NOLA story project--good news

I was instant-messaging last night with the priest we met there. I told him that my advisor said I could get cross-cultural credit (required) if I go back in January and do oral histories. I need to find funding--but what I most need is a place to crash for that month.

He was excited about it; he gave me names of people to contact, and told me that if those don't work, to talk again with him.

It was probably a five-minute IM session. It made this idea really feasible. I can cover food for myself, if I need to, and I can get cheap airfare--particularly if I fly out of Sacramento instead of Oakland. (Without yet asking the person I will ask, I'm sure she'd drive me.) Grant organizations don't often give funds for transportation, anyway. Housing can be really expensive. If I don't have to worry about that, then this is easy. Once I get there, I can use what remains of their public transit system, or rent a bicycle.

In other, tangentially related news: Some of my words about NOLA may be about to be published in an unlikely place. I don't want to say where, before it happens, because the person who wants to publish them does not walk in lockstep with her organization, and her job's been under threat.

I told my friend Molly about it--she was my mentor last year, and is still an Aidanite. After she got done laughing, she said to me, "I knew as soon as I met you, that you were going to be shining the light into dark places."

I asked her how she knew.

"I don't know; how do we know anything? It just pours out of you."

That really hasn't been something I'm aware of. Maybe it should be. Either way, I can live on this for weeks.