I wish I could remember exactly how he said it......

I will eventually watch Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" in its entirety. I couldn't quite manage it yet.

Tonight, I heard Wynton Marsalis make a comment that, to me, was very powerful. To paraphrase, he said that we are at an important moment in our history. We are seeing what's wrong with us. He went on to say that it's like looking in a mirror and maybe not liking what you see so you turn this way and that way to try and make the image better. He ended by saying....don't turn away.

Over this last year I've lost a few friends because of differences in reactions to last August's disaster. I'm pretty laid back. I don't speak up, don't confront people when I sometimes should. But, the horrors that have taken place down here have made it impossible for me to listen silently to people who have no understanding of why what happened here -- happened. I don't claim to understand either, but I'm sure as hell trying to. It's incedibly painful to try and imagine what someone who has lost their entire history must be going through and how you can do anything to help. Much easier to give faux-empowerment to victims by saying that they should have done something. It's scary for some people to think that maybe a victim actually couldn't have done anything differently.

It's a complicated situation. Without a doubt, many of those we saw waving from rooftops have made bad choices in life. But that doesn't make them bad people. From my teaching experience I've seen how people in this state have been oppressed and held back for political benefit. It has sickened me for years. The Katrina aftermath is a direct result. Generational wellfare at its best, folks. I've actually had people say to me that God was punishing New Orleans and its people. I told them their God has a piss poor sense of direction because He missed a hell of a lot of people deserving of His punishment, IMO.

....This is totally off topic, but..I just read that New Orleans is losing about 70 million gallons of water a day to leaks, almost as much water as is making it to homes. Water pressure is so bad in parts of the city that officials have helicopters on standby to haul lake water to douse fires. How can that be?