Immersion.

By working on this project, I have become completely immersed in Ebeye.

Everyday I check the news to see if there is anything about my little island, I listen to the same music I listened to while out there (which was pretty much limited to the 5 CD's I had, compliments of Caiti and Alex), and read all there is written about Ebeye. Not that there is much.

If I smell fish, I think, "Ebeye." If I see a bug in my house, I think, "Ebeye." Basically anything and everything transports me back there.

This has been good for my writing.

This has been bad for my sleep.

Although I did not dream about Ebeye itself last night, I dreamt about writing about Ebeye.

However, I did find this great little one-paragraph description in Moon's Travel Handbook -- Micronesia while in Borders the other day:

"As you walk the streets of Ebeye, the Marshall's second largest town, at dusk you will be overwhelmed by the number of young children, almost as if a universe had been created containing only nine-year-olds. They sit, they run, they pick nits out of each other's hair. They play ball, often substituting sticks for bats or beach balls for the basketballs they cannot afford. They are poor, charming, and beautiful. They smile easily."

I could not have said it better myself.


Photo courtesy of Mel Wade

Complete.

First chapter down. Many to go.

This is how I feel. CLICK ME!!!

And yes, I did dance around in my living room to this. Twice.

First 870 Words.

I did it. I took the first step. My hands were shaking the entire time I was typing, but I got it down. I am guite proud of myself, quite excited. I can put this to rest for the weekend.

Yay me!

News

Pacific slum district a 'health risk' to residents: US Army
(AFP) – 19 hours ago

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — The Marshall Islands region of Ebeye, which has the unflattering reputation as the "slum of the Pacific" has now been damned in a US Army report as a health threat to residents.

The collapsing infrastructure, including a sewerage system that has not worked for five years, cannot support the population according to the report prepared for the commander of the nearby US Army base on Kwajalein Atoll.

About 1,000 islanders who work at the missile testing range at Kwajalein live on Ebeye, an overcrowded coral island where 15,000 people are packed on to 78 acres (31 hectares).

The island recently reported it had run out of room to bury its dead and grieving families were forced to put coffins into existing graves.

"Ebeye's critical utility infrastructure is deteriorated and is unable to sustain the current population," the 85-page US Army report released Thursday said.

In particular, the islands' sewerage system has not worked in five years and raw sewage is pumped into the lagoon near where children swim.

There is also a health threat to residents who live next to an open garbage dump in Ebeye.

Only Ebeye's electrical system was rated in good condition while "other systems were unable to support the existing population, presented a health risk or were non-functioning".

Kwajalein and Marshall Islands government leaders hailed the report and said it could help trigger improvements in Ebeye, which the local news media refers to as the "slum of the Pacific".

It is a "roadmap that we can use as the basis for fixing Ebeye," said Kwajalein Senator Tony deBrum.

"It is a very timely report and says what we have been saying for the past five years, but nobody has been listening."

Opening Lines.

I have turned the local Borders into my office. It gets me out of the house into a place where I am surrounded by thousands, maybe millions, of works that were written down by someone, somewhere. Not all of them are great, but they all must be readable, for if they weren't no store in America would take up precious shelf-space with them.

Today I found a book called Writing Life Stories: How to make memories into memoirs, ideas into essays, and life into literature. Of course, being Borders, there were endless shelves on how to write screenplays, novels, how to edit/revise/get published, on the correct use of grammar, blah blah blah. But this book is a gem. I sat down and read the first chapter and realized that I will be back for more.

Suggestion from this chapter that I liked: Look for 10 great opening lines. Analyze why you like them. Then look for the 10 best opening lines from your own work. Well, I felt like a fool walking back and forth, back and forth, picking books, putting them down, occasionally pulling out my notebook and copying down opening lines I like. Truth be told, I didn't feel like a fool until one of the workers came up to me and said, "Take your time, we are open until 11 tonight." Apparently someone realized I had been in Borders for awhile. This leads me to confess I only have four lines so far. But my list can continue to grow.

(1) I wish Giovanni would kiss me. (Eat, Pray, Love : Elizabeth Gilbert)
(2) As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day. (I was Told There'd be Cake : Sloane Crosley)


Scratch that, I only have two. The other two didn't cut it.

Inspiration: Two Islands, One Lagoon (Part 2)

I put up a post about 30 minutes ago. I needed inspiration to sit down and do my task for today (finish going through the mounds of emails, blogs, etc.). I just wanted to do anything else (which is why I have laundry going and something baking and a new garden outside). Not because I didn't want to do this, but I feel at a stand-still. I want to WRITE, not plan. I want to have a something NOW, not later. But that's not how writing, or successful writing, is so I tried to inspire myself. And it worked. I sat down, and I got to work.

Then I thought to what my friend was talking about earlier this week: creating rituals. And I knew one that I wanted to do, to be my "focus cue", if you will. I started each and every single day in Ebeye with a song, Getting into You by Relient K. So I found it on YouTube. And one my desktop was on open folder of pictures from my time there. I pressed the slideshow button, just to see what I needed to focus on.

One thing I was not expecting from this process was for it to be painful. But it was. That song, with those pictures... WAM! I was hit with the emmense love for those faces and the loss of leaving them like I have not felt in years. These precious little people who challenged me, laughed with (and sometimes at) me, frustrated me, and loved me. And I feel homesick, even though I am sitting in my living room.

I certainly don't enjoy writing. I get a fine warm feeling when I'm doing it, but that pleasure pretty much negated by the pain of getting started each day. Let's face it, writing is hell." ~William Styron

Inspiration: Two Islands, One Lagoon

Looking at Kwajalein from the southern tip of Ebeye


"Last Friday was Liberation Day, which celebrated the day the Americans liberated (hence the name of the day, haha) the Marshallese from under Japanese rule. Of course, this liberation has come with a great price: giving up their home islands to all reside on the small island of Ebeye. The day was long, parts were fun, parts were boring, and I have a very red neck to prove I was there. But I learned a couple of things about Ebeye on this day. For instance, there are over 2,000 school aged children that are not in school because there are not enough schools or teachers. And there is no land to build more schools. And more and more kids are being born every year, which means more and more kids are not going to be able to go to school. It is a very, very sad reality for this small island.

I have never realized the difference between developed nations and developing nations more in my life. After the Liberation Day festivities I walked down a very littered street with a child on my hip (whom I don't know) and I looked out from the edge of Ebeye to Kwajalein about 3 miles away. What two completely separate worlds sharing the same lagoon. One: constant electricity, clean, spacious, adequate health care, good education, and clean water... the other: dirty, way over crowded, definite power problems, no clean water (can't even boil it because it is salt water), poor education, poor healthcare. Yet, let me tell you, the sunset is still beautiful no matter which one of these islands you are on."

Written on February 13, 2007
Photo courtesy of Mel Wade