“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.”
- Ernest Hemingway
I don’t know if Ernest Hemingway was one of the many great writers who visited and fell in love with New Orleans. Whether or not he did, I can’t think of a better guide to the post-levee failure world.
The Yes Men - political pranksters par excellence - visited New Orleans last August to draw attention to HUD-created inequities in the city’s public housing.
Here’s an audio account of the event produced by WWOZ’s Street Talk project:
It’s going to be St. Joseph’s Day soon, an important day for the Mardis Gras Indians come out. The video maker sent me this excellent video display of Indian power at Jazz Fest 2006:
In a previous post, I wrote about Mike Ellis, the social worker from Ithaca, NY who went to New Orleans in December of 2005 to provide counseling to victims of the twin hurricanes and the levee failures.
An interview with him about his experiences can be found by searching this site for “Mike Ellis.”
Since 2005, Mike and other Ithacans have founded a group called LoveKnowsNoBounds.org.
They’re representative of the tens of thousands of outsiders who have contributed their skills, time, money and intelligence to helping New Orleans and the Gulf Coast cope and recover from one of the greatest social catastrophes ever to hit the United States.
When you get discouraged by the epic viciousness and incompetence of the officials who control the tax resources of the United States, remember there is a second force that’s working for good and is a much better representative of the American (and human) character.
The group is guided by this stament from Dr. Martin Luther King:
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I’d still plant my apple tree.”
For more information, click here: Love Knows No Bounds
CHAT - the Citizens Road Home Action Team - is the grassroots citizens group that’s monitoring the performance of the Road Home program designed (supposedly) to help Louisianans return home after the twin hurricanes and levee failures of 2005.
How well is the program working? Anecdotal evidence is not encouraging, but anecdotes aren’t enough to prove a point and command change. In steps CHAT, the Citizen’s Road Home Action Team, to conduct a proper survey which they launched this week.
Handling the tech for the survey is FoodMusicJustice volunteer Cindy Kappler.
Here’s the link: Citizens Road Home Action Team Survey
Here come the lawsuits…
The City of New Orleans is claiming $77 billion in damages…Entergy, the city’s electrical utility is claiming $655 million…New Orleans Sewage and Water Board is claiming $460 million in damages.
Can’t sue the Army Corps of Engineers? That was the myth until a ruling early last month by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval said that the Corps has no immunity when it comes to problems caused by their navigation projects.
Let the discovery begin!
Click here for details: New Orleans lawsuits against the Army Corps of Engineers
Some friends and I have been advising Levees.org on how they can improve the effectiveness of their web site.
Levees.org is the grassroots organization that’s taking the lead to make sure that the Army Corps of Engineers repairs and rebuilds levees correctly, not only in New Orleans, but all over the US.
Levees.org founder, Sandy Leventhal, has been a quick study. One of the things I recommended was that she add video to the site to convey some of the group’s most important messages. Joe Chapuis of Web Video Zone donated the tech services to make this possible.
Click here to see the levees.org web site.
Join us and every time we have a new article or video about New Orleans, we'll let you know.
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