BoingBoing is one of my favorite sites. I think it is put together by four or five people. There is so much material gushing out of their site that a reader can spend half the day reading it, so I often allow myself to slide past it and drop in when I have more time. (Like going to a thrift store or "antique" (read junk) shop. I love it, but I usually like looking more than buying. But BoingBoing is no junk shop, believe me. Well, not usually.)
Here's a find: Katrina: a cameraman's journal in NOLA, part 3
I drove much of the Ninth ward yesterday. It was a sobering view of poverty in the inner city. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be sitting in the Astrodome having watched the flood waters inundate this sad portion of a great American city. I honestly don’t know what the authorities will decide to do, or what they should do. There are so many pathetic little shacks with a putrid water line nearly up to the roof. The saddest thing for the former residents would be to see it all gentrified - rebuilt….just not for them. Where are all the General Marshalls when we need them?
I spent a lot of time yesterday with the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. I just don’t know what to make of this guy. I don’t know anything about him, but I do know that he has done a complete turnaround from his previous and well publicized criticism of our dear Administration. To hear him talk today - he is George W’s biggest fan. You are not going to hear one nasty word come out of his mouth as pertains to Mr. Bush. He wants to see his city rebuilt…..and they have hit him over the head with one big-ass shovel…….
This is journalism at its best. One guy looking and telling what he sees and feels. In this case he also happens to be a photographer, so the pictures are a bonus.
Now I gotta go back and read Part One and Part Two.
1 comment:
This guy makes me feel young again. His understanding of "the establishment" is not very different from what many of us felt in the sixties. Check this out:
Once again, I made the mistake of watching television, this time CNN. Paula Zahn was interviewing a California Highway Patrol captain describing the disaster scene in the French Quarter. It must have been tough duty wandering those dangerous narrow streets searching for all those starving, dehydrated survivors…..NOT!!! The French Quarter is substantially intact, almost no flooding, minor looting, and lots of residents hanging around, sweeping the streets, drinking, and even a few playing music. That didn't stop Paula from asking the tough questions. "How many people did you encounter today in your search for survivors?"….. The captain said the number was around 30.
What he didn’t tell you is that these are some of the luckiest residents in New Orleans. This was purely an opportunity for him to appear on network television and make it appear that they are doing something worthwhile, worth the tens of thousands of dollars we are paying him and his large group of colleagues to be here. It was a great way for him to wave the flag and show the public and his superiors, that they are doing something. The only problem is that it was deceptive -- and ultimately, dishonest.
And then there is Fox News. Man, do I even want to go here. It's as though the hurricane was just another round of WWF Smackdown. When I watch Fox, I always feel as if they are describing some sporting event. The reporter I watched should be sent back to elementary school under some provision of "No child left behind". In his standup, he used words that don't even exist…. "hurricanic" or something like that. His hair was great though, that sort of bad-boy flippy frosty kind of thing - like the guy on Extreme Home Makeover which I'd like to point out, is entertainment. I turned it off, feeling as if I was a participant in something that was nearly disrespectful to the dead.
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