Thursday, April 06, 2006
University of Idaho blog
Okay, so I copied this from the University of Idaho blog. U of I was a great group! When I read this particular blog entry I was very moved. I hope they don't mind that I copied the entry....
Miranda's Thoughts on a Week in Waveland
Submitted by mississippi on Thu, 03/16/2006 - 11:52pm.
On my application for this trip, when asked what my experience was with construction work, I said that the extent of it was an ill-fated workshop project in Kindergarten that ended in my smashing my thumb with a hammer, and getting what I thought was a rather impressive, if painful, blood blister. I wasn't just trying to be funny. This was absolutely true. I have never built anything that wasn't made of Legos or Linkin' Logs. I have never been to the South. I have never even done much camping, even having grown up in Alaska with a family that loves the outdoors. I am not a doer, I am an observer, and when I applied to come here to Waveland, that was my main motivation(and, admittedly, my main concern). I wanted to see it, I wanted to get close and be here with these people in this place. I wanted to get close to people who might need me so I could know what that was like and try to make my own small difference. There's only one day left in my trip, and I can tell you, I can now add something new to that list of things I have never done. I have never fallen in love with any town as fast as I have fallen in love with Waveland, Mississippi.
I took down drywall with a shovel, with a hammer, with a screwdriver, with my bare hands. I cleaned a bathroom, several times, and then went back twenty minutes later just to see that it needed cleaned again. I washed my hands with donated hotel shampoo. I walked miles of beach and picked up everything from a toilet brush to a matching set of pillowcases to a metal chair, covered in barnacles, rusted from months underwater. I got over a hundred bug bites. I woke up twice with my eyes swollen shut, and once with what has morphed into a sinus headache/sore throat. I ate several gnats and several wonderful meals. I met Waveland homeowners who won't ever leave.
I sifted through the wreckage of a ruined house and looked at all of the things that add up to make a life in muddy heaps. Photographs, golf trophies, a brochure from the MET, a set of glass rabbit salt and pepper shakers, several cookbooks, Christmas decorations. I watched the woman who owned that house step out of her car, look at the pile on the side of the road that represented her entire life, and place a shaking hand over her mouth as she cried in front of a group of kids from Idaho who knew what to expect, but still got thrown for a loop.
I came down here because I wanted a story to tell that meant something, and I thought I might find one here. I was right. I've been introduced to an amazing community with a beautiful home that they're proud of and loyal to, and they will keep rebuilding this place until the end of time if they have to. Nothing is going to drive them away. And if I made that struggle a little bit easier for them this week, then I did something right. People keep saying that they wish we could have seen Waveland before Katrina so we could see how beautiful a place it was, but it only took a week in the Waveland I know to see how beautiful it is now. This won't be my last trip to this town, and I wish I could tell them that they've drawn me in. I will definitely be back. And most importantly, I do finally understand why they stay.
Maybe I'm so touched by this blog because I too have fallen hopelessly in love with Waveland and it's residents.
Miranda's Thoughts on a Week in Waveland
Submitted by mississippi on Thu, 03/16/2006 - 11:52pm.
On my application for this trip, when asked what my experience was with construction work, I said that the extent of it was an ill-fated workshop project in Kindergarten that ended in my smashing my thumb with a hammer, and getting what I thought was a rather impressive, if painful, blood blister. I wasn't just trying to be funny. This was absolutely true. I have never built anything that wasn't made of Legos or Linkin' Logs. I have never been to the South. I have never even done much camping, even having grown up in Alaska with a family that loves the outdoors. I am not a doer, I am an observer, and when I applied to come here to Waveland, that was my main motivation(and, admittedly, my main concern). I wanted to see it, I wanted to get close and be here with these people in this place. I wanted to get close to people who might need me so I could know what that was like and try to make my own small difference. There's only one day left in my trip, and I can tell you, I can now add something new to that list of things I have never done. I have never fallen in love with any town as fast as I have fallen in love with Waveland, Mississippi.
I took down drywall with a shovel, with a hammer, with a screwdriver, with my bare hands. I cleaned a bathroom, several times, and then went back twenty minutes later just to see that it needed cleaned again. I washed my hands with donated hotel shampoo. I walked miles of beach and picked up everything from a toilet brush to a matching set of pillowcases to a metal chair, covered in barnacles, rusted from months underwater. I got over a hundred bug bites. I woke up twice with my eyes swollen shut, and once with what has morphed into a sinus headache/sore throat. I ate several gnats and several wonderful meals. I met Waveland homeowners who won't ever leave.
I sifted through the wreckage of a ruined house and looked at all of the things that add up to make a life in muddy heaps. Photographs, golf trophies, a brochure from the MET, a set of glass rabbit salt and pepper shakers, several cookbooks, Christmas decorations. I watched the woman who owned that house step out of her car, look at the pile on the side of the road that represented her entire life, and place a shaking hand over her mouth as she cried in front of a group of kids from Idaho who knew what to expect, but still got thrown for a loop.
I came down here because I wanted a story to tell that meant something, and I thought I might find one here. I was right. I've been introduced to an amazing community with a beautiful home that they're proud of and loyal to, and they will keep rebuilding this place until the end of time if they have to. Nothing is going to drive them away. And if I made that struggle a little bit easier for them this week, then I did something right. People keep saying that they wish we could have seen Waveland before Katrina so we could see how beautiful a place it was, but it only took a week in the Waveland I know to see how beautiful it is now. This won't be my last trip to this town, and I wish I could tell them that they've drawn me in. I will definitely be back. And most importantly, I do finally understand why they stay.
Maybe I'm so touched by this blog because I too have fallen hopelessly in love with Waveland and it's residents.
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