The Louisiana Project

Documentary is up

2010-06-08T23:23:00.000-05:00

I graduated highschool and I finished my video! Things are going pretty well!
This will probably be my last post. Feel free to give me any feedback you have on my film.

check out my documentary at http://vimeo.com/12354126

Putting things into perspective

2010-05-26T15:38:00.000-05:00

At a town hall meeting the other night, the people of Louisiana talked about how they had been effected by the Transocean spill. The emotion exhibited by everyone really put things into perspective. A netmaker talked about lost heritage, the intrinsic value of the land, and how he's not going to be able to teach his son his net making business. A parish presidents talked about how it is starting to "tear our communities apart". For example, the Vessels of Opportunity program, which is working to employ local fisherman in the cleanup effort, has only a limited number of positions available. Fisherman who were not employed by this program begin to question why others were. It's all very messy and the stakes are very high. Culture, livelihood, heritage, everything is on the table. But it's not only the locals who will be affected. Other parts of the country will be affected by this as well. "About 40 percent of the nation's commercial seafood harvests come from the Gulf Coast, according to NOAA data from 2008" CNN. This means that restaraunts which serve seafood may be out of business or have to increase their prices. We need to recognize that we are all connected in this mess and that what affects one of us affects all of us. I would say that I'm half hopeful... I have hope because there are so many great people helping in the effort to clean up but I'm despaired because of how daunting everything seems.
Check out this link to an account of what happened with the Transocean oil rig on April 20.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/05/gulf-mexico-oil-leak-bp-transocean.html

Anyhow, I should be back in Carbondale within the next few days. I feel that we saw everything that we needed to see in order to give us a clear picture of what is going on. We will be doing a bunch of video editing (which seems kind of daunting) and we'll hopefully have our short documentary finished by June 3rd.

News From DC

2010-05-24T14:21:00.004-05:00

I'm at a coffee shop yet again. My plan is to do some video editing, although I havn't done any yet. I've been chatting with my contact in DC, Grady Lenkin. He's been sharing with me his opinions and ideas around the oil spill. in short we talked about government's reliance on BP to solve the crisis, the magnitude of the oil's impact, and both our different perspectives which have been influenced by our location. First off, grady said that congress could be stepping up more, and that if we don't act extremely soon we will have missed our chance to change the outcome. Grady says, "the problem is that everything just moves so slowly here". The response needs to fit the urgency of the need, which is very large. As I write an untold amount of oil is spewing out of the well and more places are becoming affected. Who knows if the beaches that have already been hit will recover from what has already hit them. Every day we waste is very valuable... With respect to bp it is a new frontier of disaster management. Never before has anyone had to deal with a disaster of this nature. I am hopeful, but things also seem very gloomy. The government should step in and give fixing this problem the respect that it deserves. As Grady alluded to, the politicians that are talking the talk about solving this crisis need to connect their words to their action and DO SOMETHING!

Sign by local Grand Isle teenager, Hanna Lemoine, age 17

Candlelight Vigil

2010-05-24T13:02:00.001-05:00

Debrief on Grand Isle, back in N.O.

2010-05-23T20:23:00.018-05:00

We left grand isle today at about 3 PM. Our attempt to get on to a boat did not work out. Many of the local boat captains that we approached were working for BP, and therefore, they were under contract not to bring people out to see the spill. We ended up talking with a couple of locals who ran a charter boat company in Grand Isle. They were just coming back from taking a news reporter from New York out to see the oil that is circulating freely in the ocean. They didn't see any oil in the place that it had been the day before. The winds and tides had changed that day and that they did not see any oil or oil sheen. She said that the oil is not gone, it has only moved temporarily to a different location. I could tell she was very worried about their life on the island. She told us that "if they don't get the oil stopped soon they might have to close the city". I could only imagine how devastating it would be to be forced out of the place you call home. While we were at the marina we also saw about 3 dolphins. It reminded me of the documentary "The Cove", which exposes the brutality of the dolphin trade in some parts of Japan. A species that is so beautiful is being threatened by the mistakes of humans. And it's not only the dolphins. The birds, fish, and all the wildlife that makes its home in the wetlands and ocean of the gulf coast. What is scariest about the disaster is that it is completely uncharted territory. Never before has anyone had to deal with a disaster that is occuring one mile below the oceans surface.

Many of the citizens in grand isle are fed up with the way that BP has handled the crisis. They say that they haven't acted fast enough and that if it was another town in the U.S. they would have already cleaned the spill up.

After leaving the Marina we decided to go get some food. We went to a high school french class fundraiser lunch, which we had heard about a few days prior from a lady at the local high school. It was a good place to go because we ended up getting an interview from a knowledgeable young adult.
Right now were at the India House youth hostel in New Orleans. We are indulging in some much needed relaxation from our escapade in Grand Isle. The combination of running around all day, every day, for three days straight mixed with the heat and lack of air conditioning led to us feeling pretty tired by the end of it.
I'm sitting next to an Austrian, Sarah, who is also writing a blog about her travels as well. It's been fun trying to practice some of my German with them, although I've forgot quite a bit since my travels there.

Let's see, what else has happened...

We went to a candlelight vigil in order to spread awareness about the oil spill. Sadly, it was very windy so not very many of the candles could. It worked out, as things usually do, and we ended up sitting in a circle around a couple of candles and saying some words. The location for the vigil was on a pier right next to a highway and what I found most intriguing was the people that were fishing all around us. Probably about 30-40 people were lined up next to us with their fishing poles in hand and their lines falling into the water. it surprised me that people were still fishing despite the obvious signs of oil in the water.

Anyhow, I'm going to sign off. Tomorrow we will be doing a lot of video editing. We may try and go to get some more interviews if we need to.

Check out some more photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Jared.F.Carlson

Day one at ground zero

2010-05-22T18:58:00.001-05:00

We have been busy today. I will try to do a more in depth post
tomorrow. It might have to wait until two days from now because we
might be going on a boat tomorrow. A brief of our first day in grand
isle. Although the day started s little bit rough, we ended up getting
a lot of good photos and footage of the oil on the beach. This was
partly do to our luck In getting media access to elmers island, the
place that has been hit hardest by the oil. Check out some of the
photos below. We're off to a candlelight vigil right now with the
youth alliance of louisiana leaders (YALL). For the past hour we've
been listening in to one of their meetings. I think this might be the
link up that we need to connect with youth in the community. I'll
write as soon as I can.
Jared

Oil at Ground Zero

2010-05-22T18:19:00.001-05:00

On the road to ground zero

2010-05-21T17:22:00.003-05:00

It always seems that I end up doing most of my blog writing while I'm on the road. I'm riding shotgun as luke navigates his way through rush hour traffic. Our destination tonight is the grand isle state park. The beaches down in grand isle closed today due to oil washing up on shore. The currents of the gulf coast work in such a way that the much of the leaked oil will end up in grand isle. It is being called groun zero for the oil spill. We are excited and interested to see what is going on down there.

I'll try to write tomorrow to inform everyone about what's happening in grand isle.

Stay posted

Last day of working for habitat

2010-05-21T13:05:00.000-05:00

It's a small world

2010-05-20T15:38:00.011-05:00

So much to tell. We are driving back from a somewhat succesful day trip to Venice, LA. The scenery is much different than anything we've seen so far. Stagnant bayous, steele colored industrial plants, and large marinas filled with swaying fishing boats. We arrived in Venice around 1 pm and immedietly sought out somewhere to eat. We arrived at the riverside restaraunt my first catfish. It was better than I thought it would be. Soon after I sat down and started looking at the seafood filled menu,, I noticed a dark haired lady standing next to me taking a photo of the hand written fisherman relief posters that were fastened beside the door. A man stood stood next to her, busy paying for their meal. I was instantly intrigued and knew they were from a news agency, or at least someone from out of the area who was interested in the oil spill. After a moment I decided I would introduce myself.
"Hi I'm Jared carlson. Were from colorado and we're trying to film a documentary around the oil spill. Where are you from?"
The man says, "I'm graham smith and this is mellisa block."
The lady, who I now knew as Melissa block, tells me they are from NPR.
hmm, that seems to ring a bell. Something clicks, oh yea, I listen to her radio program "all things considered" sometimes when I'm drive home from school. It was a pretty cool experience meeting a famous national news reporter. I was inspired by the fact that we were both out here doing the same thing. After they left and we were still waiting for our food, another man entered the restaraunt. He was carrying a MacBook and sat down near us. I glanced over and saw that he was doing video editing and I decided to introduce myself to him as well. I quickly found out that his name is Scott lehmann and that he is a photographer/videographer for the U.S. coast guard. We talked for a while and he gave us a few leads to follow down in Venice. He was eager to help. We payed our bill and we were on our way down to big buds boat rental, driving over inudated roads and through marshy bayous.

None of our leads turned out... No one we found had much to say to us. However, I am still hopeful for some good interviews. Afterall, we havn't followed all of our leads.

Anyhow, We're back in n.o. and we've got to go off to film our first interview!
Wish us luck.

"It kinda feels like were in the house from fight club"- Luke

2010-05-18T17:05:00.012-05:00

We're slowly dying in the house from fight club. In other words, it's really hot and the house we are staying in looks like it was part of the set for the movie fight club. Faded mirrors, stained sheet covered furniture, hardwood floors... Everything says that Marla might show up any minute. For those of you who don't know who Marla is, you should go watch fight club. Today was our second day working for habitat. We were at a different project site with a 15 person group from The University of Portland, Oregon. They have been in the south on a civil rights tour for one of their classes. They are finishing off their trip with a week of working at Habitat. They are outrageous and awesome; I'm glad to be working with them again tomorrow. Now a little bit about yesterday. Seeing as we didn't really do much other than eat and have siesta, the biggest event that sticks out is going to the dog park with our next door neighbor, Holly. It was a lot of fun watching all the different dogs from my shade covered chair. There was a little dog that i remember in particular; he was swinging around in a circle, clutching a tennis ball held by his owner. There was also a very weird person at the park. He had his shirt off and was constantly talking to himself or his two dogs. He said that he was homeless, and then, as he was leaving, he said that he was going to go send some emails at his house. I can't really do him justice describing him, but as Holly says, "Crazy comes in all shapes and sizes". Were off to have dinner with our friend Patti. Should be fun and delicious.
Stay Posted.
JC

Grandpa Elliot

2010-05-17T13:59:00.001-05:00

Alligators, beignets, and grandpa Elliot.

2010-05-17T13:02:00.017-05:00

Things that come to mind when I think about yesterday. Seeing alligators, a 6ft python, and a hammerhead shark. We saw all of this when we went to the auduban Aquarium; a worldclass aquariam near our house in new orleans. After we left the aquarium we went to a little Beignet store down on Bourbon street. Aside from being extremely delicious, a beignet is a fried dough pastry and the official state doughnut of louisiana. After our desert we decided to go eat some dinner. We went to a Cajun food restraint and had seafood gumbo, fried shrimp and jumbalaya. This was all pretty good although I do think that there is some better Cajun food somewhere else in n'awrlins. We will gave to discover it. We met grandpa Elliot at the corner of royal and Toulouse, one black away from bourbon street. For those of you who don't know who grandpa elliot is, he is a famous new Orleans street musician who has appeared in the YouTube video "stand by me". Check it out below. It was a shock to recognize him as we walked by. He wore glasses so we were even more shocked to find out that he was nearly blind. He told us that he had lost his vision right after hurricane. We stayed and talked for a while, he sang a love song for a young couple and then proceeded on our way. Right now Luke and I are taking a little siesta, hiding from the heat of the Louisiana day. Stay classy San Diego.

Good morning rainy afternoon

2010-05-15T16:33:00.000-05:00

We woke up early and, after a quick bowl of cereal, arrived at the job site around 7:45. The experience was very similar as to how I imagined it would be. It was hot, humid, and (thank god) relatively few mosquitoes. I worked closely with many interesting people. For example, david, who wanted me to take action photos of himself working on the construction site. We ended up getting rained out at about 2:40 or so. The rain was a pleasant change from the hot weather. Anyhow, I'm sitting on our host's porch right now looking out at the rain pouring down on the narrow streets of n'arwlins. The porch is the only place that we can get internet here. The house we are living in is in a pretty good location and it's about a twenty minute walk from the french quarter. We plan on going there to get some Cajun food later... maybe some gumbo and some jambalaya.

I'll let you know how our time in the french quarter goes. We might go to check out bourbon street just for the kick of it although i've heard it is pretty cheesy.

P.s. if you are reading my blog but not following it you should follow it! I would like to see who you are!

until next time,

Jared

Derrick, my brother, presley and avery, my two nieces, and myself

2010-05-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

Luke working at Habitat

2010-05-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Rained out. Hanging out under the project site.

2010-05-15T04:37:00.000-05:00

Optimal conditions to build houses.

2010-05-14T21:47:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone. We made it to new orleans! We had a relatively short day of driving today and arrived around 6 pm. It's very humid! And apparently tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day this year. This weather of course is the optimal condition to build houses in. Hot, sticky, with lots of mesquitos. Sounds great! We will be up early, heading off to work for habitat. I don't have Internet where i'm staying so I'm blogging everything from my Iphone. I'll tell you all how it goes tomorrow, later.

Post Independant Face Time

2010-05-14T09:26:00.002-05:00

Check out the article about me and Luke in the post independent.

http://www.postindependent.com/article/2010100519920

Day of driving, Day of rest

2010-05-13T17:07:00.014-05:00

17 hours, 1,050 miles of driving, For those of you who want a comparison, mainly jeff leahy, that is like driving from CRMS to city market and back 625 times. We woke up early in Littleton CO and we stopped for breakfast in Raton NM. I have never had such big pancakes for breakfast. They were about 1.5" thick and A Highlight of the trip so far has been finding a black Ibanez guitar in the middle of the road. It's a bit beat up but plays great! That's a lie it doesn't actually play that great, but it plays...

We knew we were in texas when we found a Mcdonald's inside of walmart. It's surprisingly tropical and the humidity reminds me of the time i've spent in Costa Rica. We've spent the first half of today resting at my brother's house. It's been nice to just relax after a long and hectic day of driving. I say hectic because navigating through concrete 6 lane super highways is a big change from driving on a two lane highway back in Colorado. Anyhow, tomorrow we drive 5 hours east to New Orleans.

Luke rocking out on the new guitar.

On the open (snowy) road

2010-05-11T16:51:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting in the passenger's seat next to my buddy Luke doin some blogging as we drive to the first waypoint in the trip, Littleton colorado. We are planning on spending the night at luke's aunts house. Were planning on getting an early start tomorrow, probably around 5 am. From there we will head south to Houston where we will stay with my half brother Derrick and his family. We will probably end up sleeping in our car next to the road before we get there. I havn't seen my two nieces for a few years so I'm definetally looking forward to it. And from what I've heard they're excited to see their uncle.
It's snowing! Just some typical may weather in CO... We just passed through the Eisenhower tunnel going towards Denver. All the camera gear is tucked away in the back of the van. We've got tunes, a radar detector, and GPS. I would say that were set. Now all we have to do is do the remaining 1650 miles of driving!
Luke's blog will be up and running soon at neworleansthrowdown.blogspot.com. Check it out!

Pre-Trip, First Post

2010-05-08T23:35:00.003-05:00

My buddy Luke Newbury and I are heading down to Louisiana for our senior project at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School. We have work set up with Habitat for Humanity and we are planning on filming a documentary on the youth of Louisiana. In the past years Louisiana has been hit by two of the worst environmental disasters of our time. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the recent oil rig explosion on April 20th which threatens to be the worst environmental disaster of the century. We hope to report on what it's like to be a kid growing up in this area that has suffered so much. We hope to give them a voice so that they can tell their story to people who might not otherwise hear about it. We depart this coming Tuesday and all that stands in the way of our adventure and us is an AP environment studies class and 1,750 miles of driving! Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts throughout our trip.