Faith in Haiti

These don't look like the devil-deal making type of folks Pat Robertson made them out to be. Over the course of history, many Protestants have looked askance at the Catholic religion and our "idolatry"; and I wonder if that sort of thinking is also the source of Pat Robertson's ridiculous statements since Haiti is 80% Roman Catholic. But I tell you this, I and most people I know, regardless of our religions, would choose to have the faith displayed in this video by the people of Haiti any day of the week over that of Pat Robertson's.

Also, as a Katrina survivor, I want people to know that then, just as now and despite the media focus on a "breakdown of society," most people pull together and do not descend into chaos. Please don't mistake anguished pleas for help, whether to God or to the cameraman, as a sign of impending chaos -- especially if you've never found yourself in such a situation. Just hush your mouth, show some compassion, and do something to help even if it's just a prayer or sending a check to get relief on the ground.

This Is So Kickass!

Welllll, welcome to da struggle, Louisiana

One state official believes the case the first of its kind in Louisiana

A gay New Orleans couple has filed a lawsuit claiming their constitutional rights were violated when they were denied a marriage license

.

Who Said Hope Isn't A Solution?

Actually, I've said it and quite often. Don't get me wrong. It's necessary to get anything of significance done; it's just not a plan of action. Or maybe it is:

One intriguing hint of what researchers led by Ray Friedman of the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management calls the “Obama Effect” suggests that maybe, just maybe, Obama will do more for the scholastic achievement of African-Americans than anything since Brown v. Board of Education.

Apparently, a mere four days into Obama's term, the recalcitrant Black-White test score gap may have all but disappeared:

The results varied according to when the students took the test. Before the convention and in early October, the performance gap was as wide as ever: white students got a median score of 12.1 compared to blacks’ 8.8 before the convention; the scores were 12.9 and 8.4, respectively, in early October. But just after Obama’s convention speech, and just after election day, “when Obama’s stereotype-defying accomplishments garnered national attention,” as the researchers put it, there was a remarkable effect. Among students who watched Obama’s speech, blacks’ and whites’ scores were statistically equal (10.3 vs. 12.1) after the acceptance speech and 9.8 vs. 11.1 after election day. The difference is considered statistically insignificant--that is, likely due to chance.

If I didn't know any better, I'd immediately write off this study as containing a fatal flaw. But I do know better. I know that there is an extensive body of research experiments that supports the theory that a significant portion of the Black-White test score gap has to do with stereotype threat, as explained in this article.

As a scientist, I'm still not ready to gleefully embrace the results of this study. In fact, I can't wait to read it so I can pore over it for flaws and limitations (as we are brainwashed to do in grad school).

But dammit, living in this city and through this current turd of an economy, I'm takin' a li'l Hope wherevers I can find it.

This One's For You

I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for Barack Obama to have lost his rock, his Grandma "Toot" hours before possibly becoming President. It was comforting, however, to hear that she was able to cast her vote for him before passing away. I really cannot fathom how even the most ardent Republican supporter could begrudge him his need to suspend his campaign to go see her, or how any human could turn this enormously personal, painful trial into an ugly political talking point. But they have [see minute 0:00 to 1:00 of this video].



And it didn't stop with this heartless bastard. Friday, I heard Rush Limbaugh, who suspected something sinister and secretive lay underneath Obama's emergency flight to Hawaii from the very beginning, say the following [Go to minute 4:45], basically that the ill grandmother story was all a ruse, concocted so that he could go back and have his birth records sealed. (You see, he's stuck on this debunked myth that Obama is not an American citizen.)

Let me tell Mr. Limbaugh something about real American grandparents and how much they mean to so many of us real Americans. I am fortunate to have 3 of my grandparents still on this Earth with me, not just because they are the most loving and amazing humans I know, but because I am blessed to see them witness this day. Born in rural Louisiana before electricity, TV, indoor plumbing, and having the right to vote, today they all cast a ballot in favor of another black person for President of the United States.

My father's mother, who turned 85 two days ago, after not being allowed to go to the front of the early voting line in her wheelchair, simply went back today to cast her vote. My mother's 83 and 89 year-old parents arrived at their polling place at 5:55AM to patiently wait, a cane and a walker between the two of them, for an hour to cast their votes. I also never heard my grandfather utter one syllable of regret about having to fight in World War II only to return to a country where he had to stand in the back of the bus and drink from dirty water fountains. His wife, who could have passed for white, did not hesitate to correct white people who told her she didn't have to wait in the colored waiting rooms. She was black she would tell them. My other grandmother never complained about working as a housekeeper for white families until the age of 75, well after she began suffering the pain of osteoarthritis. And during all this, these great Americans nurtured and supported and helped raised their grandchildren and great-grandchildren after raising 19 children (between the four of them) and sending those children on to college and law school and graduate school even though they themselves had little money and not a one attended school beyond the 8th grade.

Because of them, I have never been so happy to stand in line to vote. Without them, I would never have been so happy -- period. So today is for you Toot. Today is for you Ernest (rest in peace) and Audrey. Today is no one's but yours, Eddie and Marina.

I'm Baaaaack???

I hope this is the re-beginning of some sort of more regular posting behavior. There's no fantastical story behind my hiatus. The end of 2007 introduced personal and professional upheaval and blogging fell by the wayside. I don't know about you, but for me, it's really easy to fall into a pattern of not doing something once I stop doing it, especially when the not doing is accompanied by major depressive episodes and other various neuro-chemical imbalances -- oh, and by living somewhere where legions of both the powerful (i.e., politicians) and the common-folk (i.e., the seemingly omnipresent segment of local folks hell bent on showing their ass and lauding their ignorance) make me just want to say: "fuck it. Whatever it is; just fuck it."

I know I'm about 3 weeks behind the curve in terms of acknowledging the sudden, heartwrenching passing of local blogger Dr. Ashley Morris. What can I say that hasn't been said already? I talked to him twice in person and many times via email or blog comments, but it only took those couple of personal encounters -- and our shared trauma of living in Chicago immediately post-K -- to endear me to the guy to such a point that hearing the news sent me into a state of grief stricken shock. New Orleans has truly lost one of our strongest links in the chain keeping this battered boat anchored and afloat. In some strange way, I feel that jumpstarting this operation back up would honor Ashley in some small way. I almost feel as if I owe it to him.

Now, Ashley might rightly assert that I don't owe him shit, which is also true; but this tragedy was a bitter reminder that I may not have much time for spinning my wheels or sitting on the sideline thinking I can put whatever off just a couple of more days; or that it's no big deal to pass on staying involved in my community.

Barack Obama's "Race Speech"

I haven't posted much in quite some time, so believe you me, I MUST say this. I've spent the afternoon listening to snippets of peoples' responses to Obama's speech today, on talk radio and the news networks.

I am disheartened by the pundits who continue to dissect the timelines, the reasons, the whys regarding where Obama decides to attend church and what his pastor (who ain't runnin' for anything) said. I'm frustrated by the (mostly) white callers into talk shows who complained that he ignored the plight of their disadvantaged brethren from Appalachia.

What Barack Obama said today was as real and frank and true as it gets about the modern state of race relations and about the causes and effects of our race problem. As a black person who has studied and understands racial dynamics more than most people of any race, he added something to my understanding of why many whites react to racial issues the way they do. What I admired most was the Senator's ability to so eloquently illustrate the ties that bind all Americans together without glossing over the pain and the ugliness that resides in us individually and within our collective racial groups.

But that's not what I really needed to say. What I need to say is this: If you are still focusing on his pastor or still dissecting his speech or complaining he left out white people, you just plain missed the boat. When it comes to understanding race relations in modern America, if you listened to Obama's entire speech and you still don't "get it," you truly just don't get it; and you very likely never ever will.

Merry Christmas K+3

Is it just me, or are there far fewer Christmas lights up around town this year? It seems like even less than last year. I guess as is true to human nature, the novelty of having electricity again has worn away compared to last Christmas, the same way our new toys lose their luster after a few months.

I can't believe this is the THIRD Christmas since Katrina. What can one say to that? I got nothin.' So, I'll just pretend time isn't flying by by posting this little montage I made last year. It's a collection of images representing my memory of 2005 during Thanksgiving & Christmas of that year, my first trips home after having evacuated 8/28/05. It's a mixture of personal photographs and shots from the Times-Picayune that I was sifting through last year, and it turned into this, which ended up being quite therapeutic.



Actually, I guess we have come quite a ways since then.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, y'all.

A Hallmark Card for Katrina Survivors?

I don't think Hallmark has a Katrina card, but if they did, it might say something like this. I didn't come up with it, but I'd like to pass it on to all those around here who feel they are barely hangin' on. From me, to you:

I'll bet you've had about enough

of people telling you how strong you are

and how great you are doing

during this awful, difficult

period in your life.

Maybe you'd rather hear someone say

how much this sucks, how outrageous

and unfair it is.

Maybe you'd rather hear someone tell you that you don't have to be strong

all the time.

Or that it's definitely okay

to curse fate and throw a tantrum or two.

So here I am to tell you

all that stuff and more,

to let you know where I stand,

which is right in your corner.

There's no right way or wrong way

at a time like this.

However you work through this thing

is immaterial to me.

All I care about is that

you ask for what you need,

lean on those who love you,

and try to trust me when I say

that you'll come out the other side.

~ Jeannie Hund

Good News, For a Change

A simple click on the title of this post will bring you to a bit of sunshine, that is, if you love New Orleans. It's a news clip about Tulane just inducting its largest 1st year medicine class ever -- 173 students -- who actually chose to come here. Their comments give one a bit of hope about the future. The med school specifically added 20 spots and 20,000 sq. ft. of space in order to train more doctors to help rebuild the healthcare system, so it says in the news story. It also reported that about 1/3 of each graduating class remains here for residency, and faculty think even more will stay if the new state-of-the-art proposed LSU/VA complex is built.

The med school even lured Harvard's dean Benjamin Sachs, MD. Maybe at least the medical brain drain is beginning to turn around. The state was even gracious enough to give us back a few psychiatric hospital beds. ALOT of well-meaning people have moved here, like the teachers chomping at the bit to teach here and the folks starting charter schools. For the ones who won't get scared away after a few weeks -- because some will (wimps), it might be a nice idea to try and make things nice enough around here so they'll want to stay. (I don't know where I get these zany idears from.)

Coincidence? Hmmm...

This week we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King. This week many of us are frustrated that not everyone gets that we are in this deflating lifeboat of a city together. So I think it's cool that I happened to get an email today with a Dr. King quote eloquently expressing that sentiment:

"In a real sense all life is inter-related.

All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be,

and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.

This is the inter-related structure of reality."

--Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

And So This Is Christmas...

I keep hearing in my head the lyrics to that song "Happy Christmas (War is Over)":
So this is Christmas,
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun...

It's Christmas again, for the 2nd time post-K, and what have we done? It was hard putting myself into the Christmas spirit this year with the constant thoughts running through my head that things are not looking good down here, this long after the fact. Even though I was surrounded by family and loved ones, there weren't as many as usual because some of them don't live here anymore. Everyone who was there didn't seem to be in as festive a mood as in past gatherings. Maybe it was just my own perception, but a friend from New Orleans shared that her family gathering felt more subdued, perhaps even a bit depressing, too. After all, Baton Rouge just isn't home to them -- not yet anyway. Last Thanksgiving and Christmas was like this too, but that was to be expected less than 4 months after the fact.

I am certainly not ungrateful for the people and the things I still have and for this Christmas, which was still more than many people will ever have. Still, it's not MY Christmas, and I can't help but wonder how many more Christmases before Katrina doesn't dominate our conversations and our new lives, and when our "new lives" will just feel like regular ole everyday lives.

Hope, however, does spring eternal. Otherwise, why would we still be here? Fortuitously, for the first time since I can recall, I wasn't infuriated or completely disheartened by the news. There were actually developments to be hopeful about. The new Congress will FINALLY look into the fat no-bid disaster contracts that went to already wealthy companies well-connected to the White House. State legislators have wised up to the notion that they should question ICF's contract, and are finding some questionable allocations. Democrats and Repubs from LA and MS may actually unite to take on the insurance companies, now that they've even screwed Trent Lott. The Saints (need I say more?). Hell, who knows? Maybe Nagin will miraculously wake up mute next week!

Whatever the case, or however down I feel today (and I must keep emphasizing that this is how I feel today, right now), I have no choice but to keep going because at this point the alternative is an even less acceptable option. It's not like anyone promised any of us blissful holidays for eternity anyway, and who are we to demand such?