(This time without grotesque grammar mistakes and some slight updates. No, I don't usually read my posts before posting them, which means there are usually mistakes and sometimes I go back and try to fix them, which is what I did here.)
Hello Lovelies,
I've arrived back in Oakland just in time to finish my current contract, pack up all my belongings, and ship out to New Orleans in a week and a half. Despite the sadness of the Saints not making it to the Superbowl this year, damn you Eagles!, I'm still really excited to be heading out. If nothing else because of this cold, cold, coldness we have going on in this Oaktown. Though New Orleans faced freezing temperatures this week. Hopefully it will be nice and toasty before I have to sleep on an air mattress while waiting for my stuff to arrive.
The packing is going well, since I didn't actually unpack from moving to the Bay. Now I can spend most of my time catching up on the new work I will be doing, like reading the recently released Oil Spill Commission Report. Today is a forum in New Orleans about the specifics of the report. You can watch the forum at the link above. The commission also held an hour long press conference yesterday. Fairly interesting if you are folding clothes, cleaning your house, or making breakfast.
I keep getting asked where is home, you know since by the end of this month I will have lived in three time zones and two countries over the past 12 months (don't even let me start about how many different homes). The other night I had a discussion with a good friend about how she too has problems answering this question. Always nice to meet someone who is also stumped by this. I use to say Florida or Louisiana, but I've recently been stumped by that simple question. I'm not sure I have one home. And when I first started getting tongue tied while trying to answer that question, I felt a little sad. Everyone wants to be from somewhere. To have a place to return when all isn't going well or a place to get your favorite meal for free. And sure sometimes I feel that would be great, but that's just not my path. Many places, like Krakow, Budapest, Amsterdam, Miami, Washington DC, and Oakland, have taken me in as family and New Orleans is next.
One of the reasons I'm so excited to be arriving in New Orleans in a week and a half is because I will be close to my extended family for the first time in 24 years. Seems like an exciting new adventure. They all live within 3 hours of New Orleans. One of the more adorable family members is my Aunt Opal. She likes to drink wine in the afternoon and talk about politics with me. My kind of woman.
Another reason is because I get to work with Dean Wilson. The Atchafalya Basinkeeper originally from Spain who moved to the swamp decades ago on his way down to the Amazon. Dean ended up staying in the swamp working as a commercial fisherman and then dedicating his life to protecting the Cypress swamps in Southern Louisiana. If you have 10 minutes, check out this short film about Dean.
I'm tempted to put some commentary on the Arizona shooting in this space, but I can't really wrap my head around this. I do believe there are consequences to all the violent discourse that has been happening, though who the fuck knows why the crazy came out that day. What is also making me shake my head is the name calling of liberals as violence endorsers. I thought we want to hug the bad out of people and were plotting to take all the guns from our country's patriots? Do I hate guns or love guns? Do I preach too much compassion or too much hate? I'm so confused. Luckily there are enough idiots telling me what I think on tv and radio 24/7, so I don't have to think it up for myself and others don't have to ask me.
Ciao,
Renee Claire
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