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Headed west from Louisiana two nights ago--no lodging within a hundred miles west and east of New Orleans (not sure about north--maybe in Alexandria?) and no one seemed too keen on taking in two grown men from La La Land for rescue projects. Anyway, we were now part of the problem, and felt it best to move on. I will post on this (not that it matters) in more detail Sunday. Some notes:
Dropped food donations off in Baton Rouge, missed the exit and lost our hosts, made amends as best we could on the phone later but did regret the lack of a formal "good-bye"--lots of traffic as the city's size has doubled since Hurricane Katrina.
Went to LSU and donated the dog and cat crates, leashes, collars, ID tags (no, not Intelligent Design Tags, but that does give me an idea...), chew toys, milk bones, dog & cat kibble, and paper towels and bleach and I don't know what all else. I volunteered to help inside the Ag Dome with all of the dogs and cats being housed therein, and spent four hours or so cleaning dog cages, changing their dusty water bowls, etc. Will post some pics and more details later.
Drove to Beaumont, TX two nights ago, and drove to El Paso yesterday (arriving before midnight local time), speeding like the elitist latte drinkers that we are. The 10 across Texas is more scenic than the 20, but the two largest cities along the way west (Houston and San Antonio) are experiencing major road work projects: lanes often narrowed down to Twiggy-style width and when we passed trucks on our right with concrete blocks on our left I sucked in my gut.
Texas is way too big, but I suppose it's too late to do anything about that. My idea to fold it in half, then fold it in half again may prove impossible.
New Orleans is now like the man whose body was left to rot as troops walked by: waiting for Jesus and Pine Sol and someone who can rebuild a city, and its sea walls and levees, so that folks can live there again. Why not? How many billions on Iraq, and folks talk of bulldozing The Big Easy? We're fighting them over there so we can abandon them over here? The new World Order is Plantation Redux, and the whip you hear crackin' was made just for you.
Not having been to the south (except six months in Southern Florida long ago) I was struck by the polychromatic color scale of humanity, with white to mulatto to dark, and everything in between, and it was all beautiful. The sweetest vibes came from poor blacks: I can't really quantify such a thing. I guess it's a remnant of Intelligent Design.
Peace--I just want to go home and shave my body and run for Congress and channel Ghandi mixed with Huey Long and summon up the furies, and paint the sky black inside of Dick Cheney's brain--oh, sorry, it's already black. Too little, too late.
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Headed west from Louisiana two nights ago--no lodging within a hundred miles west and east of New Orleans (not sure about north--maybe in Alexandria?) and no one seemed too keen on taking in two grown men from La La Land for rescue projects. Anyway, we were now part of the problem, and felt it best to move on. I will post on this (not that it matters) in more detail Sunday. Some notes:
Dropped food donations off in Baton Rouge, missed the exit and lost our hosts, made amends as best we could on the phone later but did regret the lack of a formal "good-bye"--lots of traffic as the city's size has doubled since Hurricane Katrina.
Went to LSU and donated the dog and cat crates, leashes, collars, ID tags (no, not Intelligent Design Tags, but that does give me an idea...), chew toys, milk bones, dog & cat kibble, and paper towels and bleach and I don't know what all else. I volunteered to help inside the Ag Dome with all of the dogs and cats being housed therein, and spent four hours or so cleaning dog cages, changing their dusty water bowls, etc. Will post some pics and more details later.
Drove to Beaumont, TX two nights ago, and drove to El Paso yesterday (arriving before midnight local time), speeding like the elitist latte drinkers that we are. The 10 across Texas is more scenic than the 20, but the two largest cities along the way west (Houston and San Antonio) are experiencing major road work projects: lanes often narrowed down to Twiggy-style width and when we passed trucks on our right with concrete blocks on our left I sucked in my gut.
Texas is way too big, but I suppose it's too late to do anything about that. My idea to fold it in half, then fold it in half again may prove impossible.
New Orleans is now like the man whose body was left to rot as troops walked by: waiting for Jesus and Pine Sol and someone who can rebuild a city, and its sea walls and levees, so that folks can live there again. Why not? How many billions on Iraq, and folks talk of bulldozing The Big Easy? We're fighting them over there so we can abandon them over here? The new World Order is Plantation Redux, and the whip you hear crackin' was made just for you.
Not having been to the south (except six months in Southern Florida long ago) I was struck by the polychromatic color scale of humanity, with white to mulatto to dark, and everything in between, and it was all beautiful. The sweetest vibes came from poor blacks: I can't really quantify such a thing. I guess it's a remnant of Intelligent Design.
Peace--I just want to go home and shave my body and run for Congress and channel Ghandi mixed with Huey Long and summon up the furies, and paint the sky black inside of Dick Cheney's brain--oh, sorry, it's already black. Too little, too late.
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Comments
(Any vestiges of a Baptist grandmother's guilt trip are purely coincidental and no fault of the author's...)
bukinzfk