Hi, this family is looking for help with the funeral. Any and all contributions will be appreciated.

I received this from a local list I belong to. Sadly I have received too many similar requests for the same thing due to the same reason.
Domestic violence is a tough thing. I hope that those who can help will help.
And, in case anyone wonders....not a scam. I did not know the person but I know about the original sender and she is pretty savvy. Also, another trustworthy member of the list verified this information.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, this family is looking for help with the funeral. Any and all contributions will be appreciated. Thanks, Nikki
A Statement from the family of:Sandra Goss-ReavisJune 25, 1967 – November 2, 2006Sandra was a loving and devoted mother, sister and friend. You could always count on her smile and laughter to brighten your day. She was very active in the church and served faithfully. She enjoyed singing in the choir and cooking for her family. She was the matriarch of her family and a sweet sister. Sandra’s life was cut short at 39 years old due to domestic violence. Her memory will live on forever within her 5 beautiful children and 4 siblings. To help defray the funeral cost the family has established The Sandra Reavis Memorial Fund, donations can be forwarded to Citizens Bank: Account number 1309007737The wake will be held on Sat, November11, 2006 at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church located at 230 Warren St, Roxbury, MA From 9am to 10 am.. The Service will be from 10am to 12 pm.The Family would like to thank everyone for all their support and words of encouragement during this difficult time.The Spokesperson on behalf of the Family:Angela Goss (sister)617-436-6932857-222-5322

NOLA-Day Two

My second day began with cereal for breakfast. There is no group hot breakfast at base camp. Admittedly I hadn't had breakfast regularly in a long time, which probably explains a lot of recent bahviour. I honestly am a happier person with breakfast than without it. We also make our own lunch-usually people have peanut butter and jelly. Some enerprising people take last night's leftovers if there are any. One guy from Massachusetts who works for the Appalacchian Mountain Club dumped an enchilada and rice in a ziploc. (We had enchiladas for dinner the night before).

I found my team leader for the day, whose name was Jess. She's from Wisconsin and Minnesota and is a part of the Americorp group that is travelling and doing community service. After they leave next week, her group will continue onto Mississippi, where they will help with the Katrina rebuilding there. I got my Tyvek, which is that suit that you usually see haz-mat workers wear only this one is white. I also got my respirator mask and goggles and gloves. Then it was decided since we were doing a "last gut" which required primarily nail removal, that carpenter's face masks (those white things that look like a boxer's "cup" would be fine and so I returned my respirator. I did take photos of me in various stages of the get up and hope to post them later.

A "last gut" is the finally stage of gutting a house. Once this is done, then rebuilding work can begin. The people whose homes are receiving this work from HandsOn New Orleans volunteers contacted the office and requested the help. Usually once the request is received, volunteers go to the property and scout it out. If it poses too muich of a risk (unstable floors for example) , then they cannot work on the house and refer them to someone who can.

The house that we went to was on Gallier Street. You could tell by the foundation and the skeletoin that was left that it was well made. We preceded to remove nails, nails and more nails with hammers. I don't think I have ever interacted with that many nails in my whole life. We passed the time talking about ourselves, the recent elections, celebrity breakups and episodes of hte Cosby Show. After the nails were removed, we swept up the nails and other debris that was left in the house. The debris was left on the curb side grass by the side of the house. Jess informed us that debris removal is a part of the garbage pickup around here. They come by and pick it up daily.

We beavered through our project and finished extremely early. We had some time to drive around the city before we started our next task. Usually work takes the whole day but there are times where crews finish early. There is always something that needs doing and something is usually found for idle hands that want not to be idle-which describes all of us here.

Jess was a great team leader and guide. She was informative and had energy. She clearly loved the fact that she was helping people in the best way that she could. She drove around the neighborhood where we completed our morning's work and showed us the houses, some of which had extensive damage. One enduring sight for today were the FEMA trailers. They were in the yards of people's houses or in FEMA trailer parks. I clearly have never lived in a trailer because I was surprised at how small they were. Jess said that FEMA did also locate trailers for those with disabilities. We took a bathroom break at the location of Common Relief, which we were told was a more radical outfit that does the type of work that we are doing. They were a bit more activist. They offered us a hot lunch later, which we declined simply because at the time they woudl have lunch, we would be onto our next job.

As we rmade our way to the now infamous Ninth Ward, we saw that the houses had spray paint on them. We were told that these markings, which have words and/or numbers in either a cross or an "X" represented the teams that swept the properties after the disaster. The upper left quadrant reperesented the team that went in to do the sweep. The lower left represented the number of dead that they found. The lower right represented the number that were found alive. The upper right represented where they were found. After receiving this information, the markings took on a whole new grim meaning for me since we had prior to her explanation, passed a number of places where I saw totals of anywhere between 1-4 in that lower left quadrant that tallies the dead bodies found. The number dead will also include pets, which are also noted in spray paint. The MSPCA did quite a few sweeps. We were also told that earlier in the summer, a HandsOn team was doing a "first gut"-taking down the wall and ceiling-and they found an older woman under her sink that the sweep teams clearly did not find. So many houses to check, so few resources at hand.

We drove into the Ninth Ward. Quiet, except for some green industry crews doing branch removal and some traffic. There is no eletricity here so no one in their right mind (or left mind for that matter) comes here at night. In fact, where there would usually be stop lights, there are stop signs and people are trusted to remember the rules of the road. There are also no gas stations so if you are going over there and you don't plan ahead, you are so outta luck. As we drove around, it was sobering to see that where what looked like plots of open land were places where houses once stood. The Ninth Ward was densely populated-this you can tell from how the remaining structures and traces of the structures are situated. Jess showed us the now repaired levees and indicated about where they broke. It's a sin. These people HAD NO CHANCE. NO CHANCE AT ALL.

We saw some demoltion taking place. Dotted along the area were foundations on top of which houses once stood. On the side of one house I saw, was written "This was home."

As we drove through the neighborhoods of New Orleans that did not include downtown, all you could see were signs for mold removal, insurance and demolition services. Not only were these giant billboards but these were small white and yellow signs that were stuck in the grass. We also saw remnants of the election races. We were told that there was a push to have people get out and vote. New Orleans we were also told pre-Katrina was known for its city corruption. It is felt that this also played a role in the disaster since money that could have gone into prevention went instead into people's pockets. An example of this were a number of the empty schools we passed by. The city had not worked to maintain them pre-Katrina so it was small wonder that they were still standing. Now however, the students have to travel far away to attend school because the buildings will never be in shape in the near future. One mother we were told, has to drive her son a half an hour to school each way.As we drove through Gentilly, again sobering to housing complexes in various stages of "gut" and places like McDonald's standing empty. Gentilly had more signs of life than the Ninth Ward and at least had electricity.

I did mention that I noticed that in many neighborhoods-especially in the poorer ones-it seems that there was a dearth of supermarkets but an abundance of fast food. Coming from a city that has Farmer's Markets and more grocery stores than you can shake a stick at, it was odd to only see the odd Winn-Dixie and a Whole Foods. Jess said that people in NOLA love to eat and that in addition to the wonderful local cuisine, there was also no shortage of restaurants-fast food and otherwise.We were also told that the Hands On New Orleans volunteers had done some work in the Ninth Ward but money that they received from Home Depot, who donate the tools, stipulated that they do more work in the areas where the nearest store was, which is the Central City area.

Jess took us on a tour of the more affluent parts of the city that suffered more hurricane damage than flooding. All around you could see contractors working, but if you visited these areas only you would have never known Katrina had taken place. We were told that Brad Pitt was around filming for his documentary on 'green-building.' (Using environmentally friendly materials in the construction of office and living spaces). We went by Tulane and Audubon Park, which were beautiful.We also drove around Central City, where we currently stay and found out that some of the best po-boys to be had are on magazine street.We returned to base and helped bring in the supplies for our "breakfast for dinner."

After consuming lunch which consisted of po-boys and Rally's, our team traveled to our next site which was down the street. This woman suffered roof damange which resulted in mold. Her house was gutted by HandsOn Volunteers. We were cleaning up the debris, which included lots of plaster. This woman was told by her insurance claim adjuster that the house had no plaster, which was a total lie since we were tripping over it. While we were working, she took photos of the plaster in various locations. I helped her with this task. Another example of corruption. It was one thing to hear on Dr. Phil the story about a poor woman who was being taken advantage of by evil contractors in regarding to building her house post-Katrina, but to know about it in person. And what really burns me is that the victims are almost always our senior citizens who for the most part, deserve better. There are times where you wish certain people were taken away in the flood.

I have never done so much sweeping and hauling in one day in a LONG TIME. Again, another well made house that was well lived in. The woman just lost her husband five years ago. One of the last things that needed to be removed was a box that had items that were damaged by Katrina. This box contained things that she was going to donate.

We returned to base camp. where we had to sterilize our googles and return tools 'n' stuff. The team took much welcome showers and enjoyed some downtime before our "IHOP" experience. Some of the Boston Cares members went out to "raise hell." I decided to save my "hell-raising" for Friday. I definitely want to go to Igor's, which is a bar, restaurant and laundromat that is open 24 hours. (Yes, you read correctly and I totally want to bring that to the Northeast. Great concept!)

I did take some photos of our time in the Ninth Ward and hope to post those in a future blog post.

Each day ends with a group meeting where announcements are made and debriefs on the days work are done. Some of the things on tap for tomorrow is a "super-gut" of a church, some "first-guts" and mural design. Since members choose what team they want to sign up for, as you can imagine after the meeting it is a mob scene at the sign up board. I was only able to sign up for the mural. (Tomorrow I will be elbow more so I can get in on gutting projects. :) )

KP (Kitchen Patrol) was cool. I washed more silverware by hand than I thought was possible. (The only dishwashers are human.) I also got to play some NO (New Order) on the CD player.

Other fun activities are also organized by the volunteers, such as tomorrow's 3 on 3 basketball tournament and the musical that will take place on Monday. They usually have a "no talent" talent show. Another person is arranging for a trip to the Ninth Ward on Sunday for those who had not been.

While waiting for dinner I got a chance to talk to Amelia, who is a staff member at Hands On New Orleans. She told us that they are moving towards becoming a 501 c 3 or a nonprofit in their own right and that this will happen next year. Other Boston Cares volunteers-Corey and Maria- as well as myself offered her advice on how to raise the profile of HandsOn New Orleans given their current constraints as essentially the 'child' of the 'parent' HandsOn Network. We mentioned maintaining a blog-even if it was only updated once a month, it would be welcome because everyone is hungry of knowledge about the rebuilding effort even as Katrina has faded from the national consciousness. We also talking about email lists and newsletters (Corey had high praise for Contant Contact, which Boston Cares also uses) and asking for a small donation from the end of their stay. We get fed and housed and shuttled around for free. I don't know of many volunteer opportunities that offer that. Once HandsOn New Orleans stands on its own as a 501 c 3, it will be more difficult for them to keep this up. Many of their volunteers are young and/or not rich people but they want to provide service. My aunt feels things happen for a reason and I think that it is no accident that our particular group came down. Perhaps, our experience was needed by the staff to help with those other aspects of the non profit experience-fundraising, and stuff.

I spent the rest of the night novel writing ( I am also taking part in NaNoWriMo-National Novel Writing Month), talking to people both on my cell and in person.

On a somber note, as if to remind us that our little slice of heaven is still in the real world, as I was talking on my cell phone to the dearest of my friends in our enclosed gated space in full view of the cop that was on duty to watch over us, I and the others outside heard a gunshot.
Calmly I moved inside while on the phone. The cop was radioing for backup as I went in. We were on lockdown from about 9:20-9:50. I stayed on the phone with my friend until lockdown was over to assure him that I was okay in da 'hood. I was concerned but I guess I take things as I take them. I distracted him by talking about Kenny on South Park and one of our favorite scenes-when Kenny makes his mom her favorite drink, cocoa and vodka and puts "Pregnant No More" in it. He also described the show 'ER' to me:

"There a guy talking. And another guy talking. And a guy with a tube up his nose. They guys talking have white coats. Now they are walking. Now they are walking and talking...."

He never watched ER.

NOLA-Day One

Well, I made it to NOLA (New Orleans). There is a group of about 40 from Boston. We all had our share of airplane stories-the worst being the people who took American Airlines out of Boston and had their flight cancelled and then were routed to Continental and then missed their connection in La Guardia and made it finally to NOLA but without their luggage, which was still sitting on the original American Airlines flight. They were surprisingly nice about it all. Of course the Boston Cares group came together and offered clothes and stuff.
My flight was all right. I loved listening to the XM Satellite radio, which has channels for every type of music imaginable. I basically lived in the 40s-90s stations with forays into the country and alt stations. As we landed at at the NOLA airport, (a beautiful flyover by the way as is Atlanta, GA) I listened to "Ring of Fire" by the man in black (Johnny Cash) and "Physical" by Olivia Newton John. I will take the time to apologize now for those who read this and go "Arrgh! These songs are stuck in my head...."
The neighborhood we are staying is decent enough though there seems to have been a major drug ring bust prior to our coming. There is increased police security and we have been told to go out at night in threes and the places that we need to avoid.
Driving down St. Charles Avenue was interesting since you would see chain restaurants housed in buidlings that you would associate with the 19th century.
It has been more than a year since Katrina hit. You can see that downtown has made a lot of progress. I was actually pleased to see children going home from school in the afternoon, which to me is a sign of nornamlcy.
The weather is in the 70s-a welcome change from the freezing rain that I left. I did not hit any of the nightlife yet. Traveling made me tired and I felt like staying close to home. But tomorrow...
Our hosts, Hands On New Orleans, are great. They have energy and they are practical. One of the staff memebers is also named Emma (a very lovely name to be sure). After we arrived, we receeived a great orientation and safety lecture, since as you can imagine, there is mold and stuff to be concerned about as well as falling debris.
Definitely no frills here. Everyone mucks in with chores and we sleep in bunks not unlike barracks. I signed up for kitchen patrol (cleanup) on Thursday. As I stated before, I can sleep on a concrete floor with a sheet and be okay. Our group is on the top bunks. I joked that it reminded me a bit of the movie "Rooftops."
The Boston Cares group, headed by Whitney, is a great group. Clearly we are all people who want to make a difference no matter how anonymous it is. Many of us don't know each other but we came together rather well. I had a great time playing (and winning at) UNO with Ethan and Pam. I also got a kick out of our reaction to the recent elections, including the Democractic wins.
And though I felt a bit silly, Whitney's idea about us all wearing the yellow Boston Cares shirts was a good one.
Tomorrow I will be a part of a "last gut" team. This team completes the gutting of a house with things like nail removal.
I'll blog more later.

More Surveys

1. Ever punch someone in the face?Yes but they hit first.
2. How old are you?33
3. Are you single or taken?Single.
4. Eat with your hands or utensils?Utensils
5. Do you dream at night?Yes.
6. Ever seen a corpse?Unfortunately yes
7. have you ever wished someone dead?Yes
8. Do You Like Bush?No
HERE COMES THE FUN ... ... ...
9. Whats your philosophy on life? and death?When you number's up, it's up so live like it's up in 5 minutes
10. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:I have an amazing body of knowledge about the 1930s and 40s
11. do you trust the police?Not always
12. Do you like country music?Yes at times
13. Do you think I'm attractive?Actually I do
14. If you could change anything about yourself would you?I would take more risks
15. Batman or Superman?Batman
16. What do you wear to sleep?Stuff
17. Have you ever peed in a pool? while you were still in it?No
18. Would you hide evidence for me if I asked you to?Unfortunately, no
19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?Go to the top of some of the mountains in Alaska and watch the eagles.
20. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?
Sure.
----------------------------------------------------------

"How much have YOU changed in?" Body: Two years ago....
How old were you?31
Where did you go to school?Out of school
Where did you work?Circles
Where did you live?Somerville
Where did you hang out?Places
How was your hair?short as usual
Did you wear glasses?No
Who was your best friend?Ken
Who was your regular-person crush?no one
How many tattoos did you have?none
How many piercings did you have?2 one in each ear
What car did you drive?None
What was your worst fear?Not going anywhere in my life
Had you been arrested?nope
Had your heart broken?yes
Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter?Taken
**HA HA HA!!! LETS SEE WHAT YOU ARE NOW !!!!!**
IN November 2006.....
How old are you?33
Where do you work?Nonprofit
Where do you hang out?places
Do you wear glasses?No
How long is your hair?longer
Who are your best friends?Ken, and other people
Still talk to any of your old friends?Yes
Who is your current interest?no one
How many tattoos?none
How many piercings do you have?same
What kind of car do you have?none
What is your biggest fear?same
Have you or a Loved 1 been arrested since, if so, how many times?nope
Has your heart been broken?yes
Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter?single
REPOST AS "How much have YOU changed in?"
---------------------------------------------------
1. How old will you be in five years?38
2. What month is your birthday?January
3. How tall are you?5'4"
4. What do you look forward to most in the next week?Doing some great work in NOLA and completing some work on my novel for NaNoWriMO
5. What's the last movie you saw?Brothers of the Head (I think), maybe it wasn't but it was the one I remember enjoying a lot.
6. Who is the last person you called?Carl
7. Who was the last person to call you?Carl
8. What was the last text message you recieved?Hey! Be Safe. Ken
9. Do you prefer call or txt?I'll take both
10. Do you have any pets?No
12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced?Not together. Death kinda takes care of that
13. When is the last time you saw your mom?August 15, 1994
14. what color are your eyes?Brown
15. What time did you wake up today?5:00pm CST
16. What are you wearing right now?Plaid pajamas, white sox
17. What's your favorite Christmas song?O Holy Night-when done well (I recommend the Jerry Butler and Andy Williams versions), it's amazing to hear even if you don't celebrate Christmas.
18. Where is your favorite place to be?Right now-On a porch watching things
19. Where is your least favorite place to be?At an office
20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere?Alaska or Japan
21. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years?Own house, car and property, own business and with at least 2-3 kids
22. do you tan or burn?I am already tan so I don't need to try to tan or else I would burn
23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?Death until we reached an understanding
24. What was the last thing that made you laugh?Ted Kennedy of the "accent" making fun of his nephew in law "Ahhhrnold"'s accent in his victory speech.
25. Have you ever gotten stitches?Inside my mouth after having my my wisdom teeth extracted. I have scars from places where I should have gotten stitches but didn't.
26. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?I prefer the ocean
27. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats?Window!
28. Do you know how to drive stick?Not really
29. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?Music and books and savings accounts
30. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7?No
31. What is your favorite TV show?See my profile but to give a sampling: House, CSI Miami, Law and Order SVU, Grey's Anatomy, NOVA....
32. Can you roll your tongue?yeah-though I'm out of practice
33. Who is the funniest person you know?Huh...well Carl makes me laugh though the thought of Colleen as a mother is funny too...then there's Ian...
34. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?No
35. What is the main ring tone on your phone?Sony Ericsson
36. Do you still have clothes from when you were little?A few.
37. What color are your bedroom walls?White
38. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth?usually
39. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?Closed
40. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm ofbees?Rather not be attacked by either. Seems to me that there should be easier ways to get honey.
41. Do you flirt alot?I can...but not a lot
42. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?Honey BBQ
43. What is your favorite food?The kind I can eat
44. Can you change the oil on a car?yes
45.Do you like video games?At times. I do like PC world building games best.
46. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?No
47. Have you ever run out of gas?Yes
48. What is your usual bedtime?11:00
49. Do you read the newspaper?yes.
50. Do you have more than 10 cd's?yes
51.Who is the best comedian?Me
52. Do you watch soap operas?At times
53. Do you dance in the car?I can if the proper music is on. You know it! lol

Travelin' down to NOLA-11/8-11/13

I'll be joining a group organized by a great non-profit called Boston Cares that will help with the ongoing rebuilding effort in New Orleans (NOLA).

We will be hosted by Hands On New Orleans, which is a member of the Hands On Network. (Boston Cares is a member also!) I am told that a lot of the work will include mold removal, long days, and 3 minute showers. All of this I can do and willingly. I hope to be able to blog about my experience there for the next few days or at least provide a report once I get back.

When the Katrina disaster took place, I experienced the covereage largely through the net and through listening to the television broadcast on my headset. I never saw the footage as it unfolded. Hearing the desperation and fear of the victims and the utter incompetence of those who should have known better gave me a different perspective on the disaster than I otherwise would have had if I watched it on television. (I moved but had not unpacked my tv and was not really missing it since I could hear all of the shows that I liked on my headset).

Wish us well. We go to do good and to effect change, which is what Boston Cares, Hands On New Orleans and the Hands On Network are all about.

a myspace survey with balls...thanks Lucy

1. How many people have you had sex with in 2006?
2


2. Weed, coke, crack, heroin, oxy, acid, x, k, peyote, mushrooms, opium, hash....out of these 12 drugs how many have you done?
None


3. Ever cheated on a GF/BF?
No, been cheated on twice.


4. Ever paid for sex?
No


5. Ever been married?
Almost


6. Ever been divorced?
No

7. If you had to pick one whats your favorite sexual position?
The one that brings me the most pleasure.

8. Do you own any guns?
If I told, then I would be giving the bad guys the upper hand...


9. Craziest place you ever had sex?
In the other room


10. Ever been to rehab?
No

11. Ever have a 3 some?
Yes


12. Ever have sex with anyone that you met on myspace?
As far as I can tell no...I think I almost did with one person but then I am getting old and the memory fades


13. What size are your breasts/dick?
My breasts are a healthy size.

14. Do you think Arnold could beat up Chuck Norris?
No but that's not important right now.


15. What celebrity would you want to have sex with?
The first name that comes to mind is Kathryn Morris of "Cold Case"-if I had to choose.


16. Ever been unemployed for over a year since becoming an adult?
No


17. How many states have you lived in?
2


18. How many countries have you lived in?
1


19. Do you keep a weapon under or next to your bed at night?
Not telling.



20. What celebrity would you want to beat up if you had the chance?
Whitney comes to mind...


21. Ever rolled into the harsh ghetto to buy drugs?
Not to buy drugs-just to hang out with a peripheral friend's friends.


22. Do you enjoy sex with or without condoms?
I prefer protection.


23. Ever been paid for sex?
Wasn't that question #4? The answer is still the same.


24. Would you do "Dave the Goofy Professor" from GoofyAuctions.com?
Uhhh....no....


25. Ever hired a PI to follow someone?
No.


26. Ever f*cked a friends bf/gf?
Only after the person was converted into an ex and the friend was okay with it.



27. Do you prefer a partner with a tongue/nipple/private piercing?
I'm easy.


28. How many times a week do you masturbate?
Again, not tellin'


29. Fake tits or real tits???
Too real to be a lie.



30. Ever watch someone die?
Yes.



31. How long has it been since you had sex?
Not telling


32. Name your favorite Beer?
Guinness of course


33. Do you have a sexual fantasy?
Maybe



34. Ever gone to jail for 10 days or longer?
No



35. Anyone on myspace you want to f*ck?
Sure

A n Austenian heroine

Take the Quiz here!