Remembering Those Swept Away -- 7 Years Gone

Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  The misery and danger brought by Hurricane Isaac took many of us back to the horrifying aftermath of Katrina, the human failure and institutional neglect that resulted in over 50 levee breaks.  Levee breaks, deterioration of the wetlands along the Gulf coast, and the relentless digging of industrial canals all contributed to the storm's awful aftermath -- almost 1,900 dead, another 135 still listed as missing, untold numbers who committed suicide or experienced shortened lifespans because of the poor response and evacuation.

Now the Plaquemines Parish Louisiana communities of Braithwaite and Scarsdale are flooded from inadequate levees, ones maintained by local governments.  There is no unified system of levee standards, construction or maintenance in this country.  The Army Corp of Engineers builds and manages some, states and local governments others. Here is a posting from the advocacy organization,  Levees.org, remembering Katrina, that was posted minutes before they had to evacuate for Hurricane Isaac.

Who Knew? June is Black Music Month! Meet Sister Gertrude Morgan

Sr. Gertrude and Her Artwork

Yes!, according to The Root.  So while I still have time, I will take this opportunity to highlight two women and one book.  The women: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, gospel singer, guitarist (I personally think Elvis, among others, ripped off her style) and Sister Gertrude Morgan, an extremely pious street preacher form New Orleans.  The book: The Fan Who Knew Too Much by Anthony Heilbut.  

Singing isn't exactly how one might describe what she did.  It was more of a chant.   A syncopated, rocking kind of chant. I'm the Bread that raised the dead, I am that bread, I am that bread, I am the bread, I am that bread... Glory! Glory! Holy! I don't listen to much gospel music anymore, too polished, too sanitized, too smug.  But I love this poverty stricken old lady who took in orphans and painted ecstatic pictures. Others loved her too.  Sr. Gertrude made an album in 1970, Let's Make A Record.

Sr. Gertrude sings for everyone

Then Hurricane Katrina came through and folks remembered the lady who tried to save New Orleans soul.  The dj King Britt made a re-mix of Le't Make a Record, taking it on tour to benefit the rebuilding of the city that Sr. Gertrude loved.

Sr. Gertrude's Artwork

It's hurricane season again, and the New Orleans is always on my mind, along with the people who love it and try to save it from perdition, toxic devastation or the mighty winds traveling from the west coast of Africa, gathering their strength, perhaps, from all those lost in the waters in that horrifying trade that brought our people, unwillingly, to these shores.

The Hurricane Katrina Vigil -- 5 Years and Still Waiting Part 1

I like vigils.  It is one of my favorite ways to prepare for a holiday of saint's feast or a friend's birthday.  It can be a contemplative time.  In some African-American churches the faithful get together on the vigil of the New Year (December 31) to pray in the coming year.  And of course we keep vigil at the time of death.

From Salt Spring News, BC 8-29-2010

It's a whole other thing when one is waiting for promises to be fulfilled or injustices to be remedied.  This kind of vigilance can lead to frustration, anger or great community action.  All forms of vigilance accompanies the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  The Katrina/Ritaville Express, a former FEMA trailer, will be touring Gulf coast communities to remind the world of what was lost, what was promised and what promises are yet to be fulfilled.  Today they are at the Survivor's Village  in the St. Bernard Community of New Orleans to educate President Obama about what it feels like to wait ... and wait ... and wait. 

This week why don't you join Gulf coast residents and Katrina exiles in their hopeful vigil and righteous struggle for their homes, lives and communities?  I sure will.

Watering Random Earth Week Thoughts

Before leaving New Orleans last week Pat and I went to the Earth Day Celebration at Bayou Bienvenue.   The Bayou Bienvenue Restoration  is an effort to restore the southernmost end of the Great Cypress Swamp. The most serious assault on this valuable natural coastal protection mechanism and resource has been the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) popularly referred to as Mr. Go by locals.  There is a plan for closing Mr. Go but like all things Louisiana it is not moving at a constructive (pun intended) pace.

Bayou Bienvenue is located in the Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood most devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and arguably, with Holy Cross, the neighborhood that would have benefited most from an intact Cypress Swamp.

We managed to missed the actual event as I was late getting back from Baton Rouge but we went to see if anything was still going on, and indeed there was.  Damselflies were hovering around the local flora, fish were jumping, and of course, there were fishermen.  Well, in the tradition of mentoring, there was a young guy fishing and an older man sitting on the steps pontificating.  The young fella had baited a 3 hook line with shrimp but was having little success until a smallish, perhaps female, alligator showed up. We shouted encouragement and caution as the fisherman repeatedly cast and rebaited his hooks, the older man clambered precariously along the rocks, prepared to net the 'gator, and the knobby head reptile dined on shrimp and played with the aspirations of his erstwhile captors.

After four tries, and a broken fishing line, the alligator moved on, having given us a sense of what a restored bayou might bring -- protection to the city of New Orleans, abundant flora, and a bit of the thrill of the wild.

Treme

My "The Wire" loving  friends are all abuzz, and I have to admit I am a bit excited, about the return of David Simon to television.  I am mostly a consumer of television junk food and I have yet to complete the ritual viewing of all five years of The Wire.  What excites me is the possibility of applying the excellent writing and impressive sensibility of that earlier series to the New Orleans neighborhood of Treme'.  And of all the characters on The Wire Wendell Pierce as the homicide detective Bunk Moreland is my absolute favorite.  His character has the chunky good looks and fine taste in clothes of many of the men in my life growing up.  And he is an amiable drunk, which goes a long way with me since many of those same men were not so agreeable when under the influence.  And since I continue to work on a manuscript about the lives of such men -- factory working, Great Migration colored men -- it's good to be reminded of their essential qualities (the fine and the base) in a respectful, artfully presented way.