I sent an email out to some people with pictures of the trip, but I'm trying to get the direct link figured out so everyone can get to those pictures from here... try this--

pictures so far


These are all from Asheville, the rest are on they way, expect to see the rest by the end of this week.

we made it!!! I'm in my living room... Rach and Jude are driving to their homes. We had a successful nights sleep at the Holiday Inn last night in NC, and a nice long 7 hour drive home today. I think we're all thankful for the space, and I'm so proud of us for enjoying eachother and dealing with eachother and taking care of eachother. Road trips with three can take a lot of work to WORK, but I must say we're leaving having gained so much in our hearts.

I've learned a whole lot from my friends Judy and Rachael, just by listening to them and asking them questions and seeing how they dealt with different situations/conversations with others. In Biloxi/New Orleans, we all cared so much and took interest in what others had to say. I've also learned so so much from the strangers I/we encountered in the south. Just about every place we went we met someone special.

I'll tell a quick story of our time on the way out of New Orleans on Thursday. We found a place to park on a street in the French Quarter. As soon as Rach opens the drivers side door, an italian man opens the door to his restaurant and invites us in. We were hungry, and so that decision seemed easy enough. It was a small italian restaurant, with newly put in reddish/purple carpet, and a few tables each with room for four. Rach and I tried an espresso and Judy got a cappaccino, drinking an espresso reminded me of the first time I tried one in Italy. it tasted exactly the same... after a packet of sugar is stirred in, it pretty much is pure coffee and kick! After our meal, we talked to the owner, asked him some questions. He used to be an Orphan in Italy, and when he was 21 he left for the united states and started working for a cruise line. then he opened an italian restaurant in florida. Just 4 months ago he moved to the place in New Orleans we were sitting in. He put the carpeting in himself, and explained what its like to run a business (teaching americans how to pronounce italian words... him cooking all the meals, consistency is important, he said). We asked if he'd keep our leftovers in the fridge til we got back, and he was glad to help us out in that way.

Next we hit the art galleries on Royal street. So much art and beauty. Deep passionate reds and vibrant burning oranges filled some of the paintings that stay in my head. We liked the art, but couldn't afford any of it, so we asked about any poster stores. Everyone told us about the only one on Royal street, 4 blocks down... so we went to find it. When we got there the doors were closed. We were bummed... looking in the window to the store packed with affordable prints of cool new orleans art. when we turned around a man was standing there holding up a key. "Would you like to get in? This is my store," our faces lit up as he went to unlock the door and turn on the lights. Right place at the right time--again! I bought some post cards of an artist I really liked, and then bought a poster for Judy's birthday present. Judy and Rach left the store to look for gifts for other people across the street while I paid for the poster... I started asking the man how he gets the prints to sell, and he said that this one was from a local artist here in new orleans who sells him the prints and then he sells them to us. He asked if i was here visiting or doing work... and I explained that I was doing work in St. Bernard. He looked up at me with a half smile and said he used to live in St. Bernard. His house was destroyed, but he was paying rent there, so he left. Now he lives near the airport. He started telling me stories about what St. Bernard used to be. "It used to be a safe town, and a long time ago, when I was in highschool, the boys and the girls went to different schools, people could afford to live there and everyone was friendly, there was lots of music and art." Just hearing about what St. Bernard used to be, made me smile... but it also made me start to ache a little. You'll see the pictures soon, but this place was a disaster. Every single house was flooded with atleast 12 feet of water, and buildings collapsed, floated into eachother, and are currently decaying with pieces of furniture inside, abandoned... or occupied by those trying to live there because they can't afford to move elsewhere. When I signed the receipt, he said "Thank you" and I said sure, thinking he meant thank you for buying something from his store... and then I looked up and saw that he meant, thank you for helping rebuild St. Bernard. And I hurried to respond, "oh, oh of course! i'm so glad i got to come here and see what's going on, and it's been such a positive experience feeding people and helping out, i feel fortunate to have been able to help."

I was walking toward the door when he sort of rushed ahead of me and picked out a postcard from the front, "Here, take this as a gift," and then he grabbed two more for Rachael and Judy. I thanked him... his gratitude was so enormous for my small bit of help that I just walked across the street with a lump in my throat. I gave the postcards to Rachael and judy and started crying. "He lived in St. Bernard, his house was destroyed, he wanted me to give you these." It just hit me walking around downtown where tourists still come, and the stores seem to be doing just fine... that EVERYone was affected. and me being there mattered. I'm so thankful for that experience.


I look forward to sharing the pictures with you... they're hard to stomach, some of them, but I think it will be best that people see what it really looks like now, and how much help is needed. If anyone reading this was considering helping down there, I can connect you to some great organizations, so please send me an email, it's worth it, coming from me.

Thanks for keeping up with us, we're all so safe and the only thing we're really missing is some sleep and time alone, which we'll all hopefully be doing in the next couple days. Take care!

Jodi

settle4more@gmail.com

A large exhale leaves my body as I watch cars speed past us on I-95. Judy’s driving, Jodi’s in the back filling in some Sudoku, and I’m in the passenger seat finally finding some (or a lot—our 22-hour drive home) of time to record my thoughts. The car’s an interesting place for Jo, Jude and I… The “three dynamic” or “three’s a crowd” saying can in ways feel apparent with a physical separation between the two front-seaters and the lone back-seat-sitter. (Thank God for Sudoku). In all seriousness though, the three of us have done a remarkable job talking through any awkward or uncomfortable feelings that may come along with the difficulty of traveling in three. And we’ve become closer because of it. I’m so proud of us!

We just left Savannah, GA where we stopped for a late lunch and found a beautiful town of quaint stores, cobblestone roads, and mossy weeping trees. (The image epitomizez those I have when reading great southern novels like classics by Faulkner).

I have to admit, even after such a fulfilling and meaningful trip, I’m excited to be coming home to a summer full of everything I could want—work at an awesome coffeehouse, a fabulous boyfriend, the time and space to do art/read/exercise, community dinners, a new endeavor working at a homeless shelter, and of course quality time with friends and family! This has been an incredible way to kick-start the summer, emphasizing the power that’s within me to do great things as often as I create the opportunities.

That type of drive and excitement to act positively and purposefully is something I really want to encourage in as many people as possible—hopefully for some of you, reading this blog will motivate such actions.

One of the most touching and emotionally challenging moments I experienced while in New Orleans took place while tallying the people in line for dinner as either residents or volunteers. The line moved somewhat slow, so when a person answered that they were a resident I took the initiative to talk a little more and offer some friendly words. I asked a lot of them if they lost their homes, and every single person I asked answered yes.

“Volunteer or resident?” I asked.
“Resident my whole life, volunteer the past 7 months” an older man with a crooked blue hat responded. “So you can count me for both.”
Unsettled by the tired and anguished look on his wrinkled face, I asked gently, “Did you lose your home?”
“More than my home is gone. I’m 72 years old and for the first time in my life I feel completely lost. I’ve lived here my whole life and now I’ve got no job, no home, and no family. I really don’t know what to do with my self. I’ve never felt this lost before.”
Now I had an almost regretful feeling that I had dug myself into a hole of stupid and helpless questioning that was unable to answer his deep despair. But I knew I couldn’t let him walk off to fill his stomach with such sour words as the last thing to fall off his tongue. I thought it was important to emphasize to this man who seemed to be at the end of his rope how vital it was for him to not give up hope. So I simply said, “Well, you’ve got to believe that at some point things will start looking up and getting better.”
To which he responded sort of sarcastically, “I’m glad you can have hope.”
Once he said the word hope, it hit me that it takes a lot more than hope for things to get better. “Look at yourself,” I said. “It’s not just about having hope… you’ve been volunteering for 7 months to MAKE it better, and that’s what we as people who have strength and courage do when something’s bad and needs to get better—we make it better—you’re making it better every day… So it’s not just about hope.”
“You’re right,” he said, and moved forward to fill his empty plate with food, his step still slow after another long days work, but perhaps a lighter look in his eyes.



This man was one of many I came in contact with who had not only lost hope, a home, a job, and family… but also a sense of purpose and stability in life. It felt good to be able to say something that potentially altered his outlook to an extent, but seeing such aimlessness in so many people who were clearly used to the regularity of their prior lives was so hard, especially because most of the residents in line were at least 75 years old. Serving wrinkled faces and bruised hearts—the elder people of New Orleans who were lucky if they had their life-companion in line with them—made me so heartbroken and sad. My stomach dropped to the floor every time an elder person (or any person, really…but especially the elder) tried to carry four to-go containers down the line with shakes in their arms and frustration across their face. It made me want to be as friendly and helpful as possible to do whatever I could to make it a little easier on these people. Seeing their struggle was so real and so deep and has had such a lasting effect on me. The pain is so unforgettable especially because it's clear that most of these people are at a point in their lives when a peaceful wind-down is due, yet the opposite seems to be taking place with a loss of everything regular and comforting, and a struggle and worry about their survival. I can imagine it’s hard enough to be at the age where many of the people you’ve known your whole life are passing away, plus some of your own physical and mental acuteness is starting to fail. I can’t even imagine being at that point in my life and then adding an additional struggle for survival and 3 meals a day. It just doesn’t seem like a fair or logical turn of events.

I’m not quite sure what there is to learn from such a devastating reality—what kind of “wise maxim” comes out of seeing such pain. I suppose we can learn that we must appreciate and be thankful for every bit of peacefulness, freedom, joy and opportunity that we have. But what is there to salvage of not just these people’s homes, but their hearts and dignities and faith that life can be a rewarding journey even in the face of the most devastating disaster? Are people who are near the end of their lives really capable to be open to this type of growth? I’m sure the answer is relative to individual people, however, many psychological studies have shown that has people grow older they become less capable to deal with high-stress situations. Facing up to that reality is so painful because it leads me to imagine the type of turmoil and stress that so many people, people who have become less capable of dealing with high-stress situations, are going through… The confusion and despair and sense of being lost… it just makes my heart sink and my eyes fill, leaving me with no greater desire than to hug these people and just be there to listen and try to offer whatever they may need. (If you have any input or ideas about this, please feel free to leave a message or email me at rachmddx@gmail.com)

I think it scares me that other people, the people who have been affected by the hurricane, may give up hope… because if I were in their situation, at least at this point in my life, the last thing I’d want to do would be give up or lose hope. It’s hard for me to be okay with the fact that some people DO give up hope because it makes me feel vulnerable that I’d follow in that trend, and that’s just not something I’d ever want to do. It’s threatening to be around the possibility of something out of our hands happening and just letting that be it, but that’s why I came down to do relief work—to encourage and help people believe that things are getting better every day…To be a part of what’s actually making things better, just like my 72 year old friend, resident and volunteer.

With the trip coming to a teetering end, the faces and struggles of the people I served will stick with me and stick out in my memory the most.

You may find these words somewhat touching or saddening or inspiring or excessive (I know this post is really long!) but an experience can only be felt or shared to a limiting extent when it’s done so vicariously. I urge you to experience it for yourself. When you help rebuild the neighborhoods and areas that were hit by hurricane Katrina, you help rebuild people’s lives.

Here are the names & websites of some trustworthy organizations that are always willing to take volunteers:
emergency communities - http://www.emergencycommunities.org/
habitat for humanity new orleans - http://www.habitat-nola.org/
common ground collective - http://www.commongroundrelief.org/
hands on network - http://www.handsonnetwork.org/hurricane-relief/


With Peace, Love and Encouragement,
Rachael

Hey everyone,

We're sitting in a coffeeshop right now in uptown New Orleans, and both Jodi and Rach are journaling. We're all exhausted but I wanted to take this wireless opportunity to talk about being here.

This trip has been so incredible (and a little bit surreal) so far, and I've just felt really free. We've met so many amazing people, from our travelling drummer friends on the Gulf Coast to our lovely international friends at the hostel to all the young, free spirits working at the Made With Love Cafe. It's been awesome talking to so many people, mostly just because their lives are so different from mine. For example, the guys that taught us how to play the african drums do not have normal lives by any means: they travel the world and had been to tons of exotic places, from Thailand to Turkey, just exploring and assimilating and finding what essentially makes them happy. Some of the people working at the Made With Love Cafe are just volunteering for the summer while still in college, some have graduated and just decided they needed to take a break to help others before continuing their studies, and for some of the others, working at the cafe is their entire life: they find satisfaction with the rafter-clad roof over their heads and the rewarding job of cooking for those hit hard by the hurricane. It's been so crazy to hear everyone's different stories and perspectives.

The other day we were driving through the 9th ward, just to take a look around. I remember saying 'this is unreal' and Rach replied that no, it WAS real, and that's what made it so horrifying. I won't try to explain the damage because I think pictures can do a better job. On our way out, we saw a man mowing his lawn and we pulled over and heard his story. He was one of those hit the hardest by the hurricane and also by the government's indifference. He told us that his sister, who has a brain tumor and diabetes, was stuck in the attic for a week during the flood, while he was stranded on a bridge, pulling people out of the water with ropes. FEMA didn't give him a trailer, he had no money, no car, and he was trying to get himself a plane ticket to Milwaukee to stay at a shelter he had stayed at for a while earlier in the year, but he couldn't afford it. We gave him a few rations that Sam brought in the car and a water bottle; he was gracious even though this was no luxury.

It's shocking to see what kind of damage still exists down here, almost a year after the hurricane. I still can't tell what's worse: the splintered wrecks of what used to be New Orleans homes with cars wedged upside-down between the house and the ground, or the completely levelled homes of Biloxi, with only a foundation left and a few tiles of an old kitchen or bathroom. All I know is that what we are doing here is such a great help, even if it's only for a few days with a few people. Every bit counts, and after observing and working at the Made With Love Cafe, I'm really seeing how by working together all of these caring people manage to make such a difference and feed those in need.

Uh oh, we're out of battery... but it's 12:05 am on June 14, which means I'm 19!! wooohoooo!

We're in the car... again. I'm just typing this up now, and we'll post it when we get some wireless!! It's hard to come by around here. So we've spent 2 days working in Biloxi, MS. The devastation is so hard to wrap my mind around. It doesn't even LOOK too horribly bad around here when you drive through the neighborhoods... except while most of the houses look okay from the outside (atleast now), almost all of them suffered from flooding. I don't mean to say everythings fine around here... because it certainly isn't. Everyday people clear out more stuff from houses and buildings and there is an endless amount of trash to be picked up all the time. The windows are broken in lots of abandoned buildings. Next to the McDonald's and Sonic's and other fast food chains that got put back together, there are whole buildings with roofs collapsed. Near the gulf, all you see are big signs for waffle house or olive garden, and the actual restaurants are nowhere to be seen. There's a gas station that is completely wrecked, and a souvenier shop that is three stories tall... the first story is completely wiped out except for the columns holding it up.

The first day we helped spray textured ceilings in a house that was already cleared out with new dry wall. Then we spray textured another ceiling in a womans house where the ceiling had collapsed and been fixed. We came back splattered with white paint, and feeling happy that we contributed in these small ways.

The next day we went to a woman's house who needed her hardwood floors ripped out in the entire house! This was HARD work. We're talking crow bars and hammers pulling wood with all our might. And a whole house worth of wood to get up! The woman's house got hit by a hurricane during the storm and she and her two kids stayed in the bathroom from 6 am to 4pm, when they came out, they're roof was collapsed in two rooms. Since then, she got her carpet removed and paid to get wood floors put in... but her wood floors were bubbling up because there was too much moisture still on the cement. So she needed some extra hands to help her with the work.

At camp biloxi many of the workers take off on sunday to do church. We decided it would be a good day to go to New Orleans and check out this kitchen I had found while researching places to volunteer. It's called the Made With Love Cafe in St. Bernard's outside of New Orleans. The drive there was SHOCKING. Things have been bad in Biloxi to the point of whole buildings and houses being completely gone and obliterated... but in St. Bernards and especially in the 9th Ward, right beyond where the levy broke, it just looked sooo horrible. There was 25 feet of flooding in this area... there are cars just scattered all over the place. We saw one truck that was upside down, and underneath and entire house. It didn't seem real that this was possible. I'm used to seeing the clean cut shapes of houses, their frames forming that triangle on top of the rectangle that you teach kids to draw when they're five... but the frames were bent, the rooms were disheveled, there were boats and fences wrapped up into the roofs that had collapsed or been blown away.

After the drive through St. Bernards... with no working traffic lights, and piles of rubble stacked higher than what was left of the buildings, we were so relieved to see the sign for "camp hope" where the cafe was located. Jason welcomed us in after a last minute call we made earlier that morning to see if we could volunteer. He was happy to have our help, a young guy, in his 20's or so. They just recently moved into the kitchen in an elementary school that had been destroyed, and we helped cook a meal for 450 people in the gymnasium. The meals were for volunteers and residents in that area. We had so much fun in the kitchen. The people in the place were mostly young. I met some fire fighters, one whose house was destroyed while he stayed during the storm as part of his job. He said the government doesn't pay attention to St. Bernards because it's not part of New Orleans. He said if it wasn't for people like us who were willing to volunteer, they would be in some serious trouble.

Given our amazing experience at the Cafe, we decided we wanted to spend more time there, and this morning we're driving back, we're leaving camp Biloxi to stay in St. Bernards. We found a great group of people in that kitchen, and we all just were so happy on the drive back to have been able to work there. I can't wait to show you all pictures because you wouldn't believe how much destruction there still is around here, almost a year later. So many people need help. I would encourage anyone who has the time to come down, to definitely come because this is such a phenomenal tragedy that our country has experienced, I feel like i'm more part of the history now that I've seen how bad it really is. And it's great to be able to feed people really really good food with a smile on my face.

With that I'm gonna go, thanks for reading all of this!


Jodi

PS- it's June 12th, Happy Birthday to Randy!!! (Rachael's Dad)

OH and one last awesome memory to share with you guys-- two nights ago we went to the beach in biloxi, i brought my guitar, and we ran into some guys with african drums! one of them was a professional and he had 5 drums, so he showed us all how to play them, and we learned a few rhythms! it's so much fun, I really want to buy a drum this summer. and it was beautiful on the beach, you could see the moon reflecting on the water. Okay, I love and miss many of you! Bye now.

Hello everyone,

Rach and Jodi have already recapped a lot of our stay in Atlanta, but there are a few things I wanted to add:

Yesterday we interviewed Steve, the associate editor of Paste magazine, a independently-run magazine featuring all kinds of musical artists, from obscure underground bands trying to just get out there to big names like Coldplay that still deserve recognition no matter how big they get. It was really great, I actually didn't know much about Paste or how Jodi had even gotten in contact with the editors, but I'm so glad I was a part of that. It was very inspirational to see how an independent company or organization can start and grow and become something that's truly appreciated by a positive, forward-thinking audience. Something Steve said really stuck out to me: I asked how he dealt with feedback from readers (both positive and negative) and he said that they definitely take it into account, but they won't change their magazine according to popular demand if that implies compromising their own objectives. He said that the magazine likes to lead the readers, which is something that Jodi, Rach, and I discussed in detail a little bit later. I think it's great that Paste prides themselves on this, because in order to make a change in society, you can't just cater to popular demands and continue to feed people what they are used to. It's awesome that they were able to create such a magazine that the whole staff cares about so much, despite their sometimes differing ideas.

Another of my favorites here in Atlanta: Ru! She is awesome. Just talking to her has been so much fun. She has short, kind of flippy/spiky hair and she wears dangly earrings all the time. She has really good English and she also speaks Spanish, French, Croatian of course, and some German. She has such a positive attitude about life in general and being in America, and I can tell she always enjoys new experiences, even though we've only known her for about a day. She was open to hanging out with us and trying the Tapas restaurant, and she even accompanied Jodi on the African drum despite her claim that she didn't know how to play. I think we'll all definitely keep in touch.

I'm also learning how to harmonize, which is kind of hard but I really like it and want to keep practicing!

Atlanta has been so much fun, and I'm so excited for Biloxi and the rest of the trip yet to come. Stay posted!

Judy

Hello from Atlanta!

This is Jodi... squeezing in a post before our check out at 11:45am. There's so much to reflect on, it's hard to sum it all up. Atlanta has been such a meaningful experience. We met lots of people at the hostel, I guess two days ago, and then yesterday after the gardens (see rach's post below) and the paste magazine interview -- which we'll re-write into this blog-- we came back to some people we had met at the hostel and talked for a while with our friend Ru. She's from Croatia and she is so much fun! Really intelligent, sweet, nice, wonderful person to be around, so we invited her out to dinner to get Tapas. We asked her lots and lots of questions about America and Croatia, and Atlanta, and she really opened up to us and had a great time with us. She had never had tapas before so each time they brought out a new plate she would make this face like "oooh how fancy!" I was also so happy to find out that she had taken an african drum class, and so have I! and she had her drum with her in her room. So of course, we took to the porch on the third floor with her drum and my guitar, and even though she had never played drums with guitar before, it sounded great! Simple and nice.

While we were on the porch, our friend Fisnik came to join us. Rach and Judy were singing beautiful harmonies to the songs I was playing (some of my songs... some indigo girls, death cab, postal service, dashboard... etc). We met another couple that I was looking for, they are from Colombia and have been together for 9 years and are professional choreographers. They said they would dance for us, but I think we got back after they had gone to sleep, so that was unfortunate. They were great people though, I got to practice mi espanol with them. After getting yelled at by the neighbors for playing our music too loud on the porch... we took to Ru's room, which was a room with bunk beds, that usually sleeps six, but she was the only one there. We got to see pictures of Fisnik's family in Kosovo and heard lots of devastating stories about the war and the deaths he's had to endure. I really learned a lot just listening to these people, not to mention how much fun they were to be with. I wished we could stay and hang out more, but we've got lots of work to do.

Rach was saying to me earlier how the further we get into this trip, the deeper it gets... And I think that's really true. We're getting deeper into the south, deeper into ourselves, deeper into this journey, deeper into the lives of people that we meet.

Yesterday we had some encounters with a few homeless people on the street... Rach gave one guy half of her sandwich because he was digging through the trash for food. Another guy came up to us right after that with flowers, he wanted money, but we didn't have any cash... he gave us the flowers anyway. Next a guy came up in a wheelchair (on the same road, within a minute of the last encounter), and asked us for water. I had a full nalgiene and figured it couldn't hurt... He drank half of it, and went on his way. I was happy to be able to hydrate him, and then we put the flowers in the nalgiene bottle. It was a really cool experience for me.

I think it's those little encounters that stick with me the most... SPEAKING of STICKING with me-- i was in the parking lot of Publix (grocery store) and i stepped in gum!! it dragged so far and it was sooo sticky, and i looked up in my embarassment and this lady was in her car making this "feeling sorry for me" face... and it made me laugh so much! people really interact with you in the south. they're not afraid or too busy to stop and roll down the window and say "that's the WORST! ... but it could be worse." It made stepping in gum so much funnier because this lady decided to join in on the moment since she saw it from her car. I just really like it here, and I'm so thankful for my experience here!

We're still working on pictures!!! I've got to go, thanks for staying in touch. I don't think we'll have much time/much internet access in biloxi, but we'll get pictures/reflections up after our 5 days there. Adios!

Jodi

Our time in Atlanta has come to an unwanted but inevitable end...for now. (I'll definitely be back to this city at some point). I have had such a fun, full, and thoughtful time in Atlanta with people of all ages, races, and nationalities. I'll recap on a few of my favorite moments and why they left a lasting impression.

Niki in the Garden: Beautiful mosaic sculptures amidst fresh, unique and cared-for flowers was enough to have me impressed, but to top that, the design of the gardens and arrangement of the plants was so carefully alligned and planned out that it was a truly masterful sight--one that brought me to a very thoughtful and quiet state. But to contrast (or compliment) this state of solitude were dozens of lively and entergetic kids running around making all kinds of silly coments and faces. I LOVED seeing such innocent enthusiasm in a place that offered a quiet thoughtfullness because it brought a mood of joy, delight and lightheartedness. Niki in the Garden was really a gift.

Tapas Sobroso: Imagine a large outside dining area with the skylight at that point just before darkness but the setting sun out of sight. Now add red, yellow, and oragne stung lights across the sky, and matching candles on the table. Wild plants overflowing their pots and friendly servers who took the time to get to know you a little. Not to mention, festive latin music--our favorite. All of this, AND awesome company. While staying in the hostel, we met a wonderful 21 year old girl named Ru who's from Croatia... We saw her on our way out and invited her to dinner with us. The four of us had such an awesome time! Ru, Jodi and I had never actually eaten at a tapas restaurant so we were taking lots of pictures of the fantastic food and savoring every last bite. The meal was topped off my a chocolate fudge cake to die for!

These were only two of my favorite lasting memories of Atlanta.... I'll save the rest to share in person so Jodi and Judy can leave their favorite moments too before we head off to Biloxi.

We don't know if we'll have any internet while in Biloxi so if not, we'll talk with you in about a week!!

I hope you're having a lovely day.
Fondly,
Rachael

Hey everyone!

So far Atlanta has been awesome, yesterday we just explored downtown a bit and we checked out the Atlanta Underground, a mall that's true to its name: it's completely underground! I think we got a pretty good feel for the city and now we are ready to put our jam-packed plan into action.

Last night was a lot of fun, we went to the Urban Grind, a new and definitely up-and-coming coffeeshop right off of Marietta Street. Jodi got to play a lot, which was awesome, and there were only a few other musicians, so the scene was pretty casual. We got Jake's ice cream and wrote in our journals and I did some oil and chalk pastels because I had been wanting to for a few days (haha).

After we got back from the Urban Grind, we sat at the table in the hostel dining room and talked with Fisnik, a spunky guy from Kosovo for a really long time about politics mostly, and religion, and some other cool stuff. He is full of spirit.

Now we are about to go to the Niki in the Garden exhibit, so we'll keep you posted!

-Judy

Hey everyone!

So far Atlanta has been awesome, yesterday we just explored downtown a bit and we checked out the Atlanta Underground, a mall that's true to its name: it's completely underground! I think we got a pretty good feel for the city and now we are ready to put our jam-packed plan into action.

Last night was a lot of fun, we went to the Urban Grind, a new and definitely up-and-coming coffeeshop right off of Marietta Street. Jodi got to play a lot, which was awesome, and there were only a few other musicians, so the scene was pretty casual. We got Jake's ice cream and wrote in our journals and I did some oil and chalk pastels because I had been wanting to for a few days (haha).

After we got back from the Urban Grind, we sat at the table in the hostel dining room and talked with Fisnik, a spunky guy from Kosovo for a really long time about politics mostly, and religion, and some other cool stuff. He is full of spirit.

Now we are about to go to the Niki in the Garden exhibit, so we'll keep you posted!

-Judy

Hi guys,

Just so you know, we're having trouble uploading pictures because of all the different wireless connections. We'll create a picture-log as soon as possible and put the adress on this site!


We're in Atlanta (HOTlanta) about to explore this huge city. The hostel we're staying in is a really nice 3-story quaint little house with stained glass windows and a big bell in the front yard. The location is pretty central with a 3 stop subway ride into the downtown. We opted to stay in a private room for about 10$ extra each so we can lock up our stuff and feel safe about it. (I'm sure our mother's are happy about this :) )

There's an (almost) world famous open mic venue at an intimate place in Decatur, GA called Eddie's Attic. We managed to find the place, and Eddie was nice enough to squeeze Jodi in as the last performer...she did a great job!--as always. The whole performance was really impressive with tons of acts from all across the country, each bringing their own unique sound to the floor. They have a cool system where each night there are three finalists and then a winner for the evening receives 60$ cash. From there, the winner is entered into a bracket that becomes an open-mic tournament starting in October. The grand prize winner receives 1000$! I thought that was a really awesome way to enhance the quality and grade of open-mic performers all the while, rewarding them for their talents.

I'm feeling better in terms of my "deep sinus infection". I've been taking anti-bodics twice a day and the coughing has subsided. Hooray!

Tomorrow we have a jam-packed day. In the morning we're visiting the Botanical Gardens where an art exhibition is located aside numerous exotic plants. I'm really excited about that. Afterwards, we set up a 50 minute tour of CNN for 2pm, and our PASTE magazine interview is at 4:30. We'll be sure to post some of the questions and answers--hopefully bringing some inspiration to independent art, business, and living. ;). THEN, we're off to a coffeehouse for a guided theology discussion that should be really interesting. If we're feeling up to it we might go to one of the hoppin' clubs in the "underground city".

Hopefully before we leave Atlanta we'll find more time and space to update and reflect. We've each been journaling a lot individually--drawing pictures, taking poloroids (camera provided by the wonderful, generous, and missed kathleen), cutting and pasting things from flies of places we visit, and of course--writing our most INTIMATE thoughts. :)


Tonight we went to a small coffee shop that just got it's start. It was cool to see a place beginning and really positive about their future and goals. URBAN GRIND was the name of the coffee shop and if you stop by Atlanta, it's on Marietta St--> support a local business!!

Well thanks for stopping in. Keep posted for pictures and more updates!


LOTS OF LOVEEEE
Rach!