Katrina --- One Year Later

Some Perspective ---
I originally wrote this statement and poem in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. You see, I grew up in New Orleans. I lived and worked there most of my life. My friends and family are there, as are many wonderful memories. I couldn't reach anyone by telephone for weeks. This city I love was under Martial Law. Bodies lay in familiar streets.
Familiar streets were washed away. I knew the city I loved would never return. Yes, New Orleans will be rebuilt, but will it be my New Orleans? I was frightened and bitter when I wrote this "article". I see no reason to alter anything I said last year.



Do you know what it means...?

There's a new "tragedy of the moment" for CNN to fume over. Now all the talking heads, including the president, have spoken. All the benefits have been done. I even got this t-shirt!!! What happened down there?

New Orleans and the Gulf coast region have survived countless battles with nature. They fought hurricanes before hurricanes had names. Epidemics of influenza, cholera, and yellow fever were common even into the 20th century. New Orleans was already a cosmopolitan city when the United States of America was a dream in the minds of our founding fathers.

"In most places, culture comes down from on high. In New Orleans, culture bubbles up from the streets."
Ellis Marsalis
Musician, Educator, Father, New Orleanian

The Mississippi Delta and New Orleans gave birth to the only uniquely American art forms. Jazz and Blues were and are the precursors of modern music. Does music and art represent the soul of a culture? What has happened to America's soul?




For New Orleans

Saints and cannibals
City under siege
By fire, floods and fools,
Fallacy of human kindness
The dark and light of humankind
Internet generation, channel surfs tragedy
Scrubbed clean by media moguls,
Sound bites, talking heads
No death stench here,
Only --- fear of discomfort
Yet, like Haiti before Aristede
The images --- familiar,
The poor die, left unburied
Choking on poverty's dark water
Pond scum of health care choice.
TVs flash---
The dark and light of humankind
Miracle makers answer the call
No senators sons --- only
Herculean trials,
Shining stables for their
Styx-threatened effort
Justice balances life on a rooftop

The light and dark of humankind
Knows not race or creed,
Corporate greed,
Politicos flee
Quick to point a well-manicured finger
Mere media heroes
Talkin' trash for Gridiron Theater
The dark and light of humankind


Dennis Lawson

By: Lawson