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I wasn't commenting or responding to the Op, but about reality contained in the title. I didn't read his longer question.
I just came back from visiting Orleans.
I just read the comments made on this blog in response to his question, and other comments made over the years! and listening to the news for the past several years.
Where have you been? And where do you think the Op gets his/her world view from? Answer: us and our national news!!
Thanks you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drouzin
The OP is from Germany, so I don't think we should assume this is a ding ding sort of question, but something honestly put forth as someone looking to see if going through something of that magnitude can change things for the better.
Jacq's friend hit the nail on the head. There are more people who are politically aware, there are people who are more connected with each other, there is more dialogue between black and white than ever before, in other words there is more connectivity. I would have to say that as a region we are a sadder yet wiser people.
As for being a better person; no. Definately a changed person. I'll only speak for me and mine. We have nightmares, we all dream of going through our homes filled with mud and mold, a friend dreams that she was able to save her parents from drowning, my husband dreams of having to load helicopters and about that guy who died because they couldn't stop the bleeding, another friend dreams he can't remember the number he was given in order to evacuate via helicopter, I dream of trugging thru 2 1/2 feet of mud and flies trying to get to Mom's house to make it better for her and of dying husbands laying in mud and human waste with nothing to drink. How does this make you a better person? It makes you realize that its the people and the time you have with them are important.
If it is a black thing, (which I don't think it is), right now the entire GNO area are crossing fingers, praying, and hoping that a couple of black teenaged kids who have been kidnapped will make it home alive and well. I don't know anyone who isn't pulling for these kids. It isn't about if they are black or white, it's about they are our own and their families who are so afraid and upset are our own and not some remote people up in New Jersey. No black, no white, just ours, and I'm more than happy to offer them my love and support.
Well, i think it is a stupid question, however i think it is a par for course comment, since many will say they are a better person for losing a leg, losing their home, losing their child, because then they get to know and help other people who lost two legs, or lost a home and their wife, or lost their child and their dog to cancer.
Loss imo is horrible, even if you live to live another day! And losing your home, your job, your piece of mnd for 2 plus years, just because your damn president and former presidents did not invest in the necessary infrastructure to avoid thousands of people losing their homes because of a foreseeble storm!
And then on top of that, smart ass people all over the country making snide remarks because people had no place to go and chose or were forced to fight it out and live in stadiums for weeks and months and shall i go on??
I bet the other countries had more heart and sympathy for our new orleans neighbors than the snobbish americans in other states!!
We had more sympathy for the indonesians!
oly mackeral! what a mess of messed up values!! Americans love to think they are better than other people, especially other Americans!
I think when you speak of losing a child, you do not know of what you speak. If you have not visited NO you have no idea of what you speak.
I have a couple of observations. I visited the city a couple of winters ago. I wanted to do the typical tourist stuff. I wanted to visit Boirbon Street, The Fremch Quarter. I wanted to go to the Gulf and see if any of the ships were in and eat. Remember this is an observation of what it was then - not what it is today.
I found no parking, no stores open in the French Quarter. One bar open on Burbon Street. I could never find a road to the Gulf. The casino was open, but no restaurants were open. I was told to eat in another town. I saw no trolley, city bus or taxi. and there were many commercial dumpsters that were over-flowing and needed to be emptied
I found a Walgreen's open and some wonderful helpful employees. I found one gas station open that looked like it was new. Clean as a pin. I saw a lof of young adults in town with backpacks. One of the kids was in the gas station and I asked him about the backpacks explaining I was a visitor. He had marvelous, rich quiet voice. The first thing he did was smile and say, "Welcome Home". He was very positive about the future of the City and reminded me it will years to recover. And I thought to myself, if this is what NO represents, I want to return. The few older, settled, people I talked to all said the same thing: "It's tough living here, but we have our homes , our families are safe and we finally have utilities, a grocery store and drug store that's open now. It was worse before." There was progress, not obvious to the outsider like me, and it was small. but it was progress none the leass.
BTW, I love the Times-Picayune. It is a weel written paper.
When the flap over FEMA trailors and formaldehyde erupted. I called the paper and talked to one of the writers. I asked why doesn't someone tell the renters to tear out the carpet and get rid of the smell. "We did", he said and continued, "FEMA lawyers threatened to put anyone who removed the carpet in Jail."
I've wondered ever since who the bright bulb was that ordered all those trailors with carpet when they were going to high humdity area. It was and is still a Catch-22 situation. Remove families from the only home they had after Katrina - while countless other trailors sat in Hope, Arkansas and rotted. Clearly FEMA is a disaster larger than Katrina. For the uninitiated, every carpet made is sprayed with formaldenyde before it is wrapped in paper becaise tje warejpises that stock it is full of roaches and other bugs. This is why sometimes when new carpet is unrolled in your home, you see a dead bug. As fro the trailers in Hope they've been sold at wholesale price, and clearly marked with paint "not for human habitation." They resorted to this after FEMA found a dozen trailers in a park being used for rentals.
We left NO, stopped at Gonzales and ate at a great Chinese buffet. I have a lot of mixed feelings about my trip, but I do want to return someday and see what she looks like when it is much improved. I'd still like to do the same things - except I would like to eat in the City, finda taxi, and stay a few days,
Where have you been? And where do you think the Op gets his/her world view from? Answer: us and our national news!
Thanks you.
I have been in and next door to the lower 9 all my life with the exceptions of vacations and evacuations. Never lived anywhere else but either New Orleans and her metro area.
I have heard every form of ugliness over Katrina starting the day before I evacuated when online. I heard it from some guy from California the day I returned to find my entire parish/region destroyed. As I prepare to go on vacation this week, I am already thinking how to answer, "where are you from." Because the moment I say New Orleans I know someone will ask about Katrina, crime, looting, evacuation. Then I have to gauge whether that person is going to be racist, resentful, assume that l'm lazy, an idiot for living in a bowl, etc., and stand there cringing waiting for the reaction. I/we am/are far more experienced than anyone should be in having to put up with thinly veiled questions both in person and on line, that lead to put downs.
I understand your feelings as an American that the OP is trying to be ugly and your defense of our home and people is refreshing. We don't get defended often. But, wouldn't you agree that I, who live in the ground zero triangle of the East, lower 9, and St. Bernard, who worked with families and taught the kids of the upper 9th ward, who lost friends and muched beloved mentors to Houston, would be be extremely upset over the OP's question if I thought it were an intended insult?
Because I have a brother-in-law who is European and I've got to tell you their form of racisim is different from ours. I'm not saying they are not racist, (heck, at times I was treated like I was an idiot because I have dark hair and eyes), they are just different going about it. Using that background knowledge of cultural differences, I am not going to jump to conclusions, but offer him/her the benefit of the doubt. If he/she were American I wouldn't think twice that it was a ding ding question.
I found a Walgreen's open and some wonderful helpful employees.
I'm so glad you noticed how awsome those people were! It was the only store open that I didn't have to drive 2 hours to get anything and, I wish I could remember the name, the lady at the photo counter. She and I used to talk for an hour at a time. She was worried about her son over in Houston. Of course that was back when I was like, one of 8 women in St. Bernard and had to ahem avoid curfew and road block problems of which will not be revealed here to protect the guilty. Oh the memories.
You are not understanding!! Thanks for insight into you, but I as an outsider, have a right to an opinion as well. And yes, New orleans people have right to their opinions. But i have a right to an opinion about anything that goes on in american iwthout trying to figure out whehter the person is prejudice. Who is talking about prejudice?? Not ME!!!
I am saying that people love to blame people for things that are sometimes beyond their control. And! this ignorence is then printed in the newspaper, the people then read!!
The people who read the newspapers are Americans and non-Americans. And print and television media shape how people on the outside view others misery, be it neighbors, or fellow students, or another state or another country!!
this is not about racisim or prejudice ??? It is about having less pity for your own fellow citizens than you do people in indonesia, since that was a temporal example.
This conversation is certainly not about you or people that look like you!!
This is about money not being spent to avoid a DISASTER!!
To the person who could not find a road to the Gulf, you should have looked at a map. The Gulf is not anywhere near New Orleans and you have to drive down to it. Or take I-10 east to Miss. and get off at any signs that says "beaches." The only waterfronts in New Orleans are the river and Pontchartrain lake.
Absolutely not! The Mayor of New Orleans didnt get his 'chocolate city' that he wanted... So, he probably is dissapointed.
Lets face it, the insurance companies tried to reniege on thier insuance claim, and not pay anyone, a red cent, due to technicallities, as they call them, so that hurts the populace and the town. Its been how many years, and most of New Orleans has yet to be rebuilt, and there are stil a lot of cities along Louisiana that are completely wiped off the map and never recovered! No one worries what happend to them! So, why would anyone worry about New Orleans being re-energized, when you cant get the Government to help out with rebuilding lives, instead they pay for motels and hotels, and what they paid for that, they could have rebuilt the entire City! What a waste of taxpayer money that was...
You are not understanding!! Thanks for insight into you, but I as an outsider, have a right to an opinion as well. And yes, New orleans people have right to their opinions. But i have a right to an opinion about anything that goes on in american iwthout trying to figure out whehter the person is prejudice. Who is talking about prejudice?? Not ME!!!
I am saying that people love to blame people for things that are sometimes beyond their control. And! this ignorence is then printed in the newspaper, the people then read!!
The people who read the newspapers are Americans and non-Americans. And print and television media shape how people on the outside view others misery, be it neighbors, or fellow students, or another state or another country!!
this is not about racisim or prejudice ??? It is about having less pity for your own fellow citizens than you do people in indonesia, since that was a temporal example.
This conversation is certainly not about you or people that look like you!!
This is about money not being spent to avoid a DISASTER!!
holy Makeral!!
You are right, I am not understanding! I went back over the posts and think I see where things went wrong. In my original post I placed your quote at the top which of course would lead people to think the whole thing was addressed about your one quote. My apologies.
I intended the post to address, in general, several posts concerning the possibility that the OP was perhaps asking a thinly veiled racist question. And was struck by your one sentence and wanted to add further explaination, in agreement, that yes, we are no better, just different and thought I gave a pretty good explaination as to why are no better.
I can see how you would think that I was addressing only your post because of the way I set things up. I then made the mistake of thinking your reply were about my comments on the racist thing because I couldn't see how you could be upset about my agreeing with your statement. Again my apologies.
I will say that I didn't think I was rude, ugly, or implied that your opinion didn't count, although I did feel a bit testy when you asked where had I been, (after all I thought it was pretty well understood I was here). I do say that I put up some pretty good reasoning for why I felt the OP wasn't being racist, even if it was not what you were talking about Anyways, I hope that there are no hard feelings for the misunderstanding and that you are not too bothered by it.
Has the storm made the city better? **** no. The storm tore this place up.
I think it has made the residents more dedicated to their city overall, which is definitely better.
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It was the only store open that I didn't have to drive 2 hours to get anything and, I wish I could remember the name, the lady at the photo counter. She and I used to talk for an hour at a time. She was worried about her son over in Houston. Of course that was back when I was like, one of 8 women in St. Bernard and had to ahem avoid curfew and road block problems of which will not be revealed here to protect the guilty
. Oh the memories.
I went back over the posts and think I see where things went wrong. In my original post I placed your quote at the top which of course would lead people to think the whole thing was addressed about your one quote. My apologies. 
