Items (52 total)

With this post, my time at the Hope House, participating as a member of the Workers Rights Project, will come to a close (at least, for now). First, I would like to apologize for being silent up until this point, forcing…

Internal Salvation

During lunch, we drove to the Ninth Ward to take a look at the most devastated part of New Orleans. The land sits below sea level, and prior to the hurricane, served as government low-income housing. The pictures cannot…

Ninth Ward and the…

Today is the last day of our spring break adventure, and I\'m so upset to see this experience come to an end. I\'ve had the hardest time doing these entries because the volume of information I want to get to people so…

Last day, last…

Another day of phone calls. There are some stories of small victories. A job that is waiting for someone back in New Orleans when they can get back there. An evacuee who received a large sum from FEMA to replace damaged…

Moving forward in…

A good portion of last night\'s dinner discussion was dedicated to answering questions about my day, which turned in to quite the policy discussion. I am staying with friends of mine here in Austin who knew a bit but not…

Katrina Fatigue

I just wrote a long blog entry that got deleted. I tried to pack light so I\'m borrowing a computer and am not familiar with Apple iBook commands. So my words got lost in the system somewhere. Somewhat apropos given that…

The Hurricane…

I think I\'m getting an interesting perspective on post-Katrina relief compared to what my colleagues are reporting from New Orleans. While they are seeing things on the ground, I\'m looking at things from the…

How not to run a…

The roving team of the Workers\' Rights Project spent the last two days roaming the city and talking to workers. The days are filled with moments when out hearts race with excitement and moments when they are heavy with…

Looking for work,…

While Amy and I have been enjoying the great weather and sights in Austin, we\'ve been feeling a bit frustrated with our role. Yesterday we had a two hour orientation at TRLA (Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid) in which we…

bureaucracy inaction

According to Mr. Richard Bourke, Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country, detaining about 1 out of 100 people. In this state, no lawyer is supposed to handle more than 200 felony-murder cases, but the…

Problems with the…