I wasn't going to do another Katrina post this morning, but I'm SO angry watching these images on TV. And how can I possibly turn them off? Why would I choose to ignore what the hurricane victims are suffering through? I simply can't.
On boyfriend's workdays, our alarm goes off at 5 am. I turned on CNN the minute I got up so I could listen while I was making his lunch and brewing coffee. The first thing I heard on CNN this morning was the very angry voice of New Orleans' Mayor, Ray Nagin. And I don't blame him for feeling fed up. His city needs help, and it needs it NOW. They don't need another day of promises that help is on the way.
I've resisted this all week, and some of you may not like this...but I have a very hard time believing that if there were tens of thousands of mostly WHITE people suffering this way that the response would have been so minimal. Yes, I know, there are lots of white people among the victims in N.O., but look at the images. Who do you see there?
What really set me off last night was hearing Aaron Brown on CNN say that they're (the reporters) being asked if they'd be asking the same sorts of questions of the administration if Clinton were in office. You've gotta be shittin' me. Clinton?! Bill obviously has some personal issues, but no U.S. president loves African-Americans more than Bill does. I don't think Clinton would be FLYING OVER the devastation--he'd have had his sleeves rolled up and he'd be on the ground, talking to and hugging the victims and asking what they need.
And then to have the Astrodome start turning away busloads of people last night. Could they really have been telling them to "find another city"?? Apparently so, because soon we were hearing reorts that those busloads of victims were being directed to other Texas cities. George could be offering up his ranch in Crawford--he's got plenty of land to house a tent city.
This is America. This is not supposed to happen in America. I just moved from a tiny West Indian island that was devastated by Hurricane Marilyn in 1995 before we moved there. We heard lots of stories of what it was like on St. Thomas after that hurricane; it destroyed or damaged 80% of the buildings on the island. We heard how the local government waited too long to ask for Federal (FEMA) assistance. How many went without power for up to six months. And I'm talking about an island that has in many ways an archaic infrastructure, despite being a U.S. territory. No stories we heard remotely came close to what we're watching happen in New Orleans. This is not supposed to happen on the mainland. And that's why I'm having such a hard time, like all of you, I'm sure, comprehending how we begin day 5 with things still as they are.
And that's just metropolitan New Orleans. Poor Mississippi. Poor, poor Mississippi. Her devastation is getting overshadowed by the crisis in N.O. And we can't forget Alabama. Such a huge area devastated by Katrina.
Bush is speaking live right now as he leaves for the Gulf Coast. It's painful to listen to. The man can barely string a sentence together. I swear to god, if he starts with that frigging smirking, I'm gonna lose it. "The results are not acceptable." No shit, pal.
Okay, I'll stop ranting. We've got a crazy day ahead of us. Boyfriend played in San Mateo last night (it's south of San Francisco, 90 minutes from us), so he was late getting home. He works until 2:30 today. When he picks me up at 4:15, we'll immediately hit the road. We've got about a 3-hour drive ahead of us; he's got a gig in Monterey tonight. We're going to take what looks on a map like a little longer route, but we think it'll keep us out of the worst of rush hour traffic as Labor Day weekend begins. It's a long-ass way to go for a gig, but it's with Tony. He likes playing with Tony (played with him last night, too) and knows that Tony could hire any drummer he wants; he appreciates Tony throwing him the work.
I haven't been to Monterey for years, but unfortunately we have to come right home. He plays from 9 pm to 1 am, and then we'll load up the drums and drive back. Boyfriend has to be at work in Woodland at 6 am tomorrow. No sleep for us tonight, I'm afraid. We'll probably be listening to some talk radio on the drive down and back. It'll be interesting to hear what callers have to say about the situation on the Gulf Coast.
And just to let you know that I'm not a complete downer all the time (if there are any new readers here), I posted a little movie on the videoblog (link on the left sidebar). It was of a day last May when the boyfriend and I decided to act like tourists in San Francisco. We got lucky, the day we chose was postcard-perfect. The music on the movie is Joe Louis Walker doing a live recording at Slim's in San Francisco. I was at that show. Little did I know then that a few years later I'd have a boyfriend who'd end up touring all over the U.S. and Europe with Joe. Funny how life unfolds.
Please keep those prayers coming. And don't forget to read Bella's post (link in previous post.) I'm going to try to call her in Georgia today. And I'll, of course, keep trying to get through to Sam.
My first Wreck This Journal page (see post below). Stuff picked up off the street while walking to Borders to buy the journal. I call this "beauty is in the eye of the gutter"...because that's where I found an empty Beauty Rush lip gloss.
And here's shadow photo #1 for Patti's 37 Days Challenge.
Work is kicking my ass...11 hours yesterday, and I need to hit it early today, too. My entire evening at home consisted of wolfing down some take-out In-and-Out Burger, lying down on the couch to watch the previous night's The Daily Show...and that was it. I was gone.
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