Beyond Katrina

Live from Louisiana: A Hurricane Blogger's Personal Journal 8/31/08 4:55 am CT

a quick post before I get some shut eye. I am exhausted. I've been up all night - storm tracking and preparing for landfall.  I heard from Paul Greenberg - he says he's headed to Pensacola. Matthew White and family are going east too - Florida panhandle.  I feel so bad for those guys, and especially Matthew who lost home and all possessions for Katrina. Friend David Murphy who works for Entergy Louisiana is bunkered down in Metairie. He'll be deployed as soon as the storm is over so he's got to stay. He called tonight to tell me about Nagin calling Gustav "the mother of all storms". Admittedly I got a kick out of that one. You'd have to know Ray. Friend Joshua Galasso has midnight to 8:00 am duty this morning in the governor's office. Yeah, I know folks in high places. :) The bear (my husband) and I had the biggest rounder we've had in the thirty years we've been married. I think this time it was about me - I am really stressed out. The kids have a saying about not provoking their dad - "don't poke the bear" -  Well I poked him alright. At any rate, The whole thing with Gustav is just surreal. I still really can't believe this is happening again...I did put out a query via this blog and through twitter for some help in posting critical resource information here and as a result I did hook up with a couple of great people who are immersed in online social networking. Inasmuch as I've been blogging about gulf coast hurricanes since the eve of Katrina's landfall, I am quite  fascinated by the positive impact of social media and networking in context of disaster.  Will say more about all this later  on ---I've got to get some shut eye.

Live from Louisiana: A Hurricane Blogger's Personal Journal 8/29/08 3:04 pm CT

When I started this blog on the eve of Hurricane Katrina's landfall it was titled "Live from Louisiana: A Hurricane Blogger's Personal Journal". After Katrina went on to be the biggest disaster in contemporary U.S. history, I changed the name of the blog to "Hurricane Katrina"...and then eventually settled on "Beyond Katrina: The Voice of Hurricane & Disaster Recovery".

While recovery continues to date, about a year ago I found that I had Katrina fatigue and that I really couldn't talk about the issues publicly anymore. For the reason, over the past year or so, the blog has more or less functioned as a news aggregator. However, inasmuch as today is Katrina's third anniversary and I'm facing the eve of another potential Louisiana land falling cane, I feel moved to ramp up the personal blogging again. Thoughts are I'll do it as a series at this blog in honor of the pubs original title. So here's the first post in the series:

It's mass insanity here in Baton Rouge and across the state today as Louisiana prepares for the possibility that Gustav will make landfall somewhere on our coast. We're all experiencing a time warp - it's dejavu all over again.  As was similar for Katrina we're moving into the week-end (same time frame three years later) in a great deal of anxiety and anticipation.

I have heard from all of Beyond Katrina's contributors and stakeholders over the course of the past few days. My wonderful and talented PR strategist, Rebecca Rainer just emailed and reminded me that I need to eat my wheaties if I'm gonna make it through this marathon. Paul Greenberg and Itouched base few days ago. He writes, "We're all pretty nervous here in New Orleans right now. I'm going to Morgan City on Friday night for the Shrimp and Petroleum festival, and if I have to evacuate I'll go from there, I guess toward Lafayette.  UGH!". Rick Portier is about to head out on storm coverage assignment at ground zero, should  Gustav truly make it's way here. Matthew White, who is situated at the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, (right where Katrina made its second landfall at the Pearl River La/Ms border)  is making evac plans as we speak. And Maida Owens (who works for the state) said every body seemed a little manic yesterday as folks rushed plans to completion before leaving for the Labor Day Holiday.

The theme that runs through most of these conversations is DREAD. While we Louisianians are seasoned veterans when it comes to the canes, it's just too soon. Our memories of Katrina and Rita are still so fresh and indelibly etched into our brains. And while we're all aware that this could be a total bust - Gustav could land anywhere - we still have to go through all the motions - we have to act as if.  Storm prep and particularly EVACS are just no fun...

"NORMAL" is So Yesterday

by Paul A. Greenberg

It was the bi-annual email from my friend Jan, in Los Angeles:

Hi Paul, haven't heard much from you for a while. So things must be getting back to normal down there in New Orleans by now...drop me a line...Jan

The assumption from my friend in California seemed innocent enough, I guess. If you're thousands of miles away from the Gulf Coast, and you just email back and forth with your one friend in New Orleans once or twice a year -- and the media rarely utters the word "Katrina" anymore, I guess you would characterize New Orleans as "back to normal."

"Uh...no...Not. Absolutely not. The New Orleanian in me wanted to reach through cyberspace and virtually shake Jan into reality. Instead, I wrote back with a few of our current abnormalities.

Let's see...where to start: Congressman William Jefferson, who once sat on the House Ways and Means committee -- arguably the most powerful committee in the U.S. House of Representatives -- was indicted on 16 counts that included charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Wiki it...it's serious stuff). If fully convicted, he faces a possible maximum sentence of 235 years.

Meanwhile, former New Orleans school board president Ellenese Brooks Simms pleaded guilty in Federal Court to accepting bribes in the amount of $140,000. OH, and who was her alleged accomplice in the alleged bribery? That would be Mose Jefferson -- Congressman Jefferson's brother.

Stay with me now...and don't ask me if anything is normal in New Orleans. It gets even better

The National Guard is now set to stay on the streets of New Orleans until at least November, just as the Guardian Angels are about to take up residence on other local streets. Why? Maybe because the city's per capita murder rate in 2006 was the highest in the U.S., and the 2007 figure is set to outdo last year. They're killing New Orleanians in places once considered untouchable. Somebody in law enforcement must start intercepting some bullets for us. Will it be the N.O.P.D.? Don't get me started.

We have potholes in city streets the size of lillie ponds, while even some of the most historic and beloved buildings are rotting. Our beautiful Saenger theatre, for example, is being allowed to decay. The elegant Fairmont Hotel, it is said, is so full of mold now that some say it may never open its doors again -- as a hotel, or anything else.

The other day I was driven through hard-hit New Orleans East, to see the new Musicians Village, a Habitat for Humanity-built row of colorful homes for local musicians. Nice, real nice. But it sits smack dab in the middle of complete Katrina devastation that has not been touched or altered in any way since August 29, 2005. The once highly-touted mixed income, government-subsidized Florida and Desire housing projects, inhabited only briefly before Katrina, now sit empty -- and rotting. A graveyard for N.O.P.D. vehicles that went under water during Katrina sits front and center, like a reminder of all that perished from the one great and might wave.

The once high profile Road Home Program -- the one that was to distribute checks up to $150,000 to thousands of storm-struck homeowners? Harken back to this idiom: There is no such thing as a free lunch. The Road Home Program, as it turns out, is short a mere $3.2 billion, and the Feds are fed up with subsidizing Louisiana. What will happen? Roadblock.

The honorable and well-fed C.Ray Nagin, Mayor of Crescent City, is similarly fed up with the feds. After a rather lengthy absence from the media, C. Ray finally re-emerged to say that New Orleans will seek foreign aid to rebuild the tattered city, since the feds have indicated their unwillingness to honor their original commitment to restore this corner of America. "France can take Treme. The Kind of Jordan can take the Lower Ninth Ward," Nagin said, referring to two New Orleans neighborhoods.

Cash strapped, resource sapped and benefits capped, New Orleans is hoping for a Middle East rescue and a European dole out. And, if it all seems like pie in the sky to you, consider this: it was revealed recently that $854 million in foreign aid was offered to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Of that astronomically generous figure, the Bush administration accepted only $126 million, evidently fearing the acceptance of almost $1 billion from over there and over there would somehow make us look weak over here. Weighing the foreign perception of weakness against thousands of Gulf Coast residents still without homes, jobs or income, the President of the United States politely declined $728 million from world sources. How would it look, the administration probably reasoned, if we had accepted Fidel Castro's offer of 1,000 medical personnel to be deployed to New Orleans?

As long as we're talking numbers, consider this: The U.S. has spent upwards of $400 billion in Iraq to let more than 3,500 U.S. service men and women die. All the Gulf Coast is asking for is a fraction of that amount to allow thousands right here to live.

Do not mistake these words for dramatic license or overstatement. The proof, as usual, is in the numbers. On June 2, 2007, the New Orleans coroner, Dr. Frank MInyard, said, There is not doubt in my mind that Katrina is still killing our residents. People with pre-existing conditions that were made worse by the stress of living here after the storm. Old people who are just giving up. People who are killing themselves because they feel they can't go on," Minyard said.

And, if you choose to simply attribute those comments to one man who has seen too much death, please read on.

On June 22, 2007, the New Orleans Health Department released its findings that for at least one year after Hurricane Katrina, the death rate in New Orleans was frighteningly higher than other U.S. cities. Specifically, the findings reveal a death rate of 14.3 per 1,000 people during the first three months of 2006, compared with 11.3 per 1,000 for three-month spans in 2002 and 2004. The national average is 8.2 deaths per 1,000 people. The overall death rate in New Orleans rose last year by 47%, compared with two years before Katrina.

How can we explain these figures? As a New Orleanian who has actively observed the city's slow crawl back to life, I attribute the local death rate to three elements: 1) A crippled health care infrastructure; 2) George Bush; 3) Weary citizens who simply did not have the mental and/or physical strength to endure the unprecedented ravages and lingering torment of Hurricane Katrina.

Dear Jan, I guess things are as good as can be expected, considering. Great to hear from you.  Paul

What is Normal?

A blogger at  Louisiana Questions  has penned an interesting response today to Paul Greenberg's post, Normal is so yesterday. To wit:

The straw that broke the camel’s back was Beyond Katrina ’s article, “Normal” is So Yesterday -  Finally, recognition of FACTS indicates the rest of America wears those blinders you see on jackasses.  I’m not sure who has to be more stubborn, persistent, and steadfast in their beliefs and goals and everyday life, those who live with the reminders of the storm daily, or those who ignore what I’m seeing. This article from Beyond Katrina . . . I lack words for explanation . . .

Paul's post apparently inspired a poem as well...

A Normal Post-Katrina Poem:

Normal is not snow.
Normal is not below 80*.
Normal is not rain that sprinkles daily.
Normal is not my pillow.
Normal is not underfoot.
Normal is not my yard.
Normal is not my flower bed.
Normal is not my grocery store.
Normal is not mine anymore.
Kiss my a** normal...

The poem continues on with a long list of other "normal is not..." rants. Actually you should check out the entire post--- it's a great read and the author's reflections (rants would be the better word) provide a glimpse (with a tad of understandable cynicism) into lots of other things that  aren't normal post-Katrina. Some great links there too. Check the post out here.

And also see these comments fon Paul's post from NOLA blogger, BigEZBear....

Post Katrina: Flood of Broken Promises

By Paul A. Greenberg

One week after Hurricane Katrina, in Norman, OK, I had Sunday breakfast at a pancake house. When I paid the bill with an unsigned credit card, the cashier asked to see my driver's license. When she noticed I was from New Orleans, suddenly her demeanor changed to one of empathy. The people in line behind me actually offered to pay for my tab. Despite the horror of what had happened just days earlier, it was somehow a time of great promise, as well. People were kinder than I could ever remember. In a world that had become rather impersonal and detached, for complete strangers in Oklahoma to want to comfort me was stunning.

Now, moving toward the two-year mark, I have been thinking a great deal about the countless promises that were made just after Katrina, and the promise those ensuing months seemed to hold for a new start. It was something like being in New York just after 9/11. I was there just 10 days after the attacks, and I remember you could walk down the street in New York and instantly strike up conversations with complete strangers about what had happened. Suddenly we were all irreversibly bonded in our grief.

But what of the earnest promises that were made by powerful people, all over the world, following Hurricane Katrina?

• September 15, 2005: George Bush in powder blue dress shirt, collar open, sleeves rolled up, with the St. Louis Cathedral as a backdrop, bathed in lights the same shade of blue as the President's shirts. The promises: (1) A Congressional oversight commission, evidently something akin to the 9/11 commission. No such body was ever formed. (2) To get citizens out of shelters by October, 2005. In the end, thousands lived in shelters throughout 2005 , and some well into the following year. (3) Bush committed the Department of Homeland Security to examine emergency evacuation plans in every major city in America. If such a nationwide survey was undertaken, the results have never been made public. As long as we're looking back at the powder blue speech, does anybody remember Bush's promise of "Worker Recovery Accounts?" The government, Bush clearly stated, would provide accounts of up to $5,000, which evacuees could draw upon for job training and education to help them get a good job, and for child care expenses during their job search. Remember that? No...I didn't think you would. It was never mentioned again. Ever.

   I was reminded of the President's post-Katrina commitment when I heard of his visit this week to Greensburgh, KS, the town wiped out by a recent tornado. Bush: "Whatever help is in the law [will] be here as quickly as possible. While there was a dark day in the past, there's brighter days ahead."

Now, let's reminisce, shall we? George Bush, during the powder blue speech: "And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again."

Is it me, or is there a pattern here? And now, just 16 weeks short of the two-year anniversary of that speech, I would like to gently remind the President of the United States that New Orleanians are still spread out across this country. I would further remind him that some sections of New Orleans still have no electricity or running water, and many familes are still living in FEMA travel trailers.

• March 27, 2006: This was the evening of Governor Kathleen Blanco's "State of the State" speech. It was also the first formal announcement of the now-disastrous failure called the Road Home Program. Blanco: "Our plan offers a fair and practical solution to return people to their homes and their communities. It prioritizes reinvestment in Louisiana. We propose up to $150,000 in relief to homeowners affected by both storms, who want to rebuilt, relocate, buy out of sell their property."

     Not only has the Road Home money not reached most of those who were supposedly qualified for it, but recent media reports reveal the program is running out of money. The program did, however, have enough money to run 30-second television spots in heavy rotation that tout the "success" of the program, with tesimonials from those few Louisianans who did receive Road Home money. So, let's review: The program is running out of cash, but somehow they scrounged up $2.6 million to buy media time to pat themselves on the back via pricey TV ads. Color me confused, and evidently I am not alone in my confusion. In the May 9 edition of the Times-Picayune, it was reported the program has ceased its TV blitz. Reality check: The money they spent on commercials would equal 32.5 Road Home grants. Warning: here comes an editorial comment: Does it get any more absurd than this?

• March, 2006: Of the Army Corps of Engineers rebuilding of the New Orleans Levee system, Lt. General Carl Strock, then Corps chief, said, "If we were going to have another Katrina-like event, I think I can say with a high level of confidence you wouldn't see the catatrophic flooding we saw in the first event." Fast forward: May 9, 2007: Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bedey of the Army Corps Hurricane Protection Office reveals that the New Orleans levee system has not been rebuilt even to the extent authorized by Congress before Katrina. It gets worse: 17 spots along the levees have now been identified as substandard for hurricane protection -- so weak that the levees could fail even in a moderate hurricane. What does it mean? Hurricane season is less thant four weeks away, and we are vulnerable.
• June 14, 2006: The headline: "AFL-CIO to Invest $1 billion in Gulf Coast Housing and Development." The union touted projects that would generate nearly 6 million hours of union construction activity over seven years. One full year has now passed. No sign of AFL-CIO investment/construction activity, and when I called their Washington, D.C. headquarters to ask for an update, I was told by the Public Affairs department that a representative would contact me with information. That was four months ago. No one called. A second inquiry yielded even less cooperation. A search of the AFL-CIO's own web site reveals the last time the "Gulf Coast Revitalization Program" was mentioned was August, 2006.
• August, 2006: Mayor Ray Nagin announces an initiative to restore 2,400 blighted, abandoned properties and add them back into the New Orleans housing inventory. May, 2007: Number of the above mentioned properties that have been restored: Zero.
• January 9, 2007: After a string of violent incidents and murders in New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin, with Police Chief Warren Riley and District Attorney Eddie Jordan, announced a collection of crime-fighting initiatives. These would include beefed up police patrols; private citizens to be appointed as watchdogs to follow violent criminals through the judicial process, to ensure that justice was served in a timely and appropriate manner; additional surveillane cameras to be placed throughout the city.

    After January 9, we never again heard about the plan to involve private citizens as monitors of the judicial process.  Further, as one who lives in a neighborhood traditionally considered a crime hotspot in the city, I do not remember the last time I saw an NOPD patrol car cruise down my block. And since January 9, Nagin has rarely addressed the crime probem publicly again.

Before you hit "send" on that email you want to deliver to me telling me that I am whining, rest easy. I am not a whiner. I'm simply reminding. And, I am not alone in my frustration at the crooked road of broken promises that characterizes the Post-Katrina Gulf Coast of America. Keyword: AMERICA. We are Americans, not simply Gulf coast residents or New Orleanians, or Mississippians. We used to believe in the power and weight of a good promise from our legislators and leaders. And, more than anything, we so want to believe again, and to be treated with the respect and fairness we always took for granted as citizens in a true democracy.

Media Alert? Alec Baldwin Trumps Hillary Clinton

By Paul A. Greenberg

By now, unless you live in a cave, you have no doubt heard about film actor Alec Baldwin's telephonic meltdown with his pre-pubescent daughter. And by now you have likely also heard about actor David Hasselhoff's drunken stupor video, filmed by his daughter. And we're all privy to the news that Paris Hilton has been sentenced to 45 days in jail, and that her mother, Kathy Hilton, pronounced the judicial proceedings "pathetic."

Before you scroll up to make sure you are still reading the right blog, fear not: Liz Smith is not taking over Beyond Katrina. I bring up these headline grabbers merely to point to what our culture demands. We are a pop-culture culture. All strata of Americans have fallen under the spell of pop culture. But, as a journalist, I have to ask whether we are mising the forest for the trees. Are we so caught up in the lives of celebrities that we are neglecting the truly important stuff in our own lives?'

During the last couple of weeks, while Baldwin, Hasselhoff and Hilton (sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?) were hogging the headlines, here are some other things that happened in our world:

• "America's Mayor" and Republic presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said President Bush will historically be seen as a "great" president, as the one who aggressively confronted terrorism in the world. Giuliani then called for 35,000 more troops to be sent to Iraq, just days after his great president vetoed a bill passed by Congress calling for measured troop withdrawals to begin by a pre-determined date.
• Hillary Clinton spoke out vehemently against President Bush's "incompetence" in the days following Hurricane Katrina. She also committed herself to provide increased funding for the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast if she is elected in 2008. By the end of the week, Clinton also announced she would join forces with West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd (D) in an attempt to rescind the war powers granted to the President by Congress in 2002. If successful, the move would make Congressional approval mandatory before the President can send more troops to Iraq.
• The Washington Post reported this week that about $854 million was offered by allied countries worldwide after Hurricane Katrina. To date, the Post reports, only $40 million in foreign aid has been funneled to the Gulf Coast. The story goes this way: Apparently the Bush administration was stymied on what to do when offered this aid, since the U.S. is not usually in a position to need or accept such assistance. (How, and from whom the $40 million was accepted is unclear, but what is eminently clear is that $800 million could have put the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast into fast forward mode).

So, how did Baldwin, Hasselhoff, et. al trump Giuliani, Clinton and further missteps in the ongoing Post-Katrina drama? Easily. Competition among media companies is so intense, that sound editorial judgment is often sacrificed for readership or ratings. How else could Paris Hilton merit a mention on the evening news, while aross the earth in an undisclosed location, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri released a new video in which he commented on the above-mentioned U.S. troop withdrawal controversy: "We ask Allah that they only get out of it after losing 200,000 to 300,000 killed, in order that we give the spillers of blood in Washington and Europe and unforgettable lesson," al Zawahiri offered.

Do not scurry over to YouTube.com hoping to see Zawahiri's rant. You could, however, find all of the following on YouTube right now:

• Britney Spears' infamous head-shaving evening
• Lindsay Lohan avoiding paparazzi after leaving rehab
• British actor Hugh Grant throwing baked beans at a photographer

I have a friend who compares American culture to a pendulum. He says at various times the pendulum swings all the way in one direction, lingers there for a while (sometimes for years), and then slowly corrects itself back to enter balance. In the 1960s, for example, the pendulum swung hard to one side and exhibited itself in counter-culture extremes and activistic acting out. By the mid-1970s that was all behind us, as the pendulum righted itself to center -- some might call that the emerging public apathy that lasted well into the 1980s. By the mid 1980s with the onset of the AIDS crisis and Reaganesque prosperity, the pendulum swung wildly back and forth, but by then pop culture was in full swing. Will we ever forget Crystal Carrington's shoulder pads on Dynasty, or J.R. Ewing's 10-gallon hats on Dallas?

Today, the pendulum is way off to one side -- media is now all pervasive, and the conventional wisdom seems to hold that Paris Hilton's jail sentence carries more weight and gets more ink than possible torture of prisoner's at a U.S. Naval base detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Amnesty International has now mounted a full campaign to close the facility. You haven't heard about it?  I rest my case.

Along the way, media joined the march toward mediocrity and unwittingly fed the public's increasingly demanding appetite for all things celebrity. in 1974, People Magazine published its first issue, with Mia Farrow on the cover.  I was in journalism school at the time, and I remember a true fascination with this new journalistic genre. Professors of a certain age ranted wildly against this threatening curve in the journalistic road, and warned us against it. I had to hide my People Magazine inside of my spiral notebook, just so my old profs wouldn't berate me for wanting to know more about Mia, et. al. These days we don't hid our People Mag, US Weekly, or In Touch. We count on TMZ.com for our daily fix of pop culture, and we do it all at the expense of being fully informed about the world around us.

Mainstream and traditional media have now cried a sort of editorial "uncle." Remember when you were a kid and your friends ganged up on you and made you cry uncle? Same thing. Newspapers have reduced editorial copy in favor of big, color pictures, while weekly news magazines more closely resemble their distant People and US Weekly cousins than ever. We are more intrigued by the high government official who resigned after being outed as a D.C. madam's client, than we are in the high government official who insists on sending our sons and daughters to die in a country that does not even want our help.

Experience teaches us that media goes with the flow. It does not mean that media caves to every pop culture pressure that lures it away from the essential business of reporting the news and contributing to the mix of ideas. But it does mean that media has not adhered to its basic tenets of objectivity and fair and balanced reporting as steadfastly as we might like. In the study of media ethics we would file this under the heading of a concept called "social utility." Social utility is the process of editorial decision making that distinguishes what is most necessary to report a story, from what is not. So, for example, did we really need to know that Rudy Giuliani is all but estranged from his children since divorcing their mother and remarrying? Or, would it perhaps be more in the public interest to report on Giuliani's increasingly hawkish views on the Iraq war? These are tough questions. Some might say we need to know about Giuliani's family relationships in order to understand his character. Others might say it is none of our business.

Social Utility is sometimes easier to navigate. Consider entertainer and budding political activist Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell is routinely in the headlines for her comments and views on the Iraq war, the Bush administration, and gay rights. you may not agree with some of her views, but one cannot deny her right to express herself. Further, maybe it does show good editorial judgment to report on her rants. It seems O'Donnell has managed to amp up the national conversation. You know -- the conversation about issues rather than fluff. And, once everyone gets past attacking the messenger, we do seem to be focusing more closely on the message. Further, is it not about time we started focusing on messages of substance, rather than messages from confused young celebs who almost never use their public platform to stir things up as O'Donnell has? Think about it.

Social utility does not always ensure a smart message. The Sunday edition of the New York Daily News settled on a full page photo of Paris Hilton, with the headline, "Payback is a..." Not that the News is anybody's idea of an arbiter of editorial literacy, but it is widely read--it claims to have the largest daily and Sunday circulation in New York City. That being said, I can't help wondering if the front page photo of Paris in her Sophia Loren sunglasses could have been better used deep inside the paper, and the front page given over to the growing anti-war movement in America, or say, George Bush's instant promise to rebuild Greensburg, KS, the town devastated by last week's tornado.

These are fast times in America. One day it's Anna Nicole Smith, the next it's Don Imus and suddenly it's Virginia Tech. Katrina? Ancient history, if we gauge newsworthiness by headlines. Still, history tends to repeat itself, so it is incumbent upon good journalists to see their stories through to the end, and to resist the editorial temptations of featuring Baldwin, Hasselhoff and Hilton. I would apeal to journalists to cater more to the public's collective intellect and to its need to be fully informed on matters that truly affect American lives. Baldwin's anger management problem is old news; Hasselhoff's alcoholism is a personal issue that might best be worked out below the radar; and Hilton? Hilton is like sorbet between courses -- cool, but vacuous and temporary.

Don't get me wrong. I like People Magazine, but I will not limit myself to it. I'm putting in my bid for substance. Somewhere out there, there just have to be some new age Cronkites and Murrows. I'm just sure of it.

The Journey from Orangeburg to Virginia Tech

By Paul A. Greenberg

In the end, there were bodies strewn about, the atmosphere was wet and miserable and an entire community was left to sort out one of the biggest disasters in American history.  In short order, the whole nation paused, transfixed by the sheer size of the tragedy. Families desperately sought information about their loved ones, while survivors clawed their way back to some semblance of emotional stability. Media dropped regular programming to offer moment-to-moment updates, while the all-too-familiar collective grieving began. The dead ranged in age from 18 to 76. They were Americans, Israelis, Indians, Canadians, Peruvians and Puerto Ricans.

When the chapter is finally written in the annals of American history, it will be marked as one of those benchmark cultural moments -- a moment that would wound the American psyche. Like JFK in 1963, MLK in 1968 and the World Trade Center in 2001.

Although it sounds much like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, this time it is Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.  Virginia Tech, once known for engineering, football and the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains, will now and forever be etched into the national consciousness as the place of blood-stained pavements, the place where American students were assassinated in their classrooms and death trumped life on an otherwise ordinary Spring day.

Can Americans truly survive 9/11, Katrina and Virginia tech all in less than a decade? Are there commonalities among the mighty triumvirate of tragedy that will inevitably define early 21st century America? How do we define the cultural shift that results from six years of repeated horror? Consider the images -- 2001: Americans jumping from windows 80 stories up. 2005: Americans clinging to their rooftops, hoping for rescue, but ultimately drowning; 2007: Students murdered in American college classrooms.

Whether terrorists, nature or deranged individuals produce the mayhem, the result is always the same. The collective heart of the American people suffers another crooked wound, but the culture perseveres and moves on. The fear this time is that the students at Virginia Tech might not now how to move on. After all, most of them are barely old enough to have lived away from their childhood homes. But those of us who have persevered and moved on, time after time, can tell them that in a way, we are indomitable.

I was 10 hears old when John F. Kennedy was shot in the head; 15 when Dr. King was taken down at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis; 15 when Robert Kennedy's blood flowed into the cracks of the cement kitchen floor at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A.

But it was May 4, 1970 that served as the true wakeup all for those in my generation.  The setting was the usually tranquil Ohio campus of Kent State University. The students had been staging protests against an escalation of the Vietnam war; this time, Richard Nixon had announced the invasion of Cambodia. The unrest at Kent State had been building for several days. By May 4, the Governor had sent in National Guard troops to quell the anticipated violence. In the end, one student died instantly when shot through the neck. Two others died after Guardsmen shot them in the chest, and a fourth after being shot through the mouth.

Now, 37 years later, every year, a campus organization called the May 4th Task Force commemorates the event annually. This year, two of the nine students wounded at Kent State will make appearances, along with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, and the founder of the radical 60s SDS, Tom Hayden. The mother of one of the students who was killed that day will also be present.

Kent State has never gone away, as well it should not. Less publicized, but just as heinous, was something that happened 10 days after Kent State. This time, the setting was Jackson State University, a mostly black institution in Mississippi. Again, students were protesting the war. This time, the shooters were police officers. In the end, two students were dead and 12 were injured.

Pre-dating all of these horrific events was something that happened in 1968 at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg.  This time, the student protest centered on racial segregation. Three students were murdered and 27 were wounded. This was the first event of its type at an American university in recorded history.

Besides the obvious distinction that the shooter at Virginia Tech was a deranged psychopath, and the shooters at all of the earlier events were officers of the law or military personnel, all are cut from the same cloth. Young people are murdered in the prime of their upwardly mobile youth. The American resolve is once again tested, and the culture must again pick itself up and dust itself off. Each time, however, we are slightly more battered, considerably less innocent and remarkably, eventually able to find new joy, new optimism and renewed spirit.

Here, along the Gulf Coast, we are expert at this. We have endured the unthinkable losses of our people and our homes, and our cities remain in ruins 20 months after the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history. I am writing this on the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, and just weeks before Kent State's annual commemoration. And 20 months since Katrina. In America now, it seems we track our personal calendars by the tragedies that have befallen us.

Repeatedly, over the past few days, students from Virginia Tech have uttered the same sentiment: "We just never thought something like this could happen here." But it certainly can. Just as it can happen in Dallas, Memphis or L.A. Just as it can happen in Orangeburg, Jackson or Ohio. Just as it happened on that sweltering August day, two years ago, in New Orleans, Pass Christian and Biloxi, MS.

Sudden loss is generally followed by unexpected kindness from unlikely sources. That is perhaps the important lesson here. Humanity is more good than bad. Except for one seriously disturbed and inexplicably armed student, Virgina Tech would still be the warm, inviting place its community members keep telling us about. But now it is the site of academic killing fields where dozens of students were never allowed to fully grow up, and who will all be buried and memorialized in the coming days. After that, the nation will embrace the survivors and guide them through their unspeakable pain.

I know this only because I have seen it happen again and again in my lifetime. And I know that the pain so many people feel at this moment is necessary in order to move toward hope. Author Barbara Lazear Ascher said it so much more eloquently than I can, in her book, "Landscape without Gravity." (Delphinium, 1992):

"When you are grappling with your soul, after you have made the long, dark journey in search of it, you flail about like a person in convulsive seizure. You should have something clenched between your teeth so that you don't break them. You should be restrained. You should wear infants' protective mitts over your hands so that you don't scratch out your eyes. Grief is a landscape without gravity."

Greenberg Talks!

Paul Greenberg did an excellent job covering post-Katrina New Orleans and recovery issues in an interview yesterday on the Jim Brown show, 99.5FM Radio New Orleans. Brown and Greenberg discussed just about  everything you'd ever want to know about  post-katrina issues--- It's a great listen. Immediately following Paul's talk, Senator John Breaux was on the show (via telephone interview) to discuss  his decision not to run for governor.  You can catch both talks at the following link:

http://www.thenew995fm.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=jimbrown.xml

When you get to the 995fm site scroll down until you see the Greenberg interview and just click to  listen.

I was actually driving into New Orleans from Baton Rouge during the interview.  I went into the city  to attend the WOMMA conference (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) and I'll be reporting on that shortly.  I was very surprised at how much Jefferson and Orleans Parishes are burgeoning.  I hit gridlocked traffic both coming in and going out of NOLA, and along the business district.  I was delighted to find the streets are buzzing again and the city was jammed with  people.  There were multiple conferences going on in the Intercontinental Hotel and for the first time post-katrina I got a glimpse of the  beginning of something  that feels more akin to back to normal.

I know we have a long way to go in recovery so I don't want to overstate the situation. However, I do have to say  this is the first time I've felt the old spirit back in the city since evacuations.  During my last trip to New Orleans for the LSU Sugar Bowl I felt like I was in a ghost town. Today I was actually grateful to be sitting in traffic jams!

Margaret Saizan

Paul Greenberg's Post-Katrina Chat at WRNO--- New Orleans

Update: Paul Greenberg's radio interview at 99.5FM Radio in New Orleans has been rescheduled to Wednesday morning at 9:00 am.  The station is interrupting regular programming today in response to the tragic killings at VA Tech. Given the world news  and events that have unfolded over  the past few weeks---and especially in light of the VA Tech tragedy---  my sense is that Paul's interview will be even more compelling given the larger context.  Tune in!

Beyond Katrina featured contributor Paul Greenberg will be a guest on Jim Brown's talk show at 9:00 am Tuesdsay morning (April 17th) on 99.5FM radio in New Orleans. They will be chatting about post-Katrina New Orleans and other recovery issues. If you're in this area be sure and tune in! Links to information about the station and Jim Brown are here and here. Paul Greenberg's website is here.

The Don Imus of New Orleans

By Paul A. Greenberg

Americans -- myself included - have been transfixed of late by the inane rhetoric spewed last week by radio personality Don Imus. New Orleans has been abuzz about Imus's remarkably racist/sexist comments regarding the women of the Rutgers University basketball team. Does it get any worse than calling young, intelligent women "nappy-headed hos?"

As it turns out, yes it does get worse. New Orleanians were shocked last week, upon reading a New York Times interview with Katrina recovery czar Dr. Edward Blakely. In the interview, Blakely compares New Orleans to a third world country, claims the city's major import/export product is t-shirts, and calls the city's racial divide "a bit like the Shiites and Sunnis."

Hours after the interview was published, the best Blakely could do in the way of a near-apology was to say his "terminology was wrong--inappropriate." Then he claimed the country's leading newspaper misquoted him. The following day at a hastily assembled press conference, he attributed his insensitivity to just having been given a bad prognosis about a health condition.

For those unfamiliar with Blakely, be aware that he was hand-picked by Mayor Ray Nagin to be the executive director of New Orleans' Office of Recovery Management. Blakely has a rather impressive resume. A former dean of the School of Management and Urban Policy at the New School in New York, Blakely helped Oakland, CA get back on its feet after the 1989 earthquake. He is also director of urban and regional planning at the University of Sydney, Australia, and commutes between New Orleans and Sydney.

The interesting thing about resumes is that they cannot really convey a sense of humanity or lack thereof. Blakely's comments about New Orleans were so ill-conceived and unnecessary as to somewhat negate the career accomplishments outlined in his resume. After all, how much can you respect a man who refers to New Orleans' movers and shakers as "buffoons?"

"Buffoons" pales by comparison with what Blakely called us a few months ago. In a January 31 Times-Picayune interview, Blakely said, "We've got to stop acting like mendicants, like beggars down on our knees."

Like Blakely, I am not a native New Orleanian. I moved here 23 years ago from the Midwest. While I cannot say I have ever thought of New Orleanians as buffoons or mendicants, I will acknowledge that the culture here is singular. Blakely's snap judgment about the quality of the local population is unfortunate. Had he given New Orleans a little more time and attention, he would soon have been seduced by its wonder. Having lived in various cities in the U.S., I can safely say New Orleanians are unique, and more importantly, tough.

Blakely has demonstrated shortsightedness, not only in his comments in the New York Times, but in other ways, as well. First, his rebuilding plan for the city focuses primarily on areas not in danger of ever flooding. New Orleanians will not tolerate that, particularly since tens of thousands who lost their homes are aching to come back to those flood prone zones. The will of the people must figure into the recovery czar's recovery plan, but he has failed to see that.

Second, Blakely fails to recognize New Orleans' place in the overall Gulf Coast recovery. While his job is to draft a plan for the city, the most forward-thinking among us know that you cannot limit recovery efforts to New Orleans. Part of Blakely's job, if done properly, would be to see how the refurbished New Orleans will seamlessly fit in with the greater Southeastern U.S.  How can we rebuild the city, so that the corporate entities will see it as part of the Gulf Coast, and as viable for corporate participation in the regional economy? If the shared profits from Gulf oil reserves are to be distributed regionally, how an we work together to grow the economy of this whole quadrant of the U.S.?

Third, Blakely stated last week that he believes his work here will be done in a year and he will be gone by 2008. The naivete inherent in that statement is stunning. We are 19 months out from Hurricane Katrina, and very little has been accomplished. What is it that causes Blakely to believe the city will be well on its way to restoration in just 12 more months? Federal dollars totaling more than $1 billion are still tied up in bureaucratic gridlock. It begins to sound as though Blakely is feeling rushed to buy his one-way ticket out of the city he calls "insular."

The Times seems to praise Blakely as one who views the city with an "outsider's clinical eye." The truth is that only an insider, one familiar with the soul of this city, can truly work toward recovery. Outsider Blakely actually threatens to rewrite the New Orleans story, rather than restore it. What we really need is a smart, dedicated insider who brings in people with Blakely's expertise as consultants.

The most critical issue regarding Blakely is that his attitude and his statements take the focus away from the urgent rebuilding needs. Ideally, if Nagin were going to bring in an urban planner, that person should not become a divisive force in the community. Nor should he necessarily be charged with uniting the community. The urban planner's sole focus should be to exercise his expertise and expedite the process of rebuilding our city.

I compare Blakely's job to mine. In my line of work, once the reporter becomes part of the story, the story gets lost in the shuffle. Reporters are charged with objectivity. Urban planners are charged with planning, strategizing and implementation. Certainly, as a reporter, I often have strong opinions about the stories I cover, but my job is to keep those views to myself. As an urban planner, Blakely adds nothing constructive to the recovery effort by calling the city a third world country and its inhabitants buffoons.

Since Hurricane Katrina, several individuals in positions of power have made ill-conceived comments. From Nagin's chocolate city speech to George Bush's "helluva job Brownie," the rhetoric has consistently gotten in the way of the recovery effort.

This time, our good fortune is that Blakely only signed a one-year contract. In a few months, he will likely take his unearned money and run. From where I sit, I can only say, the sooner the better.