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Michael Parker's Journal
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005 |
Indictments and investigations are starting to come down as fast as the leaves on our autumn trees. Salon's War Room is counting them up-- Tom Delay, Bill Frist, Jack Abramoff, David Safavian, Timothy Flanigan, Michael Brown, Bob Taft, Randy Cunningham, Ernie Fletcher, George Ryan, and Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. Looks like a great line-up for a prison football team, except one of them will have to be water-boy or cheerleader. Scooter, maybe?
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Saturday, September 24, 2005 |
You are a
Social Liberal
(76% permissive)
and an...
Economic Liberal
(25% permissive)
You are best described as a:
Strong Democrat
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid |
11:44:47 AM | |
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Friday, September 23, 2005 |
I did not see this film on the horizon til this week when I saw a trailer for it on Yahoo. I soon realized, much to my surprise again, that it stars the same remarkable actresses from the masterful Ang Lee film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yes, I’m speaking of Ziyi Zhang (also of last year’s extraordinary films Hero and House of Flying Daggers, which garnered her a British Best Actress Oscar nomination) and Michelle Yeoh. It also stars Oscar-nominated Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai).
Memoirs of a Geisha is directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago). Being released in December, this film has Oscar written all over it.
Memoirs is the story of a nine-year-old girl named Chiyo who is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners. Her stunning beauty, however, attracts the jealousy of Hatsumomo, which causes Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha, to notice her too. Mameha mentors Chiyo in the art of geisha. Chiyo soon enters the world of the wealthy, mingling with the privileged and politically powerful. As World War II looms, Chiyo's world (along with her country) is forever changed by the onslaught of history.
View the trailer for yourself here.
10:42:54 PM | |
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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 |
Stop everything you are doing and fly over to Lee Herrick's site to read his poem dedicated to New Orleans, titled "A Thousand Saxophones." You won't be disappointed.
And for the love of all that is right and good in this world, someone please hand this guy a Pushcart Prize in Poetry already!
8:02:11 PM | |
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Monday, September 19, 2005 |
One rarely highlights cinematography and direction when reviewing music videos. But in this case, it is aptly justified.
The cinematographer, guided by the director, is the interpreter of the story – their vision becomes our vision; and the emotions they wish to awaken in us often are born at the very moment they so cleverly intended.
Cinematography in these time-restricted videos is an art of impressions -- giving insight to the story through symbols and expressions, while attempting to evoke just the right emotion to make the connection between eye and heart complete and rewarding. They manipulate atmosphere, pace, motion, angle, lighting, distortion, and color to give a sense of meaning to it all. Such power. Such responsibility. Under the right hands, and behind a visionary eye, the work resonates with the viewer long after the final frame fades. Fatima’s music video for IL DIVO’s "Mama" is such a work!
To highlight the beautiful lyrics of the tribute-like song to mothers, Fatima portrays the members of IL DIVO (David, Urs, Sebastien, and Carlos) in the picturesque Italian village of Tropea, along the southern coast, preparing for and taking part in a funeral procession. Each of the men are seen in a certain light, invoking a touch of the divine in them. Consider their individual vignettes:
David sits in a restaurant. A newspaper doesn’t hold is attention so he turns to his wine glass. He picks it up and plays with it. We sense he could easily lose himself in it, to help get him through his pain. But he returns the glass to the table and leaves to join the procession.
Sebastien stands at the balcony windows of his room looking out over the village. We get the impression that he is waiting and watching for the procession. His characteristic seems to be of the faithful son, who reflects upon and recognizes the love his mother graced him with and her sacrifice–foregoing her dreams so he could fulfill his.
More so, however, Sebastien’s observance of watching for her procession and immediately putting on his tie and suit coat to go join the procession echoes of the faithfulness described in a biblical passage in St. Matthew – a parable describes the various degrees of faithfulness of the ten virgins who waited with their lamps for the wedding procession to come. Some of the virgins watched and were ready. The others slept and were caught off guard. Those who slept and failed to fill their lamps missed the wedding celebration.
Urs is shown being shaved in the barbershop. The cross lays upon his white undershirt. This image impresses on the viewer the importance of cleanliness. The care he takes to be groomed and dressed (and attired with the holy cross) is an honor and an expression of utmost respect for the occasion and the deceased.
Finally, Carlos vignette is most stark, in comparison. And yes, like all of the others, he wears this introspective expression upon his face, even when a beautiful woman dances about him in his bedroom. Before long, he walks away and leaves her sitting alone at the edge of the bed in order to attend the procession. At first, I thought the woman (either his wife or girlfriend or a one-night-stand) was quite insensitive, throwing a mini-tantrum when Carlos doesn’t willingly throw off his clothes and stay with her. But I realized this scene isn’t about her. It is about Carlos. He represents the chaste soul, a man who has his priorities right, who is chaste when chastity is required.
Indeed, Fatima takes this beautiful tribute of mothers and transforms it into a divine hymn about living your life so that heaven (Mother Mary) shines down on you and hell is forced to linger in the shadows of our own complacency, neglect, and idleness.
In a most touching scene, a young boy climbs a stone statue of Mother Mary holding the Christ child. He’s just tall enough that he has to stretch to lay a tender kiss on her cheek. It is at this moment that the film morphs into this underlying religious expression, even a journey. Fatima emphasizes this theme later on in the video with a beautifully effective star-burst that breaks out upon the silver cross that one of the priests in front of the procession carries. Life is a journey onward and upward, he seems to suggest as we follow David, Sebastien, Urs, and Carlos. Look to the cross and live.
Fatima closes the video with the procession reaching a church or mausoleum at the top of a rocky edifice surrounded at three-sides by a picturesque sea. Two children in white-cotton robes, wearing wings upon their back, appear out of nowhere and run in and around the procession. Whether this final refuge represents heaven is not the point, though it would be accurate to say so. Rather, it is in the journey to the entrance of this lofty place that most impresses. The message of developing honorable characteristics, taking the time for introspection, and reflecting upon the promises we may have made to mothers and fathers or even to God or Mother Nature or the human race, is a noteworthy one.
But when it is all said and done, Fatima employs such beautifully symbolic objects and breathtaking landscapes that I dare say the journey he lays out for us has us treading upon sacred ground. It might not be heaven but it sure does look and feel that way.
You can watch the "Mama" music video here.
11:36:56 PM | |
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Wednesday, September 14, 2005 |
From the text from today’s Roberts hearings:
Coburn, likewise, used his time to deliver a pro-life speech. After this long message, Coburn asked, "Would you agree that the opposite of being dead is being alive?"
Roberts hesitated. "Yes," he answered cautiously. To laughter, he added, "I don't mean to be overly cautious in answering."
"You know I'm going somewhere," Coburn said, and indeed everybody in the room knew. After another discussion of his anti-abortion views, Coburn said he wasn't even intending to ask a question about it. "That was for your information."
Coburn mentioned for the second time during the proceedings that he is a medical doctor. And the senator announced that he had pioneered a new medical field. "I've tried to use my medical skills of observation of body language to ascertain your uncomfortableness and ill at ease with questions and responses," he said. "And I will tell you that I am very pleased, both in my observational capabilities as a physician to know that your answers have been honest and forthright as I watch the rest of your body respond to the stress that you're under."
What a royal wingnut! Someone should have piped in promptly with: "Would the omniscient Coburn please take his medicine as he apparently has forgotten to do so today!"
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Monday, September 12, 2005 |
When landscapes you’ve seen for a lifetime change, it affects you; you feel misplaced. The skyscape of New York City, a perfect example, was forever altered that September morning in 2001. For me, the space between the two World Trade towers was a metaphorical gate to America, two monolithic Oracles through which America was accessible to the world. When they fell that morning, my myth of the New York skyline was shattered. I haven’t been able to replace it. I don’t know if I ever will.
Whenever I see a pre-9/11 film showcasing that majestic and world-recognized New York skyline, I am always caught off guard. My breath is stripped from me as if I had been punched in the gut. This is the power that place has over us. Thank God these towers were captured in film.
The landscape of New Orleans will change as well, it’s face, but hopefully not its soul. And like New York, writers and film-makers have tried to capture the multi-faceted spirit of the Big Easy and its unique landscapes and waterways of the bayou. I started compiling a list of films that were set or actually filmed in New Orleans. I discovered that Roger Ebert and his editor Jim Emerson had compiled a list that highlights some of the great films showcasing the city. Consider the following:
"The Big Easy" (Jim McBride, 1987).
"Storyville" (Mark Frost, 1992).
"Pretty Baby" (Louis Malle, 1978).
"Eve’s Bayou" (Kasi Lemmons, 1997).
"Down By Law" (Jim Jarmusch, 1986).
"Blaze" (Ron Shelton, 1989).
"Cat People" (Paul Schrader, 1982).
"Obsession" (Brian De Palma, 1976).
"Johnny Handsome" (Walter Hill, 1989).
"A Love Song for Bobby Long" (Shainee Gabel, 2005).
"Angel Heart" (Alan Parker, 1987).
Some other New Orleans titles: "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Panic in the Streets," "The Tarnished Angels," "Interview with the Vampire," "Dead Man Walking," "Wild at Heart," "Tightrope," "JFK," and "Tune in Tomorrow"
Click here to read some of Ebert’s notes on each film showcasing the director’s name.
Here is a list of other films I discovered with ties to New Orleans, some noteworthy, some not so worthwhile:
Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990)
The Pelican Brief (Alan J. Pakula, 1993)
Runaway Jury (Gary Fleder, 2003)
The Client (Joel Schumacher, 1994)
Ray (Taylor Hackford, 2004)
Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970)
The Skeleton Key (Iain Softley, 2005)
Crazy in Alabama (Antonio Banderas, 1999)
Double Jeopardy (Bruce Beresford, 1999)
Dracula 2000 (Patrick Lussier, 2000)
The Dukes of Hazard (Jay Chandrasekhar, 2005)
Exit to Eden (Garry Marshall, 1994)
Fantastic Four (Tim Story, 2005)
The Haunted Mansion (Rob Minkoff, 2003)
Judas Kiss (Sebastian Gutierrez, 1998)
Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton, 1973)
Lolita (Adrian Lyne, 1997)
Mr 3000 (Charles Stone III, 2004)
No Mercy (Richard Pearce, 1986)
Undercover Blues (Herbert Ross, 1993)
Upcoming films with ties to New Orleans: All the King’s Men (Steven Zaillian, 2005), starring Jude Law, Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, and Patricia Clarkson; and the horror flick Venom (Jim Gillespie, 2005), about a pack of teenagers run for their lives through the swamps of Louisiana, as they are chased by Mr. Jangles, a man possessed by 13 evil souls who is relentless in his pursuit of new victims.
5:06:19 PM | |
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Saturday, September 10, 2005 |
From CNN: The U.S. has dropped its ban on journalists taking photos of the recovery operation in New Orleans, rather than face a suit brought against them by CNN.
10:46:07 PM | |
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Friday, September 09, 2005 |
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Thursday, September 08, 2005 |
Excerpt from Margaret Carlson's Opinion column in The Los Angeles Times, titled "Noblesse oblige? Not our president."
AS PART OF HIS political damage control over the weekend, President Bush sent his staff to the Sunday talk shows and his parents to visit evacuees bused to Houston from New Orleans.
The administration officials fared poorly. On "Meet the Press," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff tried to spin a headline few saw — "New Orleans Dodges a Bullet" — into an explanation of why his department stood by for days as thousands sent to the city's convention center were trapped in their own filth, without food, water or medicine. He looked silly.
But Chertoff gave a boffo performance compared with the president's mother, who left her comfortable house in the West Oaks section of Houston to tour the emergency facility at the Astrodome.
While I saw a teeming mass of displaced people standing in hourlong lines to wash encrusted grime off their children in a tiny restroom sink, Barbara Bush found a bunch of happy campers experiencing a step up in their living conditions. She saw visitors "overwhelmed with the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working [she chuckles here] very well for them."
Oh really? The Bushes have always made fun of Bill Clinton's lip-biting, hands-on governing, but who wouldn't prefer it to this president's upbeat platitudes. Tanned and rested from a vacation so long it would embarrass the French, Bush initially flew over the devastation in Air Force One, promising his prayers on his way someplace else. When he actually arrived in Louisiana a few days later, he reminisced about going to New Orleans "to enjoy myself, occasionally too much," apparently thinking he was at a fundraiser. He topped that in Mississippi: "Out of the rubble of Trent Lott's house … there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
9:43:18 PM | |
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From Salon's "War Room": Cheney gets a taste of his own words:
Last summer, the vice president of the United States had what the White House called a "frank exchange of views" with Sen. Patrick Leahy. Translated, that means that Leahy said whatever he said, and then Dick Cheney said, "Go fuck yourself."
Touring the destruction of Hurricane Katrina today, Cheney got a little of his own medicine. While Cheney was taking questions on live television, someone nearby him shouted out, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney." A reporter followed up by asking the vice president if he's been hearing a lot of that sort of thing. Cheney said he has not.
8:36:45 PM | |
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From Talking Points Memo: Josh Marshall spells out why FEMA’s barring of Reporters from taking pictures of the bodies, even entering parts of New Orleans is "highly dubious." Click here and here.
Salon's "War Room" also has a comment about FEMA's most disturbing restrictions. Journalists being turned away at gunpoint! (For any Salon article, you may be required to view an ad.)
Also from Salon "War Room":
New Orleans is Bush's Monica Lewinsky?
Republicans Refuse Independent Commission to Investigate Federal Response toward New Orleans Flooding
Poets Who Support Survivors: If you write poetry and you have donated money to Katrina relief and aid efforts, send a poem into Poets Who Support Survivors. Ten to fifteen poems will be selected to be published in a forthcoming chapbook. For more details, click here.
6:49:16 PM | |
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Wednesday, September 07, 2005 |
From Oliver Willis: If you have been wanting to see a timeline of Katrina events in a political perspective, Willis posts a link to the Think Progress site.
Also from Willis site: FEMA Stops Reporters from taking pictures of the Bodies. They also deny journalists from going out on the recovery boats.
This is outrageous! FEMA obviously does not want anybody to see the human devastation, further evidence of their inept response. Mark my word: This is the start of a whitewashing in which the American public is going to be veiled the truth of how many bodies are going to be recovered in New Orleans. Pretty soon we are going to hear that FEMA is going to stop counting bodies. More on this, I'm sure.
From the Shelby Times: Truly disturbing news told to the Disaster Mortuary Operational Team (DMORT) as they prepare to go in and help with recovering bodies. "....expect up to 40,000 bodies...." and "they will be recovering bodies for 30... to 120 days."
From Salon's "War Room": Firefighters volunteering from other states sitting around hotel rooms
A Salon Feature Article: GOP Response. Senators saying Homeland Security and FEMA directors need not appear in inquiry. Absolutely outrageous! Consider these paragraphs:
Lieberman calls Katrina the "most significant test" of the government's overhauled disaster response plans since Sept. 11. "It obviously did not pass that test. We need to know why." He says the investigation will be guided by "an overriding and unflinching commitment to tell the truth, so our government will never repeat the mistakes that it made last week." He says the government's response made him feel "concern, grief, anger and embarrassment."
At a press conference ostensibly about the upcoming Supreme Court nominations, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is apoplectic about the response to Katrina. "You know what drives me up a wall?" he asks. "You look at what is happening at the Superdome. You could not get water in. You couldn't get doctors in. They couldn't get support in. Thank God for the press. The press was able to go in and out, and they asked a legitimate question: 'If we can get in and out of here, where, in God's name, are the people who are supposed to [bring] water, food, support?' People were dying there."
Also from Salon: The Media Coverage about Katrina's devastation: Eric Boelart writes an excellent article about the media's "waking up," being forthright in their reporting and questioning of the administrations' lapdogs in light of their terrible response to New Orleans flooding. Consider these paragraphs:
It's important to note for the record that it was the conservative editors at the New Hampshire Union Leader who quickly underscored the White House's deadly slow response to Katrina. In a biting editorial published Aug. 31, days before the mainstream press got up enough courage to criticize the federal relief efforts, the paper noted, "As the extent of Hurricane Katrina's devastation became clearer on Tuesday ... President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before. A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease."
The paper concluded: "The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty. Wherever the old George W. Bush went, we sure wish we had him back."
It was the type of stinging, accurate broadside the national press was just not willing to make right out of the blocks. Yes, in the crucial days right after Katrina hit, Bush declined to address the nation in prime time. Yes, he refused to cancel his umpteenth public pep talk about Iraq in front of a grateful group of military men and women, which only Fox News carried live. Yes, while he was taking part in a goofy backstage photo op with a country music singer, New Orleans was sinking into complete and utter chaos. Yes, New Orleans' mayor had already announced the death toll was likely to be in the thousands. And yes, gangs of looters were ransacking portions of the city. But for three days last week -- on Aug. 29, 30 and 31 -- the mainstream media really didn't say boo about Bush.
Even on Sept. 2, when the New York Times acknowledged that Bush was taking heat for his handling of the crisis, the paper couched it in purely partisan terms, under the headline: "Democrats and Others Criticize White House's Response to Disaster."
Eventually, though, the pictures from New Orleans became too ghastly to ignore and reporters turned angry.
For years, frustrated news consumers have wondered what it would take to finally awaken the press from its perpetual, lazy slumber. Now we know the answer: one ravaged American city and a few thousand dead civilians.
Also from Salon: The Democratic Senators demand answers regarding the disorganized, inadequate, inept, and irresponsive federal response to the flooding.
Finally, from the Salon "War Room": Cindy Sheehan has cancelled the national tour till further notice so that Camp Casey could be setup in Covington, LA to help the evacuees coming out of New Orleans.
6:48:52 PM | |
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Tuesday, September 06, 2005 |
I'm sorry that there is no structure to these links. But here are some other articles I’ve followed today:
From the AP: FEMA Chief Waited Until After Storm Hit
From Chucklev: This poet has transformed his site with extraordinary accounts from citizens on the ground in New Orleans after the floods.
From Majikthise: Another reason why the poor didn’t leave New Orleans when the mandatory evacuation was requested, they figured it would cost them more than they could afford. See Majikthise’ post "Rescue Ticket." People still feel there will be a price for being rescued. Very sad.
From NOLA: Bodies found piled in the freezer at the convention center
From Wonkette: Excerpts from today’s White House briefing. I do believe the White House news corps. are asking the right question here.
From Salon Magazines' War Room: Cheney’s no show and President a victim of Katrina
From the AP: Anne Rice laments that the US forsook New Orleans
"But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us...,"
"You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music....Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us 'Sin City,' and turned your backs."
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Monday, September 05, 2005 |
If you've been following the events of the past week, and if you followed the dialogue on Pris Campbell's site on international help, you will remember that Bush had either refused the help offered by other countries or simply didn't request help. (This following quote is from the AFP article yesterday:)
While US President George W. Bush initially politely refused offers of aid, the White House reversed course as the magnitude of the destruction wreaked across an area of the US Gulf Coast the size of Great Britain became clear.
For other articles regarding Bush and foreign assistance, read here, here, and here.
The AFP today reports that Bush has done a 180 degree and asked the European Union and others for help and assistance. Read the article "World Offers Cash, Aid to Stricken Southern U.S." in its entirety.
At a quick glance, this is the outpouring of help offered by other countries, as reported by the above article:
France is sending its entire stock of emergency supplies, including tents, blankets, cooking equipment and camp-beds... one shipment leaves from Fort-de-France within 24 hours and another within 48 hours.
Britain is sending 500,000 military ration packs to the devastated regions...
Germany shipped 25 tons of food aid...
Italy has flown in first aid kits for 15,000 people, as well as infant food, blankets, pumps, water-purifying devices and inflatable rafts.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the High Commissioner for Refugees are ready to provide emergency staff and a wide variety of relief supplies as and when necessary...
Kuwait is offering 500 million dollars (400 million euros) in oil products...
Qatar had pledged 100 million dollars on Sunday.
Canada is sending thousands of camp-beds, blankets and medical supplies...Thirty-five Canadian military divers have begun to arrive in the region to help with repair efforts.
Afghanistan has offered 100,000 dollars in disaster relief aid...
The Indonesian government, still coping with the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami, has offered to send 40 medical doctors...
South Korea is donating 30 million dollars in cash as part of its planned humanitarian aid....
Norway offered $1.6 million dollars...
Sri Lanka -- also still recovering from the December 26 tsunami which devastated the island's coastlines and killed 31,000 people -- is donating $25,000 dollars....
China is offering five million dollars...
Japan is sending an emergency rescue team....
India is providing five million dollars and essential medicines, and has offered water purification systems for use in households and small communities in the stricken areas, where potable water is a key concern.
The Philippines is dispatching a 25-member team of aid workers with the first 10 members of the team, consisting of doctors, nurses and sanitary engineers, scheduled to leave this week.
And though the report doesn't say what the U.S. is accepting from these two countries, the article acknowledges that "Cuba and Venezuela, two Latin American countries often singled out for criticism by administration of US President George W. Bush, were among the first to offer humanitarian assistance."
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Sunday, September 04, 2005 |
This morning, Yahoo News was displaying a headline stating the White House is attempting to place blame on state and local authorities for the mismanagement of aid and national guard support.
Don't believe it!
Read today's editorial from Louisiana's largest newspaper, The Times-Picayune. Titled "An Open Letter to President Bush," it points out how everyone seems to be able to get into New Orleans to help (tractors from Wal-Mart bringing in supplies and Harry Connick Jr.) and yet the Federal government is still a no-show, three days after President Bush's visit and his promise to help. Here is an excerpt:
...[T]here were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.
Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.
Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.
We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame.
*****
There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.
We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We're no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.
No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn't be reached.
Related topics
Read what Wonkette has to say here. It's an interview from this morning's Meet The Press in which they asked president of the Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard, about the recovery efforts. Harrowing. Disturbing.
Read Oliver Willis post here regarding Mary Landrieu's response.
If you've been fed the line that the Gov of Louisiana didn't proclaim a state of emergency, (that is what WAPO and Newsweek both said over the weekend, falsely), and that is why the federal government didn't get involved, then read this from Talking Points Memo. By the way, Gov. Blanco declared state of emergency on August 26th.
And while you are at it, check out this post also on Talking Points Memo. Evidentally there is a "National (disaster) Response Plan that the administration promulgated last December which seems to say explicitly that in the event of a catastrophic disaster the federal government need not wait for any explicit request for the local authorities in the affected regions."
10:54:24 PM | |
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Saturday, September 03, 2005 |
On Friday morning, I listened to NPR and heard a story about the areas of New Orleans that were swamped with water from the broken levees. One of these areas was the Lower Ninth Ward where some of the poorest citizens dwell. This story got my wheels turning to write about this tragedy. I chose a stream of consciousness style of prose with minimal punctuation to give the sense of fluidity, as if it were a flood, a river.
The following prose is dedicated to those who have lost their lives in the floods of New Orleans.
Out of the Lower 9
Mama I'm not scared no more hear my breath listen it is calm like a hot summer Sunday afternoon in the shade is quiet Mama I'm not scared no more of storms or deep water I can't see the bottom of cause it would always hide the gators and the water snakes looked like ripples or sticks upon the back of the lake Mama I don't want you crying no more don't want you wasting your breath calling my name over these dark waters I've learned to swim learned to see underwater you would be so proud of your baby I swam across Reynes street crossed over Forstall and Lizardi and caught a current south along Caffin street I imagined myself a great White Ibsis with their white and black-tipped wings even the angels envy stretched wide right after they've jumped into the air to hang there as if the sky and the wind have hooks and strings then I thought I might be Jesus Christ swimming off his cross arms stretched so wide he wanted to take in the whole world with all his love and save everybody but not me because I feel salvation swimming here like Jesus would swim I swam by our churches and our schools and our stores and I've heard the choirs of frogs croaking to our dark streets and silent houses singing sad hallelujahs to our people who are waiting and talking to God as they wait like you told me to talk to God tell God we've come a long way from the hard days but our days they're still hard and I reckon God didn't always hear me talkin cause the days they never got any easier Mama I am not your baby no more I've felt so much fear I'm not afraid no more seen so much dying my eyes don't blink no more Mama I've heard the cries of mamas and their babies and lost children they follow me on the flood and echo in the flood but I don't cry that I'm lost don't cry because I'm not with you because you will see Mama every hour every day my soul is feeling longer than the street longer than the day and growing longer through the New Orleans night one day soon I'll pass the bayou where the yellow-crowned heron nests and see the red-shouldered hawk master the sky and hear the haunting song of the great horned owl serenade our favorite stars one day Mama I'll make my way past all the moss-covered cypress trees whose branches try to hold me back and I will be so big then you will find me Mama you will see me one day I'll be longer than the Mississippi greater than the Pontchartrain one day I'll be the sea.
Author's Note: Being from the Rocky Mountains, I don't have the vernacular of New Orleans down, so I tried being as non-descript, keeping to the Southern dialect as much as possible. I apologize if my interpretation of the language offends.
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I'm under the weather today so I'm trying to relax and get over it. I had to cancel a 20 mile training run this morning because of a terrible sore throat, chest congestion, and dry cough.
I've still been preoccupied listening and reading reports about the state of the aid and recovery efforts in New Orleans. This morning, I came across an amazing piece of prose written by E. Ethelbert Miller. (Knowing that some writers post work, only to remove them hours or days later, I'm going to post it here in its entirety. Forgive me if this is wrong but it should be read, acknowledged.)
How long have we been gone? Race like warm Coca Cola is now coming out of the mouths of everyone talking about New Orleans. Why are people so surprise? The South is BlackFolks.This is where our numbers are. We are also poor people. We live one check away from a hurricane. This is not Brooklyn, Chicago or Detroit - this in New Orleans and also Mississippi. Many of the folks were three steps behind the Civil Rights Movement. Just go back to what King was trying to do in 1968. Here are pictures of the poor folks that wanted to come to Resurrection City...in fact - folks should direct those buses to DC. Hmmm. Folks camping around the Government until answers and supplies are given before promises. So much anger going around it's not good.
What can we learn? We just can't live in the present. We have to make sure we protect our enviornment and that we listen to folks talking about how the river bends and the trees grow.
Can you imagine if the situation in New Orleans had been an act of terrorism? Folks would be blaming other folks and running around trying to lynch someone. Or folks who looked like the "sinners." If we have problems getting food and essentials to key parts of the country then we have problems. Let's throw into the mix a nuclear plant damaged and radioactive material walking around like it's carnival time. What would we do? The sad thing about all this is that in a few days the story is going to be pushed off the front page and folks will want to know about how Madonna is doing? Or where Michael Jackson might buy a new home. Meanwhile, poor black folks will become invisible. Black folks who were middle class will be looking for work and maybe not finding it. Look for the migrations to take place (again)...folks moving into Texas and California...or heading up North. Look for the military to recruit folks into the National Guard. How can someone turn that down? Don't you want to help "your" state get back on its feet? I could write a poem and pitch that one.
I keep looking at the pictures...the one on the front page of today's NY Times says it all. A body floating by under an overpass in downtown New Orleans.Another woman in the picture not even paying attention. The dead body looks like it was taken down from a cross. If you want to know where the blues come from it's right there...survival music...and it ain't a pretty picture.
2:03:48 PM | |
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Thursday, September 01, 2005 |
The state of assistance and aid has grossly deteriorated in New Orleans last night and today. The news has kept me from being able to focus on writing the film, music, and book reviews I promised earlier in the week.
This is going to be a disjointed post and I apologize.
I don’t know if you realize this, but when we wake up tomorrow, the masses of people at the convention center and Superdome will be going on day five without food and water.
Oliver Willis links to footage of an onsite reporter covering the convention center in downtown New Orleans. It’s a devastating report. People, even two infants, died of dehydration in front of him. And as of this evening, no food or water has been airlifted in to these people. Where is the aid?
When I was young, one of the most disturbing images I saw on the television screen were the Jonestown suicides (1978). 912 bodies were strewn about a makeshift village and community hall. Jim Jones persuaded them to drink grape punch. Tomorrow, if help doesn’t get to these people, the landscape of downtown New Orleans aired into our family rooms will be another Jonestown. And our leaders will be blamed, as they should be, for the lack of bandwidth to help. As Oliver Willis noted, this tragedy should never happen here.
Other links to commentary I've followed today:
Sidney Blumenthal
James Wolcott
Pris Campbell
The Washington Times, regarding international aid and support
9:32:38 PM | |
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