KATRINA & THE LOST CITY OF NEW ORLEANS by Rod Amis New Orleans is the Lost City of America. New Orleans has disappeared as surely as the lost city of Atlantis or the lost city of Pompeii, which former mayor Marc Morial and Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA.) have compared us to in their statements. That New Orleans, the New Orleans I mean to tell you about, that will never, ever, exist again--that city of love, lust, death and sex--will never exist again. 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. Buy the book or get a downloadable PDF Copy now! To order on Amazon.com, go here! 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 BECKY & KENT ALTEMUS, Shenandoah, TX, USA RON DIENER, Wendell, NC, USA MATT STOWELL, New Orleans, LA, USA DARHL STULTZ, Largo, FL, USA TIMOTHY MEADOWS, Anaheim, CA, USA TERRY TERRIAN, Sebastopol, CA, USA CHERYL HILL NATION, West Fairlee, VT, USA DRAGAN & DRAGANA VICANOVIC, Belgrade, SERBIA LESZEK MICHAELWICZ, New Orleans, LA, USA MARIE SINSABAUGH, Granville, OH, USA Supporting Patrons NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI, Jos, NIGERIA NICK ALLEN, New Orleans, LA, USA X.N. IRAKI, Jackson, MS, USA BARBARA ATWELL, Berkeley, CA, USA LARS KEFFERSTAN, New York, NY, USA MEREDITH TUPPER, Tampa, FL, USA RIC WILLIAMS, Austin, TX, USA ROBERT PURVIS, Montclair, NJ, USA IAN CRYSTAL, Ph. D, New Orleans, LA, USA STEVE VIVIAN, New York, NY, USA STUART ALTMAN, ESQ., New York, NY, USA We 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: Rod Amis G21: The World's Magazine 1500 Royal Crest Drive, #156 Austin, TX 78741-2709 USA To donate by credit or debit card, please go to the Western Union website by following the highlighted link. Should you donate via Western Union, please notify us via e-mail. Please make all remittances payable to Rod Amis. Again, thanks. G21 at FeedBurner Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in February Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in May Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in July Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in August Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in November ENJOY WHAT ROD DOES! ( MORE Music from my friends at Artasanas Campesinsas in Taxco, Mexico. ) When you mean to read Rod's more dissident writings, go here: .

Rod Amis - Unbound

SMOKE & MIRRORS - GIVING/GETTING SEASON: ROD AMIS talks about lots of events fot celebrate for G21 Writers, behind-the-scenes development and projects and his going journey in the world.

SMOKE

"Where there's smoke, there's fire ..." Popular Adage.

26 November 2006: It seems to be a good season for writers associated with your World's Magazine. On 3 December, 2006, NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI will be attending the ceremony at which she officially receives her Macmillan Prize for African Writing. We are very proud of her. As part of the award, she also garnered a two-book deal and will be one of the judges in the next round of Macmillans.

Meanwhile, KEN KAMOCHE writes that a collection of his stories, one of which was featured in the G21 Books title AFRICA FRESH! (see sidebar on most pages here) has been accepted by a publisher in the United Kingdom and will be coming out this spring. Expect that I'll do a review of Ken's book for you rather soon.

I may have mentioned to you earlier, my lovelies, that MPHUTHUMI NTABENI toured his play s this past summer and autumn in South Africa and is negotiating a possible television deal with the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Wish him luck.

That a few of these writers got their first breaks and encouragement here at G21 makes This Editor rather proud. That we were able to showcase their work for American audiences warms my heart, for obvious reasons of affinity. I now look forward to our next crop of stars, as these folks have now moved on to another level.

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BEHIND THE SCENES, as it were, it seems I'm always working on new projects with one writer here or another with the goal of advancing their literary careers. For example, DRAGANA VICANOVIC, who I've worked with over the years on fiction and non-fiction efforts, is now busily at work on a screenplay for a competition out of Los Angeles, which I mean to edit. She has a rather long story, nearly novella length, which we hope shall be considered by a publisher in Tokyo, though I'm also contemplating placing it before the Paris Review. The latter work has spent over a year in development now.

Meanwhile, I've been in talks with the School of Journalism at the University of Texas, here in Austin, about a new journalistic project I mean to seed. Wish me luck on that. At the very least, the possibility that I'll be associated with that J School is also on the table. It's likely I'll do a project there similar to that I accomplished at the Novi Sad School of Journalism in Serbia back in 2002.

So, though my personal life (as always in the "Mirrors" section of this page) continues to have much to be desired, the avocation of advancing and expanding "my" stable of writers continues apace. I continue to aspire to the Maxwell Perkins realm.

INSIDE THE MAGAZINE

In prototypical G21 fashion, we offer you a "Holiday Anti-Buying Guide" on our GLOBAL*BEAT page this edition. We screen two films from our affinity Hollywood connection, CinemaLibre Studio, an independent film production and distribution company, "Freedom Fries" and "The Empire in Africa." Take a gander.

A new short story from MPHUTHUMI NTABENI premieres in G21 FICTION this week and at his new chair at our long-standing DAY ONE column he provides an assessment of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

MATTIE LENNON submits a new reminiscence and bit of the blarney to IRISH EYES.

*ON ANOTHER NOTE: Maybe I was premature, as you've seen by now, about the demise of the "chick cover." I discovered that going with the Shockwave Flash cover would create a dependency relationship between the Flash designer and myself. Being a Control Freak of the First Order, Yours Unruly certainly can't have that.

MIRRORS

WRITER'S BLOCK, considering my output, is a malady most people assume I never experience. If only that were true. After suffering a rather brutal month of rejected pitches from my editor at OSTG, I found myself unable to put one word beside another, here or elsewhere, for over a week.

Admittedly, a lot has been going on in my personal life. I attended Thanksgiving festivities - something I haven't done in a number of years - with my surrogate-family, the Williamses. I've been involved in a romance, uncharacteristically, which seems to be moving at a pace I had neither anticipated nor considered possible scant weeks ago.

A good friend, after reading the preview of the Trotter novel I posted here, has put me in contact with a literary agent in the belief that this time I'm producing a work with actual commercial potential. That shock, along with all the others, froze my output like a fly in amber.

Today is the first day I've been able to compel myself to write anything in nearly two weeks.

There have also been the survival worries. I have yet to come up with either another freelancing assignment or an "outside" job and rent looms large again. I would not have survived the past month here without borrowing money from multiple sources, so now I'm not only worried about the coming month's commitments but am ever more deeply in debt.

Some nights I have sat here simply involved in the effort of staving off the possible panic attacks that come with this line of thinking. It has taken all my willpower to honor my commitment not to succumb to despair, to remain optimistic and hopeful and cussedly committed to fight for my chance at a successful life.

I thank the Universe everyday that my health is relatively intact, no overt or continuous pain, and that I believe in myself again. That I have pushed up the cajones to declare my affection for The Last Woman is evidence of my newfound confidence. Or is it merely foolhardiness?

My personal ideal of the perfect marriage for someone of my temperament has always been that of two horses pulling the same plough. Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman come to mind, for example. Writers tend to be difficult people to live with, as I learned during my first marriage. In my choice of a second wife, I expect that we'll mutually understand that we shall need rooms of our own in which to write.

The beauty of the proposed arrangement is that we worked together on writing projects over the years and have a familiarity with each others' sensibilities.

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Lionel Rolfe, the Menuhin scion, is very excited about his new Snapfish photo album, in which he and his wife, Boryana, travel to my old stomping grounds in northern California. I promised him I'd share it with you. You can find the album here (registration required.)

From Rod's E-mail IN box

Lots of interesting items and messages in my e-mail box since last edition. Like this from Jamie Menutis of Houston, Texas, another New Orleans refugee:

These photos are incredible. Please take a moment and look at them through to the end. And then don't let the world forget about New Orleans. Thanks.

Jamie

Justice for New Orleans.

In response to a letter from my friend, Dragana, I wrote this:

... My damned OSTG paycheck - from last month's invoice - has still not arrived, so I'm doing things like onion sandwiches. The funny thing was, I watched this old Rosalind Russell (one of my favorites) movie from the 1930s where this family was eating fried onion sandwiches for dinner because they were so broke - EXACTLY what I had had for dinner earlier that night. I laughed out loud!

To digress, in the movie, she jokes to her husband and kids that "tomorrow night will be a real treat! We'll have boiled onions instead!" I bring this up because the night before I had rice and beans and a raw onion sandwich. I'm working my way through the ways of preparing onions just like she does in the movie.

Okay, enough rambling. I should *try* to do something productive today.

Talk to you later.

Love,
Rodja

There was also this thoughtful (though, lengthy) feature from the Baltimore City Paper sent to me by my pal, DC, who remembered that I'd once lived in Charm City. I recommend it to you highly.

R	Refined
O	Overwhelming
D	Delicate

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com The letters between myself and my new Lady Love are, of course, not for your consumption. Let me just say that her enthusiasm and confidence about our joint future are infectious. Of the two of us, I am the more cautious and circumspect. She believes in all the best. I am old enough and experienced enough to focus on the many obstacles we must overcome. I am hopeful about happiness but believe that our true happiness remains many, many months away.

The beauty of pessimism is that you leave yourself open to be pleasantly surprised more often than being disappointed.

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29 November 2006: FINALLY! A BREAK! I have my first meeting with the head of School of Journalism and Communications tomorrow afternoon at the University of Texas. Wish me luck, my little loves.

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30 November 2006: Another month ends. Another week comes to a close. My Dearest reminds me that "where there is life there is hope" and I experiment with the notion.

I also experiment with variations on preparing onions and beans. I check my Job Search Agents daily, trawl Craig's List, send out resumés which do not receive the honor even of acknowledgment of receipt. At least I have the meeting at the University of Texas later today. That is something and closer to what I dream of accomplishing than most of the jobs for which I've applied.

My Internet connection seems to be in "Read Only" mode these days. The one open network I can join here at home has an SMTP setting I can't suss out, - the old one I was using has gone password-encrypted - so I have to traipse out and sit in front of nearby building in order to send out the missives that accumulate in my out-going e-mail box daily.

Riding the bus the day after Thanksgiving, I sat across from a man trying to comfort the woman seated beside him. She was very openly, if quietly, sobbing. Other passengers were assiduously working to ignore this disturbance, her distress - it is that time of year again and the public viewing of someone's sadness was as discomfiting to most of the riders as viewing a public display of affection. It is that time of year again, where the emotional walls seem to draw in closer, particularly in a poor neighborhood like mine where the emotional walls are already too damned close. Here this woman was, unabashedly sad, having the effrontery not to hide her grief from the world. I looked at this display, at her sadness, and wondered how many others sitting around me were equally sad but bound it behind stone faces. I had reached my stop on the bus line.

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you in my own.

Thanks for coming back this week.

ROD'S PREOCCUPATONS THIS WEEK

1 - Some breakthrough in the Job Search.

2 - Money, lack thereof.

3 - Focusing on Happiness.

"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching ... "

Love,
Rod

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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.

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 and NewsForge. Rod's more leftist writings can be found at Atlantic Free Press. (Don't tell his potential employers.) Rust never sleeps.

Our Resident Philosopher has decided to return to Austin, Texas, after over two decades away. Wish him luck..

In his spare time, Rod is now working on his second marriage.

He continues to be committed to integrity, chastity and a dose of humility.

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© 2006, GENERATOR 21.

E-mail your comments. We always like to hear from you. Send your kudos, brickbats and suggestions to rod@g21.net.