Say hello to the new Pope.

May God have mercy on us all!!

I know. I said I was back when I wasn't really back. It seems I can't quite catch up -- we just got back from the laundromat since the dryer's on the blink, and though the landlady's brother has come by once to work on it, we're still disheveled here in our bedroom because of the nasty (and I mean NASTY!!) ceiling leak where the termites were. Ah, life in the swamp.

Anyway, enough excuses. Onward, I say!!

There's been a ton to write about and therefore a ton I've missed. Bear with me; I'll try to list all that's been on my mind.

First, Anna Mae's murder is solved. (Or at least settled legally.) Unbelievable! Arlo Looking Cloud, an AIM member, was found guilty two days ago. This past week, the NY Times has run three articles about the trial and the conviction. That the only story coming out of Indian Country is about a murder trial (and the assumption that AIM and AIM alone was behind her killing -- there's nothing about the FBI's questionable behavior during those years) is sad, but at least it's something. Most Americans think there are no actual bonifide living Native Americans in large part because the press only come out to cover historic reenactments and other nonsense. My only hope is the story of her murder doesn't overshadow the story of her life. She fought for the civil rights of Native Americans and lost her life doing it. I don't think the fact that an AIM member was convicted takes away from this. From what I've read, there was so much fear within the movement because there had been high-profile FBI spies outed that there was an assumption that some members were spies too. It's all so terribly sad.

More news. New Orleans is the murder capital of the US for the second year in a row. Really. The Times-Picayune is running a series about it all week: "Cycle of Death." They actually discuss crime in terms of poverty, unemployment, and drugs. Go figure. And they are running the articles the first week of Mardi Gras. An even bigger surprise. There's a map of the murders, and what do you know, many come from where we hear gunshots. The violence is, by and large, localized, and according to the article, is caused in part by an "unorganized" drug trade. There aren't gangs here the same way there are in Chicago. Chicago, where the crime rate has been climbing too (the Trib has run a few articles about it the past two weeks), has three times less the murder rate per capita than New Orleans. The numbers alone are staggering: 275 murders in 03. In a city with less than 500,000 people.

In the business section of yesterday's paper, business leaders and the tourism commission discussed whether or not all these killings were bad for NOLA's "image." They compared New Orleans to Miami in the mid-nineties.( I kept thinking they should just compare New Orleans to New Orleans. It's not like they had some low crime glory days in the past or something!) Three tourists were murdered here last year and Ray Davies, the singer from the Kinks, was shot in the leg chasing down a purse snatcher. Two of those murdered were conventioneers. One was bludgeoned to death in a botched robbery (or so it's presumed) and the other, the so-called "goth murder" victim, was found dead in his hot tub. Yes, New Orleans is charming, and it seems like a small town, but clearly it's got big city crime. Don't let the lack of police patroling the streets fool you! It's not because there's no crime!! It's just all the money goes into paying for those cheap plastic beads, I guess. Nothing left for paying the police. That's why they're escorting wedding parties instead of cruising their beats.

I'm not sure how this tarnishes NOLA's image more than it already was. The city seems to pride itself on the fact that its dark underbelly is fully exposed. Decay in all its forms, on display. It's much more "authentic" that way, don't you think?

Peace. Please.

"And now for something completely different."

Coldplay endorsed John Kerry at the Grammies last night. I watched about ten minutes of the whole thing and -- what luck! -- saw the endorsement live. I've always thought Kerry was the man. I'm glad he's ahead. He's liberal enough for me and he knows how to fight. I want to see him kick Bush's ass. (In more ways that one, but I guess I'll never see that. I don't watch Celebrity Death Match much.) Bush has the religious right wackos in his corner; luckily, we outnumber them. Rock the vote, my sisters and brothers! I'm feeling positive for the first time in four years. Wow.

Okay, back to New Orleans.

We went to our first (and probably only) Mardi Gras ball a week ago. Aren't we special!! Our downstairs neighbors invited us -- they know the queen and therefore could get us balcony seats. It was absolutely fabulous. The Krewe of Amonra is the largest gay krewe in the city. And do they know how to dress! The queen, Michael, had an outfit (all handmade) that was out of this world. All white, with sequins up and down his slim brocade dress, a glass and chrystal crown with a fitted cloth helmet (sort of like the witch in Snow White -- and I mean that in a good way. Really!), and the piece de resistance, an outrageous ostrich feather fan that framed her torso (and was probably six feet across) and flowed to the ground in a fifteen foot heart-shaped train. The music started, stage fog billowed from beneath the curtain, and then there she was: absolutely glorious. Stunning!!

The whole evening was such fun in part because of all the prep we'd done the two weeks before. S got a new suit (he looked FINE, I tell you) and I got a new dress ($30 at a designer liquidation place -- wow) and a wacky fur purse. Crazy!! And I got to wear the feather boa S gave me for Christmas last year. Tell me that isn't great!

(I know -- who cares what we wore. If you know us, you're laughing already. S wears tees and jeans every day. I wear pretty much the same, though I usually skip the tee and wear one of the few shirts I love, all of which I've owned for years. We aren't the most fashionable couple. Dressing up was actually a big deal. S hadn't bought a new suit in over ten years. And I'd not put on a dress since we got married four years ago. Ha!)

It was such fun I'm sure the parades will pale in comparison. Still, we're going to set the alarm Mardi Gras day and head down the street (we're VERY close to the parade route here) and see Zulu at chipper chipper 8 am. I want one of those gold-painted coconuts, dammit.

I'll write a bit more about Mardi Gras in the next few days. The ball was such an eye-opening experience. I have no idea what the socialite balls are like -- Rex, etc. etc. I'd guess they're awful, not unlike other socialite events anywhere. But who knows. Maybe they make fun of the whole thing as much as Amonra did (without taking away from the pomp and beauty of the event -- that's what was so interesting). Who knows! Now I've got to go record grades for my morning class. Oh the joy. I'm vaklempt.

More evidence our mission has been accomplished in the New York Times today. Interesting that the piece is featured not on the top of the paper's website, but under the "International" marker. As S said, we're busy spreading chaos around the world. Meanwhile, we're making sure to limit "chaos" here at home by any means possible.

It's instructive, I think, to read about Anna Mae Pictou Aquash during these times, to see what an out of control FBI is capable of. Even if the FBI was not directly responsible for her murder (the men arrested this year were both AIM members), they were responsible for others and indirectly responsible for hers. By creating an environment of distrust and intrigue they set AIM members against each other, all in their efforts to limit dissent and protect the mining companies' interests on reservation lands. Countelpro, the FBI's American CIA project, was dismantled in the 70s only to be reinstated with a new name last year as part of Homeland Security. Ashcroft, our nutcase Attorney General, is no different from J. Edgar Hoover (though I don't know for sure he wears tutus on his nights off). He has his political enemies and they are all on the Countelpro list. Funny how that works.

If you'd like to learn more about Anna Mae, a good place to start is The Spirit of Annie Mae, a documentary about her short life produced by the National Film Board of Canada. It's a personal piece that follows Anna Mae's two daughters on their search for their mother's history. They were young when she died, and her death came after a somewhat lengthy separation from them -- she had been on the lam for a number of months, all the while being followed by the FBI. The film shows her as a warrior and activist with human flaws. It's quite moving.

I've heard people say they don't care if some of their rights are taken away if it makes them "safe" (which means "feel safe," really). I ask myself, safe from whom? And who is "safe" when the rights of some are sacrificed for the perceived safety of others? Anna Mae speaks to us in times like these. It's interesting, I think, that the trial for her murder is happening right now, in this time of bellicose nationalism when our government is being run by the corporate political right. She's telling us, I think, to hear her story and learn from it.

I should have included this link in the posts about Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. It has a detailed biography of her short life.

Her family also has a web site with links to recent stories in Canadian papers about the arrests of her suspected murderers. According to one of the articles, AIM thought Anna Mae was an FBI snitch and ordered that she be killed. The same article sites another rumor that she was killed by FBI snitches within AIM because she knew they worked for the government.

The truth is out there somewhere. Perhaps buried in that Pine Ridge snow bank.

"The end is important in all things," Ghost Dog's young mentor reads out loud from Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai at the end of the film. Anna Mae was a warrior. The end to her story is important too.

S scolded me last night for not including the story of Anna Mae Aquash in yesterday's post. Since I've finally submitted my mid-term grades after days and days and DAYS of grading essays, I have the time to include it now. Of course, my brain is still horribly cluttered with grammar corrections and notes about thesis development, so you'll have to forgive me if this rambles a bit.

Anna Mae, born in Canada, was a teacher and activist in South Dakota and elsewhere in the 1970s. She was a member of AIM, the American Indian Movement, an indigenous rights organization founded in Minnesota in the early 1970s. Leonard Peltier is their most well-known activist because of his ongoing incarceration for killing an FBI agent during a shoot-out in 1975. Go to the Free Peltier web site to learn more about this history and Peltier's ongoing fight to be released from prison. Peltier's voice is featured on Robbie Robertson's Contact from the Underworld of Redboy, where Peltier points out that the US prison system is the "fastest growing Indian reservation." (Real Live Preacher talked about the state of our prisons yesterday after he visited a cousin serving 5 years in a Texas prison. The comments are particularly interesting.)

I warned you this would ramble a bit. Sorry. Back to Anna Mae.

Anna Mae was found dead in a snow bank on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1976. Her death was attributed to exposure until the gun shot wound at the back of her head was discovered. The FBI cut off her hands and sent them to Quantico for "analysis." As you'd expect, her murderers were not identified, let alone caught. Until this year, that is.

I did a search for Anna Mae on Google today to make sure I had her story straight for this post. This came up first. Here she is, the black and white photo faded in parts, the tint uneven. Anna Mae staring out from a "Seeking Information" poster on the FBI's Most Wanted website from THIS YEAR.

Unbelievable.

It has long been believed by AIM and other activists that the FBI was responsible in some way or another for Anna Mae's death. (Cutting off her hands and sending them to the FBI lab didn't exactly stop the rumors.) The FBI, too, was known to have their hands all over reservation business, which the Val Kilmer film Thunderheart dramatized. The uranium mining by private industry on reservation land, the gold and silver mines too, all made AIM suspicious that the FBI had more than law and order in mind when they cracked down on activists. Though the reservations were technically autonomous, the FBI had (and I presume still has) power over the tribal police and the government. If a murder happened on the reservation, the FBI had jurisdiction.

The FBI was, to AIM and other activists, the enemy. Read anything about 1970s Indian America and it makes sense. Between murders, abductions, and imprisonments, it's not hard to see how their antagonistic relationship developed into a war of sorts. You can imagine that it felt like a horrible afront to Anna Mae's memory, then, to see her face on the FBI's page, especially since the poster's implication is that the bureau had nothing at all to do with her murder. I couldn't help but ask, Was it the Canadian government who pressured the FBI to re-open this case? Is there actual pressure on them now to address this murder, and if so, is this "Seeking Information" poster a way to deflect from the truth?

Then I returned to the Google search and found this.

It seems the FBI has found its man. It's amazing how little changes, except the number of men in the "fastest growing Indian reservation in the United States." I'll follow this story and post updates as I learn them.

As I said in yesterday's post, I first read about Anna Mae in Joy Harjo's poetry. You can read the poem here. If you get a chance to see Joy perform the poem with her band, I strongly suggest going. It's also available on her album, "Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century." It's an incredibly moving piece.

A few observations for today, Columbus Day.

Spray-painted on the sidewalk around the corner from our apartment: "Is it true?"

A man jogging down St. Charles Avenue, in the center where the street cars go, talking on his cell phone. His shirt was drenched with sweat; his hand held the phone securely to his ear.

Another man on St. Charles Avenue, walking in the opposite direction as the jogging man, directed a remote-controlled toy Humvee. He, too, on his cell phone, giving his friend (or lover?) the intimate details of his toy's maneuvers.

On the levee, two men walking together, their dogs in front of them, each on his cell phone. Presumably they were not talking to each other.

Margaret Cho reminds us why Columbus Day is a day of mourning, regardless of what New York's Italian-Americans tell us. I wish I lived in New York just to see that Santa Maria replica being towed by a Hummer. Makes you proud to be an American.

For another perspective on Columbus Day, check out this essay by Glenn Morris and Russell Means. While you're there, read about Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a true heroine. She was immortalized in a brilliant poem by Joy Harjo, "For Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Whose Spirit Is Present Here in the Dappled Stars," featured in the collection Mad Love and War and on her CD with Poetic Justice, Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century.

Anna Mae, you're in our thoughts today.