Images from the Field // The "New Normal" in the Gulf

The following is a photo and description from Kara Slade, a Duke Divinity School student (MTS '11) who is interning at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Daphne, AL.

I grew up in this diocese, and spent many summer days at Camp Beckwith - sailing, canoeing, and swimming in the waters of Weeks Bay, an ecologically sensitive estuary of Mobile Bay. It was a shock for me to see the lines of protective boom running down the shore here. Although it has been a common sight in the area this summer, somehow it seemed worse at Beckwith, where both children and adults of the Central Gulf Coast have come since the 1930's to spend time with each other and with God. This is our "new normal:" hoping and praying that places which have not yet been touched by oil will survive this disaster, mourning for those beloved places which have, and wondering if young people like our campers this week will know the same way of life and culture that we did.

Camp Beckwith (Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast), Magnolia Springs, AL

First day of 6th and 7th grade camp

Eighty-sixth day of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

69 Salvum me fac

1 Save me, O God,

for the waters have risen up to my neck.

2 I am sinking in deep mire,

and there is no firm ground for my feet.

3 I have come into deep waters,

and the torrent washes over me.

4 I have grown weary with crying;

my throat is inflamed;

my eyes have failed from looking for my God.

(Book of Common Prayer, 1979)