Desperate in New Orleans
I'm speechless before the devastation in New Orleans. We don't watch television and depend on NPR and on-line news sources. The absence of moving images (esp. the repetitive rebroadcasting on CNN) makes the apprehension of the breadth of destruction more extended in time. No one seems to have a grip on what has happened though, and it seems that it will take a long time for us to understand how an entire American city was destroyed in the summer of 2005.
I remember during our stay in New Orleans how despite the touristic veneer, the neighborhoods right next to the French Quarter exuded a sense of mystery and menacing particularity that the few urban places in America can lay claim to today.
I remember during our stay in New Orleans how despite the touristic veneer, the neighborhoods right next to the French Quarter exuded a sense of mystery and menacing particularity that the few urban places in America can lay claim to today.
2 Comments:
It's been a horrible, painful few days. Having just left Baton Rouge a month ago, I'm battling with a profound sense of guilt for not being there now to "help" (and to suffer; I'm too xian for my own good).
Not having moving images is _better_, and NPR's reporting has be much superior than the network and cable news stations. The latter are working hard to Spielburg the the disaster (John Williams type scores, montages of death and destruction, you know), and it can make you very angry after a while. I find the public television and NPR reporting much more sober and less alienating . . .
My friends in Baton Rouge note that the city has been overrun by refugess; gas is hard to find, shelves at the grocery bare. LSU is opening enrollment to displaced UNO undergrads and doubling as a triage center and shelter.
As one friend in BR put it: "This is seriously bad shit." Language fails us, no doubt.
for a non-xian I am feeling the guilt too...and helpless...the news seems to have gotten even worse this afternoon...
Post a Comment
<< Home