Work Days 2 & 3

Trudy's husband's name is Ed, not John, by the way. My mistake.

We have been really productive the past two days. I have personally gotten to know a fellow named Keith, a career Air Force officer and Vietnam veteran. He and another man named Howard are from the Diocese of Florida, and they are volunteering this week with us. Their guidance has been crucial to our success in rebuilding the Davis' house.

I should say something about the others here. There are almost 100 people at camp this week, over sixty of whom are in a high school church group from Illinois. A few others are from Wyoming, and a few of the leaders here are AmeriCorps volunteers. The actual on-sight leaders are Camp Coast Care staff. We have worked with two such staff: Doug and Jim. They have done an excellent job.

Last evening we walked on the beach, which was fun. Tonight the Illinois group is having a cook-out on the beach, and the rest of us will be eating burgers, hot dogs, or vegetarian alternatives here at camp.

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the more peaceful bodies of water in which I have set foot. Looking out at the scenic view, I would turn around and see probably irreparable damage done by Hurricane Katrina. In his poem "The Tyger," William Blake asks the evil, opportunistic subject, "Did he who make the lamb also make thee?" If God is responsible for the beautiful ocean, then is S/He also responsible for Katrina? Nobody is qualified to answer that question with any certainty or confidence, I think.

Work Day 1

Today, we installed insulation and dry-wall at a home of a woman named Trudy Davis. She lives with her husband, whose name I cannot remember at the moment (John, I think). It was an incredibly humbling yet life-affirming experience for all of us. Elizabeth found her inner-carpenter! She and a new friend from Casper, Wyoming were installing insulation at a gruelling and unstoppable pace! Chris and I were unable to keep up.

Afterward, there was a meeting of all the volunteers, a small worship service (I missed this part because I had to deal with financial aid issues over the internet -- thank you, Ohio State -- but thank you Camp Coast Care for providing wireless so I can deal with these issues all the way in Mississippi), and then us in the St. Stephen's group had a small meeting in which we discussed our general impressions from the day and the trip thus far. I was happy that the intellectual character of our Thursday night meetings carried over all the way to Mississippi.

It seems that an Ohio State group was already at Camp Coast Care, perhaps for an alternative spring break.


Farewell, and peace!

P.S.

Tara did NOT eat seafood last night.

Arrival at Camp Coast Care, Eating Seafood, and Walking on the Pier

After a long day of driving, we made it to Camp Coast Care in Long Beach, Mississippi at around 4 PM this afternoon. Orientation was short and informative (the best news was that there was free, high speed wireless internet). We then ate at a local seafood eatery called Lookout 49, "where all the cowboys and cowgirls gather for a fun meal" (Tara's words). Afterword, we hung out on the beach and then returned to camp at around 8:15 PM.

Our group consists not only of members of St. Stephen's, but friends from different places. J.J. and Tara, who many of you probably know, are Lutheran seminarians who have been married for a few years now. Laura, whose family recently moved to Ohio from upstate New York, is an Ohio State student majoring in art education. We have had great fun getting to know one another on this wonderful trip.

Matt Yates' absence has not kept me from profusely discussing history, ideas, politics, etc.

Take care and God bless!

Our Journey to Mississippi

We reached our hotel for the evening safely in Athens, Alabama. On the way, we passed through Louisville, KY and Nashville, TN. It has been a fun trip filled with reading, sleeping, and interesting discussions.

That is all for tonight.

Krispy Kreme Situation

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=78499&in_page_id=2

I dedicate this blog entry to anyone who thought I was making this up.


This paragraph makes it sound like they just had to make a quick stop as part of a regular patrol. (Maybe it's just me, but I thought that helicopter use was "reserved" for specific missions.)

The officer and the civilian pilot were on night patrol over the city
in a Kiowa OH-58 helicopter when they landed in a vacant lot next to a
Krispy Kreme doughnut store around 1 a.m. on Thursday morning.

http://lists.jammed.com/ISN/2001/10/0073.html

Noah

Here's a revelant story i ran into tonight on howstuffworks.com

http://history.howstuffworks.com/asian-history/noahs-ark.htm

matt

Free Pizza!

Story at Dispatch.com


Well, ok, it's not truly free, but it is a good discount.


Hey, at least you don't have to go dressed like a pizza. (Take THAT, Chipotle!)

California goes gay-friendly

Hopefully this link works for you.

Google News

Various news articles about California going gay-friendly at that link. Hopefully Ohio will join suit.

My Choice Ohio

I just grabbed this off http://www.mychoiceohio.com/

Payday loans are a useful financial tool for many Ohioans who experience an occasional crunch in between paychecks. Sometimes, the utility bills are higher than usual, or expensive school books are needed, or urgent medical care for a child can’t wait until the next paycheck. A payday loan is far less expensive than a bounced check, a utility bill late fee, or a credit card cash advance, and banks and credit unions won’t make small, short-term loans. I, along with all Ohioans, should be able to choose which financial products to use. The government should not take away that choice. Hardworking Ohioans should not be forced to take out an internet loan or pawn off a valuable possession in order to cover a short-term financial bind if they prefer the payday loan product. Please protect my financial choices and the choices of all Ohioans and keep payday loans available in Ohio.

It'll be interesting to see. I've been fairly neutral on the whole BREAD thing, so maybe I can see both sides of the issue. Yes, I do smell the scare tactics on their side, but at the same time, it would be interesting to see what happens if the interest rate is lowered. Will these people lose their jobs? Will it add to Ohio's already crummy economy?

I can't help to think of the smoking ban that passed a few elections ago. Anyone remember that? If you paid attention to the people against the ban, a lot of bars would have closed. I don't exactly see that happening.

That paragraph above mentions the government doing this and that. Are they really? Once again, it reminds me of the smoking ban. In that case, the government really didn't DO anything, they just basically did what the people told them to do.

I just hope that if people don't have enough money (and IF, a big IF, the payday loan places do shut down) that people won't resort to crime to get money that they need.

Where am I going with this? I'm not really sure...my cats are sleeping next to me and i'm watching Jay Leno. Did I just hear from him that John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama???

Sometimes it is interesting to see the other side of the story. (BREAD, not Jay Leno.)

BREAD

Just because I've been lobbying members of other student organizations about BREAD does not mean I've forgotten about the St. Stephen's folks! If you want to go to the annual BREAD meeting on May 5th to hear testimony and discussion about drug courts, let me know. I would love to get three people from St. Stephen's plus even more from outside the church.

Thank you, and remember... BREAD RISES!