what an amazing day. rumor has it the heat index was at 110. i believe it.
the local abc news covered our visit today, and we learned that the man whose house we’re working on this week is actually a drummer from boston. we were all happy to find a boston/music connection in new orleans. don’t know if we’ll get to meet him.
the house is beautiful, and i’m sure he’ll be pleased to be home. it’s the jewel of the neighborhood; the surrounding houses are in various states of disrepair. there are a few that have been renovated, but the vast majority are crumbling, and still feature the ubiquitous spray-painted X that tells if the house has been checked out since katrina. the four quadrants around the X tell the story of the house, as found by the crews who went in to inspect. at the 12-o’clock position is the date of entry. at 3-o’clock, any known hazards (a gas leak, for example). some of these read “NE,” which we’ve learned means “no entry.” the 6-o’clock position is for the number of dead found inside, and the 9-o’clock is the name of the group who inspected the house. these marks are an ominous reminder of this city’s all-too-recent history, and proof that so much remains to be done.

house behind the house we're remodeling
it’s such a shame that we can only be here a week. i can see why juliana came back.
- work-day recap - June 23, 2009
- Berklee in Nola, Again - June 22, 2009
Roya
Hi, Janelle.
Thanks for incluidng the ABC interview. It was great to see the team in action. It’s so easy to fall in love with New Orleans; keep up the good work.
Jenna
This is great, Janelle. I cannot believe how similar a lot of it looks to when I was there in ’07.