Revision to Plan

So, a revision to the original plan: use the compacted cars as a porous material around which to pour the cement-concrete mixture. What is the advantage? Used the cars as fillers and save money on amount of concrete necessary (as the car would take up the majority of the area), remove materials that cannot go into landfills from communities, and secure the wall more with a heavier matter. Still planning on the mosaic facade, but definitely upgrade to cement and car type blocks. Will draw a diagram and post it pretty soon.

More Notes for the Wall

• http://www.conigliaro.com/products/index.cfm Giant Lego Blocks of Recycled Materials: Plas-Crete Wall BlocksThe Economical Choice for Retaining Walls and Many Other Projects! Plas-Crete Blocks are perfect for contractors with skid-steers and mini-excavators. We’ve replaced the stone aggregate with recycled mixed plastic aggregate, so our blocks are half the weight. At 1,850 pounds each, our blocks are strong, heavy enough to push against, yet light enough to handle and quickly assemble. They are true-to-size, nestable, self- centering and self- leveling. Each 2' x 2' x 4' block placed yields 8 sf of retaining wall coverage. Blocks can be placed at a rate of 25/hour! They ’re easy to use & look great! (Conigliaro Industries)

• I just listened to an NPR article, "Bush Seeks to Double Funds for Levee Repairs" by Daniel Swerdling. Now Bush is pushing for more money for repairs, but skeptics and levee specialists are saying that this levee system can't be built before the next hurricane season because a structure of that size has to have a sound foundation, and that alone has to be filled in from the flood damage, and allowed to settle sufficiently. Estimated time to take is 10 years for a sound levee system. Also, 60% of the entire levee system is damaged (crumbling, large wholes, pieces entirely missing); 170 miles of the levee was damaged durring the Hurricane. One official was quoted as saying, "I'm sorry. It may take decades to rebuild." How can you say you are sorry? Sorry for ignoring these people after their repeated requests for reinforcing their homes? Or, maybe this was the type of homeland security that our nation should focus on, instead of what ever the hell it is we are doing in Iraq.

Louisiana Contacts

"Katrina & Recovery: Challenges Persist for New Orleans' Ninth Ward" (NPR.org)
Anne Duplesis, Senator of New Orleans Second District (Including Lower 9th Ward):

• commit dollars to bring levee system up to level 5, to ensure limited risk for all those who come back to New Orleans

"Katrina & Recovery: Louisiana Lt. Gov. Landrieu on Katrina Recovery" Mitch Landrieu, Lieutenant Gov.(NPR.org)

• "people have been focused on day to decisions,... locked into battle with congress to decide what the level of appropriate relief is..."
• "America left them there. [in the superdome] There is a very learnable, teachable lesson here."
• Considering running for mayor. "You never say no to opportunities to help."
• "The only thing you need to know about people from New Orleans, is how resilient they are. There is no doubt that the people will come back."

Contacts:

1. Lt. Governor Mitchell Joseph 'Mitch' Landrieu (LA):

• ltgov@crt.state.la.us
• Post Office Box 44243Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4243

Notes for The Wall

So, after a little research, here is what I've found...

www.saveourwetlands.org: "Corps of Engineers Takes Heat on Levees"

• Politicians debate about the flooding of New Orleans to be due to a break in a 500 ft. long piece of a levee, which let the waters of Lake Pontchartrain flow into the city, 20 ft in some places. At the time of the flood, this section was under repair by the Army Corps, and the materials that were being used are now being reviewed for practical quality. Also shady relation between the Army Corps and some politicians.
• The eastern New Orleans back levee was supposed to stop a tidal surge blowing off of a hurricane from the east, but was "...incapable of stopping more than a modest storm surge..."
• Louisiana Congress was pushing for $5 million dollars to start an improvement project.
• Storm serge topped the back levy, which was denied funding by Bush.
• This year Louisiana requested $82.5 million for flood control projects, Bush ok'ed $13.5 million.
• Failed portions of the levee are likely to be results of tight budgets, I-wall design "in which a sheet of steel is driven into the ground, backed by pilings and topped with a line of concrete. The design is sturdier than an earthen levee but less solid than a T-wall design, which has both a vertical and horizontal wall."
• Twall is effective design, but much more expensive - money was saved by using the I-wall design.
• (Save the wetlandsnorganization has also been discouraging structures in the wetlands, as the organization is motivated towards nature conservancy - blogsite)

http://www.neelco.com/:

• The T-Wall Retaining Wall System Construction Manual (The Neel Company, 8328 Traford Lane, Springfield, VA, 22152)

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pd/projectsList/home.asp?projectID=86&directoryFilePath=ProjectData\

• US Army Corps of Engineers website: Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project
• Late 1990's proposal for improvements to flood protection system: "The project includes channel and pump station improvements in the three parishes. The channel and pumping station improvements in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes support the parishes’ master drainage plans and generally provide flood protection on a level associated with a ten-year rainfall event, while also reducing damages for larger events. St. Tammany Parish plans would provide flood protection for various rainfall events. In Orleans Parish, approved plans involve improving five major drainage lines, adding pumping capacity to two pump stations, and adding a new pump station. Proposed plans include improving 13 canals, adding pump capacity to two existing pump stations, and adding two new pump stations."
• This proposal is aimed at mostly controlling rainfall-related flooding, not hurrican associated surges.
• "In Orleans Parish, nine contracts have been awarded, seven are complete, two are underway, and one remains to be awarded. Most of the remaining contracts had been scheduled for award in fiscal year 2003; however, funding limitations have prevented moving forward with those contracts. Overall, the currently scheduled work in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes is about 70 percent complete and should be finished in 2008, if funding can keep pace."

To conclude:

• T-Wall design would hold up against this sort of storm surge.

The Wall

I have been watching the news every night when I get off of work at the department store. A few weeks ago I got this idea for a retaining wall for the Louisiana residents. Here's the deal:

Build a retaining wall out of compounded and crushed cars, other recyclable material that is desperately needed to be taken care of any ways. I heard on NPR the other day that cars in particular are posing a huge complication to the people. So, why not compound them and make a wall that is needed to protect the people from another catastrophic flood. There is enough of the cars and rubble and the like to build an adequate wall, deep enough to give it tensile strength and support such an impact, also the cost would be considerably cut, which is what a lot of the debate is currently revolving around with the politicians, supposedly.

Using the great wall of China as an example, to add the rubble into the wall, as many bodies are entombed in the wall (let me clarify that I am not suggesting we put bodies in the wall) - more rubble and things that will reinforce the wall and also clean up the areas. Reinforcing the all with steel beams and the like will also give it more strength against possible natural waves of water. Ontop of the wall should be a recreational walk way where people can walk along the coast, ride bikes, jog, meet other people.

The third addition to the wall would be massive mosaic on the side facing the city, to commemorate the art, music, culture, and pieces of a way of life that remain to make an art piece to link the people. A way of life that is so passionate and alive cannot be left to decompose because of politics.

I can't help bur write this blog. I don't know where it will lead, but I feel that I have to get this out there. I desperately want to help this region which has such a rich way of living, though is monetarily poor.

Made It Through the Bumps

So, I've made it through two weeks on twenty dollars. How, I am not actually sure, but here I am and payday is Friday. I've registered for classes at the University and am going to get a jump start on the semester by taking a week intensive class in Women and Creativity. I've got my last yoga class today in Socorro and my last photography class.

My twenty first birthday turned out to be pretty good. I always dread birthdays, that I'll be alone - but some how, I never end up alone. My mom and Aileen, my exboyfriend's mom - who has absorbed my into her family and her into mine- took me out to lunch and I soaked that up. It feels like we are family, although I am not sure how to define the role we each play in the circles, but I guess that doesn't really matter does it. My mom is so incredible, it just meant so much that she came up. I was even more suprised to see Aileen, so it was really nice. I always love seeing them both.

Went to work and was just in a great mood the whole day, and then after work Dan - my housemate - well, his girlfriend was having a party for a concert she had just given (she is an opera singer - ya, wow, huh?) so went over there and had a few glasses of wine and great time. I met this man named Diego, from Bolivia, who is a business major at UNM and is going to get the degree and then go back to Bolivia to help his family get their business off the ground and get a few outlets in Europe and one in Miami. What an interesting person, wow.

The next night I went out with a friend from work to a real bar and actually got carded. That was pretty thrilling. I guess Dan was actually the first person to card me, but doesn't really count, although it was a sweet gesture.

So, Joey and I had a few drinks and went to another bar and I just had an awesome time hanging out and talking with him and getting to know him. We sat outside on this heated patio by a fire place and just talked. December in Albuquerque, with an Ameretto Sour, a warm fire and a kind hearted person. Like I've said before, this is the first period in my life that I haven't been terrified of meeting new people - more precisely I look forward to getting to know new people.

And Then! I saw a great guy I met in Silver City while I walking across campus. Go figure, right? It was so nice to see a familiar face, so we are going to catch up this weekend and am really looking forward to that.

I am also really getting back into reading, which is incredibly exciting to me. My curiosity is back and I feel a solidness inside that excites me. The only way I can think to describe it is a rootedness with in myself, but also an eagerness to experience everything. Life is good, once again.

I think after this year I will probably never eat peanut butter again. These past three weeks have been peanut butter sandwhiches and coffee for about every meal. Oh, ya, that is how I made it through the two weeks. But, the loan finally came through. Alright, guess I better take care of some business. Check out this web site, this is the humanitarian spirit of Christmas: http://www.givemethemasterkey.com/

A Bad Day

I read this famous quote a long time ago, "Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to spare." That is exactly how I felt today, although the analogy is a little extreme for my situation. As I've said before, I work in a department store. Today was payday, and throughout the day I had been checking off people in my head that I could buy this for and that for. So I went to cash my paycheck and get a bit of money from the bank. Rent was also due today and I had an overdraft fee on my checking account for eighty dollars. So I got the rent money, and now I have no money until my next paycheck for Christmas presents. I don't know exactly how I am going to pull this semester off. Hell, I've been wishing that I would loose some weight, but I didn't think I would have to give up eating for it. So there I am standing in the department store, surrounded by all of these pricetags and nice things, but nothing in my pocket. And I feel like crying because I have just taken out my first student loan, to become an art teacher, when there is a drastic move in the nation to cut the arts in the public schools and replace them with math and science and macho dominated sports programs. I can feel the lump in my throat as I think about the hole in my mom's car windshield and my van back at home, that needs a new engine.

And then I am reading this novel, Sky Burial, about a Chinese woman's journey to find her husband in Tibet, as they were both doctors and he was called into the army during the war between Tibet and China. This woman, Wen, had nothing. I mean a tea mug, a mattress, a blanket, and some plates and she was fine and happy with her husband, it was only when he left that she became so desperate and sorrowful. It just really makes me wonder what I really need. You know?

"What if God Was One of Us" is playing on the radio now. I couldn't have picked a more appropriate song for my mood right now.

And one of the worst things is that my birthday is tomorrow. And I am not even looking forward to it. Funny, huh? Its my twenty first and I am not really that bothered about it. Maybe its the alcoholism in the gene pool that makes me shudder about the thought. Man, today and now is just not a good time for me.

I wonder what it would be like to not worry about money. When will I ever reach that state? If ever? Well, they also say that the richest people in the world are those who are monetarily the poorest because they gave so much to humanity, and the monetarily richest people and emotionally the poorest because they had to step on so many people to get to that position.

Vent, maybe a little more later.

The Ripple Effect

If you haven't seen it, you've got to see the movie CRASH. It is so amazing - addressing racism on every level, yet also the beauty of innocense in all of us. And the beauty of how fragile we all are. And also about what I have decided to name The Ripple Effect.

More and more movies have been playing along a similar theme. Or maybe I have just been seeing more of them. This gives me faith in humanity.

The ripple effect: that we all effect everyone and everything by the way we move through the world. We are all drops of water in a bucket, but we makes ripples that cross over the ripples that other drops in the same bucket create. Ripples and ripples across the ocean. It is pouring outside. And here is the flood. There is a wake in my path and everyone I meet and am in the same room with, in the same block, neighborhood and city. We have all got a wake behind us, and millions of drops of water to drink deeply of. Maybe this is why they call it a wake when you got to a funeral. All of the people a person touched, that were moved by the way this one person moved through an ocean of possibilities are left in the wake of their life.

Makes me think of all of the people in Louisiana. It just makes me ache inside, and then the flood of helplessness - how can I really help the people who are suffering?

And how do I make sure that I am making the best ripples with my life as I possibly can? Thinking of all of the people who have moved me, I am grateful for that so much.

Right now I am working in a department store and its funny - seeing how everyone comes in to buy Christmas presents and they are so intensely excited about giving a person a certain gift. I keep trying to figure out what I want for Christmas as I walk around the store, checking off people in my head that I can get things for. And, to be honest the one thing I want for Christmas is not a thing at all, just someone that will love me. Completely. Ha Ha. That's all. And if you could just put a bright red bow on their head, Santa, that would just be fabulous.

And, how amazing: the one disease that is hitting our nation, and the world is going undetected. Loneliness. We should be fighting against isolation and fear.

Money

So this barely making ends meet is a whole new thing. Debating between Christmas presents and food is really changing my perspective and challenging my creative side. And, the other thing is on chosing the food - get organic and fruits and veggies, spices, sauces and all that will cost more, but over all be better for me and more sustaining than the Asian noodles which only cost 38 cents per meal.

Another thing that is really challenging my creativity is this illustrating job that I am in the process of taking on. I've got about half of the first page illustrated, but have hit this block and cannot decide how I want to show jelly bean trees. There is a certain warmth and encompasing feeling that I am aiming for in the pictures, but will see if I can actually achieve it. Stay positive and look under every rock, on top, at the sky and in the puddles and it will hit me square in the face from far out in left field. Just have to keep searching for it. Sigh,.

I am getting anxious for school to start as it is really getting lonely up here, not knowing anyone really. But, I am also scared that I might fall into the same pattern that I did last year - the absolute focus on school and neglect of myself. It's funny, how much I enjoy meeting new people now. I never thought that I would be this at ease around new people - ever.

I am also not sure if I like the city. My housemates are hardly ever here and have gigs till way late, and I am not into the whole groupie thing. Every so often I love going to see live music, but not all the time. I can appreiciate it, but that is all I want to do with it. And to dance. But, the one thing about the city is that it makes you think that you need all of the stuff that everyone is selling. And, money is this huge deal... I wanted to come up here for the art, but now I have hardly done any since I got here and have seen very few galleries. Guess that will have to change pretty soon. I think so. Absodoodle.

The change is coming on the wind, through the gutters. And man, is it blowing today.

I've also decided I am going to visit India when I graduate from college. THere is something pulling me there - the art, the vivid colors, some philosophy, th ebeauty.