Back to reality...
Well, I've missed you, f-list! I came back from my trip to Houston and New Orleans last Tuesday evening. My sister stayed until Friday morning, so we had lots of visiting time, during which she became acquainted with and in love with Firefly and Serenity. I don't think I have found anyone yet who didn't absolutely love it...except for my mother-in-law, but her taste in movies is very different from mine. "Not that there's anything wrong with that..." My mother, may she rest in peace, would have loved it. She was the one who told me I needed to buy the extended editions of the LOTR movies - she had seen FOTR and TTT before I did!
My sibs rock! And for that matter, so does my sister-in-law Charlene, as well as my nephew and nieces that live in Houston. Two other people who rock: my sister's friend Mary Alice and her husband Neal, who always house us when we visit New Orleans. We stopped there on the way back to present the paperwork to City Hall for demolishing our house. Yes, it's now "our house" - I am the proud 25% owner of a little piece of New Orleans. The City said that the house should be demolished and the debris carted away within two months, at no cost to us.
After having gone through Katrina as the daughter of a survivor who lost nearly every tangible asset (glad she didn't keep her money in mattresses or walls!), I'm compelled to make a comment on Spike Lee's documentary that aired on HBO. I read a lot about it, but I didn't have the benefit of seeing it, because I don't have cable. Then again, I think I might be better off not seeing it. Apparently Mr. Lee has done what he can to give credence to the widespread belief in the Lower 9th Ward that the levees holding in the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and the Industrial Canal were blown up in order to spare the wealthier neighborhoods upriver. This belief comes from an actual incident in which the city did exactly that - in 1927. In addition, Mr. Lee's documentary apparently ignores my mother's area, which was inundated with 10 feet of water as a result of being in close proximity of the 17th Street Canal (located in a neighborhood with higher property values and an active civic association). To dismiss the suffering of the many elderly people who lived in Lakeview because they don't fit Mr. Lee's package that he wants to present to the public is misguided at best, and downright bigoted at worst. As one who is so familiar with what happened there - one who has been there and shed a tear for the people of the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly, New Orleans East, MId-City, and Lakeview (my mother's neighborhood), my response to Mr. Lee's "documentary" is...don't believe the hype.
My sibs rock! And for that matter, so does my sister-in-law Charlene, as well as my nephew and nieces that live in Houston. Two other people who rock: my sister's friend Mary Alice and her husband Neal, who always house us when we visit New Orleans. We stopped there on the way back to present the paperwork to City Hall for demolishing our house. Yes, it's now "our house" - I am the proud 25% owner of a little piece of New Orleans. The City said that the house should be demolished and the debris carted away within two months, at no cost to us.
After having gone through Katrina as the daughter of a survivor who lost nearly every tangible asset (glad she didn't keep her money in mattresses or walls!), I'm compelled to make a comment on Spike Lee's documentary that aired on HBO. I read a lot about it, but I didn't have the benefit of seeing it, because I don't have cable. Then again, I think I might be better off not seeing it. Apparently Mr. Lee has done what he can to give credence to the widespread belief in the Lower 9th Ward that the levees holding in the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and the Industrial Canal were blown up in order to spare the wealthier neighborhoods upriver. This belief comes from an actual incident in which the city did exactly that - in 1927. In addition, Mr. Lee's documentary apparently ignores my mother's area, which was inundated with 10 feet of water as a result of being in close proximity of the 17th Street Canal (located in a neighborhood with higher property values and an active civic association). To dismiss the suffering of the many elderly people who lived in Lakeview because they don't fit Mr. Lee's package that he wants to present to the public is misguided at best, and downright bigoted at worst. As one who is so familiar with what happened there - one who has been there and shed a tear for the people of the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly, New Orleans East, MId-City, and Lakeview (my mother's neighborhood), my response to Mr. Lee's "documentary" is...don't believe the hype.