Day 2: Day in the Life

6:30 a.m.: Running in the morning, it's typical for runner to use the soft dirt in the trolly tracks as a great pathway. When a rickety ole trolly car approaches, you have three or more minutes to move out of the way. The trolly tracks, as you can see, are in the neutral ground (median). New Orleans streets are oddly disorderly and orderly, all at once. The grass is uneven but not neglected; the curbs aren't perfectly straight, but the street layout allows for just the pedestrian vitality that Jane Jacobs loves.

8:00/8:30 a.m.: Leave the house for work. This is where I am living for two months. It has what's called a "Shotgun" style floorplan (ubiquitous in NOLA), because when you open the front door, you face a straight hallway that goes from living room to dining room to kitchen to bedrooms in the back.

8:30/9:00 a.m.: Arrive at work-- earlier some days, depending on is there's a meeting or conference event. This is the place (office complex) where I work. It was an old commercial walking mall, kind of like Highland Village in Jackson, that Tulane bought and took over for office space post-Katrina.

5:30 p.m. Leaving where I work for the day, I "reflect" on how awesome and perfect my placement is. I work among kin, intellectual/professional kin.

[This is a giant map, which you saw behind the glass door above. Upon entering the Institute, this map, which features the 60+ charter schools in the city and their location and distribution across the city.]

11:00 p.m. After an evening hanging out, running errands, driving the town, and sharing dinner with my fellow intern, we crash at her house. Sweet rest, then bring on another summer workday! (I love different seasons of life and changing routines!)