2006-01-18

Year of the Rooster, Year of the Dog: Tet and transition, 2006

It's not the end, or the beginning of the end, but, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Winston Churchill said something like that, and it feels apt when talking about the Burning Man Katrina Relief efforts in Biloxi, MS.

On September 10th, when the first volunteers showed up from the playa, there were nine cars and a house in the parking lot here. The Buddhist temple, dedicated just a few weeks before, was devastated. Here is a Washington Post story published the day before we arrived: http://tinyurl.com/cg8nr

Now, four plus months later, the temple looks better than it ever has. With the Vietnamese New Year, or Tet, coming up on the 29th, we're wrapping up here and getting ready to move on to other, more needy areas. The year of the rooster is ending, the year of the dog about to begin.

It's quite a whirlwind of activity, like getting ready for a Broadway plan opening, and as usual the volunteers here have shown remarkable creativity in finding ways to get 'er done:

Matt Maynard at his homemade forge, making bannister railings--damn, them Kentucky boys are resourceful.

Lucky Leipzig touches up the donation boxes he made from scratch--stunning work.

Big Styk roofing the temple

It's nice, after living amidst so much ugliness and destruction for so long, to see something beautiful emerge in our midst.

The general quality of life in our camp has improved around here in recent weeks, in large part due to the exceptional chef-ing efforts of DPW's Spoon. Before you can wake up, he's got the coffee on, prelude to a massive breakfast. All day, there's heaping bowls of snacks at the ready. And come nightfall, swoon---last night's bacon and spinach salad, with roasted chicken, pasta salad and pie was just one typical effort. This man has a gift for cooking.

Every day, the tenor of Biloxi changes just a bit. Yesterday a house that's been our back door for four months dissapeared over morning coffee, as a huge excavator ripped it apart and crushed up the pieces, like a long-necked metal bird creating a nest for itself. It's surreal going for bike rides at night and pulling up to a casino, with cars parked in all directions amidst the surrounding debris. I had no idea people loved gambling that much. Meanwhile, a local entreprenuer has taken to offering disaster scenery tours in a limo--just $20 per hour.

Oh, many have been asking about photos from our Christmas party--here they are, enjoy: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/katrinarescue/my_photos

As we put the final coats of paint on the temple, and rake up the last of the debris, we're also setting up shop in a new location, about an hour west of here. Pearlington is a small, unicorporated area that was home to about 2,000 people before the storm. Now about 600 remain--without a city hall to advocate for them to get federal relief money, they're months behind everyone else. They really need our help, and so we just signed a 120 day lease on the site of a formal post office ( it's now hanging from the pines out back ) for $1. We'll only be about 30 miles from New Orleans, just across the bayou--almost close enough to commute for beignets and coffee.

It's going to be a lot more like the playa down there--no running water, no electricity, no plumbing. Which means it'll be all that more fun to build from scratch, and there will be a lot of families deeply grateful to see us rumble into their community with our heavy machinery, and start pulling boats out of trees and oaks off of living rooms.

We have an ongoing need for volunteers--please, if you've been considering it, get in touch about coming down--we'll provide housing and food, and plenty of good hard work you can feel proud of.

We also have some other random needs ( ask and who knows, you might get it, right?). In no particular order:

• hiqh quality chainsaws
• 300 gallon water tank, on a trailer
• a motor for a small Kubota tractor
• Ratchet straps
• A Kyocera wireless broadband card
• Fuel cards for BP, Chevron, or Texaco
• an industrial grade woodchipper

Paying for all the food and fuel we're burning through remains a challenge, but there's an easy way you can help: we have some incredible t-shirts, hoodies, and panties ( $25, $35, and $15 each, respectively ) thanks to the very generous support of Playa Pete of APLE shirts ( thank you!! ). Photos to follow in another message, this one's getting too big already. Paypal to price_tom@hotmail.com.

The great thing about being here is meeting so many amazing people. The sad part: when they eventually have to leave. It's like Monday on the playa all week here sometimes. People leaving this week we're really going to miss: Cabiria, Cathy, Segue, Karin and Matt. Travel well, friends, ya'll c'mon back soon, ya hear?

Now of course we're not working all the time. The other day we had an idea to build a boat. One thing led to another, and pretty soon the BRS Tomfoolery set sail from the boat launch near the ruined Beau Rivage casino and, paddling with oars made from crutches, plastic, and duct tape, landed on a barrier island covered with debris. We staked our flag on it, and claimed it for the MILF ( Mississippi Island Liberation Front).

Here she is returning to port at sunset.
Carmen, Segue, Lisa and Cathy return from plundering Deer island
Arrrg, a fine ship is she...

And with that, we'll wrap up. Thanks to everyone for your interest and support. If you're interested in finding out more about what we're doing here, please call Tom Price at 801-712-5371 or Richard Scott at 530-401-4007.

Be well, happy Tet.
-Tom