inspired to action

So I did get inspired while in New Orleans, despite the city itself, which is pretty sad. It's a shadow of itself, not quite returned. I could see and feel that and I had never even been there. The first few days we were there it felt like a ghost town! We were staying along the river (the Mississippi river!) right near the French Quarter and you'd think it'd be bustling with renewal, but it was just a whisper, a cancer-infested, smoker's throated whisper!

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, and decided to try to get something to eat - it was about 3 pm, and we went walking through the French quarter looking for someplace that was open where we could grab a bite. Some red beans and rice, or a plate of shrimp. But what we encountered were empty streets. As you walked along every few buildings were still boarded up, or worse, just shells of themselves.

Between the city and the particular workshops I went to... I've decided to develop a course to teach in my department on social action. I think it combines many of my passions and interests and ironically brings together exactly the kinds of things I've been struggling with over the past few years - maybe the things all socially minded therapists struggle with - the political, the social, the larger-than-the-individual piece.