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KATRINA & THE LOST CITY OF NEW ORLEANS by Rod Amis
New Orleans is the Lost City of America.A portion of the proceeds of this book will go to the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Fund. The cooks, servers and restaurant workers of New Orleans have provided fabulous times and memories for millions. Now we must remember them in their time of need.
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SMOKE & MIRRORS - WATCHING & WAITING: ROD AMIS provides some insights, including a new editorial and then tells us he is once again, "putting it into the wind."
SMOKE
"Where there's smoke, there's fire ..." Popular Adage.
27 May 2006: I'll open this edition's entry by referring you to a remarkable essay by Michelle Goldberg (Senior Writer at Salon) that appeared in In These Times this month. It is entitled ''Saving Secular Society" and is well worth your attention.
Meanwhile, we've all heard or read the rumblings by now of the latest investigation of a war crime allegedly perpetrated by U.S. Marines in the Iraqi town of Haditha, how U.S. troops appear to have gone on a deliberate killing spree over a series of hours. Like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, these heinous acts were done in our names, yours and mine. And, again, we are faced with the painful question of how long we will allow our government to let the massive bloodletting in Iraq continue.
Look at yourself in the mirror today and ask yourself that question.
The United States Congress has finally gotten up on its hind legs over the issue of executive branch over-reach. Did they do so because thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans are under electronic surveillance, that our phone records have been turned over to government officials without probable cause or due process? Hell, no.
Congress has finally decided that that Constitution just might be in danger because the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the office of a Congressman, Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana.
In other words, the rules that apply to you and I are of less import and cause for outrage than those that apply for our members of the legislative branch of government. The two-tiered system, from health care to justice, continues in this country. What is good enough for our elected "representatives" is too good for you and me.
ALSO this past week, we faced the poignantly sad spectacle of British Prime Minister Tony Blair making what is most likely his last visit holding that office to the United States. Still tied at the hip to the foreign policy of the Bush administration in this country, Mr. Blair has achieved the rare distinction of having an even lower approval rating in his own country than Mr. Bush, whose numbers are historically low, has in this country.
Because of the disastrous occupation of Iraq, both men have become virtual lame ducks, a suitable response to the hubris with which they embarked upon the misadventure that has destabilized the region and wreaked death and sorrow for so many people in their own countries and the world.
Bush says he will miss Mr. Blair's ties. Another of his in-depth analyses of relationships.
Tony Blair, having to accept that Britain is no longer a world power without the patronage of the United States, now defers to the judgment of history - or attempts to write into the future. But the future can be as unforgiving as the past.
As one of my role models, Cicero, has written: "To be ignorant of what occurred before you is to always remain a child."
INSIDE THE MAGAZINE: We've been getting record-breaking page-views and visits lately. I had to check that out, using the various systems (some good, some bad, one new) that I use to monitor our progress. It turns out the most visits over the last week are coming from people who want to look at the images of our July, 2002, cover (Famke Janssen.) So it's mostly fall-out from this month's new X-Men movie. Oh well.
Of course, I'm a bit disappointed because I felt our new, more user-friendly and platform independent cover design would be more attractive to first-time visitors. From what I've seen from our reports, thus far, the effects of the design change haven't really kicked in yet.
And your enthusiastic response to the changes have certainly been underwhelming.
Suburban America: The Anti-Civilization
Long-time Loyal Readers (LLRs) of this journal know that This Editor tends not to think like most Americans. So it should come as know (pun) no surprise, considering my other prejudices, that I look at the major phenomenon of our age, suburban and exurban sprawl and the rise of Big Box stores dedicated to conspicuous consumption, as anti-civilization.
How do I define "civilization?" In my worldview, civilization is the formation of structures and infrastructures that allow large numbers of people to organize in such a manner that all benefit efficiently, the formation of communities. Civilization, in this view, is best exemplified by the best cities we have formed. I would list New York, Paris and Tokyo as examples of our highest achievements in civilization; Orange County, California, and Virginia Beach, Virginia are examples of our lowest.
Civilization is characterized by community benefits like mass transportation and neighborhood businesses that are convenient to the citizenry. Anti-civilization, as characterized by suburbs and exurbs, is characterized by atomization, individual effort for transportation and housing and centralization of resources (think WalMart.)
Thus, when I came upon this article by James Howard Kunstler, I was bemused. You see, much of what he says melds well with arguments I have made in this space in the past. LLRs are familiar with my anti-automobile screeds.
I have not said as much about how appalled I've been with phenomenon like Costco, WalMart and Target as I might have. I've worked on the assumption that most LLRs knew I consider these places abominations that are the destruction of entrepreneurialism and small family, "Mom and Pop," stores.
Reading that scientists are now starting to study the destructive nature of suburban space, only fed into my sense of their inherent toxicity for mankind.
The most offensive presence to come from this American drive toward anti-civilization is that shibboleth of crypto-fascists like Charles Murray, the gated community. It stands as an example of the bunker mentality, a rejection of the very notion that mutually beneficial human organization is either possible or desirable.
That thrust of suburban and exurban "development" leads rapidly down the road to Hell. It is the destruction of the world and its people, not our hope.
Where I live in North Carolina, until the latter part of this month, when I mean to resume my hejira, though there is only one driver resident, there are four vehicles parked out front. Four.
My nearest neighbors' residence has three vehicles, one per each resident driver.
It is this way all over America in suburb and exurb after suburb and exurb connected by mile upon mile of highways.
The theory seems to be that each person in America should have a motor vehicle. The very notion of cooperative transportation, shared mobility, is actively repudiated.
Meanwhile the very oceans continue to rise and warm, changing the natural pattern of the Gulf Stream and bringing ever more violent storms. In the great Pacific expanse, islands are being submerged and corral reefs are dying.
Consider this the next time you complain about the price of gasoline, the long and horrific commute, or get into your car alone.
MIRRORS26 May 2006: I told myself that today, after firing off interview questions to a source for one of my freelance jobs, I'd begin working on this column today and/or determine if I could squeeze out one more media criticism piece for the May Huffington Post Contagious Festival project I established.
But the fact is, I'm about written out for this week. I pounded out three new articles for my freelance assignment at Slashdot, the popular geek site, and set up three more for next week. Can't concentrate worth a damn. I'm even ignoring the flow of e-mail into my In-box, which I shouldn't do - since technically I'm still ''at work."
Besides, it certainly doesn't help that it's a balmy day here in Lizard Lick, humid, very warm and the zephyr that's blowing about feels like bath water. I'm getting that ''Spring Fever'' feeling, even though it's nearly summer.
In short, it's not the kind of day when I expect to produce eye-catching, quotable prose. This said by the guy who was once called one of the most quotable writers on the Internet; not a pithy phrase in me.
A rather astute observer of human nature, whose name escapes me, made the statement, ''Bored people are boring.'' I couldn't have put it better myself. Depressed people are also depressing. As I sit, day after day these last five months, watching my housemate spend nearly every waking hour at his PC in the living room playing game after game of computer solitaire, I cringe.
When people telephone to see if he is doing better, he answers in monosyllables for about two minutes than claims he must get off in order to go to the bathroom. One close friend of his confided to me that she finally got exhausted with that excuse and exclaimed, ''Listen, if you don't want to talk to me, just say so! Don't make something up.'' To which, now characteristically, there was no response. Such an environment is toxic. I do all I can to rise above and away from it and focus on being productive. Until my "ship comes in," the fruit of all this article writing and interviewing of mine, I must needs endure.
If you don't follow the ENJOY WHAT ROD DOES! link, you are missing half the moment.
29 May 2006: The coffers are completely empty right now, due to the added and unforeseen expenses I incurred in the rush to solve my computer problems, including added transportation costs. I've been as creative as I can during this waiting period, while one of my Day Job publishers gets around to fulfilling my invoices. My editor asked for expedition, I know, but the intervening holiday weekend has certainly not helped matters.
My best hope is that a check arrives in the mail tomorrow.
I have vast experience with cooking beans now, so my housemate will have to settle for that fare and a tuna casserole I prepared over the weekend until I can again afford to provide.
Today, I tried to get a leg up on filing new stories to two of my editors but one of my sources proved less than capable of giving good interview, so I could only file one of the two I'd planned, which is why I have time for you, my little loves.
It has been a time of waiting. I shall certainly remember May, 2006, for a very long time. So long, Elizabeth; hello, Merlin's Staff; where am I going next? And when will I get out of here?
Both of my younger brothers were hospitalized this month because of complications from their diabetes. I have agonized over trying to visit them and felt guilty that I squander so much taking care of things here that I have not the wherewithal to do so easily. I have agonized over the whole issue of my family, really, feeling that I have scant people to talk to about the matter.
The atmosphere around here certainly does not lend itself to showing any signs of weakness; it is all I can do to maintain some semblance of being upbeat. It wears, it wears ...
Enough on all that.
From the Editor's Notebook
I am now working with two female writers, one on a piece intended for the Paris Review on which I am woefully behind, one who aspires toward next year's Caine Prize, which I am enthused about but keep sending back for re-writes. On the latter, I cringe when I do so; not because I think the re-writes are uncalled for, but because I myself hate doing them so much. I think the story is quite marvelous but continue to see ways it could be made stronger and more resonant with each new reading.
Meanwhile, I flagellate myself for my tardiness on the former story while also admitting that its length, well over 25,000 words, is part of the impediment that keeps me from diving back in. That's a daunting manuscript to try to edit in one sitting. Each time I come away from the document, I find it easier to simply take the shorter pieces (5,000 words or less) out of the queue first. Those I can usually dispatch in one sitting, fire off my comments and recommendations and move back to Day Job tasks like queries, et cetera, or working on this publication. Yes, 25,000 words plus, gives me pause ...
31 May 2006: GUILT WORKS. That last entry made me feel so bad about not finishing that edit job that I stopped and went right to it. Finis.
Meanwhile, I sit here today going through nicotine withdrawal, hoping against hope that my payment from the Day Job arrives on a FedEx truck today as my editor promised. Already after 1:00 p.m. and no truck yet. Oh Lord! What if they decided to send it two-day. Please, God, tell me that didn't happen ...
4 June 2006: In or around the twenty-second of this month, I intend to "put it in the wind," as one friend used to say. I am resuming my hejira, leaving an atmosphere that has become debilitating for me and saps my energy and effort. I struggle every day, while planning to have my affairs in order and plans concretized by the tenth of this month, with the choice of a final destination.
There is northern California and there is New Orleans, each with its own siren song to entice my return. One for the unfinished story, the other because of my long attachment and how it has informed my person as both man and writer.
I feel in my gut that the decision has already been made; I simply recoil at verbalizing it.
But I know myself as little as I know anyone else. I wake up every day and wait to see what I will do - other than the work assignments that comprise my Day Job, an anchor - each day a mystery and an adventure.
I had thought, when first envisioning this next journey, that it might be the last of my extended hejira but I now know that this not true. Ultimately, if I am to be truly happy, I must leave the United States soon. It is a country I can no longer abide, the F-word, fascism, is everywhere in the air. I cannot live long in such a place.
Thanks for coming back this week.
THINGS ROD HOPES FOR THIS WEEK
1 - Finalizing the plans of this next leg of my hejira.
2 - Perhaps finding love again.
3 - Supporting "my" writers as best I can.
"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching ... "
Love,
Rod
ROD AMIS has published this magazine since 1990. It first appeared as a hardcopy 'Zine. In March, 1996, he launched it here on the Web. Rod was a Contributing Editor at Suite101.com, where he wrote the " 'Net Publishing" feature. His work has been featured in the San Francisco Bay Guardian Online, NRV8, and at the (U.S.) Public Broadcasting System (PBS's) WebLab's Reality Check site. Rod was a contributing writer on technology for Faulkner Information Services. He wrote on Web issues for MethodFive.com's Hyper newsletter.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, r eaching 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. When he's not busy here, he writes technology columns for IT Manager's Journal, business columns for Enterprise Leadership and Slashdot. Ru st never sleeps.
Our Resident Philosopher is taking to the road once again. Wish him luck..
In his spare time, he chases women in the manner that a fly pursues a spider.
He continues to be committed to integrity,
chastityand a dose of humility.
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