A normal day in the French Quarter...
I spoke with my poor gypsy friend today, she only had a cell phone to communicate with and last time I spoke with her she was trying to conserve power because they had no electricity so I haven't called her in a few days. Turns out they were only out of power for like half a day, and Rita didn't damage her grandmother's house, which is where she, her husband, her baby, three cats, two cousins and now her brother and grandmother are all currently staying. Her mom and her aunt and uncle are still holed up in Shreveport with no word on whether their Beaumont home survived the storm or not. She's hearing that it may be possible for them to return to New Orleans soon, another brother of her's is actually going to fly in from Germany to help repair her mother's flooded house, he's an all around handyman guy also, which will be much needed because getting a contractor to do anything in New Orleans in 'normal' times is difficult enough.
On a good note, her baby is getting used to being driven all over the state and sleeping in different places constantly, so she apparently has her mommy's adaptability genes. For some reason my dad always marveled over how "adaptable" I was as a child when things went differently than expected, but I think I was just the peacemaker and hated to see anyone argue. I'm not at all adaptable compared to my friend Mary, she has so much stamina and has that Creole "life goes on" trait to the max, I really admire her for it. She's been learning to be a mom while having to travel with a newborn across two states. She and her husband are great travelers, though, Sparky and I are not. There are a lot of places I want to see... but the comfort of my home is very hard to leave. We both love our home, just give us our electricity, cable TV/internet, AC and running water and it's hard to find a reason to leave.
Some friend of ours in North Houston lost their power for four days, and got a lot of tree damage from the winds, they live in a heavily wooded area. They said it got so hot in their home that five of their fish died. We had actually anticipated losing our power at the very least, possibly the water also, but our neighborhood was virtually unscathed. There are rolling blackouts around the Houston area, which combined with an abnormal heat wave, is making life hell for a lot of people here.
I ventured out of the house tonight to drive to the ATM and make a deposit and took a quick tour of our area to see what was open. It looked like most businesses had opened back up, but I know a lot of them are still very understocked and understaffed. My dad is buddies with the manager of our local Kroger's and he told him that they tried opening up on Sunday for part of the day but had to close the store early because they were basically mobbed and ran out of food. I'm very glad I managed to get at least the basics (which thankfully didn't spoil from a power outage) so we still have milk, eggs, bread and way too many cocktail croissants (from Sam's Club). I noticed people were still driving semi-hysterically, and there were a lot of people walking (people won't walk here) so that was a little weird.
But we're already making our list of things to still get for the next storm, and there is a brand spanking new one brewing already. Can this one please go somewhere else, maybe to Mexico? Just give us a chance to pick up a little, get everyone back home and drain New Orleans again?
A disturbing theory about the New Orleans levee break had been rattling around my head, nothing is too strange to be true these days, and I did a Google search and apparently I'm not the only one who this grotesque idea occurred to.
After listening to the horsie man testify today, I'm about ready to believe anything about these evil bastards.
And I also heard tonight that for some strange reason that even though Governor Blanco asked for emergency assistance for the entire state, that Orleans and Jefferson Parishes (i.e. New Orleans proper) were not included on the President's emergency declaration, curiouser and curiouser...
One more note, FEMA ran a Hurricane exercise (Hurricane Pam) last summer anticipating a storm surge topping the New Orleans levees and their own report says they would have the situation all under control.
It is very weird here in Houston. Still very quiet. It sort of freaks me out to think I can't go to the grocery store, book store or even the bank if I need to. At least the post office was opened today (we got mail - yea!). We didn't get a newspaper for several days, then we got three at once. My husband's bank was still closed today. The cable and my internet connection went out last night for hours and there was no one to call... spooky.
Normally none of these things would disturb me after a hurricane, except we never got any rain. There's not even any wind damage. It's all very Twilight Zone, I hope I don't break my glasses...
I'm still using up the food in the freezer, but Sparky's not using the ice quickly enough, we've still got way too much. Next hurricane I'll have to stock up on TV dinners, I bought a bunch of soup this time, but I'm saving it for the next one. It's hard to be in the mood for soup when it's 100 degrees outside.
We've been on a home improvement kick this year, a friend of the family is a certified electrician and also a plumber, carpenter and painter and my parents and I have been alternately employing his services. He just installed a new light fixture over my desk to replace the hideous original chandelier (which had 2 of it's 5 lights left working besides being grotesquely ugly), and was supposed to come over last weekend to replace the plumbing hardware in my bathtub, but we've rescheduled because the Home Depot needs to be open when he comes to get parts. We've been getting vintage 50's & 60's light shades to replace the cheapie stuff the previous owners slapped up to sell the house. And to replace the ceiling fan over our bed, besides being shiny, tacky brass with glaring tulip lights, I don't like to sleep under a fan, and just having it hovering over my feet all day is bad Feng Shui.
We also ordered a new range hood from Lowe's a few weeks ago that should have been here by now, the knob snapped off our old noisy one we're getting a pretty new black one that should suck the cooking smells out a lot better and be quiet enough I can hear the TV when I'm cooking. Sparky's going to have him add shelves to the closet where he stores his 16mm projectors and films, getting everything off the floor in anticipation of a flooded house prompted him into putting that project at the top of the list. I had my dream closet shelving installed a few months ago in my office and my Ebay closet, I still haven't figured out what to do with the bedroom closet. Someday my dream is to knock out the master bathroom and closet and add on to that part of the house, but that's way in the future (along with Sparky's movie screening room).
Just rambling tonight... going to bed now, it's past 6 am (oops).
Something I did not think I'd be doing 24 hours after Hurricane Rita came through - sitting in the air conditioning, with the lights on using my computer. How bizarre...
All week our local newspeople have been doing pretty much 24/7 broadcasts telling everyone that Rita was heading right at the Houston/Galveston area, that it was bigger than Katrina, even bigger than the turn of the century hurricane that flattened Galveston Island, and that we were all basically SOL and it was time to flee in a blind panic as far away as possible. At least 31 people died on the highways trying to escape, but no one died in the storm itself.
We spent last night watching historic buildings in Galveston burn to the ground, and sitting around waiting for the gale force winds and rain to come out way. The power and cable blinked, but never went off. We got about ten minutes worth of rain, some pretty hellacious winds which rocked the house and kept me awake till dawn (and some pretty brisk winds that continued most of the day), but that's all. Rita veered off towards the Louisiana border as it got near and we were spared.
I've watched the news sporadically today, mostly to see who did get pounded, and it looks like the whole area from Beaumont, Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana got the worst of it. High winds and flooding, even poor New Orleans lost one of their levees all over again and part of the Ninth Ward filled back up with water.
My friend called me early this morning to let me know they were OK, she hadn't spoken with her mom and brother yet, though, who had evacuated into the storm's path to Shreveport. They still did not have electricity. I just drove to Beaumont last week to see her for her birthday (and to meet her new daughter). I hope when the power comes back on they are more comfortable in their new temporary home, they were very cramped in her aunt & uncle's home, though at least they were in a decent sized town with a few things to do and some nice restaurants. They're much closer to New Orleans now, which is good, but I've been to her grandmother's house in Franklin and there's not much to do there. I know they're dying to get back to New Orleans, and her poor mom's house got several feet of water in it so they have lots of work that's waiting for them. Her mom had been wanting to move anyway, but not like this.
Houston is a ghost town. We live on a busy through street and Sparky only saw one car go by yesterday. I've heard a few go by today. Everything is closed down, even though we barely got any rain. The post office, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants... Part of the city are still under a curfew. The people in charge are trying to get all of the people who fled north to return on an orderly schedule over the next few days, but the influx has already begun. I can't blame them, I'm so glad we didn't have to leave our home.
Sparky has gone from panic attacks to giddy relief, thank goodness. I'm exhausted, my Multiple Sclerosis has flared up from all the running around and the whole apocalyptic thing day after day, when I woke up this afternoon I thought I'd be spending the day in bed but I had a little burst of energy. My skin is really broken out too, which it never does. We're going to stay sequestered in our nice, cool, dry house eating out food reserves till the city gets somewhat back to normal. My parents were lamenting the fact that they couldn't order Italian delivery tonight, and I have to admit I'm missing my usual weekend Mexican food delivery, but it sure beats the alternative - scooping water out of our house or worse. Sparky wanted to replace the carpet in the den, he's decided to wait till this year's hurricane season is over.
So we're just sort of sitting around waiting for the rain to start and the power to go out. Sparky is hoping it will stay on till at least 11 pm so we can watch Bill Maher's show tonight. The winds have been whipping around pretty energetically since late afternoon, glad we had the trees trimmed back. The local weather guy has been taking frantic phone calls from people non-stop, as well as the mayor and some other city and meteorology officials, but I'm tired of watching them all.
The streets (and apparently the freeways also) are now clear, it's very eerie not t see cars going past our house, we live on a pretty busy through street.
I just spoke to my NOLA friend who evacuated to the town of Franklin, Louisiana, she has the most amazing cell phone, mine barely works in good weather. They're without power and it been raining all afternoon, but so far so good. Looking at the latest satellite pics, Rita is just sort of skimming the coast of Louisiana on it's way to knock out the Golden Triangle of Texas, home to a large number of oil refineries and a huge port operation.
We've cooked up as much as we could from the freezer, eaten the rest of the ice cream (that's what my friend was doing also when I spoke with her). I wish I were hungrier, out of habit I bought some Hershey's Milkshakes that will go bad if the power is out too long (Vanilla Cream, yumm), and some yoghurt.
Our bathtub is filled with water (we had to manually plug it up, we both forgot the stopper is broken dammit). We have several recycling bins full of water byt Sparky insists on leaving them outside (he's afraid they will spill). We've got our flashlights and a couple of those little touchlights stationed around the house. After the last power outage I actually an Energizer portable lamp (so I might be able to actually read in the dark).
The cat is normally calm during storms but even she can tell this is not a normal storm coming. She perches on the back of the couch, listening to the house creak.
I've answered all of my Ebay emails I could and put a little banner on my storefront to let people know if my email bounces or I don't answer, to please be patient with me for a few days. With all this preparation, my hope is that nothing at all will happen. I tend to overprepare for things, I overpack like crazy for trips, but I know the one time I underprepare I'll be screwed. Better to look like an idiot with too much stuff, IMHO.
Sparky just saw on the news where all of the FEMA trucks are arriving at Reliant Park (aka the Astrodome area) so they'll be ready to move on into the storm damaged areas. Got to make it look good this time, though I would think that would only just piss off the Katrina victims more. We had our first major Rita-related catastrophe today, a busload of senior citizens, evacuating from my part of town (my aunt had stayed at the same nursing home before she died), were basically burned alive when their bus caught on fire and all of their oxygen tanks blew up. That was the first news I heard when Sparky woke me up this morning (can he possibly be the bearer of GOOD news for a change???).
I'm making "to do" list to keep for the next killer storm. Things we should have but don't - an Igloo cooler (we thought we had one, but I think it was tossed several years ago), some duct tape and heavy plastic in case of glass breakage, more snacks that don't require heating (more PopTarts, maybe some cookies, pastries), more HandiWipes, some sort of protein (beef jerky or something), and even more flashlights and batteries.
Oh well, gotta go, probably getting close to time to unplug the computer...
OK, it's not calm at all, it's chaos. But tonight it finally seems a little less 'end of the world'.
Things I didn't think I'd be doing the night before a Category 4/5 hurricane - prying the bell off a cat collar. Our cat is indoors and doesn't wear a collar, it wouldn't last a day on her, but I bought one anyway at Petsmart earlier this week, along with a makeshift tag and extra cat food. Just in case. The collar is black and has stars and moons on it. And a black bell. They all had bells (is that a law or something?) but with the help of a pair of jewelry pliers I managed to get the damn thing off. A collar is bad enough, but a bell would drive her completely insane. One of the first things I did get when we brought her home a few years ago was a nice, comfy carrier (my husband used to transport his cats in pillow cases), so at least we've got the cat covered for the storm.
When we found out this weekend that Rita was most likely coming for us, I went out hurricane shopping Monday night. It seemed pretty busy, and they had a lot of your basic survival stuff out in the main aisles, but then I went to the Walmart closest to the Astrodome. After 9 pm, at which time of night there may as well be a disco ball in the store because that's where the party is always happening. But even more so the last few weeks. There were lots of disoriented and very exotic people strolling the aisles looking for basics and bargains. I went there to get a waterproof, fireproof filebox ( knew they had them) and Sparky asked me to get a little battery operated TV ("they're only about $15).
I found the filebox ($37 bucks and weighs a fricking ton), then went and looked for handi wipes (on the hurricane preparedness list and I needed some anyway), but the shelf was wiped clean. I wandered down to sporting goods and found a cheapie big flashlight to add to our collection for a mere $3.50, then went towards electronics. They had a big kiosk full of batteries, $4.87 a 4-pack... hmmm, I could probably find them cheaper as Sam's Club, but figured I'd better grab some anyway, we were low. Just for the heck of it I picked up a package of paper plates, one of paper bowls, but they were sold out of plastic utensils. Oh well.
Around the corner to electronics and they had a floor to ceiling display of little cheapie DVD players, boomboxes and portable TV combos. Wow, the storm was just announced and they've already got a huge display (of course it occurred to me later that they had been selling this kind of stuff for weeks to the evacuees, duh). They only had one style with a TV (radio & CD combo), damn, it's $35. I was very short of funds Monday night, I hadn't been doing as many auctions on Ebay as usual because of all of the Katrina depression, and Sparky hadn't given me much cash (he decided to pay the monthly bills a few weeks early and I owed him half of that amount), and I needed to go to the grocery store this evening also, but OK, we'll need a little TV if the power goes out.
Then onto Kroger's to get real food... all of our normal backup canned stuff had been donated to other causes the last few months (and some of it was near expiring from last year), so I got some soup, veggies, tuna (bleecch, only for emergencies), some Jelly Bellies (they had buttered popcorn flavor, yeah!), crackers, blueberry Pop-Tarts, a box of granola bars, and some real food. I figured we'd eat up some of our frozen food this week in case we lost power. All of the gallons of bottled water were already gone (happens every hurricane), but they had my Evian so I grabbed a couple of six packs and also some Starbucks Frappuccinos. And a box of cat litter and two 12 packs of toiler paper.
But when I got to the checkout I decided to unload the small items first in case I didn't have enough money, and of course I didn't. So for some stupid reason, I put back one of the Evians, plus the cat litter, Starbucks and one of the toilet papers. I was sending Sparky out for his own bottled water tomorrow anyway, I'd just add that to the list. Wow, big mistake. The next day the hurricane panic really kicked in here in town. Sparky got lucky and actually found some bottled water (no Evian, though) at the dollar store, but that was all he bought.
Out I went again Tuesday after dinner, but now it truly was chaos. Wide-eyed fear and panic everywhere. The first stop was Petsmart, where people were panicking and buying crates and carriers (and cat collars and even cat leashes), and huge bags of pet food. Next came Sam's Club, to get a couple of prescriptions and things like batteries (my parents had asked me to pick some up for them also), but when I turned the corner onto Fannin, the cars were backed up just trying to turn into the parking lot... which looked like Memorial City Mall at Christmas time. There were no carts, of course, but when I walked through the doors I realized I wouldn't be carrying anything heavy because a herd of something had tramples and ransacked the big battery display, which now consisted of only empty boxes strewn all over the floor. Crap. Lots of AAA and 9-volts, but that was all that was left. And all of the lanes were open, but there every single lane had people waiting with full baskets as far as I could see. So I grabbed some croissants and a box of cheesesteak sandwiches and went to check out at the pharmacy, which had all three of my prescriptions ready. My doctor's office had woke me up that morning to tell me they needed to "see me" before they could refill my asthma inhaler, to which I replied "you know there's a hurricane coming this week, could I see her next week instead?".
So then it was back to Kroger's, which had almost as many people in it. I could barely maeuver through the store, but at least they had some carts left. I grabbed another toilet paper, my unscented cat litter, the Starbucks again, but the entire water aisle was empty. No Evian, no Perrier, not even that stuff in the blue bottles. So for some odd reason I picked up a case of cream soda for me (yeah, that's a good substitute for water), which is weird because I hardly drink sodas, but in retrospect Coke would have made a lot more sense, and I got more Diet Mountain Dew for Sparky. He had said the dollar store had "tons of batteries this morning" (why the hell didn't he get any??), so I went there, but they were all gone.
I was getting sort of shaky from not eating, and all of the waiting in line, and just people everywhere, but I decided to make one more try at batteries at Home Depot, which was on the way home. They actually had some AA's, which both me and my parents needed, but no D's or C's of course. And people were buying plywood (this is Houston, no one boards up their windows, how weird...), and all of the flashlights were also gone...
I finally got home (damn I forgot to buy ice, more errands for Sparky) and just kept thinking of more things we needed. Monday night it had been "just another hurricane", but Rita was growing bigger and bigger and predictions were now for a Category 4 or even 5 storm. I've been through lots of hurricanes, even worked through Alicia as a security officer, but never anything that big. We have all new storm windows in out house, we're up pretty high, Sparky even had the forethought to have the trees trimmed, and a dying one (which stood next to the house and the power lines), but still... a Category 4? Yikes.
By Tuesday night, poor Sparky, who had been watching the TV coverage all day ("worst storm ever... bigger than Katrina!") was just a bundle of nerves. And he kept asking me questions like I was God, "What will happen? Will our house survive? Will we flood? Where are we on the map on TV? Are we all going to die?"... I don't know, no one knows!!! Please take a Lorazepam (I got them refilled also) and calm the fuck down. But we never considered leaving, we love our house too much. We've got way too much stuff. And our parents are in town, mine just down the street.
He went out Wednesday and found some ice and enough C batteries (at yeat a different dollar store, he likes thos joints) to make me and my parents feel better (his damn TV takes 10 of the things), then came home and woke me up every half hour (sigh). Wednesday night he refused to let me go out foraging for more food (and Evian) again, and I was too tired to go anyway. By this time all of the streets (and freeways) were full of people panicking and/or leaving town it was too dangerous anyway. So I packed the rest of my Ebay packages for him to mail the next morning. Now the storm was moving a little more towards the east, which was good for us and Galveston, but bad for Beaumont and Louisiana. I spoke with my friend on the phone who told me they were going to have to evacuate Beaumont now, and had to do it tonight before they closed off I-10 East because they were planning to go back to Louisiana and stay at her grandmother's house.
Thursday he woke me up to tell me the post office was closed down (what?? it wasn't even raining), and that our trash had not been picked up (dammit), and that the storm was moving a little bit more towards the Texas-Louisiana border, which meant my friend would be on the far east side of the storm and we would be on the far west side of it. But Sparky was much less hysterical today. I've gathered up all of our important papers and put them in the monster file box, we've put all of our ice into big gallon ziplocks bags (my genius friend suggested that to keep them from leaking as they melted), and we've picked up a lot of things off the floor, and taken lost of photos of the house, just in case.
I understand why my normally indifferent neighbors are panicking, they've seen that if something horrible happens to you, no one is coming to help. People are running out of gas right now, trying to get out of the city, but the traffic isn't moving. I hope all of this is a false alarm and this is just a 'normal' hurricane. But I know next time we're going to be a lot more prepared in advance. There's still two more months left in hurricane season.
Some real horror stories from people stranded in New Orleans by FEMA... um, by Hurricane Katrina...
Escape from New Orleans, the harrowing tale of two San Francisco EMS workers in town for a convention
How We Survived the Flood by Charmaine Neville (yes, of the Neville family)
Rescue worker and evacuee diaries:
The Blog of a Socialist Worker's journey through the storm damaged areas
Dispatches from Tanganyika, New Orleans author Poppy Z. Brite's journal including her ongoing efforts to save her menagerie of 26 pets that had to be left behind at her house (14 recovered so far)
The Shattered Prayer, a very literate weblog of another displaced New Orleanian
Truth in Media... finally?
Comment on yesterday's post:
Eek -- that article about the Pope chilled me to the bone. I'm sure it's because the idea of it is in itself a revelation, so to speak; it rings so true, makes so much sense -- despite all rational thought to the contrary.The time has come, perhaps, to abandon all rational thought.
That's what we have come to... this is one of those situations that the emotional and illogical James T. Kirk must solve... Spock's logic is obviously not working. Maybe there is a great vampiric monster that feeds off of chaos and despair, just sucking up the emotions of the world. But so many in this world, especially in America, have just become emotionally dead instead of panicked and paranoid. Your mind and body can't stay on high alert forever, eventually you just go numb. I didn't use to be a conspiracy theorist but I've even wondered if maybe they put something in the Viagra, or the Prozac to numb us all, muddle our thinking and keep us quiet while they raped and looted the world right in front of us, and told us not to believe our own eyes and ears. That everything they're doing is "for our own good" and is necessary.
I'm a very literal, logical person.. I'm a Capricorn. I've always been that way. I'm not comfortable with high emotions, they fray my nerves and drain my energy. When someone does something seemingly irrational, I can almost always think of some motivation to explain "why" from their warped perspective. A lot of violence is motivated by anger, which often comes from fear. One of many reasons I thought I'd be good at law enforcement was because I could view things very objectively - dissect the emotions from the action and see past the immediate distractions. My Aquarian husband sees things through his emotions first, and always from his own point of view. He takes everything personally, and thinks other people react the way he does. Not a lot of grey in between. His perspective is actually the norm for most people, and is usually not the best way to deal with problems. I've spent my life seeking out the grey areas, but now I'm beginning to focus on the black and white ends of the spectrum, it's the only way I think I'm going to remain sane.
Sorry... I'm rambling. But the more I analyze the world of today, the more I'm realizing that the mess we're in right now really is a matter of black and white. And not skin color, but just basically good and bad. And the bad is going to destroy the white and all of the shades of grey if we don't do something to stop it. And it's so obvious what is going on. We need to believe our eyes and hearts and shut off the nagging voice in our heads that says "no one would let people starve... let people die... kill people... just for money and power". Yes, apparently they would.
The German people thought "no one would commit genocide in these modern times", but they did. As long as we keep believing "they wouldn't really do that" they'll keep doing it. As long as we let them. What have they got to lose? We need to refind our sense of righteous indignation and self-worth and learn to just say NO, you can't do that. And ignore all the distractions they are throwing at us to confuse and disorient us, just focus on the elephant behind the curtain.
And stop believing just because someone on TV says something is right, it must be (they must be smarter than us - they're on TV), when we KNOW it's wrong. We need to stand up for ourselves and not just nod and say nothing when we disagree. We still know what is right and what is wrong, and if we keep saying nothing and "going along" it won't make it better, it will just keep getting worse.
Mural on the front of a voodoo shop, I believe this is Island of Salvation Botanica
OK,, if they're not evil cyborgs, the only theory that makes sense is...
... George Bush really is the Antichrist and is here to bring on the end of the world.
Apparently he's competant at something. I mean, really, he's got all the money, all the power, what else can he possibly want?
Hmmm, if he can control the weather, maybe that means Texas will be safe...
Wow, even the Pope suspected...
I've spent the night editing the scans I did the other night of my extra New Orleans postcards, I have over 50 of them... this one brings back memories of visiting with my parents, looking at it fullscreen just made me want to cry...
And the only logical theory I can think of to explain the insanity that's going on in our country is...
...the Neocons are actually evil cyborgs from Mars that are here to take over the planet.
No actual human being could behave like this during a time of such crisis, even accidentally.
Royal at Esplanade Street -- click image for larger view
OK, I think the digestive problems I had the other day were not caused by food poisoning but by an accumulation of nerves and stress. I have a hiatal hernia and my entire upper abdomen has been swollen, painful and feels like there is a large rock in there, especially when I am moving around. I haven't had problems much in that area lately and I'm trying to remember what the hell to take for it. I used to take a generic anti-spasmodic called Hyoscyamine (sp?) but I think when I went to the doctor for my physical last I got a version with Belladonna in it, which I took once and had head to toe hives afterward so I dunno... It's been hurting for three days now, I might call my stranded friend and see if her husband can call me the old prescription in... I hate to bug him for something silly like that, but he's helped me out with antibiotics and things before.
Speaking of, I haven't talked to my friend Mary today. We tend to be late night chatters and I hate to think I'm going to wake up her baby, husband, and other relatives by calling too late. She's been mostly using her cellphone, but since her former household is all in one room now I think I'll let her call me.
I made a grocery store run tonight, we were starting to run out of "important" things like Sparky's Diet Mountain Dew and popcorn. And I was down to one minibag of Watermelon Jelly Bellies, my current sugar addiction. I actually like the Buttered Popcorn flavored ones better, but the little kiosk in my grocery store has only had Watermelon, Cinnamon and now Licorice (and several little multiflavor bags, I may have to get one of the Tropical Asst. next). I've falled off the sugar and candy wagon again... I'd like to start drinking again but I've been having too many bladder related problems and really don't want to deal with that right now.
I went to the store after dinner because I had to get some DVDs up on Ebay if I want to have any money at all this weekend (my commission people need to be paid), and I didn't get hardly anything done this past week. The store was full of unfamiliar faces, and a few yuppies trying to get their stuff and get out as fast as possible. I have to admit to one actual moment of being a little worried when a group of black teenagers got a little too excited in the back of the store, which I was headed to. They didn't sound violent, just way too excited to be in a grocery store at 10 pm on a Monday night. There were lots of young people shopping tonight, not at all the normal clientele. And some of the young men who worked there were discussing an episode of someone being robbed for flashing too much money, nice...
Last week's shopping trip was actually much more dangerous, and that was several days before the storm even hit. A young woman was robbed at gunpoint while I was in the store shopping, and because the way the place is laid out (it's a huge maze after a recent remodel, bad idea guys), all I could hear was someone screaming and cursing and them a lot of banging around. When I got back up towards the front of the store, I saw a young black female bodybuilder that I had passed earlier (she was beautiful, you had to notice her), pacing back and forth at the front of the store, screaming into her cellphone, and there were some displays of bicycles and things laying on their sides in her wake, which would explain the crashing sound. I had to sideline one of the sackers to escort me out to get the story of what actually happened.
I got an escort out tonight too. Besides feeling like crap (I had to load and unload all of the groceries once already), Sparky had heard some stories from the convenience store in our neighborhood that they were going to such extremes as not selling money orders after 4:00 pm for the safety of their customers and themselves, because there were a lot more people than normal walking around the area. So as my sacker is helping me out the door, and I'm trying to balance the cart (I stuff as much as possible into it each time, I hate to grocery shop) three police cars with lights and sirens fly down the street, in a huge fricking hurry. When I was a few blocks from my turn-in, I saw where they all were... right at the end of my street, great. There must have been eight police cars, two ambulances and I'm sure some wreckers in the melee, I turned in a few blocks early because it appeared the street was blocked in both directions. They were all out there for about an hour, so it was probably an auto accident.
There's just too much drama, I hate drama. I could live the rest of my life without any more drama, but there's just no way to avoid it. I think I'm going to channel some of my energy into ransacking my wardrobe and looking for things to give to charity. It looks like there are a few clothing donation centers that aren't too far away that I can give clothing to the hurricane victims, Star of Hope and Goodwill. I used to give to the Houston Women's Center a lot, but they stopped accepting donations directly. Purging with a cause makes me feel better, and I still have a lot more clothes than I wear working at home. I've given several cash donations to the Red Cross, Noah's Wish, the Houston Humane Society, and the Houston Humane Society (which I give to fairly regularly anyway), every little bit helps.
Too braindead to write tonight, I also just realized I have about 60 New Orleans postcards that I need to scan and put up on Ebay... another "haven't gotten around to it" project. Someone bought one from me tonight and my brain said, oh yeah, they've suddenly gone from dirt cheap to valuable. And now I've started looking at NOLA postcards for me again because so many are being thrown out there (I have a huge collection already), it's a vicious cycle...
Excerpts from today's New York Times op-ed article:
Almost as soon as the cameras began panning over the rooftops, and the helicopters began chopping free those trapped in their attics, a chorus of voices rose. "Why didn't they leave?" people asked both on and off camera. "Why did they stay there when they knew a storm was coming?" One reporter even asked me, "Why do people live in such a place?"Well, here's an answer. Thousands didn't leave New Orleans because they couldn't leave. They didn't have the money. They didn't have the vehicles. They didn't have any place to go. They are the poor, black and white, who dwell in any city in great numbers; and they did what they felt they could do - they huddled together in the strongest houses they could find. There was no way to up and leave and check into the nearest Ramada Inn.
I know that New Orleans will win its fight in the end. I was born in the city and lived there for many years. It shaped who and what I am. Never have I experienced a place where people knew more about love, about family, about loyalty and about getting along than the people of New Orleans. It is perhaps their very gentleness that gives them their endurance.
They will rebuild as they have after storms of the past; and they will stay in New Orleans because it is where they have always lived, where their mothers and their fathers lived, where their churches were built by their ancestors, where their family graves carry names that go back 200 years. They will stay in New Orleans where they can enjoy a sweetness of family life that other communities lost long ago.
But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.
Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.
Royal Street at night.. click on the image to see the larger photo in a new window
I have lots of photos of New Orleans (B.K.) that I've taken over the last few years that I've been meaning to put up on the New Orleans page of my main website, so I'm going to post some here just to give myself something positive to do. I've also been meaning to change the focus of the page away from Anne Rice and more towards New Orleans in general. I haven't read an Anne Rice book in years (nothing personal, too busy), and the annual parties are (were) mostly very small private affairs that I did not attend. And Ms. Rice has finally moved away from her beloved NOLA (did she know something we didn't?).
People write me occasionally to ask me what to do, where to go in New Orleans, and want details on the disbanded fan club, but alas, I don't live there, I'm just one of the many people who worship the city. I grew up going on vacations there with my family, went there many times as an adult to visit, attended quite a few of the ARVLFC balls, and my best friend (who grew up in the area) moved back there at the turn of the century.
It's always been my dream to live there, I figured I'd probably move there when I was older and my family in Houston no longer needed me. I even considered joining the police department back during a solo 1989 trip, but the salary was so low it wasn't really a practical option.
To those of us who grew up on the Gulf Coast, this is our 9/11. Except imagine the buildings burning for days on end, instead of hours. People stood in the gaping, broken windows for five days, pleading and screaming for help... At least they have finally cleared the Superdome and Convention Center, that was just too heartbreaking to watch. Especially when celebrities and news crews didn't seem to have any problems getting in, but the government seemed to be completely baffled, as if they had never seen water before.
I've been listening to Cassandra Wilson's Belly of the Sun on repeat this evening, Songs like "You Gotta Move", "Darkness on the Delta" and "Shelter From the Storm" are even more poignant and moving than usual.
And an added note, before Sparky went to bed he was flipping channels and we saw Celine Dion's hysterical outburst on Larry King (I think she was also one of the few that spoke off script in the 9/11 concert, I'm not a fan, but I admire her heart), and Kanye West's complete comments from the Friday night Hurricane Concert. (Poor Mike Myers) But I must disagree, Dubya doesn't just hate black people, he hates all Americans (except the very elite, and those in the Federalist Society I suppose).
Latest hurricane Katrina news from my friends (I would have written last night, but I got deathly ill to my stomach, another story... bad food or just nerves?):
The hospital my friend's husband had gone back to work at decided with no electricity or water to evacuate the patients and close down. Her husband had been told that there was nothing left but rice and tomato sauce before he arrived, but when he got there the local police had gotten into a grocery store and they were having barbecues in the parking lot instead, so at least they had food to get by with. Armed guards patrolled the perimeters to keep away looters that were after drugs, he said several were persuaded to "turn back, and walk away" at gunpoint. Apparently, people were being allowed to walk across the Mississippi River bridge at first, but after a mall near the bridge was set on fire, through traffic was stopped.
So her husband has been reassigned to another hospital near the Louisiana/Texas border, and he was given an armed escort to their home in Uptown to retrieve his car, which had been left behind. There was no flood damage to their home, thank goodness, though the upstairs french doors had blown open during the storm and gotten some water had gotten in the master bedroom and dripped down to the kitchen below. The other side of the house had just been hand painted and stenciled, so fortunately it was undamaged. He secured the house once more, and headed his Land Rover back to Texas. After another nightmarishly long drive, 18 wheelers had run into each other on I10 in one of the wetland "no exit" areas in East Texas, he finally made it back to his wife and child and the safety of Beaumont. My friend Mary feels she is so incredibly lucky to have escaped the wrath of the storm without harm to her family or her home.
An interesting image he saw that hadn't made it to the AP newswire - a woman walking through the floodwaters in a full-length mink coat carrying an automatic rifle (apparently Sak's was looted before it was burned down). Also the story that guns were stolen from a Walmart by looters is untrue, the police actually removed the guns before the store was looted.
Also per my friend, while Dubya was getting his photo op at the New Orleans airport, all other (i.e. rescue) activity was brought to a halt. People were dying stuck on the runway while he chatted and waxed nostalgic about the Big Easy.
From the truly horrifying end of the spectrum - a friend of my husband's had called and left a message last Sunday that he had gone to the Superdome to wait out the storm. He is unfortunately (fortunate in retrospect?) basically homeless and was actually planning to come back to Houston over the last few weeks because of the difficulty of keeping a job in New Orleans. He called this afternoon to report that he was now in Fort Worth, where he was ironically evacuated to after spending what he describes as a week in Hell inside the dark, damp and violent Superdome. He said (these are his words alone) he had seen people killed in fights right in front of him, seen people urinating on the dead bodies that were strewn about, he said he'd never really been around dead people before, but they were everywhere. He hadn't eaten or slept in may days, but he had helped out when the rescuers did come, and had been finally put on a bus to Texas, where he stated they "were treating him very well" now. My husband and I had been seriously wondering about his fate, because he is also one of those people who tends to say the first thing that comes out of his head, and had gotten in arguments and fights regularly here in Houston. But he is also a NOLA native, so apparently some survival instinct to keep his mouth shut must have kicked in.
Today's news (OK technically yesterday)...
Word came early this morning that my friend's house in New Orleans seems to still be OK. A co-worker of her husband drove through the area and said it looked like the house had not sustained any water or major storm damage. Her husband has been unable to actually get to the house himself, he is currently staying at the hospital he works at in Gretna.
At 11 pm Thursday the Astrodome had apparently reached capacity and the emergency management people decided they weren't going to let any more of the waiting bus passengers in. Somehow they had not counted correctly and realized they were over their fire code limit (which is nuts because the stadium has held over 75,000 people). Bad move, people started freaking out. The local news stations came back on the air, their poor hapless reporters wandering the parking lot, asking the poor police officers what was going on. Cameras were no longer allowed inside because of the chaos, already one person has died (of natural causes supposedely), and several were arrested (men sneaking into the women's shower areas).
Then they decided 'OK, they can come in, we'll figure something out' and began slowly letting the evacuees in again... after searching them and sending them through a mock triage. One of the doctors that was volunteering grabbed one of the newspeople and begged for more medical help, he says many of the doctors who were supposed to be there had not shown up, but there were some Baylor medical students there. It was announced that part of the precious new Reliant exhibition hall would be opened up for the overflow. And I guess the rest of the people will go on to San Antonio and Dallas. What a mess...
Dubya flew over the hurricane devastation (and waved?) from a plane (don't blink) and pointed out that a church was still standing. Down on the ground it was Escape from New York, oops, New Orleans. Groups of stranded NOLA residents were actually chanting on TV tonight "Help Us, Help Us"! But he did have to finish up his golf before leaving for Washington. Speaking of "Escape" maybe someone could toss him into the melee like in the movie, see if he loses more than an ear.
Meanwhile, Condi is actually out buying new Ferragamo's (I guess she's not planning on going anywhere damp anytime soon). And U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) was quoted by the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill., saying it makes no sense to rebuild New Orleans where it is. "It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." he said. Yeah, that's the spirit, bulldoze it and build condos! Or maybe Walmarts and Starbucks cafes. To hell with all that history and beauty. And the beautiful people who have lived there for many, many generations.
I can't think of those idiots anymore... they make my head hurt with their complete lack of empathy. My husband was asking aloud why the government hadn't done anything more to help... because THEY DON'T CARE! Maybe if it was a bunch of young blonde, upper class white girls. (Quick, somebody toss one in... then they'll have to go find her)
Last thing, a charity called Noah's Wish is in Louisiana trying to save some of the lost and injured pets that were left behind and misplaced from the storm. So next time you pet your dog or kitty, think of all the homeless ones on the Gulf Coast and give them a couple of bucks. And be glad you're warm and clean and dry.
There really are no words for the horror that is going on just east of me, my favorite city in the entire world has been transformed into a watery hell. My best friend's valiant husband actually returned to the city to help and work (he's a doctor), but there is no word on the fate of their home yet. She, her baby, mom and three cats are staying in Beaumont with an aunt and uncle. Beaumont is not too far from Houston, maybe I can make a day trip over and see her and the new baby, it sounds like they're going to be there for awhile. At least her aunt's house has two extra bedrooms so the cats can have their own and there is room to set up the baby's crib. I spoke with her on the phone Tuesday night, but she is cellphone-less now, and she was out running errands when I called earlier. Her aunt said that they had not heard from her husband since he'd gone back to New Orleans. He was going to try and get to their house, and if it was not underwater, stay in it. I hope he's still got his shotgun with him...
Sparky has been saying it's the end of the world (oh and Dubya got his happy ass back to work today, what a lousy vacation he must have had), and now he is seriously freaking out because they are moving 20,000 or more hurricane refugees from the Superdome to the Astrodome. People have already been trying to get into the Dome, a stolen school bus actually made it to Houston tonight before the official buses arrived, they were going to turn them away but finally relented. The reason Sparky is worried is because we live maybe 7 or 8 miles from the Dome, I actually went to that area today to pick up several prescriptions from Sam's Club before the chaos descended on the Astrodomain (now known as Reliant Park, blecch). Sam's was busier than usual and there were several extra HPD officers in the store, looking a little alarmed. I looked at all the gas station prices when I was on the way to Sam's, I was down to half a tank, and actually tried to fill up at Sam's discount gas pumps. The SVU in front of me's bill was $74.14. But my membership card must be scratched up or something, because the machine told me it was unreadable and spit it back out.
What the hell, their gas was the same price as the Chevron in my neighborhood, $2.89 a gallon for premium, so I decided to just go back there on the way home. I pulled into Chevron, which is busy most of the time anyway, but it was a fricking circus tonight. People coming from all directions to try and get to the pumps. I got mister "too cool to walk fast, pay inside then go get his change" guy (he got change back?), and while I was sitting in line, trying not to get rear-ended by the cars whipping in off the street behind me, mister "crazy end of the world street preacher" began making his way towards me. I used to see these guys all the time when I worked downtown, but this guy seems to like to hang out at the Chevron. He has a nice captive audience. Luckily he went over to one of the sisters, who was merely amused by his ranting about "there's no more money" and "the pretty women with makeup", I think he was calling her a prostitute, he kept poking her in the arm to make his point, but she just smiled and nodded.
She was finishing up just as change guy ambled back to his car and left. And the street preacher began looking around for someone else to scream at. But when I worked downtown I got pretty good at the "leave me the fuck alone" stare, which amazingly worked through the car window, because he wandered on off to rant at some people waiting with their car windows down. Usually when I'm in the car, dodging windshield washers, I have to violently shake my head and yell NO to keep them away from my car. I guess I just didn't look like I'd be any fun. And I also have a handgun in my purse, which seems to magically help. Too many years working security to look like the unarmed innocent. Good.
My little half tank was $25. I usually get a full tank for a little over $30 with the Maxima. Wow, that means it would take over $50 to fill it up now. I'm surprised people aren't rioting in the streets. Somehow I really don't think Katrina caused the oil prices to actually go up in just a few days, she was just a convenient excuse to fleece the already broke American people.
I hope I hear from Mary tomorrow... I've gone back into 9/11 mode, I've looked at every single photo gallery of the hurricane devastation I can find, I feel like I HAVE to, I can't stop looking at them. I know New Orleans so well I look at every photo for some sort of landmarks, I feel so helpless just sitting here 350 miles away. I know I'm obsessive compulsive, but I have some sort of masochistic streak also that won't let me look away. I did give to the Red Cross (specify Hurricane 2005). I don't have the physical health or stamina to do much else, but every dollar helps. The country should have plenty of money for natural disasters, but all of our surplus has been sucked into the pockets of Halliburton and friends. OK, I don't want to go there...
