Diaspora in Seattle

Your blogstress’s new friend, Wilson Kolb of Seattle, has begun a blog, WillieSnout, chronicling his experience “adopting” a married couple who evacuated New Orleans.

Here’s Wilson:

This article by Dr. Red Head really hit home. I am here in Seattle and as of last Friday I am one of those well-meaning people who has paid the rent on an apartment for a displaced family of fellow Americans made homeless by the storm. Even before reading her article I had been thinking about the issues Doc Redhead raised and, boy, could I ever use some practical ideas. Meantime, I'm making it up as I go along, and am hoping that a lot of caring and some common sense will get us through.

This is a family of five who made it up here in their car. I only met two of them, a husband and wife who I'd say are in their mid-40s. I had learned about them through an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and met them at the Central Area Motivation Project (CAMP), which specializes in helping low-income black folks here. I had never heard of CAMP, but I called them to ask what was being done for their housing. I wound up offering to pay their rent for a couple months.

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