HumidCity

From the Third World Country of New Orleans to the Third World Country of Dominica and back, the last week or so has been amazing. There are so many parallels and yet so many opposites. You will see poverty there, a few buildings that reminded me of the flood zone, and a seeming distrust of local government. You will also see brightly colored houses, people you don’t know who wave at you on the street, and architecture reminiscent of some of our own.

Those similarities are counterpointed by the differences. There is a higher literacy rate than in the US, there is no crime to speak of, the environment is a top priority to the people and the government, and the cities are not smashed to pieces.The air there is also the cleanest and clearest I have ever breathed, unlike the dust and mold laden atmosphere of NOLA.

So why come back at all? Well for those Scrooges across the US who ask things like “hasn’t Congress paid for all the damage,” and “why build in a flood zone,” I highly recommend Bob Marshall’s excellent article in yesterday’s paper. I also advise it for anyone travelling as you will encounter these questions and it is always good to have the facts with which to fuel an informed response. We are still NOT okay, but it is home.

One thing in particular I found quite telling was a conversation with a rural farmer in the interior. This guy was working over a fire extracting bay oil out in the middle of nowhere, someone who empathized more with our situation than most Americans I have met. After trading a few tales of the last sixteen months his response was that America had treated us the way it treats the rest of the world and that it was thing of evil. Hmmm …

The trip was just what we needed, a respite from the obsessions of modern life in NOLA. We have returned with more fortitude having been reminded of the beauty that remains to be seen in this world. It is a good time to be back, despite the ongoing trials, Mardi Gras preparations are in swing as Twelfth Night aproaches. In addition Liquidrone is playing tonight at One Eyed Jack’s, a treat I get far too infrequently (If you have a love of music this is a MUST SEE!). We will wring some joy from this holiday season in our own self-satirizing way and continue to do what we have done since The Storm: persevere!

This is year two with blue tarps on the roofs and the National Guard in the streets for Xmas, think about that. Consider the people who are facing the cold in buildings with no power or heat, simply to be home for the holidays. Forget the marketing and the ubiquitous merchandising and remember the real spirit of the season. Be kind to someone. Find a New Orleanian, here or in the diaspora, and help them locate the joy misplaced by the Corps of Engineers and FEMA. Embrace this season with the values that are a constant in most religions - be a brother/sister to your fellow man/woman.

A bumper sticker we saw in Dominica says it all: “God Has NO Religion.”

Before we leave I abjure you, as always, to read da po’ blog. The excerpt below is my parting shot befre we leave the Bush Empire for the second part of our honeymoon…

On Friday, while gutting a veteran’s house with the Arabi Wrecking Krewe, an AWOL American soldier mentioned the wars and the recovery but made some connections:

“There are so many engineering units of the U.S. military - they should be here and not Iraq,” Pt. Kyle Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said Friday.

Instead of flexing our military muscle to destroy buildings and lives in other parts of the world, we could be using that muscle to rebuild cities and lives in this part of the world.

A better world will not come by pointing the barrel of gun at it and commanding it to be better. You have to put the guns down and get in there and work on it.

ABC News: A Grisly New Orleans Murder Mystery Takes Another Twist
New Orleans is still reeling from news this week that a bartender reportedly strangled his girlfriend, dismembered her body, and cooked some of the body parts on his stove before jumping to his death.

Now, it turns out, he was an Iraq war hero.

An act that transmits the message We Are Not Okay, confirmation of my assertion (often made by the media, psychiatrists, etc) that mental health is a dwindling resources here in NOLA. Ph Fred’s words in the previous posting are well said, we are in the land of “if,” and sometimes that can send one over the brink of madness.

An Iraq War Hero ™, sounds like double dipping on the post traumatic stress disorder to me. From the atrocities of our “war,” to the devastation of America’s Forgotton City he skirted the edges of sanity until he finally snapped. Bloody hell.

as the current ad for South Park says, “Dear God, what next?”

the last week has been sobering in the land so big and easy… suicides, butchery, and nefarious acts of prostitution… BUT who wouldn’t want to come home… AFTERALL, the saints are winning… in fact the saints are doing so well that the pope — er, benedict the umpteenth to be exact– canonized four more. can st. archie of manning be far behind? (some of you older folks may remember the early 70’s hit by fr. jerry called “archie is a saint” - BTW jerry left the priesthood and allegedly married an ex-nun) … hmmm…..

remember i implored the media to say good things? “benedict” means “well spoken” or some mumbo gumbo like that…. let’s be pope-ish and try a few…

we’re not corrupt… we just play by our own rules.
we’re not killing each other… we’re just downsizing.
the city wasn’t flooded… we all just have waterfront property now.

who cares if the glass is half-full or half-empty? heck, i just want a f’n go-cup… and you can’t get those anywhere else in the world. BLOG THIS!

Today a year ago was the day that I finally found out that my family was alive and well, although scattered across the US. My grandmother made it back to NOLA few months after the Storm and died recently in her home on Jackson Ave. Like most of the city’s elders she is gone now, but at least she was able to pass in her own bed in the city that has been her home. Many are not so lucky.

While there are children and a few elderly here in the city the overall demographic seems to mostly be twenties, thirties and forties. A strange new world with no guidance or wisdom (I guess that does make Ray the best mayor for us doesn’t it?) The stories and lessons of the older generations are not being told, the traditions are not being passed on, and the muisc is slowly dying. I know Lex has posted on this before, but it is a situation that demands revisiting. With housing and healthcare in a state that would make a third world country feel superior it is flat out dangerous for those getting on in years to be here. In a city so rich in tradtion that is an incredible loss.

There are times recently when even I wonder if I am doing the right thing for myself and my wife to be by staying here. I immediately pull myself back and reaffirm my desire to fight for something larger than myself, New Orleans, but the doubts persist. All of us have them. It is a daily triumph to stick it out one more day. There is so much at stake right now, we cannot give up or all will be irrevocably lost.

I cannot wait for the begining of October. I will be getting out of the city for the first time since the Storm, going up to visit friends who lleft never to return and to visit soon-to-be family in Bloomington, IN. The trip is an early Birthday present from my future mother in law, and I hope it will be a boon to my mental health.

Last Year’s Posts This Day: One year ago I was looking for many friends and family. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I had already found many people, but to this day there are those I have not yet found. It was also the day that we got news that our new apartment had made it safely through the deluge and began to make plans for the rest of our exile.

One year ago:

trying desperately to turn my fear, pain, and shaking hands to good cause I continued to attempt to get an audio record of my fellow New Orleanians during this disaster. By this point I was rather wild eyed and crazy, just like most others.

Having just paid for our honeymoon and wedding, as well as having the Storm fall right before payday, L and I had practically no resources. We knew that wee only had a matter of two or three days in the hotel before we would be completely destitute in a foreign state a long way from home.

http://humidcity.com/2005/08/31/112550809130377077/
Michael Guilliot of Kenner speaks

http://humidcity.com/2005/08/31/112551409023146492/
File With FEMA Now (little did I realize at the time that this would be so useless to so many of us. My own adventures with FEMA, distasteful as they are pale in comparison to what others have experienced in the bungling of the last year.)

One year ago this minute I was crammed in a small car with all five of our cats, my business partner, my finacee, and a lot of general crap. It would be five hours yet before we would finally hit W. Memphis. It was obviously the Storm of the Century, we might even be gone three or four days. Little did we know.

The intervening year has been a tempest of emotion. Suddenly I really have  empathy when I see a natural/man made disaster strike. I mean really have empathy. The visions of Lebanese cities and towns after the bombings, the view of normally arid areas of India submerged, these images almost give me physical pain now. I have seen my friends and family suffer through the devastation. I know people who have died both due to the storm and by their own hand, unable to deal with the aftermath.

Like all the bloggers out there posting on the subject I wanted to put out a magnum opus, a tirade of Homeric proportion which would incite the people of elsewhere to rise up and shout, “Thou shalt not desert our countrymen!” Alas, illness and depression dictate not.

As I sat here, staring at the blank text field which waits for me to fill it’s taunting tabula rasa, I realized that I had no words. At least not the type of words that would fit the gravity of the occasion.

In lieu of the Battle Cry For New Orleans you will have to settle for more personal, simple sentences:

I miss my friends.

I miss streets devoid of looters, rubble, and fear.

I miss having even a shred of faith in the social contract.

After tomorrow the mass media will forget us, and so will the people.

I miss the phrase “oncoming hurricane,” meaning a day off and a beer run.

I can’t believe I’m actually glad the National Guard is back. Yes, me.

My family got here with Bienville, I’m fighting for my home!

Hold the Corps Accountable!

Sinn Fein! We Are NOT Okay! 

Rebuild, Reboot, Renew!

In the Golden age of MC Bush and the Neocons abridgement of Democracy is standard policy. Unfortunately that seems to have communicated itself to the New Orleans level as Alan points out in his post on Outsourcing democracy.

Think New Orleans / Outsourcing Democracy

The citizens of New Orleans have been asked to choose the planners that will guide them through the process of developing a city wide plan for rebuilding. The method to record the response of the neighborhoods is an online poll. The online poll is open to fraud.

* Suffrage is determined by the possession of an email address.
** For many residents an email address is very difficult to obtain.
** For anyone with knowledge of email, infinite unique addresses can be generated instantly.
* An email address does not define a resident of New Orleans.
** Anyone can vote without any indication of residency in New Orleans, let alone a specific neighborhood or planning district within New Orleans.
** Anyone on the Internet can vote, even people living in other countries.

It is a childish implementation of a poll, easily gamed, impossible to verify.

This voting is being conducted under the contract of an architectural firm, Concordia, LLC. It presents and obvious conflict of interest.

(Emphasis mine-Loki) Read the rest here! Now obviously I am a silicon geek, I’m a blogger after all, but even so the idea of using a purely internet based system for something like this would not have been practical even before the Storm. New Orleans has famously eschewed internet and email in favor of the more face to face approach that is a hallmark of our Euopean/Afro-Carribean culture.

The reason I actively support ThinkNOLA is because it is one of the only technology based efforts that actaully recognizes this, yet conitunes to use the digital arsenal available for positive change. This poll is not only blissfully unaware of this divide, but has all the relaibility of a Diebold voting machine!

Please read Alan’s full post. If it outrages you as much as it did me then take action. Call them on the bullshit, its vital.

EDIT: This in from New Orleans Indy Media

It’s unclear just how much the various planning firms that are selected in this process will truly incorporate the needs and desires of the residents represented. But the biggest problem of all with the process thus far is its lack of true democratic participation. With almost half of the city’s population still missing, with renters, public housing residents, and residents of the worst hit neighborhoods distracted by more mundane concerns like returning home, securing employment, a roof over their heads, or cleaning up property that Mayor Nagin will otherwise deem blighted within a month, it would appear that most resident of the Big Easy simply don’t have the resources to participate. Full Article Here.

This comic is a beautifully condensed and accurate take on the whole Hurricane Season brouhaha. As usual Greg Peters applies his deadly wit to the painful absurdity of our situation. The comic in question can be found here>>Suspect Device | Greg Peters

Chris Rose, our most eloquent voice after The Storm, takes a bike ride along the route of the city’s most famous streetcar/bus line: Desire. A line, alas, that will probably not be returning. It is a heartwrenching tour, especially if you know the neighborhoods and can be read here.

Thanks to AnimaMundi for pointing it out!

BTW- Stella is still missing, Stanley has his hands full with FEMA paperwork, and Blanche is relying on the kindness of strangers somewhere in the midwest…….