Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

I just watched the Sun set on another day this evening. For a Fey creature such as myself, this is my time of the Wheel of the Year. Darkness comes early and the owls take flight. There’s that little nip in the air that reminds one of the delights of hearth, home and family and friends. After a short excursion out to the Quarter, the bed with all it’s blankets and pillows beckons one to crawl in and curl up for a nice sleep. Even in post-Deluge New Orleans none of this has changed for me.

Maybe it’s because I don’t see the destruction as clearly, but I do “see” the moldering piles that used to be homes, people shivering to try to get to a warm place, and the pall that still lingers over our city. Even the gentle night cannot remove those things from the sight of my soul. It’s the second Season of Lights after the Federal Flooding of New Orleans.

So many folks are still not home. I see families trying to rebuild their communities in any way possible. The family living in the shotgun across the fence has now extended itself to the other part of our double shotgun. I watch them cook between the two places, ferrying food down the sidewalk, children flowing without effort behind, in front and almost everywhere around our little place. I hear their voices, a shade of what used to be, but at least it sounds familiar.

Whilst these things are comforting, I’m distressed: How the Hell can we pull off Orphan’s T-Day and Xmas dinners? As far as space goes in this little shotgun, I don’t have room for twenty guests. We are still fighting the electrical breaker battle as we use the kitchen appliances to make meals in lieu of having an actual stove. Cold storage is at a premium, and yet I yearn to have friends and neighbors over to share food, drink, and life. We have two turkeys that I wish to be ravished by the hungry hordes of the Season’s highlights.

I’ve pretty much given up on being in our real home for the Holidays. The place will be empty again this year. Getting contractors to give bids and start dates has ground to a halt. This totally, like “gag me with a spoon” sucks. I so want to round up our friends, many who live alone, and open the house for many to share together with each other in a warm, inviting place. Now I’ll have to stack the cats up and try to move around the tools and such so that we can have at least five folks over at once.  (Well, it’s better than trying to do this in my FEMA trailer. *rolls eyes*)

I’m not really bitching about our situation that is presented, but knowing the fact that Betts and I have barely created a semblance of our old lives, there are many not even as close to putting it together for their circles of family and friends as we are. Many still are NOT HOME. This is NOT acceptable.

Many of us are Blessed as the Season begins, but so many others aren’t. During these cold Winter months please remember those who haven’t been healed yet. Keep up the good fight to get the rebuilding of the city sped up and have places for folks to return to. Maybe some of us (you know who you are…) could put together a feast for many folks to come to during this time.

In days of old, Midwinter was a scary affair: vegetation was dying, the Sun didn’t hang out as much as before, the cold was everywhere, and to top it off, the food stocks from the Harvest were running low and spoiling. What could these people do? They shared…

This is a basis behind the celebration of Yule: the Longest Night of the Year.  No one was to be left out of the sharing. The community pulled together to get through this very trying time. There was revellry cause one always can use a laugh or a dance. There were prayers, and there was story-telling of the people and their lives. Children played together and the adults did their things. It was, and still is, a celebration of Living, and a belief in a better tomorrow.

New Orleans and Her people need something like this now. Any volunteers?

Aside- Yes I know that I have melded together many cultural beliefs and mores together on this one. It’s my Blog and I can do that. *stomps foot*

Over a year ago I started communicating with a few Yahoo groups that formed after the un-natural disaster called the Corps of Engineers Levees that royally screwed the people of New Orleans. I stayed on target about my concerns about the people here and our portion of the city. A few months later the original handful of us had created a voice for all of us in our section of the city. Our goal was to create a voice for a disparate grouping of smaller neighborhoods so that we could show a united front for ALL of the people within our part of the city, for all of our neighbors who wanted to come home.

One year later our association has accomplished the major goals that we originally wished for. We will be the first in the city in the rebuilding plan. Our original concept (created by many individuals) has proven valid for rebuilding under current State and Federal guidlines. Our association realised it’s purpose.

Or… did we truly realise our purpose? At the latest meeting of the GNOP via Concordia Speaks, there was a 3/4 white attendance where 40% had an income over 75,000 and 90% came from less-effected neighborhoods.

Do any of my gentle readers think I would stand for this sort of thing down here? You’re freakin’ damn right: I DO NOT!

The breakdowns of the attendance for these sort of meetings are not acceptable. The numbers DO NOT represent the true demographics of the city. Many are without ‘puters. Many work all week in order to be able to pay the bills and yet be able to buy some materials for the slow rebuilding of their homes on the weekend. Many aren’t even able to come home and be counted.

If your voice is not used, no one will hear it and recognize that you are there.

The way the current system is set up by the UNOP and our despicable Mayor seems to be directed towards disenfranchising natives from trying to repair their lives in post-Deluge New Orleans.

Excuse my French, but this doesn’t sound Kosher. I freakin’ ‘know’ what they are trying to do: eliminate the poor from the rebuilding of New Orleans. Strong statement, but I’m pretty much on a proper heading with this one.
What is happening here is racial deconstruction.

Since when do we only listen to the top 15% of the income families when it comes to this city. Are we trying for a new version of aparthied?

I pull in $12K a year on SSDI. The only reason i can make it here is through my partner’s earnings, and often it can get hard to balance everything. I walk around the city and wonder “how the Hell are these other folks getting by?”. It’s called spirit babes, but the working folks ‘miss’ the mis-directed, corporation enriching and racial bias of the ruling class through the UNOP process. It’s time to stand against the Quislings and work for ALL of New Orleans and Her people.

It’s time to stand up for New Orleans, and all that She entails.

This is not the time to  allow those who are looking to pad their resumes or their bank accounts with their “efforts” for the people of our city to win. We’re already living that through the actions of C.Ray and half of our City Council. We the people see the crap going down through the machinations of all of you to disposess a major part of the folks of this city of their birthrights. We see it, and hate it at the same time.

The thing is folks, we are NOT helpless. All we need to do is look at the actions by these others, their reasons for said works and decisions, and then parley it out in fundamental Human terms. Does what what they say speak for the needs of the people of the city? How do they benefit by taking certain stances that favor the moneyed crowd? Are they our friends or our enemies?

To illuminate the answer to the above questions, I will be posting certain examples of those that I see working not for New Orleans, but for themselves hiding behind that old volunteer excuse over the next few weeks. I trust some others will also rise to the task. There’s a lot of dirt to bring to the light.

I stand for full Federal reparations for each person of Orleans Parish pre-Deluge, and it is my desire to bring all who wish to return home to the city to do so. It’s the New Orleanian thing to do.

Our shifty, freezer-favoring and clan-building Representative William Jefferson was NOT endorsed by the Louisiana Demos today. Far freakin’out. Let’s clean all the crooks from our rafters and send them packing.

I’m going to tackle another clan-building going down here in the city come Tuesday. I’ll probably need protection after this one.