Thank You FEMA

Todays blog is a little disturbing to talk about because we are discussing the effort “or lack of” put forth during Hurricane Katrina by the emergency relief organization known as FEMA. It makes me angry at the blatant apathetic approach towards helping relieve New Orleans after one of the nations biggest disasters. Due to outdated rules and unrevised policies FEMA has failed to handle their responsibilities when they were needed most.
With no way to communicate with the outside world it took FEMA 3 days to realize the gravity of the situation. When FEMA finally responded to the cries for help and sent in teams to perform search and rescue functions they redundantly searched buildings and neighborhoods that were already cleared by state personel. Some tend to wonder who trains these people. The ineptitude of FEMA doesn’t just fall on the men and women in the field but also to their support staff mainly being logistics. State worker claimed they had to order twice as many supplies to get half of what they needed, primarily because they had no confidence in the system. Who can we trust these days even the president of FEMA , Micheal Brown during an interview stated that FEMA’s workers were a close knit community highly trained in specialized areas and that the rescue effort was going well and according to plan. However in a later interview with Front Line he said the reason he said those things in the previous interview was to quell panic.
Nine months after the waters receeded and most of the Lower Nine was left in shambles a mere shadow of its former self half the area still had no electricity or potable water (Hiles). Some residents who did receive a FEMA trailers were pretty much left stranded with no power or water for six weeks. One resident stated “FEMA if your not gonna help get the hell out of here!.” These are the people that we trust to save us.
In short I would like to say thank you to FEMA for showing us what not do in a national crisis, maybe we will get it right the next time around. Good job Brownie is what Bush would always reference to in speaking about the most incapable, dimwitted, dolt to ever hold office in a federal agency. He managed to spend over 13 billion in tax payer dollars to fund this lame attempt , so thank you again.

The Undying "Big Easy"

Hey all you bloggers out there, this assignment is an opportunity to apologize and redeem myself from the trite, lack luster information filled blogs that I have been forcing down everyone’s throats, so lets try something different. When I first heard I was supposed to be writing about New Orleans, vivid images came to mind. Visions of drunken masses stumbling through Bourbon Street, flashing tourists, oversized drinks, and loud jazz music flew through my head. However there is another side to New Orleans, aside from the party atmosphere the city is more than just jazz, drinks, and naked women. It is ripe with rich history, old world architecture, a soul infused by the blood sweat and tears of many people that left there mark such as Paul Travign, Louis Armstrong, and so many other influential artists poets, and writers. New Orleans is the only place where slaves were allowed to buy their freedom. It’s the only place where slaves were aloud to work wherever they chose on the weekends. New Orleans had the first desegregated schools, and the first black daily news.

First founded by the French in 1718, they were drawn by its unique location being surrounded by rivers such as the Mississippi and dense swampland. The French ruled for about 45 years till they ceded to the Spanish who remained in control till 1801, later going back to French rule. Napoleon then sold New Orleans to the Americas during the Louisiana Purchase. The city grew rapidly with many influences including French, Creole, American’s, Spanish, and Africans. The Haitian revolution of 1804 brought in refugees both black and white they also brought their slaves with them.

Geographically New Orleans is mostly below sea level surrounded by water, Pierce F. Lewis, the author of New Orleans (The Making of an Urban Landscape) says, “New Orleans depends much more heavily on income from overseas maritime commerce than any other large port in the eastern United States. New Orleans has very little to fall back on but tourism, which is undependable”.

Though New Orleans may still be considered unique, it is rapidly becoming like any other city in America. Sparked from the white flight of city dwellers, certain parts of the city are rapidly turning into ghettoes. In the Fauburg Treme documentary Irving Travign descendant of Paul Travign says, “they tried to make New Orleans like the rest of the country”. He spoke about waking up at 6:30 in the morning and seeing the street flooded with drugs and hearing automatic weapons go off. Lewis spoke about the I-10 highway butchering North Claiborne Ave.which once was the main street to the biggest African American neighborhood in New Orleans. It broke my heart to see pictures of how it used to be and further more hear the breaking down of Mr. Travigns voice as he referenced to the I-10 as being cold hard concrete slapped down right in the middle of his city.

Personally, when I first saw the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina, it broke my heart. Seeing the hundreds of disenfranchised citizens swimming for their lives, standing on their roofs, waving for rescue choppers to save them nearly brought me to my knees. I was staring at the television dumbfounded watching the horror unfold. Then the aftermath when the waters receded and the thousands of homeless, starving masses gathered in the superdome who were lined up to get clothed and fed was another tragedy that unfolded on live TV. As Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge, Bienville the founder of New Orleans had he been able foresee the future he would have definitely moved new Orleans inland to higher ground after the Great Hurricane in 1722. Economic reasons caused Bienville to stay where the island is today. Another way that history could of prepared us for Katrina is by looking at the failed attempts to build dykes and levees in 1803. Had these situations been taken care of a lot of lives would have been saved.

Finally after much contemplating, the idea of New Orleans is not dead it lives in film, memories, rumors and in our hearts. This city will never die, it will live on and rebuild stronger than ever. In short The Big Easy will endure the test of time.

Should I Shouldn't I

I was on the train the other day, and as usual it was a bit too crowded for me. There were so many kids on the train, and the whole car smelled like sour milk. To my luck there was a seat and I didn't mind the smell anymore because I was praying for a seat, I had a lot of studying to catch up on. Even though the train was so loud from all the different conversations going on I was able to get some work done .... Yayyyyyy. On Ave M this elderly man enters the train and and he seems to be struggling to get to his seat its not that it wasn't available its just he was using a cane and he was a bit wabbly. One of the kids on the train tried to help him to his seat but to his suprise as well as mine and the entire cars the elderly man rudely said he didn't need help and kinda pushed him away. I felt bad for the kid and also for the elderly man.
What does one do in that situation. I mean on one hand the kid was nice enough to help out the man, but on the other here we have this man who probably never really needed help to do anything, further more sit down. I mean I don't know what its like to need help to do simple things like sit down but I'm sure that it can't feel too good. I guess by that kid offering to help him out made him feel helpless and dependent. What does one go through when your independence is lost?

Blogging

Blogging has given many the opportunity to voice their thoughts, questions, and opinions. It has given the term citizen journalism actual meaning. Blogging allows the world to connect on many different levels. We were able to learn about the thoughts of a soldier while at war, a recently unemployed woman's venting of her life after her career, the up to date news from a student that was there during the Columbine shooting, and the thoughts of a corrupted government from a woman in Cuba. Blogging has provided many advantages for the average Joe, and will continue to do so as long as the public has something to say.
Yoani Sanchez, a well known blogger all over the world is one person that is smart enough to take advantage of citizen journalism. Citizen joirnalism, as Sachez puts it is someone with no professional training who cares enough to document their life through words, and images. Individuals that are part of events worth recording are citizen journalists. She says she started blogging as a platform to vent her frustrations of everyday living in Cuba sort of like an exorcism of thoughts. Blogging has allowed Sanchez to express her opinions and thoughts and at the same time affecting others by those same thoughts and opinion. She has gained an international following as well as raised some eyebrows within in her countries governement. Through Yoani Sanchezs' online magazine Contodos she has been given a public forum to express the injustices and corruption going on with her country in a tasteful and respectable manner. Sanchez has been recognized not only in her country of Cuba for her work but in America and many other countries as well.
Although there are so many positive things being gained through one persons thoughts, there are pitfalls and liabilities from this as well. Readers might have a tendency to follow ones thoughts religiously that it affects the thoughts of the indiviual, in turn swaying their opinions into the bloggers opinions. If one were to rely solely on Yoani Sanchezs' blog then they are at a huge disadvantage because this is the opinion of one person. Relying on one persons thoughts about an entire country doesnt allow the viewer to fully experience their own ideas of the country or subject. The individual wont be able to make their own opinions or thoughts because it has already been skewed by the blogger.
Ultimately blogging has become a positive outlet for one to express their thoughts and feelings on certain subjects. It is a way to preserve relationships, vent frustrating thoughts, and also allow others to walk a day in their shoes. Though in many countries the thoughts of individuals have been monitored and tracked, followers find creative ways of getting those thoughts through the public. Citizen journalism has given the public the truth that mainstream media might be to afraid to reveal. We have individuals like Yoani Sanchez, Salam Pax, and Citizen Smash to thank, all bloggers who felt it necessary to show us what it is like to live a day in their lives.

Rolling 101

So I was on the train a few evenings ago as usual I was playing solitaire then stopped to play bubble breaker,awsome game game by the way. The train was emptying out and only a few passengers were left in my car. I noticed there was a guy correcting papers, so I suppose he was a teacher. When he was done grading his papers he pulled out a different type of paper, rolling paper. This guy rolled a joint right in front of me, I was blown away.
I have nothing against people that smoke up, most of my friends have been known to do it here and there. I see nothing wrong with it,to each his own. I just hope that smoking isn't affecting the way he educates his students. We already have a horrible education system and I would hate to think that his students are suffering just because their teacher wants to toke up.

Kids today ....

The other day I was on the train and a whole bunch of high school kids got on at the same time. This is the time I can get get my studying/reading done, but not this time. These kids were talking so loud, they were practically screaming. I don't understand they were in the same group, why did they to spread out throughout the car. There was this girl talking/screaming to one of her friends on the other side of the train. The language they were using was also disgusting, every third word was F this and F that. There was another girl who kept bothering everyone on the train, lucky me I was sitting right next to her. I wonder why she didn't say anything to me, I think it's because I was sitting next to her ,she only bothered people who walked by her or who she knew was getting off the train.
Sometimes I feel when people/ kids engage in this type of behavior they just want people to listen to them. Maybe they have no one to listen to them at home, and feel by acting this way their friends will think that they are cool...I don't know why... The strangest thing though one of her friends commented "girl you are so loud, are like this at home?" she replied, "hell no, at home I am so quiet." I usually get very annoyed with this type of behavior because like I said this is my study time. Then I think to myself there has to be a reason why they are acting this way...... this calms me down.At home she might not get the chance to be herself and over does it when she is with her friends or maybe she is someone who feels she has to act this way in order to keep her friends entertained. She seemed like a sweet girl overall, maybe she does need someone to hear her out...... maybe.

Self Improvement or Something to Hide?

I was on the train yesterday evening and once again everyone beat me to a seat. I found a pole to grab on to dear life and proceeded to play solitaire, as i looked up I noticed this girl was reading a book. I usually like to see what people are reading these days, and maybe add to my Summer reading list. The book she was reading had an interesting title " How to Gain Friends and Influence People". I thought to myself do these books actually work. I mean I see so many self-help books out there but they all get lost in the sea of so many others.
She seemed to be really into this book with all the high lighting and note taking between the margins. The funny thing is when she saw one of her friends, I suppose and old friend, she immediately put the book away as if she was embarrassed about it. It made me think do we really know who are friends are, do they have hidden lives or issues that they are to embarrassed to admit. I also thought about what Prof. Henken spoke about in class, how everyone portrays a certain identity with certain people. I just thought it was really interesting.