Berklee College of Music staff member Noah Brown returned last week from helping to rebuild New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but he had seen the devastation caused by a natural disaster firsthand long before he made the trip. As a boy growing up in Nebraska, the farm where Brown’s family still lives was hit twice by tornadoes – first in the mid-1990s and again around 2001.
Brown, who is now a Back Bay resident, was among the eight staff and faculty members to win scholarships for the third annual trip to New Orleans sponsored by the college’s Gracenotes Volunteer Committee The scholarship recipients were chosen in part based on their letters of intent that described their motivations and expectations for making the trip, including Brown’s essay, which described his experiences as a two-time tornado survivor and his desire to give back to others who have endured a similar fate.
“I know what it’s like to be affected by disaster and have a community help you out,” he said.
Between June 22 and 28, the group and two Gracenotes administrators helped build new affordable housing in the city’s Upper Ninth Ward for residents displaced by the hurricanes in partnership with the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity.
“I got to know my co-workers much better because we lived and worked together,” Brown said. “It was a great exercise in teamwork.”
A displaced drummer worked alongside the group and is set to move into one the houses they built together. Brown described seeing the musician perform at a French Quarter nightclub on the last night of his visit as one of the highlights of his stay in the city.
Besides experiencing the people, music, architecture, food and culture that New Orleans has to offer, Brown was also able to witness the rebirth of the city.
“During the time we were there, bus service was restored in the neighborhood where we were working for the first time since the hurricanes,” Brown said. “It was a neat experience to stand in the street and see the area slowly coming back to life.”

Through Graffiti NABBers’ new “Adopt Your Streetscape” program, residents, business and property owners from the Back Bay can join the fight against graffiti by taking accountability for the neighborhood, one block at a time.
“We want everyone to feel that they share some responsibility for their streetscape,” said Anne Swanson, who co-chairs Graffiti NABBers with Kathleen Alexander. “If everyone takes responsibility for their own little piece, it’ll make an enormous difference, and that’s all we’re asking.”
Graffiti NABBers is a volunteer committee of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB) that was established in the spring of 2006 to fight the graffiti problem that has long plagued the Back Bay and earned it the dubious distinction as a destination spot for taggers from around the country and the world. Since its inception, the committee has cleaned lower stories of neighborhood buildings at the city’s expense and contributed evidence and made statements to assist Boston Police in capturing and prosecuting vandals.
“Relying on a small band of volunteers to keep this district clean just doesn’t work,” Swanson said. “Now, we have to move from labor to the solution.”
Besides, surveying their area once a week, volunteers will be asked to immediately call 911 to report new graffiti, and whenever possible, e-mail photos of the tags, along with dates and locations, to william.kelley@ic.fbi.gov. Volunteers are also asked to take a hands-on approach by removing small tags, expired signage and other debris and to notify the city about larger tags on brick and stone at the Mayor’s 24 Hour Constituent Services Web site at www.cityofboston.gov/mayor/24/ or by calling the mayor’s hotline at 617-635-4500.
Graffiti NABBers have asked members of NABB and the Newbury Street League to join Adopt Your Streetscape, and beginning next month, Swanson will begin reaching out to others in the neighborhood through a door-to-door campaign that she expects will meet with great success.
“If they haven’t been asked, they don’t consider it their responsibility,” Swanson said. “I think we’ll get the highest level of commitment.”
For more information about the Adopt Your Streetscape program, contact Graffiti NABBers co-chair Anne Swanson at 617-262-0675 or anneswanson@verizon.net or co-chair Kathleen Alexander at 617-794-1253 or kathleen@bostonlivescreatively.com.

The National Cosmetology Association (NCA) announces the election of Georg Schmieder, co-owner of the Louis DuGal Salon in West Newton, as a director to its national board. This prestigious organization is a nationwide community of 25,000 salon professionals and has a strong voice in local communities, the industry and with the government. It includes those who work for themselves as well as those in a salon of any size or an affiliated company. Members are offered access to education, fashion events, community service and insurance. “Our members enjoy many educational benefits, networking opportunities and helping other members to obtain their own goals. We are also a legislative watchdog for our industry,” said a spokesman.
Schmieder, a Back Bay resident, is a board certified hair colorist, color educator, and an award-winning platform artist. Mr. Schmieder grew up in Cologne, Germany, and came to the US in 1991. He lives in Boston’s Back Bay.
“I am honored to have this opportunity to represent my colleagues and help to lead this important organization into a period of growth,” said Schmieder. “I hope more will join us - cosmetology students as well as practicing hairdressers, estheticians, nail technicians, educators, distributors and manufacturer representatives. We all have similar goals: to learn and raise the professionalism of the entire salon industry.”
One of the organization’s ongoing endeavors is to financially support three charities through various fund-raising activities. The organizations are CUT IT OUT, which educates salon professionals to recognize warning signs of ill health or dangerous behavior and to safely refer clients to local resources. (www.cutitout.org.) Look Good…Feel Better is another worthy cause that, for two decades, has offered women the help and encouragement of salon professionals to cope with the appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment as described at www.lookgoodfeelbetter.org. The NCA Disaster Relief Fund provides emergency cash assistance to directly support salon professionals impacted by natural disasters so they can rebuild their lives and careers as quickly as possible. The website for NCA is www.ncacares.org. Mr. Schmieder can be reached at georgschmieder@aol.com or at the DuGal Salon located at 1345 Washington Street in West Newton, or call 617-527-9461.

When the sun finally showed itself

This has been the summer without sun, the summer without warmth, without bright light, minus everything having to do with the season many of us wait for all year.
The 24 days of rain in June ruined the run up to July, which started out as badly as June ended.
Then came the Fourth of July weekend.
The summer furnace finally turned on. The clouds so dense and gray scattered and the sky opened like the ocean with a mass of blue.
Large crowds gave birth all over and descended upon Beacon Hill and Back Bay last weekend.
Enormous crowds of out-of-state tourists, visitors from all over the state, and even some of us from the North Shore who know the city, arrived to see what Boston had to offer.
Most noticeable in a drive around the neighborhoods of this great city on Saturday before the fireworks were the legions of visitors strolling mainly in Back Bay and Beacon Hill.
Large crowds also mobbed the North End and the new Rose Kennedy Greenway.
Newbury Street and Charles Street, Beacon Street by the Public Garden and Boston Common bustled with the energy and the mass of humanity brought out by a thousand parades.
On Newbury Street, restaurants did a brisk business.
It was a day and a night for eating outdoors, people watching while sipping a cold drink, conversation with laughs and good cheer flowing all over the place; families, lovers, shoppers, all mingling in the palpable swell of good feeling produced by the sun being out and the air being warm and the summer finally showing itself after hiding for so long, that we thought it might not arrive.
Many of the street’s notable stores were open with thick columns of visitors choking the sidewalks during leisurely walks from the Taj to the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue.
The cross pollination of this ascendant mass of visitors showed itself all day as Beacon Hill and Back Bay seemingly became one.
Ah, the unity, the camaraderie, the safety and good cheer of Independence Day in Boston.
Charles Street resonated with the Beacon Hill buzz that is quintessentially all its own – large crowds enjoying the slower pace, the richer red brick and broader sweep of grander architecture.
And on Beacon Hill rooftop decks, private parties got underway that lasted late into the night.
The mighty July 4th weekend has come and gone with the impact of a winter snowstorm.
Then came the cleanup at the Esplanade and the sun showing itself, again.
Thank God the summer has arrived.