"We want bread, but roses too"

(Song from the Lawrence, MA Textile Workers' Strike of 1912)

Report from Brooklyn 
Five days after Hurricane Sandy

Yesterday, finally some action! My friend Dixie and i went to two shelters to volunteer as storytellers. The first had all seniors and at that time the staff did not want to do anything but check them all in and make them comfortable. The seniors were from three nursing homes in the Rockaways (a sandbar/island that hugs the coast of Queens/Brooklyn.) They had not been taken until very late, and were still agitated. 

The second shelter was at John Jay High School, in Park Slope, and had families. There were two playrooms, full of NYC workers not at their usual jobs, and kids unaccompanied by parents. It was a bit chaotic, but we went ahead and told 2 stories. With the older kids we told stories that could be acted out. In the younger kids playroom, I sang songs and led them in movement games. Not one of them could sit down to listen, or even listen while jumping!

In the middle of the singing, a woman stormed in complaining that there were kids roaming the halls and wanted to know who if anyone had vetted the volunteers. She was very upset, and worried that one of the volunteers might be a pedophile. 

The atmosphere is as organized as it can be (considering that shelters in schools will have to be relocated and no one knows where or when) and the children are unfocused and bumping off walls. It seems that there is an overflow of volunteers, including musicians and artist for the children, at least in Park Slope. I saw friends of mine, 2 clowns, and musicians entering and leaving the buildings!

However, the children and the staff appreciated the storytelling and songs and mostly our presence. One 9 year old little boy really ran with the acting, and then told a story of how his family escaped from the flooding in Rockaway.

I am going to call the office of emergency management today to see if there is any way to coordinate storytelling volunteers or find out what is needed where in terms of story. So far I have only the names and numbers of Brooklyn shelters. I will see if I can get more.

I do not know what can/or cannot/be organized since no one in the shelters really knows what is happening much in advance. But we NYers are hardy folks, and determined, so we will go where we can. After 9/11 we organized ourselves. We will do what we can now also.

And we do need bread, and we need roses too!