More Students About Town

I arrived in New Orleans midday, and already I've encountered more students from distant places than usual.

J.R. picked me up from the airport, and we proceeded to Xavier University before lunch. There I met several NYU students who were skilled in interactive media and had come to NOLA to both teach and apply what they know.

After lunch, we stopped by the headquarters of the Lower Ninth Ward's NENA (Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association). Waiting for J.R. at the airport a few hours earlier, I had spoken with Linda, a student from Columbia's School of Social Work. She and four others from the school would be at NENA today and tomorrow to help with the mapping work. I had given some direction over the phone, but then was able to elaborate more in person once J.R. and I got there.

Trying not to get into all the details, I'll summarize by saying that Jen was the Columbia graduate student working between the U.S. Census website and the Lower Ninth Ward street addresses. She and I worked together, walking between printouts of census maps and google maps of the blocks surrounding our location and walking outside to perform physical inspections of nearby addresses. There was a small group of Duke students across the street helping to clean out a house.

I need to remember to take pictures tomorrow. Today it all happened so fast. What I just described to you happened in just 5 hours. As I write this, I think the Dartmouth team is boarding their bus in New Hampshire. They should be touching down in NOLA within about 13 hours.