Illness, Voting and an Affair

I've not been feeling well the past few days. This is probably the worst place ever to be sick. There's just NOwhere to be comfotable. It's hot or crowded there's no couches, airconditioning or even comfortable beds and there are people every where.

After a few days I'm starting to feel a little better. My horrible soar throught mutated into terrible congestion and head cold, but is starting to clear up.

I'm totally fantisizing about someone coming with a car to take me somewhere clean and private, just for a night (or two)!!! I need either a costal beach to camp and relax, or a cheap motel room. I realize it's probably not gonna happen, but if anywhere out there is in the area, it'd be totally rad if you came to take me away. :)

I took a few days off from the kids and the after school program (thank god!) to rest. So on Friday I trained to be a POLL MONITER for the New Orleans Mayoral elections. And Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 am to "watch" the election process and document any problems or confusions that might interfere with the residents' right to vote.

There's been so much confusion with displaced residents (80% of the city is still absentee), changes of adress, questions about residency, or even being able to find the correct location. Before Katrina there were 390 polling locations across the city. Since the storm, the number was reduced to 72. People from multiple precincts and wards had to find their way to new locations and all cram together into small spaces to cast their ballots. Many residents returned from Texas, Alabama, and other states to make sure their vote would count.

I can't even begin to explain how amazing it was to see the reunions of neighbors who hadn't seen eachother since the storm, but had returned to vote. I over heard their conversations, retelling their experiences, explaining the whereabouts of their family (still scattered across the country), but all still determined and hopefull to return to their homes and communities.

On my way home from the polling center I got a ride through a much wealthier section of town that was hit as hard as the 9th ward. It was equally as shocking to see the same ammount of damage and devistation affecting million dollar homes. They were all completely abandonned and destroyed as well.

I've only been here a week, but when every day seems like three, I may as well have been here a year. Bonds with the fellow volunteers form quickly through necessity and desperation for supportive connections. Everything is so immediate and intense. It seems only natural that situational relationships appear in the midst of chaos.
I'm finding ways to feel more "human" instead of a work machine in the face of desperation and dispair.