Blogs from Mississippi, United States, North America - page 32

6:20PM Second day of Hurricane Katrina relief/cleanup. I was hammering all day. We were taking plaster off walls of a few rooms in the stadium that the Salvation Army wants to turn into some form of bedrooms. We used sledgehammers and pickaxes and hammers all day. We also took a walk midday. Talked to some people. Went down a road by the stadium. (Today, I realized the stadium lights at the end of the field have been blown to an angle.) These are the things I saw spraypainted on houses/signs on houses: "Katrina Sucks," "Surviving Katrina: Priceless," Tresspassers will be shot," "Looters will be shot," "No flooding," Insurance company names "State Farm," "Nationwide," others, addresses, phone numbers, family names, and the strange markings of the national guard, numbers of dead, animals found, etc. Things on the ... read more

(Near Atlanta, GA) Here are our landmarks: increased traffic, lit-up billboards, the passing time. The things I carry: sleeping bag, a Spanish play, a memoir, wallet, pillow, sweatshirt, old jeans just bought at the Salvation Army store, t-shirts, gloves, thick rubber boots, towel, flip-flops, bathing necessities. The people I'm with: Rachel (my roommate), Rose (from Ireland), Tamara (from Cocktails, my a cappella group), Tom (my Methodist minister and a campus chaplain), and 108 (or so) other USC students neatly packed into two charter buses. We're going to Biloxi, Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina hit weeks ago, tearing Biloxi to pieces, overrunning New Orleans (and much of the Gulf Coast) with mud, muck, and water. A madhouse. We saw the images on CNN, Fox News, Time magazine, internet sites. Looting. Dying. People stranded on houses. Stuck in the Superdome. ... read more

As I travel, I seek out places that have high-speed internet access at little or no cost. My stay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast led me to search the downtown area of Long Beach, Ms. I found a locally owned and operated coffee shop in what used to be the bank. The photos show that this was a Hancock County Bank Building. Now there is a hair salon upstairs in the back, and a coffee shop downstairs where the bank tellers used to be. This is a wonderful place to sit, drink coffee, and do internet business. The coffee and pastries are good, but the best part is that this feels like a small-town coffee house. It is not a national chain and doesn’t have the slick marketing where everything in the place is an attempt ... read more

We at lunch at Steve’s Marina Restaurant in Long Beach, Mississippi. This is a real restaurant with a broad menu of seafood, steaks, and Italian dishes. The restaurant is literally on the gulf on poles next to the Long Beach Yacht Club’s pier. Our meals included roast beef Po-Boy sandwiches, fried catfish, spinach and artichoke dip, and eggplant in a shrimp creole sauce. These dishes were on a lunch menu and cost $7 and $10. Dress is casual and so is the atmosphere. This is a good place to eat if you are in the area for one day and are looking for an authentic place where the locals eat. There were several people at lunch wearing white shirts and ties - obviously not tourists. We fit in with our soft-collar shirts and casual shorts. There ... read more

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end. --Ursula K. LeGuin February 15, 2005, Tuesday. It was a foggy morning, as we drove the “trace” and stopped at Mississippi Craft Center. We continued driving to the French Camp, a public “religious” academy. In this village, we had lunch outdoors with homemade bread for our sandwich and soup, a neat place. The trace is slow, did I say 50 mph? It isvery beautiful and scenic for 10, 20, 30 even 40 miles but………….. Bob loves it???? I drove for 90 miles on the trace, to… would you believe, Tupelo, Elvis Presley’s birthplace. “Much to do about nothing…” To add insult to injury, they charge, just absurd! Bob loved it? Oh well! Bob continued driving ... read more