From October 10, 2005 to December 22, 2007, minus two road trip interludes across the country, Guillermo lived and worked on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Katrina recovery (with Janos, who left the coast for law school in May of 2006.) Over time, he’ll be sharing his experiences via chapters from his forthcoming memoir Hurricane Camp Stories. It’s not just about Biloxi, or Katrina, or the other volunteers, or Guillermo, but it is about all of those things. For a list of available chapters on Living The Dream, see below:
Foreword
Part I: October 10, 2005 — January 8, 2006
“A solitude ten thousand fathoms deep
Sustains the bed on which we lie, my dear:
Although I love you, you will have to leap;
Our dream of safety has to disappear.”
-W.H. Auden, Leap Before You Look
Part I, Chapter 1: Greyhound
Part I, Chapter 2: 2113
Part I, Chapter 3: The Beginning Of Termite
Part I, Chapter 4: Halloween
Part I, Chapter 5: LSU Homecoming Part 1
Part I, Chapter 6: LSU Homecoming, Part 2
Part I, Chapter 7: Tarp Crew
Part I, Chapter 8: Team Hope
Part I, Chapter 9: What We Found In Waveland
Part I, Chapter 10: The Night Of The Broken Crosses
Part I, Chapter 11: Jerry Can’t Fail
Part I, Chapter 12: Moonshiner
Part I, Chapter 13: Broken Mirrors
Part II: January 8, 2006 — February 23, 2006
“Besides, he thought, everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.”
-Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man And The Sea
Part II (1 of 2): Biloxi–>Austin–>Santa Fe–>Crestone—>Colorado Springs–>Alta
Part II (2 of 2): San Fran–>Santa Rosa–>Portland–>MD–>Hanover–>MD
Part III: February 23, 2006- November 14, 2006
“How strange you are, you idiot!
So you think because the rose
is red that you shall have the mastery?
The rose is green and will bloom,
overtopping you, green, livid
green when you shall no more speak, or
taste, or even be. My whole life
has hung too long upon a partial victory.”
-William Carlos Williams, Paterson
Part III, Chapter 1: March Madness
Part III, Chapter 2: Miscues
Part III, Chapter 3: Presidents, Governors, and Golf Course Burials
Part III, Chapter 4: Maybirds
Part III, Chapter 5: Welcome To Atlanta
Part III, Chapter 6: How To Chain Yourself To A Door, How To Wear Tyvek, and Other July Tutorials
Part III, Chapter 7: The Hot August In John Henry Beck Park
Part III, Chapter 8: Seven Stories About The Fall of 2006
Part IV: November 15th, 2006 — December 24th, 2006
I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
-T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Part IV (Cover Page)
Part IV, Chapter 1: The Dark West
Part IV, Chapter 2: Dally and Nevada
Part IV, Chapter 3: Thanksgiving On The Dock Of The Bay
Part IV, Chapter 4: Guns, Coke, Tahoe
Part IV, Chapter 5: Astro Versus The Ice
Part IV, Chapter 6: Running On Empty
Part IV, Chapter 7: Across The Pond
Part IV, Chapter 8: Rock Paper Scissors
Part V: December 25th, 2006 — December 22nd, 2007
“I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels— until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.”
-Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish”
Part V (Cover Page)
Part V, Chapter 1: Reset
Part V, Chapter 2: Launchpad McQuack
Part V, Chapter 3: Barbie Skin Calluses
Part V, Chapter 4: The Moon Is Brighter On Dauphin Island
Part V, Chapter 5: Heroes
Part V, Chapter 6: Where Music Comes From
