As a social worker, you develop a really dark sense of humor, a mindset often used as a coping mechanism for some of what you see and the stories you hear. During Katrina, I was living on the West Coast and at conferences, or in simple conversations with co-workers a statement I heard more than any other went something like this: “New Orleans? Jesus, that … Continue reading The Legacy of Katrina Study – The Kids Aren’t Alright
Almost five years ago, I and the rest of the country watched the results from the Corp of Engineers faulty New Orleans levee’s and then the equally disastrous response by Bush and his buddies at FEMA as they spilled out across the major news networks. The original story pointed the finger of blame at the then President and the equally inept FEMA director, but over … Continue reading As the Narrative Turns…Fraudulent Fisherman…Agenda Setting in the Gulf
1. Locals worry Gulf oil spill will hurt them twice 2. Obama energy advisor won’t say if BP to face criminal negligence charges 3. Plugging the WikiLeak: US Government frustrated by lack of options 4. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu marks 100 days with 100 projects 5. Coast Guard and Obama Administration betrays the people and country it is sworn to protect 6. Gay marriage … Continue reading Headlines: Gulf Coast and Beyond…
The article by Jerry Cop and Charles Hambleton begins: “The unprecedented disaster caused by the BP oil spill at the Deepwater Horizon Mississippi Canyon 252 site continues to expand even as National Incident Commander Thad Allen and BP assert that the situation is improving, the blown-out source capped and holding steady, the situation well in hand and cleanup operations are being scaled back. The New … Continue reading The Crime of the Century: What BP and the US Government Don’t Want You to Know, Part 1.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to think what to do in situations like this, these problems that are so large, so overwhelming, and oftentimes we do nothing because we don’t know where to begin. The oil spill is like that, two million gallons of Corexit, millions of gallons of oil, the wildlife, all the people suddenly robbed of their culture and thrown out of work. Where do … Continue reading From Project Katrina Hope: What You Can Do To Help The Gulf Coast
You mean to tell me that the short-sightedness was not the sole property of British Petroleum, that all the oil companies have been making shortsighted decision for the past 100 years, and they’ve been enabled in these endeavors by the state’s politicians? Say it ain’t so Landrieu, say it ain’t so. 8000 miles of canals were dug through the wetlands for easier and cheaper access … Continue reading Who Will Pay to Fix Louisiana? Big Oil is Big Pimpin’…
Disenfranchised: 1. To deprive (a person) of a right of citizenship, as of the right to vote. 2. To deprive of a franchise, privilege, or right. I suppose we could start with a definition, tends to set the ground rules so to speak…but sometimes dictionary definitions don’t always cut it man, so stagnant, cold…and this definition certainly is. When one says they are or feel disenfranchised … Continue reading Whadda Ya Mean, Disenfranchised? Well, Let Me Tell Ya…
Picked up this book at a favorite bookstore in New Orleans called Faulkner Books located in Pirate’s Alley…read it on the flight home, highly recommended and nothing I need to add to it… Here is the afterword…by Tom Piazza: “How to convey the mixture of gratitude and grief, anger and joy, worry and hope, that we in New Orleans live with everyday? I don’t know … Continue reading Afterword to Why New Orleans Matters – Tom Piazza
Drake Toulouse: Photography and Words 