Tuesday, August 30, 2005
The frolics and recipes are on their way, dear friends, really, they are. But before I can continue working on them, there are a few things that must be shared.
Not long ago, the beautiful and talented e, creator of the Tweedy bag that garners me such admiring stares all over Manahatta, and coiner of the nickname Momerina (e, my mom still thanks you for it!), took a road trip to New Orleans and picked up many lovely presents for her own roll of dear friends. My goodies arrived in a bead-filled, feather-laced, beautifully-printed box. Inside these box were an assortments of pralines (i.e. God's Own Candy), a can of Cafe du Monde coffee with chicory, and a bright red apron with DON'T FUCK WITH THE COOK emblazoned on it. It seems like a whole 'nother age now, one in which e filed superb travel dispatches from the road and made me fall in love all over again with a place I haven't seen in 15 years. The thought that it might be gone now, gone for real, gone for good, not only fills me with sadness and anger, but it makes me wonder if the universe's designs are really that intelligent after all.
e has sent me a link from the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. I don't want to downplay the very real losses suffered by the communities hit hardest by Katrina; nothing is worse than death and destruction and the washing away of places that were once celebrated as being so tough that even Camille couldn't knock them down. Still, for me, one of the hardest things I've heard, seen or read in the past two days was the simple line, "Martial Law has now been declared for the city of New Orleans." Even though I know that this is an extreme circumstance, the likes of which have not been seen in most of our lifetimes, it is still a cold and dreadful thing to see in print.
Dear friends, anything you can do in the way of relief, either by writing a check or providing volunteer assistance in communities that are equipped to accept volunteer help, please consider doing so. I would also urge you to listen to the August 28 broadcast of Harry Shearer's fine hour of radio, Le Show, which Lloyd and I listen to on Monday nights on WNYE-FM. If you don't have Real Player, it's worth getting the free download, even if you only use it for listening to Harry. This week's show is particularly fine, even if the opening musical selection, Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927," just about put me away for good.
Posted by
Bakerina at 11:44 PM in
•
(3)
Comments •
(0)
Trackbacks
Thanks, everyone (and a tip of the hat to e and goliard; it is good to see you safe and dry, dearies).
I should clarify my terms a little better. (I was a bit incoherent last night because I’ve been working on a post about a completely different subject for two days and it’s still not close to being done.) When I talked about not wanting to downplay the human suffering, I meant it in the context of thinking that the worst thing that had happened was that martial law had been declared. Really, the worst thing that can happen is that people can die; as of this morning, my local newsheads were saying that the death toll was 100 and would at least double. (e has been hearing reports that casualties will eventually top out in the thousands, not hundreds.) In light of that, it seems a bit waspish to say that the worst thing that can happen is the declaration of martial law. But I got sick when I read that, in a way that I didn’t when I heard other news, not even the death toll, not even the news that attempts to repair the levees had failed, which is particularly heartbreaking news.
At this point I don’t have anything but idiot optimism on my side, but I am trying to remain hopeful that the levee breaches can be fixed, that the water can be pumped out before we start seeing things like widespread cholera, that residents and businesses can come back, and that eventually New Orleans will be ready to welcome visitors again. If and when that day comes, I am booking my ticket so fast it will make my travel agent’s head spin.
Earlier, while the pictures were all of dumb-as-shit, news reporters standing in the wind giving “live reports” my opinion about the hurricane was somewhere between jaded and malicious. I certainly wished for a loose piece of sheet metal to decapitate one of those assholes on live tv.
Later as they all crowed “New Orleans has been spared from most of the devastation” my anger at the media deepened. Of course to a huge segment of the US population it’s all glamor, drunkenness, jazz, debauchery and cute old French/cajun New Orleans. But you knew real people were really suffering in homes and shacks and trailers throughout a huge swath of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Now, with helicopter pictures of the devastation I’m ready to relax my “at least with this disaster we won’t have to see a bunch of fucking flag decals and send hundreds and thousands off to fight, kill and die in some foreign country” attitude.
It’s time to extend a hand to our friends and neighbors and do as we would have them do for us.
I know e is (quite reasonably) moved and horrified by all this. But in the midst of worrying about a couple of our southern states, I’m personally taking a few minutes to run to the toilet and puke in disgust that over 800+ people who died in Iraq today when US gunships started firing into crowds allegedly “in response to insurgents.”
Page 1 of 1 pages
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Thanks, everyone (and a tip of the hat to e and goliard; it is good to see you safe and dry, dearies).
I should clarify my terms a little better. (I was a bit incoherent last night because I’ve been working on a post about a completely different subject for two days and it’s still not close to being done.) When I talked about not wanting to downplay the human suffering, I meant it in the context of thinking that the worst thing that had happened was that martial law had been declared. Really, the worst thing that can happen is that people can die; as of this morning, my local newsheads were saying that the death toll was 100 and would at least double. (e has been hearing reports that casualties will eventually top out in the thousands, not hundreds.) In light of that, it seems a bit waspish to say that the worst thing that can happen is the declaration of martial law. But I got sick when I read that, in a way that I didn’t when I heard other news, not even the death toll, not even the news that attempts to repair the levees had failed, which is particularly heartbreaking news.
At this point I don’t have anything but idiot optimism on my side, but I am trying to remain hopeful that the levee breaches can be fixed, that the water can be pumped out before we start seeing things like widespread cholera, that residents and businesses can come back, and that eventually New Orleans will be ready to welcome visitors again. If and when that day comes, I am booking my ticket so fast it will make my travel agent’s head spin.