Back From New Orleans

by crolfer on Jul 12, 2008 10:23 PM EDT

Hey all, We got back today at about 8:00 PM Central Time... left about 5:00 AM, but went the wrong way for two hours.

Let's start with the trip down:

Left early Sunday morning and made it to Nawlins in about 14 hours. Interesting story on the way down there... Saw a family of three in the back of a pickup drinking beer... This includes a kid who was probably 12.

Anyway, we took 31 youth and 8 adults. In my group we had about 15 people including only 3 guys (including me). We worked in the Lower Ninth Ward on a small black baptist church called Greater New Jerusalem Baptist Church. We grouted tiles and after covering up the floor with paper, the real work began. After setting up a rickety old scaffolding, two other people and myself scraped and mudded the ceiling and sprayed it with a mud hopper. We worked a good 7 hours per day for 5 days. The walls were also scraped and mudded and a mosaic was framed with stained plywood.

We took one night to go down to the French Quarter and had some great fun. We ate at a Cajun restaurant called Mulate's (I had Blackened Catfish and we all got to try alligator which tastes like chicken), and then got Beignets and walked along the river. New Orleans certainly has some... Interesting shops... And no guys, sorry but I felt that getting smashed and STD'd on a church mission trip might have been a BIT inappropriate... :D

Here are some pics:

Holding a Lizard During a break:

UP ON THE SCAFFOLDING:

I never realized how great private bathrooms and showers are... I'm happy to answer any and all questions!

0 recs | Comment 32 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

just two questions:

how do you go the wrong way from New Orleans? did you drive into the ocean?
and whats with the O’s shirt?

welcome back Crolfer. you did good work kid.

please dont shit on my dreams. i dont want shit on my dreams.

by Charlie Scrabbles on Jul 12, 2008 10:59 PM EDT 0 recs

Righto

Wrong way… not really sure… I was sleeping… I think we just went west too early which took us away from 55.

O’s shirt- Played little league and it was a shirt I didn’t mind ruining. I wouldn’t have wanted to ruin a Reds shirt… I took my Reds hat tho… Did not actually wear that too often… I saw it way too much for me to safely wear it if you know what I mean.

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 12, 2008 11:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

Caption for that scaffolding picture

“SHOW US YOUR TITTIES!”

Seriously dude, you gave out some beads, right? It’s all about the recovery of the area.

by Brendanukkah on Jul 13, 2008 1:00 AM EDT 0 recs

Lets see, 15 in your group...3 guys means 12 non-guys

Now I’m assuming that means 12 women…pretty good odds even for a guy who wears an Orioles shirt. Sooooooooooooooo – lets hear about ‘El Crolfer -Conquistador’ ! Any babes ? C’mon Crolfs, we won’t tell your Mom.

"When I got my award, I just wore my usual stuff," Dunn said.
"Was it for the Reds organization or all of baseball?" Bruce said.

by Madville on Jul 13, 2008 7:13 AM EDT 0 recs

Not so much. Besides our youth minister has a rule that if you aren't dating before the trip, you can't be dating during it.

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 13, 2008 3:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

but trips like this cause romance

everytime i have taken a school trip somewhere and was single, i ended up with someone. Generally she turned out to be a fat ugly girl with a terrible laugh, but still…

The Dusty Path to the World Series!*

*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.

by justin007000 on Jul 13, 2008 8:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

guess I was working on the task at hand too hard eh?

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 13, 2008 8:42 PM EDT up 0 recs

"task at hand"

“no girlfriend”

honk honk!

please dont shit on my dreams. i dont want shit on my dreams.

by Charlie Scrabbles on Jul 13, 2008 10:46 PM EDT up 0 recs

har har

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 13, 2008 10:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

Good Stuff

What were the people you met from the area you were working in up to? Are there still lots of buildings in the community that are in disrepair? Is Katrina still an active topic or have people more or less got back to normal routines?

Alligator. Nice. I just had frog legs for the first time. Also like chicken. Fishy chicken.

Tanzen!

by Verka Serduchka on Jul 13, 2008 7:23 AM EDT 0 recs

Lower 9th Ward is the poorest part... Most houses are still totally ruined or gone.

Jobs are still kinda scarce too. And Katrina is still a pretty active topic at least with the people we talked to.

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 13, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

did the whole NOLA recovery thing freshman year of college

looks/sounds like you had a better time than I did. And that the city is in a lot better shape. It’s an absolute tragedy how everyone in the US has slept on New Orleans since it fell out of the news cycle. Hat tip and a (virgin) cocktail to you for doing something about it.

...because there's already someone posing as Jacob Brumfield

by Cy Schourek on Jul 13, 2008 9:23 AM EDT 0 recs

i had alligator at an alligator farm in cuba

it does taste like chicken. The one i had was too chewy though, probably because the food in Cuba is god-fucking-awful. If you like to travel to eat well don’t go to Cuba, because the best resturants they have are still a few steps below applebees. But if you want to see a crubmling socialist system with lots of propaganda (which was fascinating) and understand what it is like in a 3rd world country, I highly recomand Cuba, especially for a study abroad because you really dont’ understand it as a tourist.

The Dusty Path to the World Series!*

*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.

by justin007000 on Jul 13, 2008 12:58 PM EDT 0 recs

Great jorb!

It warms my embittered heart just a little to see there are still good people out there doing good things. That said, I’m with Madville – 12 “non-guys” and no stories? I hope your unwillingness to call them girls or women doesn’t mean what I fear it might. I’ve been to New Orleans (a long time ago), and saw plenty of “non-guys”.

sig lines are for suckas

by jch24 on Jul 13, 2008 1:30 PM EDT 0 recs

the non-guys were definitely girls...

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 13, 2008 3:40 PM EDT up 0 recs

no trannies?

The Dusty Path to the World Series!*

*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.

by justin007000 on Jul 13, 2008 11:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

How were the trannies in Cuba?

by Fat Vegas Alan on Jul 13, 2008 11:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

do not believe so..

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 14, 2008 9:15 AM EDT up 0 recs

your church needs more diversity

if it were a Unitarian youth group there would have been at last one tranny.

The Dusty Path to the World Series!*

*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.

by justin007000 on Jul 14, 2008 9:37 AM EDT up 0 recs

Is your youth minister married?

I mean what’s the deal here…no dating if you weren’t dating before? I have some very sweet memories of my DYF group outings. My church was ‘The Church of the Thirteenth Disciple’ (Hence Disciple Youth Fellowship) – at my church for a love offering of $500 a year you got a plaque with your name on it, confirming your status a The thirteenth Disciple. For $1,000 a year you got the plaque and picture of DaVinci’s Last Supper with your face photoshopped right in the area where Mary Magdalene had been purposefully left out…and on and on.
Anyway our youth minister was a reformed pedophile who always ‘looked the other way when I was hold a girl’s hand etc.” Of course I wasn’t in city where VooDoo is a predominant religion…

"When I got my award, I just wore my usual stuff," Dunn said.
"Was it for the Reds organization or all of baseball?" Bruce said.

by Madville on Jul 13, 2008 11:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

yup, he's married... and prettty young and cool.

And I don’t think any of us youth have $500 to buy plaques…

People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.

by crolfer on Jul 14, 2008 9:14 AM EDT up 0 recs

You were in NO....

I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities to make $500 the hard way.

sig lines are for suckas

by jch24 on Jul 14, 2008 10:01 AM EDT up 0 recs

was gay jesus around?

The Dusty Path to the World Series!*

*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.

by justin007000 on Jul 14, 2008 5:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

gay jesus gives a whole new connotation to the Rapture

and the Second coming!

"When I got my award, I just wore my usual stuff," Dunn said.
"Was it for the Reds organization or all of baseball?" Bruce said.

by Madville on Jul 15, 2008 6:05 PM EDT up 0 recs

Crolfer, my son, divertist thou eyes

because I like ‘em legal, that’s what the Catholics always get wrong about my true law. Anyways, a very little known fact is that the term “rapture” is not even the word that was supposed to appear in the book. Along with many other mistakes from the Greek to English translation, the “rapture” was actually meant to be the “rupture” and it was in reference to a particularly difficult transition I made from being a “top” to a “bottom” (with Lazarus, no less, talk about rising from the dead shoo-wee). Well, it goes without saying that little switcheroo would change the complexion of the entire passage. So, the English monks of the time (a particularly uptight gaggle of latent fairies) concocted this “rapture” business to divert the attention of the lay people away from my truth. But this is not the proper forum for a lesson. Oh, and thanks for helping out in N.O. It’s one of my favorite towns to get down with some mortal hunks o’ meat. Figures, Dad is always trying to wipe out the places that are the most fun. Tootles.

W.W.Q.S.Y.D?----What Would the Queer Son Of Yaweh Do?

by Gay Jesus on Jul 16, 2008 4:02 PM EDT up 1 recs