Katrina addendum...
Well, it's 4:30 pm, here in Los Angeles, we just dropped off Earl's sculpture to Sideshow Collectables and have THAT out of our hair and can focus on the wonders that are what was The Big Easy...
As of this morning, we found out that Earl's mom and dad and sister are still holed up in his sister's 2nd story apartment in Uptown New Orleans. Mom, being 5'3' (we see eye to eye!) and not a swimmer refused to swim to a boat that came by to rescue them yesterday. (can you see me shaking my head?). We have been getting patchy reports, as aparently, a neighbor has a cell phone and has been bringing the family water and food for the last few days.
Mom and Dad were spotted this morning trying to figure out how to leave on their own. Not sure how they figure they're going to get out, as the cars are still submmerged. I have a feeling that they're getting on each other's nerves and need a breather. Thank God they're not at the Superdome or the convention center. We've been watching all of the reports and know that mom and dad have no idea what's going on outside of thier one-block-world. I'm not sure if they realise that their home is gone, and that their nephew is still stuck in St. Bernard Parish, calling from a cell phone, and we believe he's stuck on a second floor or an attic. He reported seeing bodies floating by him, but physically being OK. We're still waiting for more word.
I can't imagine how this is impacting the emotional state not just the physical state. Living with Earl, and knowing how much hurricane Betsy and Camille STILL effects him 40 years later, I just don't know how people can live there with that Damaclesian sword over their heads.
I was asking Earl about the shootings. He told me that when he was an ambulance driver in New Orleans, once when he was sent to a poor part of town, they picked up a large African-American woman to take her to get medical treatment, and when they got back into the ambulance and started to drive away, people started throwing bricks at the ambulance! Later, the dispatcher told them "oh, we don't go into that neighborhood without a police escort" .... That is frightening to me. I grew up on the edge of the "wrong-side-of-the-tracks" being called "the inside of the Oreo" and STILL never felt like that. There is more segrigation physically and socially there. There is a real animosity on BOTH sides.
There are a lot of good people who are being endangered by a handful of "bad people". I just know that a lot of the "white" people are still stuck in their homes, choosing to stay, not wanting to "mix" with the poor "black" people, in the Superdome and I'm sure vice-versa. What IS it that needs to happen to bridge this mental gap? Do we have to have a block party at the Superdome? Forcing people to play nice? What is this "my skin color is better than yours" nonsense?
There are so many people blaming the government right now. But this is a matter of people having to take boats through downed powerlines, desbris, and people with guns. MOST of these people wouldn't budge from their homes BEFORE the hurricane if you lit a huge fire underneath them. I heard a woman on TV last night complaining... the interviewer asked: "were you given food?" and her response was " We got army food, I mean you can't eat that stuff! IT wasn't even HOT!" I'm trying to learn about gratitude, and I just don't understand why there IS VERY LITTLE in New Orleans at the moment. I'm stumped. If you CHOOSE to STAY, you're taking a chance. But go ahead and complain anyway... sheeeeesh.
OK. That's my rant for today.
Keep praying and look for 3 tiny white folks walking down the street on TV... That will probably be them.
As of this morning, we found out that Earl's mom and dad and sister are still holed up in his sister's 2nd story apartment in Uptown New Orleans. Mom, being 5'3' (we see eye to eye!) and not a swimmer refused to swim to a boat that came by to rescue them yesterday. (can you see me shaking my head?). We have been getting patchy reports, as aparently, a neighbor has a cell phone and has been bringing the family water and food for the last few days.
Mom and Dad were spotted this morning trying to figure out how to leave on their own. Not sure how they figure they're going to get out, as the cars are still submmerged. I have a feeling that they're getting on each other's nerves and need a breather. Thank God they're not at the Superdome or the convention center. We've been watching all of the reports and know that mom and dad have no idea what's going on outside of thier one-block-world. I'm not sure if they realise that their home is gone, and that their nephew is still stuck in St. Bernard Parish, calling from a cell phone, and we believe he's stuck on a second floor or an attic. He reported seeing bodies floating by him, but physically being OK. We're still waiting for more word.
I can't imagine how this is impacting the emotional state not just the physical state. Living with Earl, and knowing how much hurricane Betsy and Camille STILL effects him 40 years later, I just don't know how people can live there with that Damaclesian sword over their heads.
I was asking Earl about the shootings. He told me that when he was an ambulance driver in New Orleans, once when he was sent to a poor part of town, they picked up a large African-American woman to take her to get medical treatment, and when they got back into the ambulance and started to drive away, people started throwing bricks at the ambulance! Later, the dispatcher told them "oh, we don't go into that neighborhood without a police escort" .... That is frightening to me. I grew up on the edge of the "wrong-side-of-the-tracks" being called "the inside of the Oreo" and STILL never felt like that. There is more segrigation physically and socially there. There is a real animosity on BOTH sides.
There are a lot of good people who are being endangered by a handful of "bad people". I just know that a lot of the "white" people are still stuck in their homes, choosing to stay, not wanting to "mix" with the poor "black" people, in the Superdome and I'm sure vice-versa. What IS it that needs to happen to bridge this mental gap? Do we have to have a block party at the Superdome? Forcing people to play nice? What is this "my skin color is better than yours" nonsense?
There are so many people blaming the government right now. But this is a matter of people having to take boats through downed powerlines, desbris, and people with guns. MOST of these people wouldn't budge from their homes BEFORE the hurricane if you lit a huge fire underneath them. I heard a woman on TV last night complaining... the interviewer asked: "were you given food?" and her response was " We got army food, I mean you can't eat that stuff! IT wasn't even HOT!" I'm trying to learn about gratitude, and I just don't understand why there IS VERY LITTLE in New Orleans at the moment. I'm stumped. If you CHOOSE to STAY, you're taking a chance. But go ahead and complain anyway... sheeeeesh.
OK. That's my rant for today.
Keep praying and look for 3 tiny white folks walking down the street on TV... That will probably be them.
posted by Earl at 4:34 PM
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