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NEW ORLEANS - 13 January, 2005: I have been back in Nawlins for two weeks today and must admit that it is one of the easiest places in this country to visit when you have been here before. It slips back on like an old slipper.
I have already determined that this is but a waystation. I plan to continue this hejira of mine eastward. I shall stay here until Lent (actually my planned departure date is the tenth, giving myself a day to recover from the inevitable Carnaval/Mardi Gras festivities) and then alight into the air once again back toward New England.
A second taking of Manhattan is potentially in the offing if I can put enough of my ducks into the proverbial row. I am constantly trawling for telecommuting or actual assignments to supplement the jobs I've already garnered that don't require my physical presence in "meat-space." A likely part-time position in actual space would supplement the incomes I'm acquiring and make it possible for me hoard a few acorns for the long nor'eastern winter.
LIke a salmon, I suppose, I'm heading back to where I was hatched.
I KNOW THERE IS a certain class of readers who will come to this page following the keywords (think: from metatags) "New Orleans" and "Mardi Gras," so it is obligatory that I say something about this time in America's premiere Carnaval center. < p> Already the familiar buses that pass around the French Quarter, Marigny and Treme districts alternate their LED signs indicating which route they take with the words "It's Carnaval!"The lights and the gold, purple and green decorations are already going up on French Quarter balconies, along with individualized touches like mannequins in evening gowns with outstretched arms or gigantic harlequin masks.
The weather has been unseasonably balmy here for the first two weeks of the year. In the seventies during the day, true t-shirt weather and only refreshingly cooler during the evening. But the weather forecasters say that this pattern is about to change to "typical New Orleans" weather for January. A cold front approaches, so that we shall have to don our jackets and sweaters once more. There is a downpour today, the usual sign for a drop in temperature here in the semi-tropics.
As mentioned in the last journal entry, this is prime hiring time for passing out products at block parties or around parades. Craig's List features a company looking for a bevy of "attractive and out-going" women to pass out condoms on Bourbon Street during the Carnaval nights and all the bars are hiring. (Like I said, I mean not to sling drinks all season this time around.)
16 January, 2005: The gods seem to be smiling on me these days. Interviews have started rolling in from all of the trawling I've been doing. Two potential positions are not only attractive but both fit my M.O. as Matt and I have agreed.The first would have me building a sales department for a company that produces streaming video broadcasts, the second would have become a community organizers for the non-profit group ACORN here in New Orleans. Both pay about the same (loads more than I've made in the past four years) but would require me to call New Orleans "home" once more. I must ponder these develops while still believing that my destiny points East.
NEWS TO ROD
ITEM ONE: Among the journo types this week, the news was all about the firings at CBS after the internal investigation was over. One response caught my eye. It comes from Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting(FAIR). Their press release includes this telling passage:The claims that this controversy proves that CBS, or the media as a whole, have a liberal or anti-Bush bias, are ludicrous. When CBS staffers got caught taking shortcuts on a story critical of Bush, it cost them their careers. By contrast, other reporters have received much less scrutiny and punishment for offenses of far greater magnitude-- and with much more significant consequences to society. The New York Times, for example, published numerous allegations about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that turned out to be false-- such as one source's claim that "all of Iraq is one large storage facility" for WMD (9/8/02). Those stories, many of which were splashed on the paper's front page, did a great deal to sell the White House's bogus case for war against Iraq.. You can read the full release by following this link, Luv.
While the Times has admitted (5/26/04) that some of its WMD reporting was "insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged," the reporter most responsible for those stories, Judith Miller, was never sanctioned by the Times-- and indeed still continues to report on Iraq for the paper. Ironically, after MSNBC's Hardball finished its discussion of CBS and journalistic responsibility on January 10, the show turned to a discussion of Iraq featuring... Judith Miller.
ITEM TWO: Most of my melanin-challenged friends get uncomfortable when I talk about institutional racism but the second big story for journalists this week was broken by MediaChannel.org. MediaChannel was founded by Danny Schecter (last edition's interview subject here at The World's Magazine) and we are an affiliate. This past Monday, they broke the story about the corporate culture at Metro newspapers, which the New York Times company is attempting to buy. Here's an excerpt:
...On April 4 through 6, 2003, officials of the Metro International newspaper chain held a sales conference near Rome. Top executives of all the nearly two dozen Metro newspapers were there -- the Managing Directors (i.e. publishers), along with sales directors, editors and others. The annual corporate event, complete with lavish food, open bar and costly entertainment, is meant to celebrate sales and motivate managers for the next year.There's a lot more to this story, my dear.At the Saturday night gala dinner, tradition has it that someone at each table sing a song or tell a joke before dessert, as a means of breaking the ice and helping everyone bond.
"Each table identified its top talent," one attendee remembered recently. "The idea was to provide a little entertainment."
But according to several former Metro executives who were at the gala, the festivities turned suddenly and shockingly sour when Steve Nylundh, the global newspaper chain's leading North America executive, took his turn. John Wilpers, then- editor of Boston Metro, explains.
"There were fifteen or twenty tables," Wilpers recalls. "Each had put together a little presentation, and Nylund was chosen to represent his."
"I will tell a joke," Nylund announced from the front of the room.
Nylund's "joke" came in the form of a toast that centered on the length of the sexual organs of black males, whom he referred to as "niggers."
"It concerned the depth of a pool of water and the length of their penises," Wilpers says.
"Nylund began by saying, 'There were two niggers standing by a pool, and they took their dicks out,'" another participant recalls. "He went on about how one said the pool was too cold, and the other said it was too deep. I wanted to crawl under the table."
By week's end, Nylund and another corporate executive had resigned. Allegations of overt institutional racist in the organization continue to flow forth. The NYT executive staff has returned to bunker mode -- something they have grown increasingly familiar with.
Nope. No racism. Just like there is no global warming. The kids are all right ...
ITEM THREE: And what is the future of the media? Here's an interesting idea: EPIC.
A small, independent and outspoken magazine like this one can't reach you every week without the support and patronage of its readership. As our way of thanking those who have committed to keep your World's Magazine here on your desktop through their generous donations, we feature their names and cities here in our Roll of Honor.
SUSTAINING PATRONS
CHERYL HILL NATION,
West Fairlee, VT, USADARHL STULTZ,
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Belgrade, SERBIAMATT STOWELL,
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Supporting PatronsBARBARA ATWELL,
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IAN CRYSTAL, Ph. D,
New Orleans, LA, USA
LARS KEFFERSTAN,
New York, NY, USA MEREDITH TUPPER,
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New York, NY, USAWe encourage you to add your name to this Roll of Honor. GENERATOR 21 cannot continue and thrive without your support. Thanks in advance.
To support G21, please send checks or money orders to:
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Please make all remittances payable to Rod Amis. Again, thanks.
Some of my efforts, have started to return dividends. One of our advertisers has re-upped for more months, I am getting more tutoring classes from my online employer, I have been retained to edit a book by an African writer who resides in New York City. And there are mentioned job prospects.
Maybe I shall eke out enough of a living to begin working on the book again. That would be a Godsend.
There is hope that 2005 will be both my own year and that of the magazine. I have begun soliciting new advertisers in earnest, Luv.
Do wish me good luck. It's appreciated.
And keep me in your prayers, my little loves, as I keep all of you in my own.
Tomorrow we celebrate Dr. King's birthday here in the United States. Remember his message of peace and social justice, my dears.
Thanks for coming back this week.
THINGS I PRAY FOR THIS WEEK
1. My friend, Terry.
2. A girlfriend.
3. Good Luck and a new job.
4. A clear vision of where Providence needs me next.
"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching ... "
Love,
Rod
Rod was a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he wrote over two hundred articles on web design and development issues. He was principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviewed technology issues weekly, producing 383 editorials. He became the Managing Editor for Electronic Mail/Newsletter Publications at Andover.net at the end of February, 2000, and left in September of the same year. He was a contributing writer for ACCESS Internet magazine, which appeared both on- and offline for 10 million readers in 100 newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, Boston Herald, Austin American-Statesman, Denver Post and Orlando Sentinel, among others. Rod was the US reporter for Silicon.com, a division of Network Multimedia Television in London, UK, reaching 3.5 million European readers, until May, 2001.
In 2002, he worked as Assistant to the General Manager of a Big Easy company that does restaurants and nightclubs. He did stints as the Resident Philosopher at three separate gin mills in that city in the French Quarter and the Marigny, earning his stripes during two successive Mardi Gras seasons. Oh yeah, Rod's had Day Jobs working construction. Mostly renovations of old New Orleans structures, houses and a bar. Sometimes he designs Web sites for other people so that he can get his creative juices flowing the way he can't at a staid publication like this one. And he's been the instructor in Editing for Internet Publications at the Novi Sad School of Journalism in Yugoslavia. Our Resident Philosopher is now resuming his hejira. He teaches a distance-learning courses in Reading and Math to at-risk students online. Now all he needs is a job that actually pays well or an angel to hire him to do this magazine ... In his spare time, he chases women in the manner that a fly pursues a spider. 
He continues to be committed to integrity, chastity and a dose of humility.
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