to all of our thoughts on what some of the places that we are getting to know once looked like.
Gulf Coast Community Design Studio
After lunch we meet Bill, director of the East Biloxi Coordination Center. Very insightful his words were inspiring to hear on the first day of class; "purpose to the madness.... see it or not, everything we do will make a difference....perceptions are reality.... divine appointments... trust and believe... see miracles." We then headed over to the site of the Tellus House - an important place that shared many memories with the community here, now gone, except for the trees and a short white sign that read; "Please wait here for next tour."
David Perks spoke warmly about the trees and how they truly stand strong with nature and create a sense of place in Biloxi, "The trees were here first...they hold with them stories of the past... but can still keep growing."
Wednesday, January 17th:
When you step into an outdoor shower, you really realize its outside because you can see the sky, feel the cold air but it's not until you commit to undress behind the wooden walls that you really comprehend you are really going to shower outside... I'll tell you its a battle of good and bad, but mostly good.
Today I continued insulation and others started cutting plywood. I helped clean up but tried my best to conserve the materials that were going to the curb even though I was told people know 'curb items' are up for grabs. Today is a nap day, dinner was Mexican! (taco salads!) and started our readings (Dewey, Experience and Nature)
Tonight I go to bed with a shit grin, somebody loves me and doesn't want me to be cold! A sleeping bag was in my bed! My first night that I am too warm and I actually take off a few layers!
Thursday, January 18th:
Today I Sheetrocked! 
I learned a lot of common sense issues on ladder position, tying cords, reading levels, lifting Sheetrock, supporting Sheetrock, screwing Sheetrock, measuring and cutting Sheetrock, checking screws in Sheetrock, zipping holes out of Sheetrock... ok you get the point, I learned a lot today about Sheetrock. 
Lots of puns and jokes- my fav.! "We are rockin' the sheets and screwing lots!" I get the nicknames 'trouble' and 'fluffy pants.' (don't really understand this one till this day)
During class I also had my first embarrassing moment. Words don't always come out the way you are thinking about them... so here is my infamous quote of the day, "How come teachers always say they cant sleep with us" I spoke up after Micheal stated he had insomnia.
Have an excellent lunch at the cafe. We meet up with Brandon, a builder, and go inside a modular home made in a factory in Texas.
On our way home we stop and take pics of many houses that are now rebuilt on large pilasters. Some just look better than others. Does this look wrong to you too?
This is a moment where we stopped to understand the composed signs and came to a conclusion that the campsite behind is for volunteers and the names of places are where they are from... breathtaking and beautiful!
Tonight we went to S&B's suggested by James for his last night, (for this week) for Crawdads (craw fish). The best service ever! even though they did not have any craw fish - its not in season yet - I have crab cakes and try hushpuppies for the first time- yummy! we have a blast, get a little rowdy and enjoy great food!
Saturday, January 20th:
We work in the morning to finish up the Sheetrock and then we head over to our site after lunch at a great Vietnamese restaurant, Pho 777. My sketchbook is currently MIA. Tonight was a break from the last and I cannot concentrate on the readings at all!
Sunday, January 21st:
Sleep till breakfast, then back to bed, then go to the 1030 mass with Chandler, here where Hands On is located, Beauvoir United Methodist Church and then head out for an Afternoon Adventure with Peter, Omar and Della. We hit up the restaurant to see if my sketchbook was left behind, nopers : / We go to the site to see the actual site since I walked the western border the first time yesterday. We see a little of main street Biloxi! cute one way, filled with closed shops and businesses. And another pedestrian side street where we imagined what business we would own... I chose the hotel. A bronze plate in the ground taught us: Biloxi, in the language of the Sioux Indians who lived here, means "the first people."
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We head to the beach! Finally I get my fix! 
We then end with ice cream in Ocean Springs, a rivalry city (really near, distance, across the peninsula) See the best thing ever! A huge oak hanging over the road, Clearance 11'0".
So far the best house in the neighborhood!
1 comment:
sweetness. sounds like a whole lot of sweets.
see ya sweets.
m
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