Just A Day

Here's what's happening today:

I woke up when it was still dark, threw on scrubs and poured dark grainy coffee into an old Mason jar, and went to work at the Latino Health Outreach Project's mobile clinic. It's amazing to see how much the work has grown since the last time I worked there, just shy of a year ago. Now there's a regular doctor, we work in teams with herbalists, and we're still consistently giving people information and supplies they need and can't get everywhere. I drove a man having chest pain to University Hospital, where they don't have interpreters or bilingual staff, but a Spanish-speaking nurse appeared, seemingly from beneath the reception desk, once we said "crushing chest pain radiating to the left arm." She kept patting my shoulder and telling me, "gracias, mi amor. We'll take good care of him," till I felt comfortable leaving.

I hope he's all right.

Today, also, The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival opens at venues all over the city, including Canal Place, One Eyed Jack's, the Ashe' Cultural Arts Center, and Zeitgeist; showcasing incredible films from all over the world. Check it out.

Today, also, Toni Morrison is coming to speak at McAllister Auditorium on Tulane's uptown campus. Whoa. 7PM. Free.

Today my cousin made a pledge to try to drink more fair trade coffee after watching what sounds like an incredibly powerful film called Black Gold (it had the same effect on some friends of mine a few weeks ago). Now there's all kinds of online mayhem in the family, but I think she's also realizing how many people support that choice. Me, I'm just excited that films have the capacity to affect people's decisions in such a direct way, and so proud to see my relatives making choices that have concrete positive impacts, however small, on people's lives.

And did I tell you there's not a cloud in the sky? Not one. It looks like thick, sweet blue gel up there, like you could reach up and grab a chunk and eat it.