August 2010
Dave Anderson in New Orleans
What can one block tell you about a devastated city?
Plenty, says Dave Anderson, 40, a photographer who chronicled the lives of people reclaiming their homes after Hurricane Katrina in the newly published “One Block: A New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilds” (Aperture).
After the disaster, Mr. Anderson, who lives in Arkansas, brought his camera and his humane photographic approach to New Orleans. In...
In the window at gnome & riot supply
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Saints Crazy Cubes
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Saints Crazy Cubes
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Newseum in DC retells Katrina story 5 years later
WASHINGTON — Jarring headlines from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina said it all: “Catastrophic,” “Hitting Bottom,” “Help Us, Please.”
Five years later, the Newseum on Friday will open a special, one-year exhibit, “Covering Katrina,” that explores and explains how journalists reported on the disaster and its aftermath.
The Newseum...
The Music Of New Orleans, After The Storm
(Soul Rebel Brass Band pictured above)
In advance of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, All Things Considered has been talking about recovery along the Gulf Coast: what’s changed, what’s moved, what’s come back. The musical heartbeat of New Orleans has clearly been shifted by what’s become known simply as “the storm.”
Nick Spitzer has spent his life...
Ex-FEMA chief plans live broadcasts in New Orleans
DENVER — Former FEMA Director Michael Brown is taking his Denver radio show on the road for live broadcasts from New Orleans in advance of Sunday’s fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Brown will broadcast his political talk show on Wednesday and Thursday evening. It airs on KOA-AM.
Brown headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency when Katrina hit. He became a target of the...
A Moment to Ask: Will This Protect New Orleans?
The Army Corps of Engineers traditionally oversold the strength and quality of the New Orleans levees before Katrina.
But as I reported on Monday, the corps has made progress in meeting its goal of providing stronger hurricane protection for the New Orleans area by the beginning of next year’s hurricane season.
These days, corps officials are even wary of using phrases like “hurricane...
New Orleans’s Storm Defenses Nearly Ready, but...
LAKE BORGNE, La. — The great wall of Lake Borgne is a monster. Nearly 2 miles long and 26 feet high, it spans a corner of the lake, 12 miles east of New Orleans. On Aug. 29, 2005, that corner funneledHurricane Katrina’s surge into New Orleans, causing some of the city’s most violent flooding. Now, the corner is being blocked.
Nearly five years after Katrina and the devastating failures of...
After Katrina, New Orleans Has A New Political...
Five years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina was churning toward the Gulf Coast. The storm ripped up levees and destroyed homes in New Orleans, but it left its mark on the city’s political landscape as well.
When Katrina hit, Orleans Parish was 67 percent black; after the storm, that number fell to 59 percent. It’s a shift that’s brought increasing parity at the ballot box....
Brad Pitt: Out for Deadly Oil-Spill Consequences?
The actor is reportedly weighing in on what should happen to those responsible for the massive Gulf oil spill — and he’s not mincing his words.
The makers of a new documentary about the oil-spill aftermath asked Pitt whether he’d consider capital punishment for those responsible for the spill. His reported response? “I was never for the death penalty before – I am...
La. scientist's oysters safe from oil, but pricey
GRAND ISLE, La. — Biologist John Supan thinks he has developed what may be the holy grail for oyster lovers: a hardy breed of the delectable shellfish that stays fat enough for consumers to eat throughout the year.
And unlike many oysters across the Gulf Coast, ruined by BP’s massive oil spill and the fresh water poured in to fight it, Supan’s oysters are all alive.
Now, nearly...
Flood Watch; Three TV Programs Revisit Katrina
Programming television can’t be easy, and least of all in August. So it should come as no surprise that next week offers three documentaries tied to the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which made its landfall on the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005. What is surprising is how different in tone, approach, and subject they manage to be.
Spike Lee’s “If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t...
“Our future is not just about survival,” Landrieu said. “It’s...”
Landrieu in DC
New Orleans is now a ‘laboratory for innovation and change,’ Mitch Landrieu tells Washington crowd
In a speech Thursday that combined boosterism for his city and political commentary, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said New Orleans has become the nation’s “laboratory for innovation and change” and proposed a new way to pay for critical coastal restoration work.
Speaking at...
Drew Brees' Super scenario
METAIRIE, La. — Moments after the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, quarterback Drew Brees carried his son, Baylen. Brees’ wife, Brittany, carried a secret.
Two days later, Brittany shared it with her husband.
“My wife and I are sitting in our kitchen still in the middle of the whirlwind, not knowing what had hit us yet with all of the things that had happened after...
Storm-damaged NO hotel to reopen in fall 2011
NEW ORLEANS — Renovation began Wednesday on the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, a hotel that became a familiar symbol of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction when shattered glass poured onto streets and furniture was sucked out of broken windows.
The $275 million project is aimed at reopening the hotel in the fall of 2011, when the once-storm-mauled area around the Louisiana Superdome will be...
Mayor Announces 100 Projects For New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Wednesday that he’s hoping to build a “new” New Orleans.
In preparation, he announced 100 projects for the city.”The reality is we’re talking about bricks and mortar, but at the end of the day, what we’re really talking about is quality of life,” said New Orleans City Council President Arnie Fielkow.He said...
My Morning Jacket, OK Go Lead Big Easy Benefit LP
Top artists like My Morning Jacket, OK Go, Steve Earle, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Tom Morello and more have teamed up for a new digital benefit compilation, titled Dear New Orleans, marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The set — which hits all digital retailers and DearNewOrleansMusic.org on August 24th — includes new material, covers of traditional songs about New Orleans, and...
Today's New Orleans a tale of two cities
(CNN) — Five years ago this month, Katrina hit New Orleans. What it created is a tale of two cities, the haves vs. the have-nots. Enormous progress in the city’s Business District overshadows the lingering blight in the 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish, where folks are still struggling to rebuild and many lots remain empty.
Unfortunately, Katrina attacked the two poorest states in...
Cajun Goat Cheese
From her small family farm on the outskirts of St. Martinville, Wanda Barras is creating what she hopes is a new cajun delicacy.
“These are dairy animals. They’re bred and raised and produce mile. They’re very clean. The milk is wonderful,” she says.
Every morning and afternoon, twice a day, the goats are herded into the milking room on the Belle Ecorce Farm. The goats...
Giant Cloud & TV Torso Tonight @ the Saint
Spike Lee, BP, the Government
Filmmaker Spike Lee appeared on MSNBC’s “Countdown” Tuesday night to discuss his new documentary on Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill and their effects on New Orleans. Unsurprisingly, he had some sharp critiques at the ready.
Lee said that American greed stood to bring down the country: “We have people in office appointed and voted in and people in big...
Parasol's closing, changing ownership
Home of the legendary roast beef po-boy and ground zero for New Orleans’ St. Patrick’s Day revelry, Parasol’s Restaurant and Bar will close at the end of August and re-open at some point under new ownership.
Take a minute if you need it to let the news sink in. It’s still sinking in for proprietors Jeffrey and Jaimee Carreras, who have leased the building and owned the...
The Katrina Bookshelf
As we approach the 5th anniversary of the flooding of New Orleans, it’s clear that, though the city has seen a profusion of “Katrina” art and music, the major enduring presence of the catastrophe has been on the bookshelf, or the e-reader. Because I live in the city, and because “keeping them honest” wasn’t quite enough for me, I’ve managed to read many, if not most, of the “Katrina...
In New Orleans, an unprecedented push for police...
LaTrell Washington, one of 25 recruits at the New Orleans Police Academy, said what everyone was thinking when she addressed her class at their graduation ceremony this month. “Mistakes have been made before our time,” she said. “We are here to change the image of the New Orleans Police Department.”
The cadets are the first to graduate under a new mayor and a new police...
From Vietnam to New Orleans, he's no stranger to...
On the sea, it doesn’t matter that Kha Van Nguyen knows few phrases of English. On his 92-foot boat he is Captain Nguyen, a man who understands the subtle clues of the wind and water.
He doesn’t dwell on the backaches that remind him he’s no longer a young man. He dreams of discovering a huge school of shrimp so he can shout to his deckhands, Chien thang! Victory!
But on...
Katrina pets: 'Two Bobbies' is true, heartwarming...
After Bobbi and Bob Cat were left behind by their owners in New Orleans 5 years ago when Hurricane Katrina struck, they stayed together to survive. “Two Bobbies, A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival” (Walker Publishing Company) tells the tale about the powerful friendship between a dog and cat.
Like thousands of pets, they wandered the streets for four...
BP Shrinks Gulf Cleanup Crews, Tries New Tools
The Sand Shark lifts sand onto a conveyor belt, then dumps it through a sifting device. BP says the machine can clean more sand in 5 minutes than 100 people could in three hours. Debbie Elliott/NPR
BP is likely to resume drilling a relief well this week after a round of tests ordered by the government. The blown-out well has been plugged from the top, but officials plan to proceed with a...
Snowball stands are a way of life in rural...
Grind the ice, pour in the syrup.
A snowball in Louisiana’s August heat doesn’t last long. But for the proprietors of the tiny rural stands that dispense the confections, running their own business has been an enduring source of pride and a way to help support their families.
Though Houma and Thibodaux have their fair share of snowball spots, loyalty to the community stands scattered...
Seafood Inspection Doesn't Pass Some Gulf...
The inlets that envelop this bayou community extend like fingers on a hand, reaching into the backyards of lifelong fishermen. But the boat behind one fishing family’s house sits idle for now, as Tracy Kuhns turns from living off the water to worrying about it.
“The elected officials and the petrochemical companies think the fishermen are just going to let this go away,”...
BP finds itself caught by 'fisherman' fraud
Fraudsters are posing as fishermen to con BP PLC out of thousands of dollars in compensation for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. U.S. authorities have arrested three people in the past week on suspicion of abusing the system designed to compensate commercial fisherman for lost business since the disaster.
The British oil giant has given more than US$308-million to individuals and...
Lessons in Resilience From New Orleans
After reading yesterday’s piece on strategies for limiting losses in climate-related disasters, Robert Kates, a scholar studying human development patterns and a longtime source of mine, offered the following summary of lessons on building resilient communities derived from the history of New Orleans (the photograph of the flooded city is by Vincent Laforet/The New York Times):
From Robert...
Dirty Linen Night is this Saturday
Red Dress Run is Tomorrow
Photo by Curt McClain
Red dresses are flying off the shelves at local thrift stores in preparation for Saturday’s New Orleans Red Dress Run. The annual event is hosted by the New Orleans Hash House Harriers, a chapter of the international drinking/running club. “We are a beer-drinking club that runs,” says Kendall Daigle, leader of NOHHH, which registered more than 5,000...
WatchAt a recent benefit for Gulf Aid, hip-hop artist Mos Def put some new lyrics to the song that personalize the newest tragedy to hit the city of New Orleans.
(GritTV)
