New Orleaaaans

So as I sit in the airport at 2:30 New Orleans time, 3:30 home time I figured it would be a good idea to blog and pass the time until our 4:10 flight to Charlotte.

All I can really say about this weekend is wow. This conference "Rebuild the Gulf Coast, Rebuild America" was really an eye opening experience. I knew that there were still struggles going on down here from the after math of not only Hurricane Katrina, but also Rita and Ike, but I had no idea to what extent these struggles truly were. Unfortunately we missed the tours of the regions of devastation, but just by the ride from the airport to the hotel, and the trips to restaurants around New Orleans I was able to get a little taste of what has been happening here.
The speakers at the conference were great, they did an awesome job of getting their point across, and really had an impact on how I now view the situation of what is going on in New Orleans. Also, Dr Scott Meyers-Lipton was a great host for the conference, he was so nice and really helped in making our situation there (which had the potential to be filled with confusion regarding registration and the hotel) to be truly stress-free and enjoyable.

I so badly want to come back here to do service, and hopefully we can plan a trip to do something about that.

One of the main focuses of the conference was the promotion of HR 4048, a bill that was designed to help rebuild the Gulf Coast by creating jobs and restoring infrastructure. This bill really is an exciting model for reconstruction, and could potentially serve as a model for rebuilding the entire country. So there are a couple of ways that Keri and I are planning on promoting this bill on our campus and in our region, and hopefully all of you guys are willing to jump into this with us. We also met Bonners from Hobart that are interested in networking with us, and that looks to be really exciting as well.

I have so much to say about what I experienced this weekend, but since I already wrote you guys a novel, I'll save the rest for our next meeting.

B.Love
Amanda