I Remember

3 years ago Katrina made its landfall not far from New Orleans. Soon the levies failed and water rushed onto the streets of the poorest districts of not the richest city in the USA.

I remember everything as if it had happened just yesterday. Mandatory evacuation was called for for the first time in the city’s history. Contraflow plan opened roads only in one direction, out of town. Rows of cars move slowly. There’s impatience and fear, questions and confusion in people’s eyes.

When power and TV were back in the evening on the 29th in Baton Rouge the first thing we saw were New Orleans flooded streets. It was unbelievable. Then Superdome roof leaked. And no one could possibly say how soon they would be able to return. Only a few months later some could return to the least affected areas.

Independence Day-2008

Happy Independence Day to all of my American friends! Guys, I am with you.

Mondamin: Excerpt 2

Camp and Its Neighbourhood.

Mondamin is situated to the south of Hendersonville in the mountains of Western North Carolina. To the north of Hendersonville you get into the Blue Ridge Mountains (now a park area) with their capital, Asheville. To the west there is Pisgah National Forest, further west – the Great Smoky Mountains. All of these are parts of the Appalachians. The highest peak in the Eastern US, Mount Mitchell (6684 feet/2037 metres above sea level) is to the north-east of Asheville. There are numerous lakes, rivers and waterfalls in the area. The neighbouring Transylvania County is even called the Land of Waterfalls.

If you go to the east-south-east, you’ll soon find yourself in the Piedmont, a lower area of North Carolina Heartland. At some point you can see how the western mountains give up to the central highlands, and further east to the lowlands. While you are in the camp, you are surrounded by mountains on all sides: not snowy peaks, but green giants sloping down to the lake. The land of the blue waters and green mountains, brown naked slopes and white-pink-red magnolias and other trees – that is where Mondamin is.

Tuxedo stretches along Route 25 (the Old 25 serves as the street, New 25 goes behind the town). Legally speaking, Tuxedo is not a town, as it has no City Council, but just a dwelling in Henderson County. Tuxedo was originally called Lakewood but later renamed to avoid confusion with another Lakewood. In the past there was a textile factory there, which is now out of business and is replaced by some recycling facility. There is a gas station, privately owned, with a store, and a library nearby; another gas station almost on the other side of the street, an ice-cream shop, an antique shop (you will find those in plenty in any American town, it sometimes seems that people buy only antiques), several churches, a school, and a few other buildings of public interest. There is also a public beach, close to the camp, in the corner of another harbour.

If you ride a car, you will get from Mondamin to Hendersonville in 10-20 minutes, to Asheville in 30-50 minutes, to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina in 40-50 minutes. There is also a regional airport in Asheville, and an airfield in Hendersonville (now a museum).

Between Tuxedo and Hendersonville lies an area called Flat Rock. It is built around a tremendous outcrop of granite which is said to have been the site of Cherokee gatherings. Old Indian grave sites are known. A great deal of this big rock has been blasted away and used for material for highways. At present the rock is visible for about 150 by 100 feet (46 by 30.5 metres), but it continues just under the soil for some distance.

First large summer estates were built there some 150 years ago. So many of the families came from Charleston area, SC, that Flat Rock was called “The Little Charleston of the Mountains”. The entire district of Flat Rock is included into the National Register of Historic Places and is home to many attractions: Flat Rock Playhouse (the State Theatre of NC and considered one of the best ten theatres in the country), Carl Sandburg Home (National Historic Site; the house was built around 1838, there is also a working farm), St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church (built in 1833) and others.

Three roads lead from Tuxedo to Hendersonville: US 25 (also called Greenville Highway, through Zirconia and Flat Rock), US 176 (also called Spartanburg Highway, through East Flat Rock), and Interstate 26. The last two do not pass through Tuxedo but are within easy reach and are used by the locals: if you need to get to downtown Hendersonville you can take the first two, if you are going to Wal-Mart or to Asheville you opt for the Interstate. Greenville Highway winds through Flat Rock; it is narrow and the most picturesque of the three roads: you pass through the wooded slopes, the apple orchards of Zirconia past a post office, then several golf courses in Kenmure with rolling green lawns and blazing flowerbeds.

Mondamin: Excerpt 1

Camp and Its Neighbourhood.

Camp Mondamin for boys was founded in 1922 on then-new Lake Summit. It is in the place called Tuxedo, Henderson County. Mondamin is situated on the northern bank of the lake. Part of the camp’s buildings is on a small peninsula that forms a convenient harbour for sailing and canoeing practice. A gorgeous view on the lake, mountains and an island is open from the waterfront: dining hall balcony, a waterfront tower, and piers.

Some cabins, the dining hall, workshops, trip room (storeroom of dry foods for trips), mountaineers’ office, counsellors’ lounge, coin laundry (since 2002) are situated on the peninsula. Office rooms, bikes storeroom, Internet room, gym, and the crafts shop (all in one big building), and cabins for senior campers are on a hill rising above the waterfront. There’s also an infirmary there. Some cabins are under the hill from the other side of it and onto another shore of the peninsula. There is the lowest place in the camp there. If it rains heavily it might be flooded, so there is some kind of drainage there; and one of the cabins is called the Swamp. On the outskirts of the camp there are other facilities, such as a laundry with rooms for some staff on the upper floor of it, the barn with three riding rings and some tennis courts (there are more on the peninsula), a parking lot.

Finally there is the Queen’s – a three-storey house (from the road it has just two storeys, but from the camp’s side one more, as the house is on a slope). The first floor (from the camp’s side) is occupied by the workshop (maintenance office). The two upper floors are for kitchen staff: the first is divided into rooms and has two bathrooms; the second floor, which may look like an attic, has an anteroom, a big room and a bathroom. The legend says that a lady called Queen (she was a nurse in the Bells family) lived in this house, so it is “the Queen’s”.

The camp is owned by the Bell Family: Frank Bell, Sr. (usually known as “Chief”) founded the camp and was its director till 1972, his son, Frank Bell, Jr. has been directing the camp since that time. There is also a sister camp, Green Cove, for girls on the southern shore of the lake. It is directed by Frank’s sister, Nancy Bell. The Bells also own about 800 acres of woodland and pastures to the south off Green Cove down to the border with South Carolina. Lake Summit (350 acres) is actually a water reservoir (which are universally called “lakes” in the States) formed on the Green River after a dam was built. The dam is owned by the Duke Power Company, a family business and the biggest power producer in North Carolina; but the lake’s bottom is said to belong to the Bells. They also own an island on the lake.

The camp is oriented towards nature programme and non-competitive activities: horseback riding, mountaineering (including backpacking and rock climbing), mountain biking, swimming, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, walking trips, plus tennis (a mildly competitive exception), crafts (like drawing, silk-screen printing, pottery, weaving, etc.), ropes course, various in-camp activities (ICA: soccer, volleyball, tennis, archery, outdoor games). Swimming is compulsory for everybody as most of other activities are connected with water, to some extent at least. The Bell family has a number of horses. Several vans for carrying children and staff are rented for the summer. Of course, there are numerous boats, canoes, kayaks; they are kept in the gym in winter. All the offices are collected at Mondamin for the winter. Frank Bell lives in a house right below the main hill.

Mondamin Revisited

Yesterday I finally went to Mondamin website and looked through the summer photos. Those are mostly of children swimming, riding horses and bicycles, camping, kayaking and canoeing, having fun in a million other ways. There weren’t many pics of simply nature around but still some photos of kids climbing rocks had stunning backgrounds of North Carolina mountains and woods.

It is such a heavenly place that the moment I saw the first pic (even just the camp’s logo) I was there in my mind, wandering along the paths, swimming in Lake Summit, soaking up the sun and the wind, resting my sight on high hemlocks and being soaked by the Mondamin morning fog.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day, my American friends and those I met on my roads there!

Mondamin Fans Unite!

If there are any fans, lovers, alumni or those who know what Camp Mondamin is, let’s get together. What about sharing our memories and impressions?

I worked there as a Kitchen helper in the summers of 2001 (late June – mid-August) and 2002 (late May – mid-August). Alisa Kilpatrick (Food Manager), David Byers (Baron’s Linehead), Jullette Saussy (Camp Doctor), Kirk (2002 Chef), Agnes (Chef helper), Cindy (Baker) are among those I befriended. But I know and remember (maybe not always in name) many more, counsellors, kitchen workers, office staff, even some kids.

Mondamin (in western North Carolina) is a marvellous, almost unreal mountainous gem, nestled on the Lake Summit shores. Kids and adults love it and keep coming back. Unfortunately I haven’t been there since 2002, but hope to get back to visit some day.

   

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9/11: Questions

It’s 5 years since the world changed dramatically with the collapse of the Twin Towers in NYC. But questions remain and there is actually quite a lot on the Internet that suggests evidence or food for thought about other causes of the attack rather than those we are used to. Here are just a few links (there are hundreds more):

Missing pieces to the amazing 911 mystery puzzle

Loose Change 2nd edition documentary

Loose Change – Wikipedia

Question 911 video downloads

The Good Times Will Roll Again

I am happy to have great friends from New Orleans. I am happy to have been three times to New Orleans and having spent a couple of months on each visit. I am happy to have known New Orleans in all its splendour and with everything that makes it a jewel on the US map, in the US history and culture.

Last summer I was supposed to leave New Orleans on August 29. Katrina changed those plans. My friends evacuated with me to Baton Rouge on the Sunday before the hurricane made its landfall. I flew from Baton Rouge three days later. One of my friends, Dr. Michael Kaiser returned to New Orleans a couple of months later, while he never stopped giving all his knowledge, passion and strength to the system of public health. Another friend, Dr. Jullette Saussy stayed in the city during the hurricane and afterwards. She did her best to help those who were left behind and to organize first aid services.

I try to follow what is going on in NOLA and two things occupy my mind. One is sadness for the slow response of the government and slow progress of repairs, sadness for those who died and who had to leave, sadness for things lost in the hurricane and its aftermath, sadness with uncertainty about how much time, effort and resources it will take to bring the city back to somewhat normal, back on track, sadness because even the Mayor tried to play on the racist tunes proclaiming his aim to be making New Orleans once again the Chocolate City.

I cannot imagine America without New Orleans. It would be the same as to try imagining it without New York or Chicago. Therefore I cannot even slightly agree with those who doubted the necessity to rebuild the city and considered it an oddity in the first place that the city was built in such a fragile place. They hadn’t doubted the necessity to use it as a major port and the nicety of having an opportunity to come and party there. They hadn’t doubted the beauty of the French Quarter and the Garden District. They hadn’t doubted the profits coming from the local industry. Only when the city pleaded for help and support did they start doubting everything.

I do not doubt that New Orleans will survive as it survived other bad moments in its history. Katrina was not the final page and was not the final nail in the coffin. People of New Orleans through all the sadness, poverty, problems, and devastation manage to see the dead off with music. They will surely music off the dead idea of burying their city.

So, the second thing that is on my mind is happiness that New Orleanians do what they can to live through the worst days, do their best to preserve traditions that shape the city’s image around the world, manage to leave their troubles behind for at least a few days and nights while Mardi Gras rules. I am with New Orleans and its people in my thoughts and in my heart. Good thoughts and kind hearts, right minds able not to doubt the obvious are there with you now. We believe, we know, we are sure that New Orleans will let the good times roll again.

Katrina’s anniversary: no news from the Russian TV commentary

Last night I watched evening news on Russian TV (RTR) and was eager to hear the news from New Orleans. I had also expected some typical anti-American rhetorics. And my expectations came true. No, the true Ameri-sceptic, RTR US correspondent Konstantin Syomin (Константин Сёмин) wasn’t there. The report was made by one of my favourites, Mikhail Solodovnikov (Михаил Солодовников).

Everything was fine at the beginning and I could almost forgive him his “this is how the world learnt about another America, etc.” with which he seasoned his report quite lavishly. But at the end, standing against the background of the Superdome, he mixed everything in one pile, saying something about the Superdome having a dirty-grey roof (there is such an epithet describing colour in the Russian language, only the roof there is actually not dirty-grey, but rather white-grey), that they gave lethal injections to terminally-ill poor people who stayed in the Superdome (those injections were given to patients in one of the hospitals, who were not placed in the Superdome, and stayed in the flooded hospital).

Of course, the subject of corruption in Louisiana was given a special attention. They even took an interview from one of the City Council members who admitted that LA is notorious for corruption and huge sums were stolen from the emergency funds. But they gave no word to either Nagin or Bush, and showed neither of the commemoration ceremonies, except a short clip of the Bushes attending a church service.

As if there were no corruption anywhere else, especially in Russia. As if Russia were so well prepared to every natural disaster imaginable. As if we had no criminals in our streets. Why almost the only pictures they showed were those of the last year’s looting, not even of the flooded areas? Well, don’t take me wrong too, they did show some streets as they are now. But they also commented in the sense that debris is being hurriedly taken from the streets before the President’s visit. Oh my God! This was said in the country where our President’s visit is the only good reason to put new asphalt on the main streets and paint the buildings along the roads Mr Putin (or whoever else) is going to take.

So in two words, my expectations about the anti-American character of the reports came true, and I was disappointed not to see more of the present-day coverage of NOLA or the coverage of commemoration services.