"We goin' on de muck."
"Whut's de muck, and where is it at?"
"Oh down in de Everglades round Clewiston and Belle Glade where dey raise all dat cane and string-beans and tomatuhs. Folks don't do nothin' down dere but make money and fun and foolishness. We must go dere."
Zora Neale Hurston,
Their Eyes Were Watching God,chapter 13.
Again, it's funny how I always post on my blog at a weird hour. After a few hours of sleep, I'm up at 3:45 a.m. It's always hard adjusting to a hotel room, even though it's nice.
I'm out in the field this week, visiting a site in Belle Glade, a community on the southeastern shore of Lake Okechobbee, and staying in a hotel in Clewiston, a larger town with a decent H-Inn Express.
My visit down here is to provide some training and technical assistance to a community organization, facilitating on disaster and volunteer management. I love training, especially when there's AmeriCorps*VISTAs involved.
This is a part of Florida I'd never seen, and I was really excited to come, knowing this area was part of the setting for Their Eyes Were Watching God. As I flew into Ft. Lauderdale, I saw Florida's Great Lake and the thousands of acres of wetlands and sugar cane.
And there is sugar cane! Everywhere! And I saw the muck-- that rich soil that comes at the environmental expense of the Everglades. Driving in, I felt like I was in a different country... the poverty is obvious and there are still plywood shutters and blue roof on trailers all over here.
This is the home of the powerful U.S. Sugar Corporation (whose big industry makes them very arrogant-- I had a bad experience with an executive during the 04 Hurricanes), yet there is such an obvious class division of the haves vs. have-nots. I see all this sugar and the powerful mills that provide jobs, yet many of these communities are very poor.
I had dinner at the Clewiston Inn (clewistoninn.com) last night with some of my colleagues from the project site, and they gave me some great insight into the area. One of them has strong political ties and will probably run for Congress in a few years (she's an awesome person we need people who know the struggles non-profits face in serving the poor!) The Inn was built by none other than U.S. Sugar to house visiting dignataries and execs. They really have great food, and at a great price too! I got some of the local catfish with hushpuppies that included a salad, steamed veggies, baked potato, bread-- all for $9! There were four huge fillets, and the potato was the size of my head!
I complete the training today, and fly back up in the afternoon.
