By Nick Pittman, '13
This Spring Break I traveled to New Orleans with 10 other service-minded Reedies through SEEDS to work on a Habitat for Humanity site, helping to build a new home in a neighborhood hit particularly hard six years ago by Hurricane Katrina. We arrived to find a bare site with nothing more than a sturdy concrete foundation; we left having built a raised floor and several exterior walls. We as a group had a huge variety of experiences: impromptu large-scale dance parties, strolls through New Orleans' beautiful French Quarter, a drive through the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward, and an incredible parade of street musicians and dancers. We arrived as a pale group of Portlanders who barely knew each other and left a tight-knit, well-sunned group warm with the glow of meaningful work.
With just a week in New Orleans, we were determined to see and do as much as possible in the time we weren't working on our house. We attended Super Sunday, a celebration after Mardi Gras, and watched an incredible parade of intricate feathered costumes and spontaneous dancing, fueled by warm bottles of beer sold cheap from cars. We took a boat tour through a beautiful swamp and learned firsthand that alligators prefer marshmallows to hot dogs. And we spent an evening walking through the famous French Quarter, admiring the Creole architecture while dodging drunk tourists and chuckling at the strip clubs' signs ("Tits 'n' Whiskey", read our favorite one).
The work on our Habitat site was just as enjoyable. Joined by a group from Portland's own Concordia University, we spent four days mixing mortar, painstakingly forming cinder block columns, and building a floor and walls from scratch. Our Habitat leaders, Catfish and Elisa, kept us entertained with humorous stories and plenty of Taylor Swift cranked up loud on the worksite boombox ("Mean" became our group anthem).
But I know I speak for everyone when I say the most meaningful part of our trip was experiencing the indomitable spirit of the people of New Orleans. Against the backdrop of a city still largely blighted by Katrina we talked to some of the coolest and friendliest people we'd ever met. There's a spirit in New Orleans you can never know until you've visited and felt it. Anyone we ran into wanted to know all about our trip and thank us for coming down to help out. A man next door to our site invited us back to his house for a full lunch after talking to us for just two minutes (we unfortunately couldn't take him up on his offer). I've never seen anything like it in other American cities. In two of my classes this semester we've discussed if New Orleans, sitting in a flood plain many feet below sea level, should be rebuilt, given the certainty of further flooding. After being there for only a week I don't see how we can do anything else.
Reedies have been going to New Orleans over spring break through SEEDS for the past four years. We got a lot of financial support from the President's Office, Student Activities, International Student Services, various staff and faculty, our friends, and our extended families. We couldn't have gone without this help and are all grateful for it. Look for applications for next year's trip in the coming fall. This has been one of the high points of my Reed experience so far, and I'd highly encourage anyone interested to apply.
