Follow the White Rabbit

Until further Water news, go to Indie after school projects to see what we are up to, especially but not only, ALYCE.

The Pause Button

As we are now in the edit phase, but also resuming ALYCE, there will not be daily posts here - though we should get a few framegrabs online - keep checking back every few days and we'll keep you informed as to events and progress.
A propos of which, Shane was given a community service award by Clay laugier and CRAZY IDEA for his help editing and filming. Way to go Shane!

GUMBO STOP PRESS

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL!!!! Latest news reveals (sorry) gap in below mentioned gumbo recette - it was pretty good anyway - but here's the correction:
From Barbara herself
Uhhhhh! I forgot to add a can of diced tomatoes in the recipe. Bobby informed me of that after seeing your blog. A few other little, bitty things I didn't write down were: salt, pepper, cajun seasoning, and gravy darkener. We use Tony Cachere's or Zatarine's cajun seasoning. You might not have those particular brands in NY but any brand will probably do. We use Kitchen Bouquet (a liquid gravy darkener that contains a few spices) in gumbo, soup and gravy. Sorry I didn't mention the seasoning or gravy darkener. They weren't on my recipe card and I totally forgot about them. The cajun seasoning is a must have in all cooking around here. The gravy darkener isn't really necessary, we just like our gumbo more brown colored than red (sometimes we even use coffee - brewed already, not grounds - to darken a gravy).
so there you have it. Phew!

And the Winner is...

By quasi unanimous decision, the best meal of the whole trip was Bobby's gumbo, so here, courtesy of Barbra, is the recipe:
Chicken Gumbo

3 - Tablespoons flour
3 - tablespoons cooking oil (Bobby says earl, I say oil)
2 - onions (chopped)
3 - cloves garlic (chopped)
1 - 8oz pack cut, frozen okra
1 - small can tomato sauce
1/2 - bell pepper (chopped)
2 - stalks celery (chopped)
Chicken breast - boiled & cut in pieces (strain & save the water for
broth)
Smoked sausage - (how much you want?) cut & fried to get grease out,
then drain.
Water - use the water chicken was boiled in and add more water if
needed to bring amount to 6 cups.

Brown flour in cooking oil on medium/high heat until its pretty dark, stirring continually so it doesn't burn (that's called a roux ---- sometimes you might have to add a little more cooking oil). Add seasoning & okra and fry until seasoning wilted. Add tomato sauce and mix well. Next add water/broth, chicken & fried sausage. Bring to a boil and then lower fire. Cover and let cook on low for an hour or so. Be sure to stir often so it doesn't stick or burn. Don't forget to cook some rice. Good Luck.
Your cajun buddy
Barbara

Good Morning, Good Morning

Alright, I arrive... In more ways than one, believe me. Over the days following our return, I have had little chance to reflect; life, it seems, is an unstoppable force, and no attempt on my part to stave it off for another moment proved successful. But yesterday, stumbling into the great room after another afternoon's fun with the delta lab, and was immediately accosted by images of our trip, my memories, posted life-size on the screen. Dimensions of the experience manifested themselves in the colors and forms playing across the screen, emotions unfelt washed over me, pouring out onto the floor. Everything connected and broke at the same time, I effectively re-experienced the entire journey, and man, was it a doozie. But, as they say, if it hurt, it was probably worth it. And it did hurt. Damn cockeyes. Anyway, I seem to shirking my responsibilities by droning on as I am...The five questions, I am reminded. Five questions concerning all the many facets of the trip. Righto.

Funniest moment: I have to say, there were a lot of them. Among my favorites, this one shines the brightest. Me, in shotgun, minding my own business, playing rise o' nations. Taima, driving and kvetching, as always. Robin and Russel hammering Bowie in the far back. Shane and Trevor, battling over punch buggies, cruiser bruisers, cockeyes and mustangs. Which would have been fine. If they hadn't been battling for the chance to hit me the hardest. So there I was, eyes glued to a screen, somewhere in "who the hell gives a flying crap" North Carolina, getting punched every three seconds... cause if you think about it, between all of the different cars in the games, there are very few that you can't get punched for. Every three seconds, Shane or Trevor digging their knuckles into my bicep. It started to wear on me. Quickly. But, I am a level minded man, it takes a little more than a couple of pansy punches to break me. But then, it happened. For some reason, maybe there was a special car of some sort, maybe Russel egged them on, I don't know, all I know is I was playing and happy one moment, and the next moment Trevor and Shane hit me with a super double mega-zord punch, pounding the living crap out of my already tender arm. I paused, reflecting. I put the laptop down, sighing. I slipped into the far corner of the front of the car. I settled my nerves and prepared for the battle. I faced my prey. Time slowed. They laughed, long, distorted laughs drawn out by my slowed perception. I bared my teeth. Time hummed. The air was still. I pounced. Their eyes dilated in fear, mouths drawing open in shock. The dank air of the van passed whistling by my ears, singing softly valkyries songs of victory. I made contact. So, upon reflection, it all worked out like those looney tunes fights, a big ball of dust with fists and legs and heads poking out. Taima seems to remember getting kicked in the head, by I'm not going to stake any claims about that. The only thing that mattered was my prey. They got what they deserved. Damn straight.

Most Beautiful: On the way down, we took a detour off the main road to find Zoe Ladner's college, a little highway that wound through a national park. There, i saw the mountains of my dreams, tall and broken peaked, shattered bones thrust from the tree laden flesh of the berggiests they call the smokies. The trees were a scattered water color of pale blooms and new buds, the greens and whites and soft lavender of the Carolina spring. The stones were a shining silver robed in white, marble, granite, alabaster, it seemed to me. And about their feet slid the quiet serpent songs of rivers running clear and cold. Beautiful.

Most annoying: I don't feel right talking about any one point. I mean, if I still felt annoyed, believe me, you'd hear about it, but right now, I'm at peace with everyone involved. But hey, we were all damn annoying. Just to be fair.

Best food: No contest. Barb and Bob's the gumbomancers. No f***ing contest. Excuse me. I sneezed. Good Gumbo.

Best song: On the way home, we made the choice to drive all night, a midnight run for New York. And, as it turned out, I was the choice for the graveyard shift, eleven to five. Most of it was fine, Shane rocking shotgun and navvie, The cool night rushing by at ninety miles an hour, there were some points that were harder than others, Taima getting us lost, stuff like that, bu all in all in went smoothly. Until about three. At that point my reserves were running low, fatigue dripping in from the edges of my sight. To combat it, I turned on the Cd player. I don't know what it's called, it was on one of Russel's mixes, (it was the excellent Cornershop singing 'Brimful of Aisha', Rusty) supposedly it was about some womans bust, but I loved it, and it kept me up for almost two more hours. I was sitting there, bouncing up and down in the drivers seat, chanting "everyone needs a bosom for a pillow" at the top of my lungs. It was great. Then, at about five, the signs turned into melting hands and little blue fairies started chasing the car. I thought it better to pull over. But for those glorious moments, that song rocked my socks. Sweet.

Willow Thorneater out...

The Favorite Hour

Shane's favorite moment, and his photo. As are all the ones below. Little more to add here. Over Pontchartrain.

Moon in the Hand

Trevor's hand, I think. I hope he put it back.

Feetwets

Sunset, full moon, so we had to put feet in the water, didn't we.

Rusty and Trusty GL

Thought I'd better put in at least one photo of the old fellow. He's doing OK, though cannot seem to wake up early any more.

Once Were Homes

We don't want to dwell on the devastation caused, but there are two things these next images make us think. The first is that it's not just wreckage - it's a wrecked or damaged life. the area here is the 9th ward, and it's several square miles. All like this. And these photos are not the week after the hurricane, but 8 - count 'em - EIGHT - months afterwards.
The second, more self-centered point is that neither photos nor films can reveal the meaning of the place. there was so much more. A flat picture of a damaged house doesn't even begin to be adequate. It's one reason why there aren't a lot of such images in the blog, but there are situations where media just reveal their limitations. they are mediators between us and the world, but sometimes you must get into the world, without media. most of our time in new orleans was in fact spent seeing and being... not filming.

World Gone Askew

Dixit Will: "I always associated power lines with stability, all the poles upright, and a line to every home".
Here, in the ninth ward, the 45 degree angle and dangling, dead strands of cord make their own, Pythagorean comment.

O Helios

Rather a sun worhipper, Will here reaches the goal. Camera in hand, as per Indie mode.

Bayou

Our first encounter with the swamp monster.

Southern Belles

Our hosts generously drove us down to Lake Pontchartrain to catch the sunset. While we Yankees were basking in the warm breezes, the girls were shivering.

On the black beach

Robin and Trevor somewhat surprised to find the south shores of Lake Pontchartrain covered in a gooey black mess.

Shane peaks

hey red leader here

so i guess i will answer the 5 questions first. 1) the funniest moment would have to be when will steped off the curb and sprained his ankle. 2)the most beautiful moment of the trip was when the team did one last final hands in and we knew at that moment we were great. 3) the most annoying moment would probably be the drive home because it was very long and out of the 24 hours we were on the road i slept for about a half an hour. 4) the best food we had was at barb and bobs where we had home made gumbo and it was awesome. 5) the best song i heard in new orleans was when a girl about 23 years old was singing on the street and it was an awesome song. ok well i answered the questions so now its my turn to say some stuff, i just want to say that the team we had down in new orleans was the heart and soul of indie, in my mind without this group indie wouldnt be around. i want to thank all the people we talked to and everyone we met you really treated us like family. although i am glad to be home im really gonna miss the south because our group really bonded and the south freaking rocks. well im out but here is your final quote from red leader "life is like a hurricane you cant predict what will really happen but when it happens do all you can to survive and make it better"

red leader out

Robin peeps

1 Apart from seeing my dads 21st birthday, it would probably be when Will jumped in the back of Betsy and wailed on Trevor and Shane for both punching him because they saw a cockeye.

2 Sunset over Pontchartrain , or possibly the pink trees in Carolina.

3.having to go back to Subway after leaving my dad’s coat there, otherwise it’s probably something that I did that I was unaware of , sorry about all anoyances.

4.the Texaco station, otherwise Barb and Bobby’s gumbo was amazing, real Louisiana good eatin.

5. Starman by David Bowie

-robin

Gracehoper speaks

A reminder of the QQs:

1 - the funniest moment of the trip
2 - the most beautiful moment
3 - the most annoying moment
4 - the best food
5 - the song of the trip

1 Making use of forgotten routes hidden inside of the interstate highway system in order to attain lost materials. But then again, Russel's 21st birthday party was pretty good too.


2 Finding the small jurassic park dinosaur toy on the sidewalk of the completely destroyed town in the Ninth Ward.


3 Will thinking that it would be funny to wake up shane and I by attacking us with pillows, then slipping on his way back accross the room and landing on the most vulnerable part of me. - This being the only time throughout the entire trip when I said a "bad word."


4 The Gumbo at Bobby and Barbara's. Without a doubt. All three bowls of it.


5 Although the Life Aquatic Soundtrack was obviously the most played, I say that the song of the trip was Jump Around, by house of pain. It always seemed to make everyone happy to bring our little hip hop, slice of new york down south and blast it out of the stereo while all six of us bounced uncontrollably up and down.

Open house

Due to dinosaur brain and etc etc the blog is only now open to free comment. many thanks to those of you who wrestled with the registration just to give a heads up.

Overview

You could do no better to learn about the wider issues around the New Orleans disaster than to visit the updated page Ponchartrain basin then go to our friends here for a well reasoned and 'no quick fix' solution proposal.
You've read below how visiting the sites affected our party, and the widest of possible issues were raised in everyone's mind, and in our car conversations all the way back. Point one is the obvious repeatability of the event, this summer or next... point two, generally, is that everyone down there seems very clear and determined to rebuild their life... (point two b is that all of us northerners and furriners had our concepts of 'Southerners' smashed completely. We were met so often with sincere, smart and open people that the 'good ol' boy stereotype has gone.) Point three - perhaps more ambiguous and certainly more thorny (or 'itchy' as Trevor has it) is that the city formerly known as New Orleans (how do you rename it? New New Orleans??) was split along a racial divide - and, as Will pointed out, a socio-economic divide. It is increasingly clear that those neighborhoods will be rebuilt very slowly or not at all, and that therefore the inhabitants will be reabsorbed in the same manner. We were warned about hostility from 'those people', but without exception the African Americans' we met and spoke to were articulate, welcoming, outspoken, and yes angry, but not mindlessly so. there's a clear realization that while Nature is random and indifferent to your color and religion and class... floods are not random. they inundate unprotected areas, badly built housing, overspill from the city center high ground and (all of the above) the low rent neighborhoods. Even on the north side of Pontchartrain, which is pretty ritzy in parts, those shorefront homes which had been solidly built (i.e. expensively built) were restored and inhabited. the clapboard houses and the low income homes could not afford to be rebuilt, so they are still in a pile. Waveland Mississippi has been washed away, and the parts of St Bernard we saw remind me of the bombed cities of England after the war. the rubble still visible well into the 1960s of my childhood. For New Orleans - just using what we saw on this trip first hand, and what we were told, it seems that the preferred reconstruction of the city and area could be made without 'those people', building a beautiful city free of crime, poverty and violence. Along the model of parts of the Florida coast, for example? Whether a jewelled gated community is the best future for America and the rest of the world is another question.
Yet the city has a unique beauty to it, and beauty occasionally needs to locate itself on the edge. Certainly a restricted and enforced beauty has no meaning.
So, a lot to think about, a lot to put into Shane's movie, and a lot to be talked about, then a lot more to be done.
Today i watched all our rushes, so these themes are right in the front of my head again. I hope and believe the trip was as important for us all. We start editing on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

Square seven and one again: Mission accompli

We are home after a 32 hour team drive from the upper to the lower images. Excuse us if we are a little slow over the Easter weekend, but each participant will contribute a log before next week, and on Tuesday we will load up a gallery of Shane's photos - couldn't do that on the road.
I am asking everyone in addition to answer the following trivial and not so trivial questions:
1 - the funniest moment of the trip
2 - the most beautiful moment
3 - the most annoying moment
4 - the best food
5 - the song of the trip
For the record, here are my answers: 1 - in the lift en route for the Pontchartrain basin Foundation meeting, finding our very own, unwitting 'bond company stooge', who when asked if he was going to rat us out, innocently said he would not, and joined in our ring of hands just like Bud Cort in 'Life Aquatic'; 2 - full moon and warm breeze over the Mississippi from the French Quarter levee at sunset; 3 - the @#$%^&**^ Knoxville traffic system at 2 a.m.!; 4 - late breakfast in back of a Texaco station in Toomsuba, Ms. Barbecue beef, homestyle baked beans, mashed potatoes for $4. No contest; 5 - hard choice, but 'Life On Mars?' by Bowie. All versions.This is us, back in West Hurley.

Reality

OK. So after the reaction to last night's multi-posts, here are some more. This morning we were invited up by Carlton Dufrechou of Lake Ponchartrain Basin Foundation who squeezed us into his busy schedule and really laid out for us what is at stake down here in New Orleans. Then we accidentally wandered into a Prayer meeting in St. Bernard parish. Expressions changed. I have not heard so little sound on the vanride back. Look at the expressions. Listen to what they say.

hey

red leader here (shane) so we rocked out really hard today, we totally took today by storm, we got an interview first thing this morning then got some good footage of levies and just happend to end up in the 9th ward. when we arrived in the ninth ward we stop at a christain relief concert by a church from north carolina, there we got one more interview with a man who stated "if something is not done he is coming back and raising hell" even though none of our phoenominal group is christain we were all moved and we sang along and prayed along and let our selfs free, after we left the concert we went to see the town that got destroyed and it was worse then u can even think, it really just emotionally hit us hard, so hard that we thought twice about getting out and walking around. even though new orleans rocks i wouldnt reccomend people who are not really emotionally strong to visit destruction areas because it will totally take you to a different world. well we are heading home tommarrow and we are sad to leave but we will; well at least i wont ever forget the things we seen and the people we met. here is another quote for you to think about "stay strong and remember that the worst kind of destruction is not from a hurricane but is self destruction" stay strong and wee will see you soon


miss every 1 at home see you soon


red leader out







I haven't read what everyone else wrote tonight, so I am sorry if I just restate the common thread of ideas. Last night I wrote that the destruction we saw was very different from tv. That was true, but I had no idea how true. Today we saw the real thing. I was completely silent for so long. I was shocked to the point where I was hesitant to leave, and would still be there if the crew was not moving on. Of all the things that I saw, One thing stood out. Amongst things such as 12 wheeled trucks sideways in houses, broken pipes with water flowing out of them, linoleum floors with no houses on top of them, piles and piles of garbage with 45 speed records all over, Iron fences with a sculpture of a butterfly affixed to it. One thing really caught my attention. After getting out of the car and walking away from the rest of the crew, I found in the middle of a sidewalk a stuffed tyrranosaurus rex toy from Jurassic park. "No cookie nibbled by a french novelist could send one so suddenly into the past." - Billy Collins

Anyways, the crazy thing about it was that it was personal. Something that I have never gotten from a news report is personality. When I saw this very simple little toy, I could imagine the young, innocent little child who once played with it.
I could see that his family may have not had as much money as the people who lived up on higher ground. I could see that most likely he was african american. Grasping the fact that this situation had a lot to do with race is intensely difficult for me. It seemed clear to me that this entire area that I was walking through was a black neighborhood. What bothered me even more was to know that the future of New Orleans may very well have even more to do with race than it's past. There is not much that I can say about that. It just itches my brain. I wish so hard that it wasn't a coincedence that that little boy probably had darker skin than some little boy, just as innocent, living in the french quarter that was practically untouched, at least by the surge.



Then again, what can I say. I only wish that it wouldn't matter. I only hope that I was wrong, and that that neighborhood was not only for african americans.



It is something that you could think about forever and never know the answer to.



Love to all, I still miss you.



-Grasshopper




Willow Thorneater reporting from the borders of the wastes of anfauglith.


I don't really want to talk about it. It makes you think.

We Film Water

Just some ocular proof that we do indeed have a camera, the wherewithal and the Director - Shane is the boss of this propject - and we are rocking. It's 8 in the morning and we are off to Delacroix.
Quiz answers: Brownsville Girl and Tangled Up In Blue.
Lots of water, anyway. Reports later.

The Crew Speak

This is a rare moment for Taima (or Ofema, as she's known down south) to head the blog. Caught this when she wasn't looking.

Insofar as the PG nature of this blog permits - here are the voices of the Team. And good luck to you all.


So far you have only heard from Rusty Iron. What you have not heard about was the personal agenda of the splinter cells. Shane, being the captain of our crew, and I had four goals to accomplish onsetting out. Three of them have been accomplished by this midway point.

Getting into Barbara and Bobby's house was one of the goals and clearly, setting foot in New Orleans was one of them. Both of these, we have reached along with one of the other goals. The fourth is soon to come as we are making fine progress on it. Unfortunately, those last two are confidential. The important thing is that we are ahead of schedule.


Anyways, we have entered New Orleans and it is truly a fantastic experience. To see trashed houses with piles of destroyed material in front them is so much different when it's on tv. To see it in real life lets you know so much more. We have all seen shots on the news that are shot out of car windows and pan accross rows and rows of those houses. We can actually see the truth in it now. We can see the waterline on the interstate highways. We can see boats up in the trees and cars in the river. I am so glad that I have the oppurtunity to see it all.


This proves my point about travelling being the best way to learn.


Though I miss everyone back home, this is one of the greatest experiences of my life. C'est La Vie.


-Grasshopper





hey

its shane here everything is going great even though we had a rough begining we have pulled together and we are totally taking the south by storm. We have become a family and we have been treated so great like we were a rock band. i want to thank barb and bob and the family for treating us like we were one of there own. when i ask this high school girl brittany if she or is she knew anyone who was effected badly she said "that no own was badly hurt and she counts it as a blessing because it could have been worse" what this shows is that people have really accepted it and have reverted back to normality and have begun their "new life" and won't live in fear any more. this experience has been the greatest of my life and has made me appreciate life a lot more, because knowing everything can change in a second makes me realize to love and appreciate everything I have because it could go at any time. Don't get me wrong these people in the south are great and they can't be any nicer, and have really change in my mind all of our lives. ok well I'm out but I want to leave you with a quote and something to think about. "if you think you have it bad because your parents ground you or take your phone, try living with no water or electric for weeks, so if you think you live in hell try losing everything in an instant and knowing you can die anytime, so appreciate the things you have because you haven't seen anything until you have nothing"


miss all at home but I'll be home soon and I promise to make you all proud


RED LEADER OUT


Willow Thorneater reporting from the frontlines.


We descend, cutting our tethers at the Barb and Bob site (the most kickass pair of gumbomancers this side of the Mason Dixie line), racing through the barren lands between Bugalusa and N'olens at Russel's classic buck o' five. Three times baby. Three times in four days. Twenty points for Rusty pops. The first thing that erupts out of the swamp flats is simple, unequivicol devastation. Boats strung in trees, houses skeletonized, cars abandoned to sink into the thick Louisiana mud. Honestly, I watched the news shows, I read the accounts, I listened to my mother rant, but nothing prepared me for the degree of desolation. It was third world. Straight and simple. Now, this was the outskirts, this was the swamp flats, I was able to justify the lingering damage and it's intensity, but as we ramped up onto the bridge over the Pontchartrain and entered the city proper, I was amazed to see the same level of damage. I tried to visualize the water level and the wind, but I couldn't. Now, I am a self proclaimed visualizer, I think I'm pretty good, too, but I could not put my head around this sort of thing. The violence I saw in snippets and catches suddenly snapped into context. The anger and hatred I saw in the eyes of those interviewed suddenly made sense. These people were screwed double. Honestly. We passed over the outs, diving down into the city, arriving safely in the sanctioned tourist area. I felt good, with my slick hat and my belly full o' jambalaya, but I couldn't shake that disturbance. I'm ranting, I guess, I can't quite concentrate with Robin hammering on the guitar and all. All I really want to say is take a think when you read this, about what we have upstate. I am going to have a hard time just chilling on my butt and playing video games after this. Oh, and trust no one, don't sleep, and never build your house on the dragons back. I miss my forest, and my streams! I want my tolkien mountains! Sorry, a little homesick. See y'all later. No'olens out.




robin-
I enjoyed the trip so far, though i was thinking about blowing up pennsylvania on account as we passed through nothing of any intrest. Then we went to north carolina and stayed in a dorm's common room floor, we also met a drunk kid in drag "lol". So last night we stayed with barbara and bobby this couple in louisiana, they were really nice and they made a kick-ass gumbo. The recipe was okra, flour, sausage, onion,chicken,and red bell pepers. So barb and bob had three grandaughters and one step grandaughter, I thought that they were all realy nice. To day we went to new orleans, on the way we played a veriety of car cames including punch buggy, cruiser bruiser, and mustang game. We passed a swamp with alligato(r) in it. Shane says the alligator was fake, wil said it was dead, and trevor said it was sunbathing. I personally agree with trevor.

New Orleans

Well, after a day in the French Quarter and tomorrow planned for Delacroix all I can think of is Bob Dylan songs (which ones, answers on a comment here, a prize for the winner) In which song did Bob 'leave something in the French Quarter' and on what did he work 'right out of Delacroix'? OK I'm a Dylan nerd.
We met a FEMA guy who refused to go on camera, htough he was very nice. Yesterday we met four disgruntled construction workers from Michigan who gave us the lowdown, but politely, reluctantly refused to go on camera. We got a few vox pop soundbite shots and a lot of devastation B-roll.
Tomorrow we are trying to get up onto a levee.
I must inform you that we have slowly transformed ourselves into team Zissou. Will got a straw hat and shades, very stylish, and a really nice song (of Mississippi John Hurt) by a hippie-gypsy chick in front o0f the park in N.O.
Shane just said our motto:"What happens in the South stays in the South."
Don't worry, we can handle it.

Bogalusa and Lac Pontchartrain

SORRY NO PICS TODAY OVER DIALUP.
But here's the text because we did take a lot of amazing pictures on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain at sunset. Will and Trevor got their feet wet (thank heavens for water) and Shane... well, let's just say he got along with the natives very well... arguments about water (it's a lake / it's the sea / it's seven feet deep / it's the world's longest bridge ) all unresolved, but it was and is beautiful. However, some of the lakefront houses still lack lower floors. Homes on stilts. Very wobbly stilts at that.
But we are tired and do not want to wear out hosts Barbra and Bobby's hospitality.
Tomorrow we will add photos to this post. Until then, keep well, and boy does Bobby cook a wicked gumbo. Will is happy.

Square four A: Morning in Alabammy

For some motel related internet problem, we can't get the pictures up. Rest assured we went to a lovely family restaurant last night and partook of the excellent southern chicken. Tonight we will open this blog to all comers and you can hear from each member of the crew. Today should be lovely and sweet, as each person showered twice! Now that's water management.

Square Three: Birmingham, Alabama

OK. It's 6.30 BECAUSE WE STOLE BACK THE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.
Yes, we are now in Alabama and Central Time. Today was mostly driving and crossing through the glorious Smoky Mts. Shane went bravely back to the high security compound we raided in the dark, and made a short clip of his documentary about the watershed there. No polices. Which is more than we can say about Alabama, after a lightning ride through Tennessee, and a tiny tiny corner of Georgia. As soon as we hit Al. a patrol car came onto our New York plates tail and followed as we stuck religiously to the 70 m.p.h. speed limit, finally peeling off and leaving us alone at Fort Payne.
After that no mishaps to our motel (yes, a real bed tonight!) except for one unnamed driver who left his jacket behind in a Subway shop... but after a swift double back where we all experienced the various road services in the state, the garment was retrieved unscathed and with personal valuables intact. Oh ye of little faith.
By the way, the license plate motto of the state is 'Stars Fell On' which I find inordinately poetic. Tomorrow - Louisiana and perhaps a sight of Lake Pontchartrain, fabled in song. Till then, the teenagers among us are insisting on our first hot meal of the trip in a local (family) restaurant called 'Hooters'. I dunno... will report.
The pics are of the crew and Betsy, as well as Zoe L. in Asheville, NC. Is that Cherry Blossom or am I a botanical idiot? Answers on a postcard, please.

Square Two: Swananoa, North Carolina

Well, despite a 16 hour journey through several climate zones - including snow - we arrived just after midnight chez Zoseph (famed as the scribe behind ALYCE) and were parsed into various dorm rooms. Thanks Tal. Though Mapquest were superb with their directions down to Ashville NC, about a mile away from where I now type with two fingers, the last step of the journey, it/they misdirected us to a Christian College of similar name, and we got lost up a backroad, serendipitously falling upon a watershed. Curiously the sign had been graffitied with 'kill the middle classes', so we knew we were close to a college... Well, we had to film it, didn't we. The jury is still out whether we set off a Homeland Security alarm on the infra red, or whether Robin heard a 'peeper'. Either way, the crew bolted, leapt barbed wire fences (cameras on, of course as per Indie training in such situations) and we sped off in our faithful blue van codename Betsy.
Frankly we are all too exhausted to make any sense. Just compare the above photo from BEFORE the journey.
No water filmed yet, and another long day ahead tomorrow. So see you back here then.
All from all. The Team.

Square One

This is where we start. Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County NY, about 100 miles north of NYC. The reservoir is a main source of the city's drinking water. And also very pretty. There are also several feed reservoirs higher into the Catskills, one of which - Gilboa - has a wooden dam almost 100 years old. If that dam bursts - and that is the local fear - 5,000 homes will be lost. The genesis of our DAM H2O project, an idea by Shane Masterson, an 11th grade student at Onteora HS, was to show the effects of climate change, and the inertia of local authorities when dealing with a potential disaster. Last spring, severe flooding caused heartbreaking damage to local townships, and Shane started to document the situation.
The events in Louisiana last August only pointed out that this is a global phenomenon, not just a local issue. So, without wishing to compare the two events, Shane is building his film around wider issues.
Our trip to New Orleans will add this wider dimension.