Salon.com > Katrina

Looting in Oklahoma?

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:26:00 +0000

Looting. Almost immediately, the word creeps into the conversation.

It’s a word we need to be careful with.

Less than 24 hours after the tornado struck Moore, Okla., looting became part of the story. The word, and outrage about it, are all over Twitter. Most tweets don’t name the source for the rumor. Here’s the most trustworthy tweet I saw early this morning:

KFOR reporter says docs told her of looting at hospital damaged by the Moore Tornado. — Andy Carvin (@acarvin) May 20, 2013

The tweet is from Andy Carvin, NPR’s senior strategist. I saw it because it was retweeted by Rukmini Callimachi, a terrific AP staffer based in West Africa.

Which is to say, I trust Callimachi, who brought me this information from a source who also seems reputable. When you’re getting your news from Twitter, trust is everything. On the other hand, this also isn’t that much information. Trustworthy as Carvin seems, as best I can tell, he’s a guy who was watching TV or read somewhere about what was broadcast on TV, and he’s tweeting what another reporter said that someone told her.

Is essayist Eula Biss Joan Didion’s heiress apparent?

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Eula Biss’ “Notes From No Man’s Land” is the most accomplished book of essays anyone has written or published so far in the 21st century. If it has not taken up residence in the popular imagination of readers in the same way Joan Didion’s “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” did in the late 1960s, perhaps it is because we live in a time in which it is more difficult for books to assert themselves with great cultural force in the way they once did, or perhaps because Biss, unlike Didion, has yet to receive the strong support of the systems of power that bring great books to the attention of a broad readership.

But there is still time, and the publication of the audiobook edition of “Notes From No Man’s Land” is one opportunity to wave the flag again, and to say to readers: Pay attention. We live among a literary landscape that is so cluttered with passing next big things that it is possible to miss the truly important things that appear at first glance to be small, but which prove themselves over time to make a lasting home in the memory and moral conscience of their readers.

Is the “Beasts of the Southern Wild” filmmaker an interloper?

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:00:00 +0000

At 30, Benh Zeitlin has been one of the year's most-discussed directors. His first film, "Beasts of the Southern Wild," a story of a journey to semi-maturity undertaken by a motherless young girl in a mystical reimagining of the American South, has been widely acclaimed since its screening at Sundance in January. It was released in June, and is now considered a contender in several Oscar categories, including best picture, best adapted screenplay (Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar adapted the script from her play "Juicy and Delicious"), and best actress for preteen lead Quvenzhané Wallis. We spoke to Zeitlin about his own migration from New York to New Orleans (he moved South full-time in 2006) and casting roles for the fantastical "Bathtub" in which his characters reside.

You’ve talked about, in other interviews, having moved to New Orleans from New York. What’s the point at which you felt as though you could say you were from there? Or are you still working toward that?

I do work toward that, but that never happened. I feel like I belong there, you know? But I’m always going to be this kid from New York who moved to New Orleans; you don’t just become a native New Orleanian, you know, it doesn’t happen. I’m like a transplant. That’s my official title in New Orleans. But it feels like home.

Katrina victims housed in toxic trailers win payout

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:49:00 +0000

Victims of Hurricane Katrina, housed in hazardous, government-issue trailers will receive a $42.6 million settlement.

On Thursday, a federal judge approved the class-action settlement. It will be paid out by companies that made and installed the FEMA trailers, which exposed occupants to dangerous fumes.

According to the AP, "Roughly 55,000 residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas will be eligible for shares of $37.5 million paid by more than two dozen manufacturers. They also can get shares of a separate $5.1 million settlement with FEMA contractors that installed and maintained the units."

Government tests found dangerously high levels of formaldehyde in hundreds of the trailers. Occupants had complained of health problems including nosebleeds, breathing problems and headaches.

The lead plaintiffs' attorney described the settlement as "modest," and the AP noted that a number of victims are disappointed with the outcome:

"We were told not to look for much," said Anthony Dixon, a New Orleans resident who says he developed asthma while living in a FEMA trailer for two years.

“Treme’s” meta pleasures

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Telling the story of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast has, understandably, taken some time. After the raw immediacy of the event and the unmediated pain captured in news reports, trauma sets in. Trauma requires distance if we are to understand it as more than a wound, if we are to see the possibility for meaningful reflection. The renewal of HBO’s "Treme," set in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, testifies to the lingering impression of the storm and the flooding of New Orleans on the cultural imagination. The process of transforming the experience and memories of these ruinous events into aesthetic products shows us how our culture meditates on trauma.

Why I left the GOP

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:24:00 +0000

I used to be a serious Republican, moderate and business-oriented, who planned for a public-service career in Republican politics. But I am a Republican no longer.

There’s an old joke we Republicans used to tell that goes something like this: “If you’re young and not a Democrat, you’re heartless. If you grow up and you’re not a Republican, you’re stupid.” These days, my old friends and associates no doubt consider me the butt of that joke. But I look on my “stupidity” somewhat differently. After all, my real education only began when I was 30 years old.

This is the story of how in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and later in Iraq, I discovered that what I believed to be the full spectrum of reality was just a small slice of it and how that discovery knocked down my Republican worldview.

I always imagined that I was full of heart, but it turned out that I was oblivious. Like so many Republicans, I had assumed that society’s “losers” had somehow earned their deserts. As I came to recognize that poverty is not earned or chosen or deserved, and that our use of force is far less precise than I had believed, I realized with a shock that I had effectively viewed whole swaths of the country and the world as second-class people.

The climate bites back

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:52:00 +0000

As a wildfire/flash flood cycle ravages the American heartland, "the climate bites back" may be the 21st century’s karmic rejoinder to the hysterical screams of “freedom!” and “property rights!” when it comes to urban sprawl.

No doubt, we've long understood the invisible dangers of such sprawl. For years, we've been warned by researchers of the direct connections between unplanned and gluttonous construction projects and human-created carbon emissions. We’ve been told specifically that suburbanization's spread of population into ever-larger swaths of wilderness inherently results in more roads, more cars, more carbon emissions, more climate change -- and thus, more chances for nature-related disasters.

But in go-go America, these scientific truisms were no match for McMansion fantasies. As coastalfolk headed to the Rocky Mountain frontier with visions of big-but-inexpensive castles far away from the inner city, the term “zoning” became an even more despised epithet than it already had been in cowboy country. Rangeland and foothill frontiers subsequently became expansive low-density subdivisions, and carbon-belching SUVs chugged onto new roads being built farther and farther away from the urban core. That is, farther and farther into what the federal government calls the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and what fire experts call the dangerous “red zone.”

Strung out during Katrina

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:57:00 +0000

My heart quickens as I follow Hurricane Isaac’s progress right now. Eerily, it was seven years ago to the day that Katrina nearly destroyed the city of New Orleans—and me. I remember the wind’s howling and the feel of wading in warm water up to my waist. I remember the smell of campfires, sewage and death. But most of all, I remember the urge that drove me every night and day.

People often ask why I didn’t just get out of New Orleans. The answer is simple, and will ring true to any addict: I stayed behind because I didn’t have enough heroin to last more than a day. I never even thought about leaving my beloved home city. Why would I venture to some unknown place where I had no idea where to score? Nope, I was staying right where I was. My then-husband and I were then staying with friends in the Treme—a semi-shady neighborhood just outside the French Quarter—in a large mansion broken into small apartments, mostly housing other addicts just like us.

Isaac in New Orleans for Katrina’s 7th anniversary

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:14:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Isaac swallowed parts of the swamps south of New Orleans early Wednesday on its way toward the newly fortified city, as people across the region opted to ride it out despite its torrential rains, 80 mph winds and spooky timing — the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Far less powerful than that 2005 cyclone, Isaac nevertheless had knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses within hours of making landfall late Tuesday and left deserted streets from the French Quarter to Tampa 480 miles away, where Republican conventioneers pressed on with only a passing mention of the storm's arrival.

A Category 1 hurricane, Isaac came ashore at 7:45 p.m. EDT near the mouth of the Mississippi River, driving a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland and soaking a sparsely populated neck of land that stretches into the Gulf of Mexico. The worst was still to come as it zeroed in on New Orleans, 70 miles to the northwest, where forecasters said the city's skyscrapers could feel gusts up to 100 mph.

Concerns about the wind, however, gave way to fears that the sloppy, slow-moving storm could camp out over Gulf Coast communities for a couple of days and dump up to 20 inches of rain. At least one tornado spun off of Isaac in Alabama.

Isaac a few hours from landfall

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:38:00 +0000

7:01 PM

Numerous radar reports suggest Hurricane Isaac is forming an inner eyewall, which could intensify its strength as it hits land. Although the storm has been gaining strength, it may not be catastrophic. Forecasters told the New York Times that "it will almost certainly be a far smaller storm than initially feared."

Already, over 41,000 people are without power in Southeastern Louisiana as they brace for continuing high winds and severe flooding.

6:36 p.m.

Hurricane Isaac liveblog

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 21:05:00 +0000

5:24 p.m.

As the storm approached, photos on social media platforms conveyed the gravity of the situation on the Gulf Coast:

[caption id="attachment_12994986" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=" Credit: skooksie via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/skooksie/7875167696/Businesses board up with plywood in New Orleans on Monday, one day before the Hurricane is expected to hit land.Credit: @PhilBryantMS http://twitpic.com/aoo1jmMississippi Governor Phil Bryant tweets a meeting with FEMA after President Obama declared a state of emergency in Mississippi on Tuesday afternoon.Credit: @jonahjeter https://twitter.com/jonahjeter/status/240498213977731072While Louisiana residents evacuate, residents in Charleston, SC made light of the flooding brought on by Isaac, kayaking through downtown Charleston. Flash flood warnings for Charleston have been extended to 5:30 PM.5:14 p.m.In Tampa, California's delegation just awarded all of its 172 delegates to Mitt Romney.4:55 p.m.Did you catch this terrifying/majestic shot of Isaac in your Twitter feed in the last few days? It's widely reported to be a fake, and photoshopped to boot. The picture has been circulating for years, rearing its thunderhead whenever a major storm is on the horizon. "][/caption]

George W. Bush: GOP’s persona non grata

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:49:00 +0000

There is nothing Republicans would rather the American people forget more than George W. Bush, who doesn’t even have a bit part at the GOP convention opening in Tampa.

But W’s ghost may be there, anyway.

The National Weather Service says tropical storm Isaac is now heading for New Orleans, and Isaac is projected to become a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall late Monday or early Tuesday.

Isaac is very likely to revive memories of the Bush administration’s monumental incompetence in dealing with the needs of Americans caught in Hurricane Katrina.

And if the public remembers the Bush administration’s incompetence with Katrina, they may also recall the Bush administration’s incompetence and its lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — which led us into that devastating war.

And the public may recall how George W. Bush took the $5 trillion surplus Bill Clinton bequeathed to him and turned it into a $6 trillion budget deficit by slashing taxes, mostly on the rich, and by creating an expensive new Medicare drug benefit that helped drug companies more than it helped seniors.

Hushpuppy, anarchist antihero?

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 19:40:00 +0000

The newly released movie Beasts of the Southern Wild, by first-time director Benh Zeitlin, has received critical praise and garnered prestigious awards on the film festival circuit, winning prizes at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. The attention is understandable; the film is beautifully shot — the characters and story are compelling. Zeitlin has charmed film fans and critics with his do-it-yourself ethos and his warm embrace of the Louisiana Bayou community where they shot the film.

It might seem churlish to critique this engaging film on political grounds. But since it takes place within a poor and isolated community called the Bathtub on the eve of a Katrina-like storm, it is impossible not to read it politically.

The central character in the movie is a young girl called Hushpuppy. Hushpuppy is a survivor in the Bathtub’s squalid world of alcoholism, filth and outright child abuse. The adult residents of the Bathtub, including her father, engage in spontaneous celebrations, drink incessantly and grab fish with their bare hands from the Bayou waters. They are, according to a number of prominent film critics, “free.“