Author: Kent

The Sacredome

I like to read the New Orleans bloggers for my info, rather than the Times-Picayune or nola.com. They are certainly more passionate about the city, and have done an excellent job of documenting the experiences of the people in the city on the ground now, from their own point-of-view.

Right now of course, the the topic du jour is the Saints and the upcoming Monday Night Football game against the Falcons, which I am so proud to say I will be in attendance. My Dalton Hillard jersey is ready.

Oyster, from Your Right Hand Thief, put up a great post on the Superdome (or the Sacredome as he calls it) yesterday. He dispells some of the stories that I’m sure we will hear this weekend about the things that went on in the Dome during the storm, stories which gave the rest of the country reason to ignore the city:

New Orleanians are not “savages” nor “Somalians”. When everything breaks down we do not rape children and go on mass killing sprees like the media reported; we are not “animalistic” like our mayor said, we do not form “thug armies” in desperate circumstances, we are not anarchists…. But, after Katrina, America was ready to believe the worst about us, as if most New Orleanians were depraved criminals at heart.

The country needs to understand that this is NEW ORLEANS, and that neither hurricane nor flood nor FEMA can stop us from dancing.

This Monday will be a fascinating experience, I’m sure. The fact that the people of the Gulf Coast managed to buy every single season ticket for the first time ever is amazing. Sure, there are more important things to think about than football going on in New Orleans, but the Saints really have given the country another opportunity to look at New Orleans, this time in a positive light.

Hopefully. As long as the media gets the facts straight. Forgive me if I don’t have too much faith that they will, given their track record. Sorry Dave, I know you’re part of the media. How about giving this MNF game an editorial in your AJC blog?

Rock & Roll, Part 2 — out

Gary Glitter has been banned from the NFL.  You might know his song “Rock & Roll Part 2” as “Dr. Who.”  Everybody knows the song, they play it all the time at games.

Well, Gary went to jail for doing extra-bad things, and the NFL banned the song from its games.  From Aversion:

The league’s iced the practice of playing Glitter’s largely instrumental pump-up song during its games, according to Newsweek. The decision was tipped after Glitter was convicted of molesting a pair of girls in Vietnam (read full story). His appeal was later overruled. He’s now serving a three-year term for the conviction.

Sorry Dave, I know how much you love that song.

I wonder if they would have taken OJ out of the Hall of Fame if he was found guilty.  I’m not defending what Gary Glitter did, but what do his actions have to do with the song?

One year ago today

It doesn’t seem like it has been that long, and at the same time, it feels like the storm was ages ago. Being in the city last weekend was good, but it really drove home that there is a lot of work still to be done. There has been a good amount of progress and no progress since I was last there in May. I guess that’s the typical dual nature of New Orleans, where rich and poor live in the same neighborhoods, where we celebrate a religious holiday with drunken debauchery.

The grass is back and green again. It was still mostly dead in May. Of course, now it’s two feet tall in front of neglected houses. I guess that’s better than dead grass.

I have mixed feelings today. A lot of feelings, actually. I’m thankful that we all made it through the storm and the levees’ failure. I’m angry at the government. I’m tired of defending the city to people who don’t understand. I’m happy that the city and its people continue on, despite the hardships of everyday life that the rest of the country (myself included here in Atlanta) take for granted. I’m both hopeful and worried for the future.

The city has changed forever. That’s not good, that’s not bad, it’s just different. New Orleans breeds a hardiness of attitude and a love of tradition that will be valuable attributes in the days to come. Sure the city will change. But it will always be New Orleans, it will always be my city, my home, no matter where I live.

I’ve never had a better Hansen’s Sno-Bliz than the one I had on Saturday. It tasted like home.

I feel safe

I’m pretty sure everyone that knows me knows that I think that banning liquids from planes will not keep us safe and is purely a kneejerk reaction by the government who is more interested in cultivating a culture of fear than in actual passenger safety.

But then I saw this article: Boy boards plane without tickets, and thought of the wonderful possibilities if our government followed this situation to its logical conclusion: BAN CHILDREN FROM AIRPLANES.

Just imagine it.

A liquid-free, child-free flight.

I’d gladly give up my toothpaste and flask of whiskey to not have somebody’s spawn kicking my seat and crying incesantly.

Normalcy returns

So this is a pretty big week in the realm of the world returning to normal.

First, there was football on TV. Oakland stinks. Aaron Brooks looks like Aaron Brooks. But he really celebrated when the Raiders scored on a pass he shouldn’t have thrown to a receiver who said after the game “I don’t know how I came up with that, I just put my hands out a hoped.” Never mind that you only had to go 23 yards to score Aaron. You rocked that TD pass. You’re a leader. You’re a winner.

That will be my last Aaron Brooks bashing post. Let the Drew Brees bashing begin. I wish the Saints first preseason game was going to televised. How can the networks skip Reggie Bush’s debut? Dummies.

Second, our house is free of house guests for the first time in 11 months. Well, there are two cats left. There were a couple of stretches where we didn’t have folks staying with us, but during that time we always knew there would be more, so we could never get the house back in order. I will kind of miss the computer in the living room. I liked watching TV while posting on the internet. I guess I just need to get a nice laptop.

And…  Today is Leslie’s first day on her new job.  Congrats and good luck!

A Loud Color and Holdout

Brent Joseph has released his documentary A Loud Color online. Here’s the summary:

As New Orleans rebuilds, many people are trying to resolve the city’s history of crime and violence. Louis Harding was working on this problem long before the levees broke. Louis spent years trying to open a community center, The Marcus Garvey Resource Center. In 2005, he was finally able to offer his first summer program, then Hurricane Katrina struck and the center was destroyed. Despite the setback, 72-year-old Harding refuses to give up on his mission to combat poverty in New Orleans. While sorting through the debris of his life, Louis discusses the importance of history, heroes, and self-esteem in the black community. He explains how life for African-Americans in New Orleans has changed in the last 50 years and why bringing his dream to life is more important than ever before.

Check it out. Buy the DVD series from NOVAC. It’s only $8.
He also released some information about his upcoming film Holdout, about his Mid-City neighbor who refused
to leave New Orleans before or after the Katrina in order to take care of his 18 pets.

Brent and I went to high school together. He is one of my oldest and dearest friends.