HumidCity

A new Katrina Refrigerator post here. Its title is Walking to New Orleans.

This is Walking to New Orleans II.

Last night, while my grandson and I were playing a game, my husband and daughter were sitting in the front room watching TV and talking. The rest of the story comes from my husband as I didn’t know about it until today.

They heard a knock on the door. My husband opened it to find a 60-ish, emaciated, black woman standing there. She asked him if he could ask his wife to make her a sandwich. She had walked and walked to get to our neighborhood because she was so hungry, but found the church (probably the one up on the corner of Rampart and St. Anthony) closed. She was clearly unaccustomed to knocking on random doors in search of food, and according to my husband, clearly in need of the food. She didn’t look like a substance abuser, just a desperate, very poor, very hungry woman. My husband packed her a sack lunch with a sandwich, some chips, some peanut butter crackers, whatever he could find in our kitchen and gave it to her. When he gave it to her he said she was crying and then she disappeared into the night.

There are so few services here that we couldn’t think this morning of where we could have sent her and we’re going to look into putting a list together of shelters, etc. so that we will have that information for someone who needs it.

As unaccustomed as she was to knocking on random doors in order to eat, we are also unaccustomed to having our door knocked on for that reason. It is shocking to us. I wish we knew who she was, where she was. Maybe we could help her in some other way than just a sandwich and some chips if we knew that, but the whole thing transpired fast and my husband, in his shock, didn’t get any information from her. How many others like her are there out there?

For sure they’re “out there”—-not in an apartment.

There was help for the very poor right after Katrina, but now so many services are just not up and running, and there are grants for homeowners coming through, but this city has been a city of renters for a long, long time. There has been no help at all for renters (Section 8 aside, but that’s another story). We regular Joe’s in the middle are at the mercy of “the market.” There is no chance for a woman like her to find an affordable apartment as rents have doubled in many cases, and the number of apartments available has declined.

Yesterday’s Times Picayune had an article on rising rents. While I understand that some landlords have extraordinary refurbishment expenses, there are others out there who clearly raised the rent to a number that would be close to what the Section 8 voucher amount is, even though the apartment would have rented for half that much last year, or certainly the year before Katrina.

Businesses can’t get workers, workers can’t find affordable housing. Without the workers there is no business—-who’s not GETTING this? It seems so obvious.

No one is saying that landlords should give away their rentals free, (there is a story in the article of one landlord who waived the deposit—that’s fabulous! What a novel idea!) but as one woman in the article said, who was now making $500 more a month than she was pre-K, she thought she could do better and fears she “missed the market.” C’mon! You’re already making more than you were before so what are you griping about? The rest of us are paying you all the money we have to keep a roof over our heads. And Entergy is raping us for the rest of our paycheck. Throw in paid utilities and maybe your apartment would be worth it.

I fear that if something isn’t done to cap rents in this city, that our labor issues will only get worse, and more people will leave, especially those who work in the service industry. The tourism and convention people need to get involved in this or they’re gonna tout our culture and music and party town only to have the conventioneers find that they hafta make their own hurricane at Pat O’s and bring their own pots to make red beans. There won’t be anyone here to make it for them. The bartenders and cooks won’t be able to find an apartment.

The woman who knocked on our door last night might be a harbinger of things to come if we don’t get services together, figure out what HANO is thinking, and get some rent controls in here.

None of that makes you think? Okay, how about this: What if that woman was YOUR mother?

-NOLA Slate

We are too much a rabble, leaderless and increasingly dispirited. I heard nothing in the mayor’s 100-day remarks Wednesday to remedy that. We lack the charismatic leadership we need to see us through this dark hour, our Henry V to rally the tired few to the great battle that will remake the world. Instead, we get Mayor Hamlet, Prince of Denmark or somewhere, anywhere else but New Orleans, wandering the ramparts of Perdido Street and wondering how to proceed.

I see more and more on-line commentators, and some in the newspaper, remark that they are starting to have thoughts of moving on, of leaving the city, of giving up. No one I know personally is ready to leave, and people I thought lost to Texas continue to trickle in despite all the challenges. Still, the conventional wisdom of the street points to the sprouting forests of For Sale signs as indication that many who haven’t yet returned, and more than a few who are back, are making other plans.

I wasn’t surprised to hear this sort of chatter in August. The first serious month of hurricane season was filled with an endless tide of contrary news, the threat of a storm in the Gulf, and the looming anniversary. Even for the most heavily medicated population in the developed world, it was a depressing prospect. Can we make it, people asked each other with the breathlessness of exhausted swimmers struggling to make their way to the shore.

The mayor and his circle give us no confidence. Leadership is the rescue we need now every bit as much as the people on the roofs of last year, watching the helicopters circle then leave; the 100-day promise was another lifeline tantalizing dangled before our eyes and then withdrawn. Perhaps we should drape our houses in bedsheets roughly lettered: Mayor Nagin, Please Help Us.

I remain convinced the city will survive. We the 200,000 who have come home can be enough if we do not surrender, if we insist that our leaders step up to the difficult challenges we face as a city, as a collective. We only ask they they work as hard and as ingenously as those who labor all day to save their businesses, and still go home at night to work on ruined homes, that the mayor and his cohorts navigate the paths of Entergy and RTA and recovery finances in the same way the majority of us hack our way through the jungle of insurance, SBA and LRA.

The rousing speech Shakespeare puts into the mouth of his Henry V is something I have carried with me through the years, the product of most of a degree in English Literature from the University of New Orleans, and a number of years spent working alongside a Shakespeare enthusiast. Henry’s position was bleak. He was at the end of a long land campaign, surrounded by the French who had cut off his line of supply and retreat, facing a choice between victory and defeat, with no place for retreat. It is a marvel of motivational speech, a statement that rings true to the American ear across the centuries with its martial setting and its celebration of exceptionalism.

It is the speech I would hear from Perdido Street, but have no reason to expect; the sort of speech we must demand of our own leaders, if they wish to be counted among the 200,000 who saved the city. It is the speech we must all give to ourselves, should post on our shaving mirrors or on the doors of our new refrigetarors, to remind ourselves we are here because we have chosen this place to fight.

Its opening words are the best response I could offer to Mayor Hamlet’s vacuous remarks, and the truest antidote to them. If you read this blog, you are among the 200,000, the happy few. I do not mean to indict those who have not returned, by choice or happenstance. It is mostly beyond their control. Instead, I mean to remind the 200,000 that they are living through a special place and time in history, one that will be long remembered. When people look back on this time, they will read of the president and the governor and the mayor and laugh, or perhaps cry in catharsis at the tragedy of hubris strutting to its doom. There’s nothing we can do now to remedy the leaders who hobble us, except to prove them wrong, to write for ourselves the scene that ends not in tragedy but in triumph.

…proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
-Mark Folse, Wet Bank Guide 

I have posted a collection of links to all the post conference posts I can find. From Liveblogging notes on the panels to expansions on the themes we tackled, it should all be there. The blog set up for the evnt seems like it may become a new group blog, check it and my links out on the Rising Tide Blog

As expected, it is getting deep now that the Anniversary weekend is here, on top of which I have been physically ill lately. A nurse friend tells me its probably stress related. Big surprise. Anyway, since I am behind on posting (as well as everything else) I am going to collate everything into one post now. Please pardon the abbreviated format.

• Rising Tide - this is a must do! Go take a look at the guests and attendees, that should crystallize your decision. If not read Adrastos’ list of Ten Reasons To Go
• Mayor Wonka has exceeded the stupidity of his, “chocolate city,” remarks by making some pretty inflamatory statements about 9-11 Stybbie over at Nation of Morons will have to supply the vitriol, I am too worn out.
• As the Anniversary looms so does another probable hurricane in the Gulf. Joy. I miss the days when an oncoming hurricane meant having to stock the bar and buy extra candles….
• The Geek Dinner II- man it was a success, but I fear it was also what pushed my health over the edge. Many of the usual suspects were there along with a wonderful array of new faces. It was brilliant finally meeting Ernie the Attorney, who it seems knows some of my family. Likewise GBitch was a grea new face to add to our rogues galley. A majority of the NOLABloggers were there although we did miss Maitri who was having fun flying to Toronto at the time (Don’t worry she did not bring any toothpaste and as a result made it through without being incarcerated).The list of pissed off and motivated bloggers continues to grow. My pics from the dinner are here.
• The BBC did interviews with Alan from ThinkNOLA, Kalypso, and myself. To listen to the broadcast you’ll either need to listen live between 8 and 9pm Central Time on Monday OR the archive goes up the next day - click on listen link in the sidebar at http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/podsandblogs
• Rocky Vaccarella is a traitor to New Orleans. His FEMA trialer visit to DC and comments about wanting four more years of Bush we elegantly staged, but he has GOP roots and questionable motives. Gee, a photo-op as spin control from the Bush Administration? No….. See the Carpetbagger Report for more disturbing details.
• Midsummer Mardi Gras looms Saturday night. Last year we missed it because we had just crystallized our decision to flee Katrina. This year we will not miss it, bad health or not.
• On the Anniversay I will be doing radio interviews for the Mike Malloy Show on Air America as well as on Channel 4 Radio News for the UK. Details will go up as soon as they are worked out.

That is all I have the energy for this morning. I had meant to expand upon each of these points, but I am wiped out. I’m off to write some websites for a gig I have and then get some rest so I can be ready for Rising Tide (did I mention that you should go?).

The following Rising Tide Conference schedule is up at the conference website. Also available on the front page is a registration form, which I strongly suggest you fill out so we have an idea of seating and food requirements.8:00 - 9:00 Arrival & Registration

9:00 - 10:00 Keynote Address by Chris Cooper and Robert Block, authors of Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security

10:15 - 11:15 Panel Discussion: Personal Viewpoints moderated by Mark Moseley

• Ashley Morris
• Greg Peters (suspect device)
• Josh Britton (joshbritton.com)
• Lois Dunn (Scout Prime)

11:30 - 12:30 Think New Orleans by Alan Gutierrez

1:30 - 2:30 Panel Discussion: New Orleans Politics moderated by Peter Athas

Local politicians Michael Duplantier, Shane Landry and Peggy Wilson

2:45 - 3:45 Panel Discussion: Influence of Journalists and Bloggers moderated by Maitri Venkat-Ramani and Mark Folse

• Jon Donley (founding editor of NOLA.com, Dawnsinger)
• Daisy Pignetti (Doctor Daisy)
• Troy Gilbert (GulfSails)
• Christopher Cooper

4:00 - 5:00 Panel Discussion: Bloggers & Neighborhood Associations moderated by Morwen Madrigal and Peter Athas

Bloggers and neighborhood activists representing the Gentilly, MidCity, Northwest Carrollton, Broadmoor, Irish Channel and Bouligny Riverside neighborhoods

5:00 - 6:00 Mixer & Cash Bar

—

Exhibitors

• Michael Mizell-Nelson, Hurricane Digital Memory Bank Project
• George “Loki” Williams IV, New Orleans Oral History Project
• Arabi Wrecking Krewe
• Blake Haney, Dirty Coast t-shirts and posters
• Logan Babin, Logan Babin Katrina movies (?)
• Troy Gilbert, Chefs in Exile

Gotta make this quick so today you get an abbreviated, bullet point list.

• Geek Dinner II: The Sequel, if you are a digital geek in the post-apocalyptic NOLA this one is for you. (The BBC is interested in this one)
• Rising Tide - The real scoop on NOLA, another gathering that will feature Katrina Bloggers from NOLA and beyond, as well as a variety of speakers and panels. Check the site for details and then register. You know you want to…
• I have just been informed that I will be on Air America’s Mike Malloy Show again, this time on the Anniversary of Katrina. Details forthcoming.
• Bad Grass on Da Po’ Blog is today’s must read.
• Creole Creamery, the BEST ice cream in NOLA, now has a website! These guys were open 3 days after katrina!
• Are the cicadas extraordinarily loud this season or is it just me?

Off and running, I have 23,000 things to do today so until tomorrow I must

END TRANSMISSION

EDIT:  From Dangle 24/7 (moved up from comments due to importance)  - Off the subject but of great importance..Clayton James Cubitt http://operationeden.blogspot.com/2006/08/katrina-every-day.html will be here over the next week making portraits of survivors for use in public service announcements highlighting the need to reach out for help when it all gets to be too much. Anyone who would like to participate, contact: travelingmermaid@gmail.com

Well, for those of you under the impression that things are just dandy here in New Orleans please read my newest column on Powers and Morrison, it includes an inside view of the situation from a French Quarter business owner. (The Quarter is the least affected area of the city.)

While you are there you should also check out the newest offering on P&M, a page that consolidates feeds from a wide array of local bloggers. Mr. Morrison is one of the few media types to be really incensed by the horrible situation here. He and I have put this page together so that people can get info first hand from the bloggers who live here. Someone is actually paying attention!

On another note the newest Geek Dinner will be held on Saturday the 19th (EDIT: Please note the date change!) at 7pm at the site of my former apartment - 4615 S. Claiborne Ave (just uptown from Napoleon in Broadmoor). The Geek Dinner entry on the Wiki (linked above )will be updated within the next day or two for planning purposes. Flood wreckage, an authentic FEMA trailer, a grill, the colorful remains of my piano, yardspace to socialize in and Wi-Fi provided by 504 DataCom (My new Telcom company). This will be our best opportunity to confer before Rising Tide, and I look forward to seeing you all again. More details will be released as they are confirmed.

This message is being sent to NOLA bloggers, Louisiana bloggers, Katrina bloggers and those blogging from the Diaspora. The one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans will soon be here. On August 25-27, 2006, there will be a convention for all people who care about New Orleans, here in New Orleans. The Rising Tide Conference is being planned and hosted by bloggers and we are requesting your participation.

The Rising Tide Conference will be a gathering for all who wish to learn more and do more to assist New Orleans’ recovery from the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We will come together to dispel myths, promote facts, share personal testimonies, highlight progress and regress, discuss recovery ideas, and promote sound policies at all levels. We aim to be a “real life” demonstration of internet activism as the nation prepares to mark the one year anniversary of a massive natural disaster followed by governmental failures on a similar scale.  This e-mail is being sent to you to as part of an attempt to create a comprehensive e-mailing list of interested bloggers who would like to participate or attend. In the coming weeks, announcements will be made about venues and events via this list. Please forward this e-mail to anyone who may be interested in the Rising Tide Conference.

A Rising Tide Wiki has been assembled where you can find information, make suggestions, offer help and provide information.

Please go to the Blogger List part of the Wiki and check the entry for your blog and make sure the information is correct. If you see that a blog is missing, please add it to the list.

More information will be coming soon. Check the Wiki for updates.

Thanks from

Kim Marshall
Mark Moseley
Ashley Morris
Maitri Venkat-Ramani
Lisa Palumbo
Peter Athas
Jeffrey B.
Morwen Madrigal
Alan Gutierrez
Ray Shea
George Williams IV
and Blake Haney