Since you cant't speak blgowise without referene to the New Orleans shitty, I will do so briefly. Katie and I talked for an hour or so last night, during time we should have spent watching So You Think You Can Dance, having a psuedo-theoretical argument about some of the issues involved. It was somewhat a variant of a conversation we had earlier about Survivor and the myth that informs it. Regardless.
As far as I can tell, there are three things that Katrina has been compared to: 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, and the Tsunami. I have nothing to say regarding 9/11 and Pearl Harbor for the most part. There is certainly more damage and more people immediately effected by the hurricaine than by these two events combined. The lasting damage on the American psyche or the state of world affairs is prolly significantly less, but judge it as you will. My thoughts concerned primarily the statement: This must be what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago (rough paraphrase). The importance here, it seems to me, is the emphasis on the two cities looking the same. It should be noted, first of all, that this claim is bullshit because the cities look nothing the same. Here, for instance is New Orleans
Its still fucking horrible, its a disaster of amazing proportions. Here are even some better
before and after shotsLots of shit is destroyed. This, however, is a before and after of Hiroshima.
The discusison Katie and I had was more or less about whether or not that comparison, were it to be even bordering on accurate, would be problematic. Katie's argument, obviously a good one, centers around the fact that the atomic bomb was of course a human inflicted tragedy, which makes any comparison with a natural disaster merely an attempt to soothe our own guilt. I think it actually has more to do with attempting to reconcile natural fury, which we couldn't control even if we did bother to prepare for it, devote the resources, etc. with the worst examples of violence we as humans can inflict on each other, a futile attempt to assert that we're not powerless. Regardless, what I find interesting in this is that there are similar criticisms of the comparisons with the tsunami. I'm not a complete idiot, I'm well aware that even with the worst estimates existing now roughly 20 times as many people died as result of the tsunami then will the hurricaine, and millions more were affected. To me the most interesting point is that the disasters in terms of their potential scale were prolly somewhat similar: the difference is in our ability to respond. Even though this is going down as "the worst natural disaster in American history" according to the majority of media coverage, the fact that we have the infastructure, the money, the awareness, to limit the scope is incredible. This is the American equivalent of the Indonesian-area-tsunami and thats not an insult to the third world or a claim to our exceptional status: it demonstrates how fucking outrageous the gap is. Not to mention, as so many others have said better than I, the split between the primarily white, primarily upper-middle class residents who got out of the city, and the primarily poor, laregely non-white population still stranded. There are more things to say, but I haven't thought through them quite enough at this point.
Haven't said anything since Katie's birthday was on its way. Its all in the rearview now, I think she liked her presents. She got alot of nice correspondence from friends and fam, some clothes, some shoes, all around products. While I had planned on giving her a nice relaxing birthday all around, we ended up spending the majority of the afternoon and evening shopping for her final birthday present, which currently resides in the parking lot, since it is a brand new Toyota Camry.
Before extolling the virtues of the new car, let me give a brief shout out to the old one, cuz it is well deserved. I bought the original Mazda in the summer of 2000, it was about a year old, but to me it was essentially a new car. I picked it up with my dad, both because I knew nothing about the purchase of a car, and because his signature was essential to the securing of a loan in the first place. I left the parking lot, lit a cigarette, and headed for the McDs drive thru. I spent the majority of my time in that car smoking and eating, through in reality, for the years I spent that car, I spent alot of my time smoking and eating. Andy had burned the upholstery with a positive ass within the first 2 hours of my possession. I drove to my house for part of the afternoon, but the first real destination I had in that ride was the House. It spent alot of time parked out front there as it did in front of the Blake school, where some jackass broke into and attempted to steal my car, that being the most significant trauma it went through. I lost all my music during that event, but it mattered not too much, since the CD player began to be fussy very soon afterwards. I essentially lived out of that car during my junior and senior years in college: I ate there, sltored my books and clothes in the trunk/backseat, I slept there, I read, worked, etc. It was a great ride. I drove it to my first date with Katie, I drove it to Mac the day I got married, it was the first car Hippo ever rode in, I drove that car back from the airport after dropping Kaitie off at the Buffalo airport, the first time in my life I was ever really alone. There were some logistical problems, but it was a great car and it deserves to be remembered as such. After 140,300 miles, the transmission had had it, and it had to be retired. Thanks for the memories.
So on our final ride with the Mazda we headed over to the Toyota dealership down the street and managed to finagle what I figured was a pretty good deal on a pretty sweet car. We paid less than the actual trade value, we got more for the trade in than we rightfully deserved, we got some good rebates and discounts, and a car payment about 80 bucks a month less than what they originally proposed to us. I don't consider myself much of a negoiator, but I told them what I could afford, they got within 10 bucks/mo of it, and, since we wanted/needed the car, we took it. Its one step up from the baseline model, it has some power seat action, steering-wheel radio controls, and a wicked freezing ac. I am happy with it, hopefully it will treat us even better than the Mazda did.
Two final notes: one sad and one happier. Geezer (my dog) passed away today. He was a really great guy and had been with us a long time. I am very sad that he is gone, but glad that he isn't in pain. I spent alot of time on the front porch with Geez, sat next to him on the couch watching football, and once got frostbite chasing him through the snow. I remember the day we brought him home and I remember the last time I petted him when we left my mom's house this summer. Love ya Geez.
A happy animal note: we went to the zoo today and got to feed a giraffe. There's a really cute picture of Katie talking to the giraffe, but I am too lazy to upload it now. Rest assured, we had fun at the zoo. Hippo was sad that she couldn't come and see her friends the snow leopards, who were very playful, but she sent her meows.
Peace,
MB-K
