Driftwood in the wake of Katrina

[frustrated_lefty]

This may be short, it may be long. It’s really hard to say. Read on if you give a damn. Skip it if you’d rather. I really don’t care. I am not here to ask for your sympathy and I am not here to ask for your money and I am not here to ask for your help. You don’t owe me a damned thing, and all you’re going to get here are the out of balance thoughts of a person who went through Katrina. In the end, even if you read, it probably won’t count for fuck-all. You’re better off skipping it. I mean that most sincerely.

No matter how short, no matter how long, no matter what’s said, no matter what it “means,” no matter any of this shit, I have the right to speak honest words, though, no matter how dark the sounds in the wilderness. Ignore those words, drown them out with the radio, but I still get to be honest. Capiche? Shut my noise out, drown it out. Talk about Iraq or Iran or Syria. More important matters require attention, fine.

I don’t want to think I’m even remotely talking with someone who might suffer from “Katrina fatigue.” There is NO fatigue when you’ve lost your offspring in a storm and your fingers are digging through the water. That distinction really is not one which might be put in words. You get it, or you don’t.

This may be spit in the wind, it may be the start of a blog, I dunno. It’s finally been called to my attention I only sleep for about an hour at a time 16 months later. What I’ve been doing hasn’t worked, so it’s time for a change. So maybe I'll say some shit.

[Gold Metal Flake]

1. DU is listening.

When you are ready, we will be here.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Writing can be liberating

I've used it throughout my life to help me put my thoughts in order, or sometimes just to rant and get things off my chest.

Beyond that, what you've experienced should be shared, lest we forget.

[Richard Steele]

3. RANTING is not necessarily a bad thing. So feel free. Lord knows I always do.

Even if it's total crap, DU will understand.

But I doubt it's total crap, is it?

[conscious evolution]

4. Sounds like a case of

PTSD to me.

[mopinko]

15. thank you doctor frist.

are you the blog doctor?

[conscious evolution]

17. No just a person who went through PTSD

[NMDemDist2]

5. I'm just glad you are here, lefty. I remember the days following Katrina

when I searched several times a day (as a mod) for a post from you. We knew you had stayed, we knew your wife was ill, we watched and waited, prayed and looked for you almost hourly, we worried and beat ourselves for not getting a better way to contact you in the aftermath.

I'm just glad you are here and still remember my relief when you finally posted you were OK all those days later.

:hug:

edit to add the link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=155x2318

[Catherine Vincent]

6. By all means, start a blog (or journal).

Please. :grouphug:

[Greyhound]

7. Thanks for the notice, some of us have not "moved on" from this crime

perpetrated by the criminals in DC. Keep on writing, we'll do what we can to keep it out and in front. :grr:

[Karenina]

8. Do write your truth, Frustrated_lefty...

Say whatever you will, call it just as you see it. :hug:

[Balderdash]

9. I hear you baby

I've lived it too. I hope that you can find some peace and hope at some point, I hope the same for all of us.

[Kali]

10. do it. go for it. we need to hear it.

[Lochloosa]

11. Rant away.

I think on NOLA every day.

[Marnieworld]

12. I haven't heard of "Katrina fatigue"

If anything it is too forgotten, not talked about enough. I have thought that it should be in any political statement of any Democrat, I mean every single one and I'm disappointed despite the results that they didn't run more on this abysmal failure, this crime against our country, the criminal homicidal negligence that is encompassed in the word "Katrina." I'm pissed that repairing that city and preventing it from happening again isn't one of the top issues to start the agenda. It's not just a one time tragedy (like they are treating it.) It is a daily crisis for thousands, so many of them displaced. And every year we have a hurricane season and nothing is being done to prepare.

So frustrated_lefty, what I'm trying to say is that you are among friends here, several who can even relate directly to your experience. I didn't myself live through it but my heart broke because of it. Watching my people on the streets or on the rooftops, begging, many unsuccessfully, for help and food and water I just cried and cried for days, glued to the TV. I was waiting with them, amazed at their suffering, that it was even happening for so long. Just madness.

Thank goodness for the Spike Lee documentaries that truly documented it. What was the best part of it was that it was told by the people who actually lived it. So if you have a story to share, share away. We can only learn more and do more from it. If we can reach out to you to comfort even better.

:hug:

[dubykc]

13. Have at it. I, for one, would love to hear your thoughts or rants or...

tirades or whatever you choose to post, and I'm quite sure I am not alone in this.

[donsu]

14. I hear you

nt

[AnnInLa]

16. Rita survivor here....please post your thoughts/ideas

ready to listen. Many people here in Louisiana are going thru Post Traumatic Stress, you're not alone.

[Gruenemann]

18. Email from a friend in NOLA

I got this a couple of days ago:

Before Hurricane Katrina, there was homeless man I'd see almost every day near the intersection of Carrollton and Claiborne, where the St. Charles streetcar line begins and ends. I would always tell him "hello," after a while saying "Hello, my friend." He had a cap that identified him as a Vietnam veteran, and though I don't know if it was someone else's cap, he seemed the right age to be. I started giving him bottles of water and packs of graham crackers, or apples - things that would be useful to him. Just a few days before Hurricane Katrina, I'd asked his name; he told me, "William."

I saw William, in the distance, the morning we evacuated - I pointed out the tall black man in blue coveralls and a cap to Gus, and said "That's my homeless man, William." When the flood happened, and we couldn't get back to New Orleans for so long, I wondered what happened to William.

Today, I saw a man standing on the corner of Napoleon and Claiborne. He wasn't wearing blue coveralls, but I knew who he was. I continued to my apartment to put away groceries I'd just bought, then put some bottles of water and satsumas in a bag. On my way back to Gus's house, I took a route that would bring me to the corner where I'd seen the man; I pulled up, got out of the car and asked the man, "Are you William?" He said yes. He even recognized me, or if he didn't, he's a good actor. He told me "They brought us to Baton Rouge." I don't know who "they" are, as he asked me how I fared, how my family did, etc., to the extent that I didn't get to ask him much. I gave him the bag with the water and the satsumas, shook his hand and told him I was glad to see him.

Seeing William brought up a lot of the - I don't even have a word for it, and I know a lot of words, but what I mean is the way I felt right after the flood.

[never cry wolf]

19. I am so sorry for your loss

Losing a child is the most painful experience I could imagine.

Peace...

[frustrated_lefty]

20. A bit of wood

Two thoughts before anything else:

One, AZDemDist6, I remember the attention you and others displayed. Hell, you identified the remains of my car, that poor Toyota with all the bumper stickers. For whatever reason, you seemed to take my family on as a personal project before and after. There’s a quiet reassurance that comes with knowing someone is checking or watching out for you. Sometimes that reassurance only comes after the fact, but it’s no less sweet for that.

Two, thank you good people for the support and receptivity. It’s my earnest hope that neither of those traits will be abused, but I’m afraid they may end up feeling frayed at the edges when all is said and done.

My family lived at an odd spot, at the corner of Salcedo and Fountainbleau. My neighbors up and down Salcedo were mostly Caucasian, a lot of college kids, and one particular white asshole who camped on his roof in the aftermath and refused to make the final climb to the helicopter. On Fountainbleau, my neighbors were primarily African American. One intersection. That was just one intersection in a city. Helicopters repeatedly flew up and down Salcedo, pausing above each household. If a survivor was in the home, the helicopter would stick for hours, a military member would lean out and say anything within his power to bribe, humiliate, cajole or ease the survivor up. They would dive in if kids were involved. These people were dedicated in the rescue, they really were. They spent nearly 2 hours sitting over this one home, where the single inhabitant was ON the roof. He didn’t have the balls to grab the strap as it flowed by, but they humiliated him for 2 hours trying to make him give it a shot. “Are you a pussy?!” “Do you wanna die!?” “Dance, dance, for your life, if you won’t try you’re gonna die!” I don’t know if that asshole ever made it.

--short break—-I also saw this military crew bring up a newborn and a mom from a home across the street. They’re fucking heroes, I think—-

That crew never flew up and down Fountainbleau. I saw a lot of black people crying to be lifted out who were ignored. Maybe it was a local phenomena, but I don’t think so. The rap star was right: “George Bush doesn’t like black people.” Evacuating our darker skinned brethren was, as far as I could see, NOT a priority. Race was the issue, and our government valued whites over blacks and that is simply fucked and stupid. It defeats the central tenants of our very own government.

I have been silent for over a year on most topics, because it all pales in comparison. If your own government refuses to recognize the citizenship of its own populace, what room is there for discourse? If there is no common good, how do you work towards a common purpose? And, how do you leave one brother to die while fighting for another who refuses to be saved? The failure we experienced was not just governmental. It was societal.

[rudy23]

21. I just went on a huge rant today on another board. Felt great. I wasn't directly involved, but

much of my family was. Talking and writing has been very good to me.

I'll say this though. Trying to correct the behaviors and thoughts that people have about this is an uphill, losing battle. On both sides of the fence. I'm not saying to take people's words quietly and without responding. I'm just saying I've been on a year and a half crusade to try and fight the EXTREMELY negative perception of the Gulf Coast, and fight against the apathy and cruelty I've experienced, and it's made me feel worse at times. I think as long as you know you can't "win" every heart and mind, and expect some nasty responses, it can feel really good to express yourself.

Best of luck to you, and know that you're definitely not alone.

[KamaAina]

22. Join the emerging NOLA/Gulf Coast blogosphere!

There are already some outstanding bloggers in the region. They even got together this summer for the Rising Tide Conference:

http://risingtidenola.com/

I first got sucked in to this alternate unvierse via Wet Bank Guide, from a former (?) DUer who came back to N.O. this spring after 20 years away:

http://wetbankguide.blogspot.com

Other stops on this virtual pub crawl:

http://peoplegetready.blogspot.com

http://theamericanzombie.blogspot.com

http://ashleymorris.typepad.com

(Mostly) full list here:

http://thinknola.com/wiki/List_of_New_Orleans_bloggers

We can always use one more! :bounce: