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New Orleans
Sep. 7th, 2005 08:51 pmThis one's been a long time coming, but I'll try to keep it short.
I lived in New Orleans (okay, Kenner) for a year before I moved to Memphis. I learned many culinary things, and did quite a bit of liver damage (drinking and gaining a ton of weight), and learned to love the city as a semi-native. I learned many secret ins and outs, learned to love and hate Mardi Gras, and developed an appreciation for roots music that still endures.
It's still too early to tell how Katrina is going to change the nature of the city, but I'm sure it's not gonna be the same. I don't yet know if I've lost people I knew, or friends of friends, but to think that thousands may have died due to governmental neglect is inexcusable.
I don't blame Bush for the hurricane (some do), or the failure of the levies (some do), but he had the authority to do something to save lives in the aftermath of the storm, and chose to sit on his ranch. He had the authority to appoint someone with a tenuous, vague bit of competence to be the head of FEMA, or the Homeland Security Department, and he chose to appoint political cronies with no qualifications whatsoever. All the photo ops and political misdirection in the world will not change that. There is work yet to do, and I'm afraid that we still suffer with a severe lack of leadership. And more people will get sick, and more people will die, and more damage will be done before this is over.
I lived in New Orleans (okay, Kenner) for a year before I moved to Memphis. I learned many culinary things, and did quite a bit of liver damage (drinking and gaining a ton of weight), and learned to love the city as a semi-native. I learned many secret ins and outs, learned to love and hate Mardi Gras, and developed an appreciation for roots music that still endures.
It's still too early to tell how Katrina is going to change the nature of the city, but I'm sure it's not gonna be the same. I don't yet know if I've lost people I knew, or friends of friends, but to think that thousands may have died due to governmental neglect is inexcusable.
I don't blame Bush for the hurricane (some do), or the failure of the levies (some do), but he had the authority to do something to save lives in the aftermath of the storm, and chose to sit on his ranch. He had the authority to appoint someone with a tenuous, vague bit of competence to be the head of FEMA, or the Homeland Security Department, and he chose to appoint political cronies with no qualifications whatsoever. All the photo ops and political misdirection in the world will not change that. There is work yet to do, and I'm afraid that we still suffer with a severe lack of leadership. And more people will get sick, and more people will die, and more damage will be done before this is over.
