Articles by Volunteers

by Eugene Yacobson
Photos by Gordon Soderberg, New Orleans Voices For Peace

On May 2, far from the crowds and caravans of JazzFest, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School in the Lower 9th Ward was filled with the sounds of brass, blues and general jubilation. The occasion was the 1st Annual Peoples’ Festival, organized by Common Ground Relief, and featuring such JazzFest heavy-hitters as Big Chief Victor Harris and Fi Yi Yi, the Rebirth Brass Band and Michael Franti with Spearhead – all playing free of charge.

Lasting for more than four hours, the festival raised both funds and spirits - $4,500 of the former (all in donations from attendees of the concert), the latter in quantities indefinable. But the occasion had an even deeper purpose than raising money for the Lower 9th’s rebuilding efforts: to reflect the spirit of a different side of New Orleans, and to demonstrate that, for all its post-Katrina troubles, the neighborhood is back.

The venue and performers were symbolic of the Peoples’ Festival’s intentions. The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology, which remains the only educational institution in the Lower 9th, was gutted and re-opened in 2006 by hundreds of volunteers defying open threats of arrest, becoming a nexus of hope for further grassroots rebuilding efforts.

A decidedly unusual site now greets visitors to the Lower Ninth ward: lots which have remained mostly vacant since August 29, 2005, have been transformed into a village of bright pink cubes.

Formally unveiled on December 3, the structures, which are constructed from scaffolding covered in custom tarpaulin, cover 12 city blocks. The installation will remain in place until January 8, open for visitors to walk through during the day, or drive through at night, when they are dramatically illuminated from below. The cubes represent homes simultaneously past and future. In their current, scattered state, they reflect the post-Katrina devastation. As contributions are made to the show’s organizers, the Make it Right Foundation, the cubes will be gradually rearranged into a neighborhood, symbolic of the homes that can and will be built.

On November 2-4, the quiet, abandoned streets of the Lower 9th were filled with N.O.P.D. vehicles, strings of parked cars, and the sounds of jazz and people. All of this was brought to the Lower 9th Ward by Creative Time's production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a tragicomedy directed by Christopher McElroen and Paul Chan, starring Wendell Pierce (of HBO's "The Wire"), J. Kyle Manzay, T. Ryder Smith, Mark McLaughlin, Tony Felix, and Michael Pepp. The production was enormously successful, and because of the unprecedented response, a third day was added in the Lower 9th to accommodate the many people who were turned away the first few nights. Even on the extra night, the number of people who attended were in excess of 400.

By Devin McNulty
Photography by Mavis Yorks

NEW ORLEANS - On Wednesday, July 11th the prominent anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan visited Common Ground as part of her eighteen city “Journey for Humanity” tour. Sheehan and her caravan met with Common Ground leaders and volunteers at the Common Ground Relief's Distribution Center in the Lower Ninth Ward.

by Kate Marvin
Photography by Mavis Yorks

On the eve of July 5th, the first night of the Essence Festival concert series, I had trouble getting to the Superdome. I had tickets, but no car, and when I walked to Canal St. to hail a cab, I couldn’t find one. At 10pm, after a long trial with public transportation, I finally made it to the concert. I might have given up, if I hadn’t known that Senator Barack Obama was going to speak there. I wanted to see him in person. I wanted to hear what he had to say to the thousands of primarily African American people who came to celebrate at the Essence Festival. I wanted to know what he would say about New Orleans.

By Aletheia Higgins
Photography by Mavis Yorks
June 28, 2007

Jeh has three days left with Common Ground. At midnight tonight, he and nine other members of the collective will leave from New Orleans to drive to the first ever United States Social Forum in Atlanta, GA. After the forum, Jeh will not return to New Orleans with the others, but will begin another chapter in his life in Berkeley, CA. He has been a dedicated member of Common Ground for nearly sixteen months, since March 2006 and says, “I have seen Common Ground go through a lot of changes… a lot of ups and downs.” He is both happy and sad to be leaving, he tells me, “I am tired but hopeful.”