Coming soon: How much waste is necessary after your FEMA managed disaster?

This is just a tantalizer...

Look for our article coming soon: How to lower waste after your disaster.


We have been astounded by the number of lots across south Mississippi which are filled with decaying 'FEMA' mobile homes for sale. Remember how these travel trailers were rushed to the Gulf Coast only to sit in lots of up to 40,000 trailers unused for months after the disaster? Remember how the first 18month life from purchase by our government through maintenance contract meant that average unit costs of $120-180k more than doubled the cost of complete renovation estimates per New Orleans' native 'double' family home?

But, in the USA when we have a disaster our government does not allow that recovery produce permanent solutions such as restoring existing housing - only temporary patches allowed.



Years after these trailers were determined unsafe to live in (due in part to being constructed with high concentrations of formaldehyde) they are being offered as reused, cheap, housing. They now fill plastic lots with signs asking potential customers to 'make offer.'

How the US wasted resources and other opportunities to use the disaster of Katrina continues to astound us almost 6 years since our disaster. But, how are our lessons being applied? How have we used the opportunities for teaching, learning, and being more humane in the disasters which have occurred since the Gulf Coast and Katrina? How has Haiti, by example, benefited from histories of New Orleans and Gulf Coast (non)recovery and/or (lack of) human restoration? Has the US/FEMA, Red Cross, or NGO community changed significantly how it expenses limited resources since Katrina's gross misuse of funds and misrepresentation of aid or assistance?

We are investigating. We are going to visit the FEMA parks and share our images. Did you have a FEMA trailer? Can we share your story? When you share it can help defend others. Your story matters; What we do now in sharing the truth defends the next disaster community.

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Much to be thankful for don't you agree? Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

Since you are reading our blog - Thanks!!

On the side of our blog their is a tab called cluster maps. It is a really neat tool for seeing how we really are connected by less than 'six degrees of separation.'

If you have not visited our blog world map lately, would you check it out? We love knowing that we are reaching people around the world. Thanks to you for spreading the worldwide word.

Our world just gets smaller.

Also, if you are interested in reading about how other travelers are seeing their world check out the Lonely Planet's blogosphere at blogsherpa.com. They are publishing lots of cool travel related blogs - including ours. So, with that, this is a Thanksgiving blog.

We want to send out thanks to all of you who read, subscribe to, and share our blog. Thank you!! Special thank you shout outs to our friends who just recently started checking out our blog overseas in:

Antigua and Barbuda, Lebanon, Iran, Haiti, Djibouti, Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, Maldives, Benin, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh, Uganda , Oman, Jamaica, Jordan, Zambia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Jersey, Timor-Leste, Chile, Estonia, Latvia, Angola... thanks for reading our blog!

We all have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

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With AT&T techno difficulties are anytime

Travel difficulties are likely to consume much time around things that you wish they wouldn't. This is a given. When our computer fried in Bombay and again in Ethiopia, Egypt, and France we we much distracted. You are not likely to be able to easily navigate companies and offers, much of the time you will not be traveling long enough or in a place for enough time to use your minutes, need full time web access, or commit to needed minimum contracts. The world of consumer contracts is frightening. In fact, I wonder (and am looking for feedback) if most foreigners find it difficult or easier to accept services here in my own country - USofA.

When we accepted the lucky gift of a phone from a sister-in-law we did not know the pitfalls of technologies here. We had tried to reuse a couple of different rummage sale phones, one the screen did not work, on the second, it came with really awesome ringtones and preprogrammed Hank Williams Jr (bonus). At least they didn't come with viruses! Then we got this awesome 'smartphone' gift. The problem was - a couple days later - AT&T decided to send a message alerting me to my new data usage plan which they automatically subscribed me to. After much hours the next couple days between mom and (evil) AT&T corporation it turns out our 'smartphone' cannot be used without their expensive data package...

Even as my sister-in-law used this phone for the last two years with no data plan, AT&T decided in its infinite wisdom to not allow future non-contract users to use this same feature. Smart huh?

So, thanks to great family and friends (and a USofAbundance of richness and excess) we have an extra 'smartphone' we can't use. And the old outdated flip serves me just fine. Avoid AT&T.

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How to act local + global at your market fruit, vegetable, bakery, or seafood stand

Growing up, I lived in a corner of the end of the nineteenth century where mule drawn carts came into town from surrounding rural areas carrying every sort of seasonal product, - fresh veggies and fruits, seafood and fish, steaks, caned and wicker furniture.

Farmers and craftsmen prowled the streets using their deep voices - or, a bull horn if they had one. We kids would flock to the sides of their old truck and convince our parents that 'oh, we do love peas;' and so on, just to keep buying. Buying from these salespeople was always an adventure - you would aim for lagniappe (the little something for nothing that comes at the end of prolonged negotiation) there would be sampling, and the men would generally make your experience fun, telling stories and connecting you to where they had come from.

How do we build a world in which small farmers are brought back into cities, where markets are as small as we can make them, where overlaps in self interest just make sense? I know. I have seen this world emerging from the desest cities to the most hard to reach rural third world.

Buy local. Being local in an internationalized world. How to be rural and support rural initiatives from cities to country

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Traveling Abroad the Fence

I.

This blog is titled "Traveling Abroad the Fence" which means you can travel anywhere!

[If you haven't read this blog for a while, you may begin to notice that certain themes appear and we deal with them for a while - say over a couple weeks or a month. Themes that are not always clear or straight forward themes; but, like some of us, are good for thinking about problems or opportunities; they develop in us over a long time.]

Being from Gulf Of Mexico/Mississippi River Bottom culture - we stew everything a long time.

This week, as the season got frosty for us (lows 49' F - 10' C) we started using our big Crock Pot as an ambient heater. The idea of greens in a pot is quintessential southern Autumnal food life; sweet potatoes, green and cabbages - all these point to changes of season on our food calendar.

We cooked Beans, eggplant dips, and sweet potatoes literally for days: Leaving a simmering pot of cinnamon potatoes cooking is so much nicer than just burning gas or electric!

Turn your crockpot into a RockPot of good tastes this winter and reduce your heat bill!

We decided long ago that when we got back to the USA after a ten month round-the world adventure we would adopt a mantra of traveling in your own backyard. The truth for us was that even as we have passed through and visited the furthest foreign lands; we did not want everyone to set their expectations that high. We do not expect everyone to have the possibility to travel as we have. We want to share our experiences and help others gain some lessons if they are interested. Food and lifestyle are very natural places to start. Living in Louisiana we can be engrossed in our native cooking styles. However, for the most part, our ideas of food all come from somewhere and were imports like all of us living here.

In addition to fine local sweet potatoes, we have been eating rice. We have not given up pasta, tortillas, or bread - though we are eating much less; but, the world eats lots of rice. We like rice. If you eat rice, you eat what most of the world eats (including south LA.) It is easy to make; and leftovers keep well. So, we bought the 25 lb. bag and are happy. We are also eating most of our meals (not po-boys) with chopsticks. For me, chopsticks slow down eating helping to savor food.

Here are some fun crockpot recipes to get your winter home-cooking season started.

[Save your rice. You can make delicious rich rice pudding with cardamon like we have done with cardamon we brought back from the Himalayas; or, even more authentic, make some Creole Calas - foods sold sweet on the street and one of the ways during New Orleans' 'code noir' law these famous calas helped many slaves who bought their freedom.]


II.

What is travel after all? Traveling is experiencing something new, in a way you have not known it, from a point of view you have not yet discovered it. By this definition, we can very easily travel by choosing to do things we have not done before; and, by being intentional to enjoy their newness and appreciate what we are learning in the process.

So, I have tried this concept on. I have visited some places that had been right in front of me. And,
I have scheduled or begun the planning to visit other new and obvious

And when I write about these markets as I already have, I get great feedback and new ideas like these great green market and collective farming ideas from my dear mother-in-law in Oregon.

Shopping is a very easy way to make a sustainable idea a reality. When we support local markets, we realize our connectedness to what we are buying. It degenericizes life!

This blog reminds me that the internet is such a fascinating way to visit places (virtually), to make long-distance 'pen pals,' and to learn about foreign places. We have many friends who would love to connect with you. If one of the countries we have visited or written about particularly speaks to you, please write us - we can put you in touch with one of our friends who would likely love to learn about you.

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China to New Orleans: mental health treatment issues that thwart democracy

One thing I have trouble doing is separating what I know about people and what I feel about them. I can understand whole peoples and how societies behave without being able to separate what I feel I understand from what I do not.

So, I read about different peoples. I keep up on news.

I read about China a lot. I do not know the makings, the inner workings, or the decision making process of how things get done in China. I would never propose I do. But, I am interested.

I do know that what I read about Chinese treatment of marginalized populations, of the mass poor, the least educated, of handicapped and mentally ill; it sounds deplorable. I am no expert on jails nor mental illness: Yet there must be some kernel of truth to these awful reports.

So, this blog is a conglomeration of articles I have compiled. It is a strange confluence of events.

Ultimately, what I have been discovering also is that where I live, New Orleans, and other U.S. cities have similar treatment of marginalized populations (especially mentally ill) as in China.
We have similar models of therapy. Therapy through incarceration means 'cleaning our streets' of today's mentally ill. These are the emerging trends of mental health diagnosis and treatment in our western world and in the east. (Are these trends offshoots of the privatization of prisons?) Hopefully, these are outlier trends which are justly in need of being challenged here in the USA. But, only the fact that these trends of incarceration as therapy exist is putrid evil to me.

Similarities with political repression and mental illness designations between China and New Orleans are scary!

We live surrounded by an epidemic of diagnosis and an utter dearth of treatment. And, we pass this tragedy off to our incarcerating powers when our lack of resource and will allows these our poorest and least confident amongst us to fall out from society.

How far are we really from diagnosing difference and political independence as 'evils?'

I see the same deplorable actions by local governments in my own community back home in the USA. In New Orleans, we already incarcerate insanity into jails. The mentally ill have a cell and very limited resources. Families are not encouraged to be committed and involved in finding a long-term cure for ill family members. Medications are inefficient and restricted due to costs.

A link to Nola.com about controversy around rebuilding OPP Jail was not a very helpful one in explaining the debate. 'Katrina Time' and OPP seem synonymous with Jail Expense Abuse.

This one is better:

The Incarceration Capital of the US
A struggle over the size of New Orleans’ jail could define the city’s future
By Jordan Flaherty
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-flaherty/the-incarceration-capital_b_781150.html

But, as I started out saying, I have no first hand news. I have not been inside these places. And, I want to find less partialized news. I want more open access and exchange between peoples. Allowing reporters access is essential.


Democracy really does mean an opening up of channels of belief and communication between all peoples. It cannot work in isolation. If it is true that China routinely locks up politically assertive petitioning citizens to reduce participation, this is not helpful. It hurts world democratic health.

It was with great pain that I got through this interesting NYTimes series which you may have already seen on mental health treatment issues in China. The area featured in the article on the border of Vietnam is relatively near Changsha (about 12-18 hours by bus - China is very big!). This is where my grandmother was born and grew up. Her father a doctor; I have to ask myself - in conditions of sanity and treatment of the insane; how much has really changed?

I remember my grandmother's opinion about health care. All people deserved access, attention, dignity, therapy. Good Health care should be a national priority in the USA and in China.

Is it not still the case today that the way we treat the weakest, the most hopeless, the destitute, the least among us, is a perfect reflection of our society in terms of our general mental health?

A new NOLA.com article come out just after this blog was published seeking public participation in the shaping of this decision. Does the Sheriff really want informed participation and approval?

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DIY Backpacker Spa

By special request, here is blog devoted exclusively to a DIY Backpacker Spa.

Trekking the world in flip-flops with a unwieldy backpack that seems perpetually affixed to your body, a backpacking gal deserves a spa night as often as she can get one. Even though some international destinations have beauty treats for the budget-minded girls, these 'fine establishments' don't always give you that pleasant, anticipatory feeling....more like a sensation that makes you duck your head and rush by with great haste, ignoring the sing-song voices trying to lure you into certain discomfort and unease.

So, when you need a break from the dusty trail, try some of these easy, inexpensive, and easy-to-find spa ideas!

SUGAR SCRUB: take a tablespoon of sugar (unrefined works best) and place it in a dampened palm. Mix one drop of shampoo or liquid soap and a few drops of water and apply in circular motions to rough skin. Good for hands, feet, elbows, etc. Wonderful solution for peeling beach skin, overgrown cuticles, itchy feet, and general exfoliation purposes. Make sure you rinse well to avoid sticky skin. Licking off the sugar is a possibility but not recommended (remember the soap....).

JOJOBA OIL: A little bit of jojoba goes a looooong way. Add a few drops to the palm of your hand, rub hands together to warm, then apply to face, hands, legs, arms, anywhere! Jojoba is the closest thing to the composition of natural skin oil, so it's great for every part of your body. Also great for dry scalps and chapped lips. Great option for a hot oil treatment for hair: microwave a small amount and then apply to hair (especially to the ends). Let sit for 30 minutes, shampoo/condition as usual.

UMBRELLA SPA: Yearning for a sauna? You need look no further than the bathtub in your (hopefully more quaint than questionable) hostel room. Run the bath hot, hot, hot, then climb in. Open an umbrella above your head (the possibility of bad luck is SO worth the risk) and let the steam collect under it, enveloping your mind and head in soft, thick warmth. Settle back, smile, and ignore the other backpackers banging on the door.

TEA TREE OIL: A natural antiseptic, tea tree oil is a potent oil from Australia. A drop mixed with water makes a great face toner, killing bacteria and germs and backpacking grime build-up. Add a few drops to a small tub for soaking tired feet. In a hot bath, tea tree oil will help congestion and cough, invigorating your senses!

TEA BATH: No matter where you are, herbs and spices are sure to be found. Shop around for some local treats to add to bathtime! Favorites of mine were Jasmine Tea Bath in China, Dried Rose Bud Bath in Morocco, Mint Tea Bath in Egypt, Rosemary Bath in Italy, and Lavender Bath in France. Be a tea bag and soak for a while!

AVOCADO: Not just for guacamole anymore! As a certain friend might vividly remember, avocado is filled with nourishing oils and is just the ticket to soothing dry, parched skin (especially sunburns). Slather it on, let it sit, rinse. Try not to use soap, as it will strip away the lovely oils that have soaked into your skin. Serve nachos or burritos for dinner in a dimly-lit room and hope that your friends don't notice your funny smell or greenish tinge.

On the road or nestled at home, have a backpacker spa night!

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Hollygrove Fresh Farm and Market helps Downtown's Neighborhoods Eat Healthy

It was just the final thing that renewed Wednesday as my community day. Riding home from another great bicycle (picnic) adventure through the French Quarters we stopped to visit friends outside of St Anna's church on Esplanade Avenue about three blocks outside of the French Quarter. They were buying beans to bring to a dinner party.

Of course there is always more to it. We talked biofuel growth between the Gulf Coast and South America. We talked Colombia. They may one day take us up on 'hotel-sitting' for us on the beach for a while. We would be honored and delighted to have more great representation and ambassadorship of New Orleans and The United States of America abroad.

Our friends were picking up their Weekly Produce Box from Hollygrove Market Esplanade Avenue - three blocks from French Quarter for visitors who want to still eat healthy great foods while traveling on a budget or with dietary restrictions (which New Orleans eating out does make somewhat more difficult and/or expensive than should be necessary these days).

Thanks St Anna's for remaining a beacon of human resoration now more than 5 years Post-k. We love the idea of one day having a weekly box delivered full of the Hollygrove Market's produce. But, that might mean changing the visit to St Anna's and we would not want to miss all the great comraderie which we get in public outdoor neighborhood (bikeable) locations.

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Inspiration and Small, Tight Circles

My husband has inspired me, as he oftentimes does. Today, he has inspired me with his blogging, and I am encouraged follow his example. The end of our constant motion does not mean that the journey has also ended.

But I miss covering ground. I miss walking long miles and tumbling into bed, feet and legs aching from hard use. These days I seem to be turning in small, tight circles, and it makes me feel a bit dizzy. My feet have nothing to say, it's my hands now that shriek and moan.

It has been so simple to slip back into the routines and seemingly-mundane activities of life in New Orleans. And yet, we are changed. Small, but substantial, alterations in our behaviors and patterns and conversations are constant reminders of new perspectives and experiences.

Memories from Honey Service Year bubble up with regularity, helping us to remember the significant and importance of fleeting, chance encounters with people and places that can unexpectedly change your life.


We are never without hummus; I make it from scratch, with dried chickpeas purchased at Mona's store.

We eat vegetables. A lot. And we are patronizing local markets and community gardens. I am also growing greens (root remnants of those purchased on a trip to the 5AM Vietnamese Market in New Orleans East, just as the sun began to rise over the soggy morning mist) and basil (from seeds collected in Cincinnati) and Kentucky oregano (a small transplant is courageously growing from an old tin can).

We have created a communal house in New Orleans, based upon concepts of respect and contentiousness and friendship. With more members of the household, we collectively use fewer resources and maximize the potential of shared space.

The emphasis that we placed on lowered consumption and materialism while on our journey has become part of our lifestyle; we recycle water, bicycle more often than not, and bring our own grocery bags everywhere we go. We try to buy only what we need, and resist (I have to work especially hard at this) urges of impulse and instant gratification spending. We try to live with intention, rather than being pushed and pulled and suckered into consumerist behaviors.

Chopsticks are used almost as frequently as forks, and we eat lettuce in our soup.


We have begun to serve as couchsurfing hosts; with each guest that stays with us, I recall the generosity and kindness of those who hosted us during our journey. Faith in humanity and trust in the human spirit is a feeling that can slip away if it is not nourished and encouraged; media and news sources are diligent in combating these positive feelings.

And yet, it all feels so distant. The memories slip further and further away, buried beneath tubes of caulk and glazier points and big rectangles of sheetrock and the last dregs of enamel paint in the can. We speak, as we learned to do on our journey, of the present, of the now, of right here. We dream of the future and craft our plans

With the fullness of the present and the future, there seems to be little time reserved for the past. And yet, it has a sweet and gentle way of slipping tendrils of poignant remembrance, patient contributions, and astute relevance into the evolution of our lives.

Onward we go, as the small, tight circles grow slowly larger.

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The New Orleans Transformation

We are part of a lot of projects in New Orleans. And we are huge supporters of many more.

This city still has something big to give the world.

We love couchsurfing.org and we are supporters of all sorts of arts and social activities. We want to do more than be fb updaters - we love to encounter people in person - real facetime is important.

We are idea people. We have business and arts and philanthropy ideas. Sometimes when we talk we need to just write down half and start two as businesses. The rest would be history.

Maybe that is what we will do.

In the meantime, we are counting buckets. Backets of water, backets of rain, backets of rooftar, backets of mr clean, and buckets of money (little small ones) with holes in 'em.

Today we laughed. 'It will be at least another five years,' I told Brittany's Aunt after dinner, 'before we go on another one-year round the world adventure.' we all giggled. 'Maybe.' B says.

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10,000 blog views by December 14 or by year's end (whichever one happens first)

Ok, we are about to get back to this thing.

We have been missing the blog. We talk about it. But somehow we are TOO BUSY and too whupped to ever have the energy at the end of the night to ever have what it takes to give back.

So this is about to change. One Goal to make this change is new: "10,000 blog views by December 14" or maybe New Year's. As our Year of the Honey Service Year comes to a close we want to remember, recant, reenlist, and reinvigorate the goals, activities, partners, and people we came to know, love, work with, or call friends.We are back in the USA. Very busy - working; yet, determined to stay true to principles from our trip and principles grown up in this blog.

What better way to do that than these short 'shout out' blogs.

So here goes. We are in New Orleans heading back to Colombia New Year's Eve. A lot has happened. This week was VOODOO EXPERIENCE in our neighborhood. Nathan's childhood music mentor Mr Payton passed away, it finally rained.

Spread the love. Help us make "10,000 blog views by December 14 or year's end" a reality.

Share our blog with those you know, love, are firends with who can benefit from its story.

Soemtimes it is an odd struggle finding home again...

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Bike ride to City Park, TaiChi at NOMA and the Sculpture Gardens, Abby Barnwell Gardeners

What do all these events gave in common: Bike ride to Voodoo, TaiChi at Museum, Free Sculpture Gardens, and the Abby Barnwell Gardeners???

They all are part of a wonderful free afternoon in one of America's greatest living cities - N'awlins ya'll!! Not a day passes without New Orleans Jazz playing, colors and flowers and weather, without good human interaction and dignity in our fellows. There are limitless options, too many, and we put ourselves against the ropes trying to achieve only the least of them: preservation of a few old structures, sacred properties and profane indignities of their management (by us humans).

One afternoon in a few short hours time we went for a bike ride out our own front yard. Within a mile of our home, we were riding around City Park. We had fun checking out great music, fun scene, and vibrant nightlife that goes with VOODOO Festival which has come to symbolize Halloween in New Orleans and Autumn's full arrival. Weather, like this year, is usually outstanding.

We were returning to the park for the third time this week. This is becoming a relaxing ritual; a good way to just pick up and stop after blowing full board all day. Earlier in the week we came to the NOMA Museum of Art to check out some wonderful permanent and temporary exhibitions and we found ourselves walking out the side gates (a recent treat for us not previously available to the public), directly into the Casino.

The Casino was always where you got popcorns, hotdogs, and other sundries as a kid - it has been given a total makeover. Our favorite part of the Casino was to walk to far side near a bridge to 'Boy Scout Island' where there is an old Sundial [in need of repairs on its hours]. Only recently has this sundial become surrounded by lovely gardens maintained by the Abby Barnwell Gardeners. This is another cherished site for us. It is so peaceful. Serene. The backdrop is a delight in urban husbandry - children playing, museums, kids trains, bayou, islands.

Every Wednesday throughout the year you can rent a bicycle or use your own and have a wealth of activities in downtown New Orleans' neighborhoods. The city is flat. Cars drive slow.

In the Fall, Wednesday's at the Square afford locals and visitors some of the best musical treats the world have ever accounted for. Period. Right across from Gallier Hall. Under the Oaks. Lagniappe - New Orleans' Style - a 'little something for nothing.'

Another recent afternoon we started out, riding our bikes hoping to see a 'second line.' We heard hors blazing through the afternoon clear skies. Instead, we arrived at JV practice of St Aug's Marching 100. Fearless small men below five feet vie for the attention of a small battalion of ensemble supporters and instructors. It is October, six months to prepare more.

Criss-crossing through the neighborhood, Halloween. Practically every stoop has its family. It is nice to remember how positive it can be still being in an African-American city. Families relish opportunities to meet and greet in streets.

Maybe you need an afternoon bike ride or walk? Where can you find peace? Where do old things become new. I suggest if you are in New Orleans you take a ride like ours, enjoying a rest under New Orleans Live Oak trees, enjoy a visit Free Wednesday's at New Orleans Museum of Art. Tai Chi at the Museum also happens Wednesdays (at 6PM $5 donation). The Besthoff (K&B) Sculpture Garden is always free (but sadly closes too early, except on Wednesdays, for most of us).

After you have wandered around the park see if you can find the old sundial behind the Casino building. The Abby Barnwell Gardeners can sometimes be found taking care of the flowers there. It is a nice story. Ask them. If they are not there, no one will mind if you pull a few stray grasses or weeds that may have popped up. Walk gently, baby flowers are growing!

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