Just got back to DC from a much-needed week at the Beach House; I’m not too happy to return and as we got closer to the city that familiar knotting in my stomach starting creping up on me. My time away was relaxing, productive, and healthy – my mother even says I got my glow and spirit back. I read a considerable amount (thank you Paul Theroux for so entertainingly turning me off on the current state of the African continent, NGOs and V.S. Naipul!!!) and detoxed through a steady diet of sun, exercise, melon shakes and fresh fish. The weather and the surf were amazing – in fact, throughout the first few days I’d never seen the water so blue – almost like my familiar South China Sea - perhaps an indirect result of Katrina.
It used to be at the Beach House that we barely had a land line. Now we all have mobiles, and the house, as of two years ago, is equipped with television and internet connection.
In times like Katrina, I am grateful for all that, as we were relieved to hear that our friends- family, really – found safe ground. Usually, I prefer to be disconnected and out of reach, especially at the beach, but technology, while we were watching the horrors unfold, brought us a bit of solace and connectivity. I must say I was impressed by the CNN crew – Anderson Cooper, Soledad O’Brien, etc… - for breaking the journalistic objectivity code and demanding of our government officials in the face of all this mismanagement and demading the obvious: “What the hell is wrong with you?!!!”
Commentary on the horrific situation is best reserved for other, more informed and intelligent sites.
The government’s response or lack thereof is lacking and illuminates my unease in returning to DC. I did not vote for The Man. I’m not snarky or political and I don’t think in these ways and maybe its time for me to leave this town. Maybe I feel things too much and a simpler kind of life is calling me. I’ve been through massive earthquakes and volcanoes in Asia and seen quicker response from US agencies. Things are pretty screwed up in Denmark right now ...
Since music is my escape and way of dealing with things, I am quite heartened and impressed by the efforts of New Orlean’s native son Harry Connick – and my love of the region’s musical tradition is not at all defined by his body of work - and did catch last Friday’s infamous televised fundraiser on NBC. All these celebrities coming out of the blue and in odd pairings – I do hope it will all help with recovery. (However… opportunistic Dr. Phil please needs to toss off right now). I’ll be the odd blogger out and say that Kanye perhaps spoke in vain and in haste – yeah, I’ll talk to my manager to figure out how to contribute before going shopping. Yikes, riot time!
More telling, appropriate, eloquent and biting, for me, was New Orlean’s born and bred Aaron Neville’s reading of Randy Newman’s beautiful and haunting Louisiana 1927. Maybe its because Newman’s music has been a part of my life as far as I can remember; also Louisiana 1927 crept into my head and the chords did not leave since the conundrum began ten days ago. The words are poignant, revealing, applicable and pointed to the current situation:
The river have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water
What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline
The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
in the streets of Evangelne
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tyrin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has
done
To this poor crackers land."
Six feet of water What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Posted by: tiffany jewellery | January 29, 2010 at 11:06 PM