New Orleans is Sinking

I felt a little weird updating the other day with a lighthearted post while there is such devastation and death and human suffering going on in the southern states right now, but it's something that I had started to write before Hurricane Katrina happened, so I decided to go with it.

I also feel that since I'm so far removed from it, and that since I can't even begin to wrap my head around the many and varied factors (i.e. gross governmental incompetence) that made up this disgraceful and highly avoidable tragedy that I don't have much of value to add to the debate anyway.

However, I did notice something that I think needs to be noted, and it has to do with the touchiness of people after any kind of shocking disaster. We saw it all after 9/11. Movies ready for release that had a terrorism plot were quickly pulled from the roster. Sitcoms based in New York City made no mention of it at all. Hell, one of the posters we did at the airplane factory had the World Trade towers in the background and we seriously considered removing it from the lobby.

I understand it, it's a natural human emotion, and I also understand the desire to be respectful to the victims, I just don't know how far this sort of thing should go.

Some of you (okay, Craig) may remember 2 years ago I wrote a couple of posts about my trip to New Orleans. In one of them, I featured a song by a Canadian group called The Tragically Hip.

WARNING: DO NOT PLAY THE SONG.

Here's why:

Katrina: The Aftermath
A Radio Casualty

By GUY DIXON
Globe & Mail
Friday, September 2, 2005 Page A13

The Tragically Hip's stomping barroom hit New Orleans is Sinking has become a casualty of hurricane Katrina as radio stations drop the song from their play lists largely due to its title.

Vancouver's 99.3 the Fox and sister classic rock station Rock 101, also in Vancouver, are among those that have pulled the song out of deference for hurricane victims.

"Any time there's this sort of loss of life and this many families affected -- regardless of the political ramifications -- it's out of respect, if anything," said the Fox's program and music director, who goes by the single name Dunner. He added that this is the first time that his station has pulled a song in this way. The song was dropped from the play list around noon on Wednesday.

Members of the Tragically Hip couldn't be immediately reached for comment yesterday.

Again, I understand the sentiment behind this sort of thing, and I would probably think it was colossally inappropriate if I heard it on the radio right now, but I would think that the dj's would be able to use their best judgment in this case. To make it official and to make it a news item is just a little ridiculous. (And then to go and call yourself Dunner on top of all that. Christ.)

But I'm sure the people suffering and dying in the richest country in the world don't give a rat's ass if this song is played on the radio in Canada or not. Their needs are a little more immediate than that. I'm sure they're more concerned about where their next meal is coming from, if their loved ones are all still alive, and when they're going to get back to some kind of normalcy again.

Personally, I keep wondering about the people that I met on the streets in New Orleans, about the conditions of some of the neighbourhoods, and about their indecent juxtaposition to the beautiful, affluent garden district. It makes me think that New Orleans has been sinking for a very long time, and that some of the other American cities I've seen are not far behind.

Grade School Paper

Laughter is like changing a baby's diaper. It doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for a while.

I recently found this pithy, unattributed quote while flipping through a Newfoundland Celebrity Recipes cookbook. Which just goes to prove that you can never tell where you're going to find inspiration, even if it's not the exact kind you were looking for.

Hello, my name is Alanis Walker, and this is my blog. You wouldn't know it by the way I've abandoned it lately, but [tinkling laughter] that is neither here nor there. Come, sit beside me and let's chat.

I've been doing all sorts of things this summer. Mostly enjoying the lovely oppressive heat (and praising my cute boyfriend for installing an air conditioner in my bedroom). It's been a lot of fun attending celebrations (MuchMusic Video Awards After-Party), travelling (Deer Lake, Newfoundland; Silver Lake, Ontario; and the Muskokas), and generally being a student of life (drinking).

And you? Why that's just super!

In and among my various adventures I've had occasion to catch up on a lot of reading. Let me just run down for you the latest stuff that I've allowed to permeate my brain cells (in no particular order):

The Sisterhood of the traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Circles: 50 Round Trips Through History, Technology, Science, Culture by James Burke (Of Connections fame, not the mystery writer)
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
The Art of Virtue by Benjamin Franklin
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert M. Sapolsky

I realize the term "a lot of reading" is relative here. To some that's about five lifetime's worth. To my friend Terry it's a nice, light snack. I'm somewhere in the middle. It's not that I don't like reading, I just don't give it the time it deserves when there are computers to play on and television shows to watch and beer to drink and friends to chat with, etc. etc.

But in any case I learned a few things from each that I thought it would be fun to share, such as (in no particular order):

- I've had a very similar line of thought as Ben Franklin did, all on my very own. Which teaches me not that I'm as smart as he was, but that I'm not necessarily as dumb as I thought, either. (And that, once again, there ain't nuthin' new in this crazy ol' world.)
- It's really hard for me to follow a fight scene in a book. I guess it's just not that important to me.
- Even gorillas worry about being liked and accepted.
- It never occurred to me to think that when someone has open-heart surgery there has to be some way to keep that person's blood pumping while they have it. I mean, it makes perfect sense, but it never occurred to me. I guess I just don't spend enough time thinking about cutting into other humans as I should.
- You cannot judge a teeny-bopper book by it's teeny-bopper cover.
- Wow, this is just like National Treasure only with priests and the pleasing absence of Nicholas Cage.

And lots, lots more. I even read the latest Harry Potter tome, but all I learned from that was that J.K. Rowling is running out of supporting characters to kill. Oh, what fun to be had in a book!

Anywho, it's been a wonderful, funderful summer for all of us here in Ontario and we took full advantage of the yummy weather. We all feel an enormous amount of guilt in "wasting" any of the warm summer weather by staying indoors, resting, doing laundry, attending to bills, etc. (Heck, we can do that when we're dead or, say, in the middle of winter.)

Instead I laughed a lot, travelled a lot, and spent a lot of time admiring nature and other whatnots. I saw an amazing display of the Northern Lights, I saw my first real, live moose, and I rubbed elbows with celebrities no one's ever heard of. It was a mixed-up hodgepodge of various things, much like this post. All in all, it was the best Canadian summer ever.

And that's what I did on my summer vacation.

The end.