Upheaval
In the aftermath of disaster there are discernible patterns – stages of thought, behavior and emotions. Fifteen years ago I began to map them. To document – from the experiences of people who’d faced the unthinkable – those patterns and stages. You can read some of what I’ve written about them on my website. This […]
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS ANGELA BLANCHARD?
AND WHAT HAS SHE BEEN DOING SINCE BAKERRIPLEY? …answering all the questions I am most often asked about what I’m doing… YOU WERE WITH BAKERRIPLEY FOR A VERY LONG TIME. DO YOU MISS IT? I miss the people, not the position. I was ready — like a baked cake — it was time to get […]
ALL OF US. FOR A REALLY LONG TIME
Well, I woke up to a random story about how BakerRipley is a mean old for profit making a huge amount of money from running NRG. Nope. First of all. We’re going to need everyone. Everyone. I’ve never seen a long term recovery commitment work that wasn’t a 3-legged stool. Government Nonprofit and faith community […]
Flooded Again
So many of my friends homes are flooded. Again. I feel sick with dread. Weeks of misery. Months of mold. You’d think we would grow some sort of thicker skin (scales) to deal with all of this but we haven’t yet. It’s just so heartbreaking to see people trying to continue a way of life […]
Mother Nature
On my mind – The thing about Mother Nature is that if you go to war with her, you lose. She has her rules. You live in her. She’s a “natural consequences” kind of disciplinarian. So she just lets the results of actions roll down. You can drum up all the heroics you want, sound […]
UPHEAVAL
We are all vulnerable creatures. We live on a tumultuous and volatile planet. War or weather. Upheaval is not rare but normal. It’s the spaces of predictability in between, those we think of and wish were “normal”, that we must treasure. It’s a hard reality that we are always on the brink of something catastrophic. […]
Recovery Mirrors
Many people have lost their memories and their history. Not only in this storm but in other storms and disruptions as well. For some, Harvey is a heartbreaking sequel. They’ve hauled their belongings to the curb before and now they’re doing it again. Piling up their pain. Waiting for deliverance. In some way they’re the lucky ones. […]
MUCK AND GUT #Harvey
MUCK and GUT. Texas has the best language ever for describing life’s challenges – a Texan coined Hunker Down. MUCK and GUT is just awful. When we have a flood, Mother Nature brings back everything we’ve ever disposed of and dumps it in our living rooms. It’s nasty. So you gotta pull up everything. All […]
Environmental Saints:
I was wondering how long it would take before someone offered the opinion that we are responsible for the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast because we are producing the oil we burn that causes them. Of course the person who posted this lives in San Francisco. I will refrain from saying everything I’d like […]