(And some days it takes more Stones than others...) Where Mythical Bestiary meets Contemporary Culture and Chews On Its Leg Until Covered with Slobber.
(Mississippi River Flood of 1927)Thousands of people have died and are dying right now for the unforgivable sin of being too poor to get out in time.
Lewis C., child of New Orleans and best man/best friend, reports that our friends and adoptive family in and around New Orleans are all safe and staying with friends and relatives. Phones routed through New Orleans are useless; they keep in touch by calling one of Lewis’ aunts in California to leave word for the others. The Beautiful Monica and her husband couldn’t reach their house in Mandeville or Lewis’ parents’ house in Covington, so property loss is still a question mark. Lewis’ sister Peggy may have lost her house as well. Uncle Russell is staying with Lewis and Kim in Houston. I’m hoping that Vance Bourjaily, one of my favorite writers, made it out okay. Terrible as the loss is, they were all able to take care of themselves.
“I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city... It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.” God bless Ray Nagin the mayor of New Orleans, Anderson Cooper on CNN and Ted Koppel on ABC, everybody at NPR, and all those who got in people’s faces, who told the truth and shamed the devil. And piss on NBC for feeling it needed to apologize because Kanye West "went off script". That's what America in 2005 cannot bear: that someone might go off script.
When it thunders and lightnin' and when the wind begins to blow
When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to blow
There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then looked down on the house where I used to live
-- Bessie Smith, “Backwater Blues”, 1927
2 comments:
Both the deleted comments were spam, one selling sunglasses. And in New Orleans, hospital nurses are giving each other IVs to keep themselves hydrated. And as of Saturday night, there were still dead bodies lying in the street around the convention center. We're Number One.
By Mardi Gras of 2006, Mayor Nagin's public appearances were making Bill O'Reilly look sane. Tina Jens brought t-shirts back with Hissoner's face photoshopped onto Johnny Depp's body with the caption, "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate City". As he himself tried to backpeddle, chocolate is made with brown cocoa, white milk, and lots of sugar, but do we really need any more nuts?
Post a Comment