Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Five

Last night I was a little depressed. It’s not easy to have a murdered two year old on the brain. All you want to for awhile after that is hug your kids and go to sleep. When I got up and went outside this morning there was autumn air and I stood out for a minute. Living in the city is a bitch sometimes. All we can do now is support that baby’s family and try to save the rest of them in his and the other victims’ memory.

Some people may try to tie what happened yesterday to the second line that was going on a few blocks away. I don’t think the second line itself was the reason but there’s a strange mentality with some people in our city that will go to public events to be seen when they know someone is looking to them something. They don’t avoid trouble they look for it. You just never know where two groups like this will happen to meet and you don’t want to be near it when it happens. It takes a lot of experience to notice stuff like that and get out of harms way. Little kids don’t have that so I would probably keep mine home to protect them and me. If there are few more incidents like the kind that have happened lately the fees for police protection will start going up and the clubs that parade will go broke trying to pay it or not march at all. That’s a bad situation because the people out there drawing weapons in crowds don’t give a damn about preserving culture except for the destructive one they live in.

Issues like this make me want to vote Yes to NORD reform on Saturday but I am still leaning against that plan. I’m just going to come out and say it like it is. I don’t trust many “community leaders” in this city. I trust my mayor and I like him but I can’t tell you I have been swept off my feet by any of his appointments. If I knew his first deputy mayor would the former head of the LRA I probably would have had a tougher decision on Election Day. I don’t want to seem like I am picking on Mr. Koppin. I don’t care for any of the deputy mayors and I don’t feel bad about that because I voted for Mitch Landrieu and that’s who I want to be accountable to me. I’m pro NORD reform and anti charter change.

Why does the business community need a charter change in order to help the recreation department anyway? The Facebook dude just gave Newark 100,000,000 dollars for their school system and they didn’t have to put him on the school board. We are about to change the entire city charter just to ask for money with no guarantees.

If you live in the Iberville Projects you should have been planning on moving three years ago.

The federal government is going to start tapping into emails. I’m starting to think Barack Obama and George W. Bush chat on Gmail at night. Does that mean we can’t joke about blowing up shit anymore? I don’t know about my non black friends but I and my people love to talk about blowing up stuff. We’re going to have to think of something new before we shut down the spy server.

If you are a loyal card carrying member of the Democratic Party, aren’t you just a little embarrassed that the two people who may save you from total destruction in November are Jon Stewart and Bill Maher? After all these comedians have done I think the next logical step is to name Chris Rock Press Secretary. The world would still be challenging but everyone would laugh more.

I am watching Monday Night Football and just watched a GMC truck commercial featuring the Saints. It was so fly and heartwarming that I just realized what one of the problems has been so far this season (besides bringing back the black pants yesterday). The Saints get their own post tomorrow. I can’t write it tonight because the images of Tony Gonzales destroying our linebackers and secondary make it hard to concentrate on the screen.

I’m so glad the humidity is off of our backs for a little while. I hope it’s gone until the next six month summer starts in April. If we can make it through the rest of the hurricane season with the same luck we have had so far then I will be happy. I think I am going to sit outside tomorrow evening if the raccoons don’t run me inside. I’ll be glad to get some cool fresh air.

When Perspective Brings Pain

The Saints are now 2-1 on the season after losing into overtime to the Atlanta Falcons. They had a chance to pull it out Garrett Hartley, the hero of last years NFC Championship game missed a short kick in overtime. I was upset for a minute.

Around here in the New Orleans area the Saints bring everyone together. I’m sad to report that the positive feelings when discussing the black and gold having spread out to other things in our community the way the media tries to make it appear when talking about the football team. Game days are a great chance to block the problems out for a few hours but I spend the rest of the week thinking about the reality of the situation. What about the healthcare situation? What about the schools? What about the people out of work? Will the kids be okay and have a good future? These things dominate my thoughts to the point where I get upset because I can’t see the changes coming soon enough to feel better about the direction of the city. That’s why I use the football season to distract me.

Today a two year old boy named Jeremy Dalmon was killed after being hit by a bullet uptown this afternoon. Usually I would be tripping off the fact that the Saints can’t stop the run or get off the field on first down for the rest of the evening. Now I am thinking about this poor little kid that never got a chance to grow up for nothing. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong when someone decided to fire their weapon. That’s more depressing than 20 Drew Brees interceptions. We don’t know who shot this baby or why but it’s sad that our kids have to live through that. It’s even sadder that even the most concerned people in our community can’t figure out how to change it.

Garrett Hartley missed a field goal today in overtime and messed up the weekend for a lot of Saints fans. He’s young. He’s making a good salary and is a local hero from last year. He’s doing what he loves to do and has 13 more games to make up for missing that kick. Jeremy Dalmon never made it to kindergarten or got a chance to find out what he wanted to do in life. Because of that thought I don’t care about the game today anymore. My community is losing in so many more serious ways that I can’t give football any real energy tonight.

Reality checks usually with come with painful circumstances.

Thinking About NORD Reform

On October 2nd New Orleans residents will be voting on whether or not to change the city charter again. This time we are voting for abolishing the New Orleans Recreation Department and replacing it with the New Orleans Recreation Commission which is a public/private partnership designed to reform the recreation department. I haven’t made my final decision on voting yes or no yet. Someone who feels very strongly about this reform measure passing sent me an email and asked me to read up on the plan more before I came to a decision. I want to tell her that I did and this measure is going to pass. We are in a pro reform environment and the mayor and the council has endorsed the plan. Plus, no one would call the current NORD set up a world class operation by any stretch of the imagination. It’s probably a slam dunk but I have some concerns.

My first concern is that we have two many boards and commissions in this city that seem to be ineffective and now we are about to create another one. It looks like overkill to me. If we are creating another board with that many people making decisions with public money then the people on the board should be voted on by the public. If there are representatives from each district then let the people in the district pick the people themselves. That person should have children that participate in NORD programs and their vote should be equal to the politically connected people that will make up these appointments.

Now we are going to have another set of meetings to keep track of that busy people can’t attend. I don’t like that because poor and working class people in New Orleans always find out they are getting screwed the hard way like if parents start getting letters that there’s now a 200 dollar registration fee for their child to play sports and the letter comes two weeks before the season starts. Don’t say it can’t happen because worst things have been done in this city since Katrina and the council voted for all of it.

I brought up the kids paying a registration fee because it leads me to the main issue with the entire plan. We are voting to change the city charter with any guarantee of additional funding to the recreation department. A few years ago some people in this city were dying to create an inspector general position to watch over the public’s money. They felt so strongly about the need for this position to work and function correctly that they made sure the OIG’s office’s funding was guaranteed in the charter change when everyone voted for it. When you ask voters to change the city charter for something that important they needed to know that it wasn’t just lip service and that the new process would work properly. Guaranteeing the funding in that case made sense to me so if everyone is so in favor of destroying NORD in place of this new commission then why didn’t we guarantee money in this case as well? If the children of the city mean as much to us as the mayor not being able to hook up his friends with a contract then the money for NORD reform should have been part of the vote.

If there’s one thing I can’t stand its great plans being dangled in front of us like a carrot and then being told we can’t pay for it. That’s why all this reform without money doesn’t excite me and I don’t know if I want to vote for a new way of being disappointed. I’m not sure if the current system at NORD is that broken or we as a city is just too broke to do things the right way no matter what system is in place.

Monday Night Football: Retro Bitterness And The Eyes Of Intensity

The Saints will be playing tomorrow night against the San Francisco 49ers. I love the fact that we get so much prime time exposure now but the weeknight games are draining. I’m looking forward to a Sunday afternoon kickoff. At least this week’s game is on the road so everyone can calm down. I was afraid we would have another parade where different bands from around the area perform their rendition of the Crunk song.

Before I talk about the game itself I want to talk about the opponents and their coach. The one team that represents all of the struggle and near misses of the pre-Sean Payton and Drew Brees era is the 49ers. In the early years of their dynasty those games would be hard to watch because they would destroy the Saints. During the Dome Patrol years our biggest challenge was the fact that we played in the NFC West division with a dynasty full of Hall of Fame players. Except for one down year on their part when we won the division in 1991, we were always a step behind those guys. In 1988 the Saints finished 10-6 and didn’t make the playoffs because we lost to Joe Montana twice. I will always feel like if we could have earned a first round bye for one of those seasons last year would have been our second Superbowl appearance. That’s why for me the San Francisco 49ers can’t struggle enough. The football season always feels better when they and the Rams are sad. Their fans have five championship DVDs and the Jerry Rice highlight reel to watch if they want to smell greatness.

The current 49ers are coached by Mike Singletary. He holds a special place in my heart because he makes me remember watching games with my daddy. Whenever the Chicago Bears would come on television with Mike Singletary was their middle linebacker the announcers would be obsessed with showing shots of his eyes to prove how intense he was. They would go on and on about as if the other 21 guys out there weren’t just as intense. My dad loves football but he hates announcers. He prefers to watch the game on mute. On Mondays he would be so busy and working so hard during the day that he never had time to worry about who was playing but he would always stay up to watch the game with me. The best games would be a Bears game because it created the chance for this kind of exchange to happen.

Me: Are we going to watch the game tonight?

Daddy: Yeah, we can watch the game. Who’s playing?

Me: I think it’s the Bears against the 49ers.

Daddy: Bears?....dammit! You mean we have to look at this motherfu#$’ eyes all night long?

For the next three hours I would laugh every time Singletary mad a tackle because I knew the eye shot was coming and Big Cliff was going to start tripping out. I want to thank Mike Singletary for looking like a mad man and the announcers for overreacting to it. It was good times in my house.

There are three NFL teams that have a must win situation in week two. One of them is the New York Jets because after talking as much trash as they have for months if they lose to the Patriots and start 0-2 their aura is gone and their season could be ugly. The second team is Dallas for the same reasons. The other team is the 49ers who were supposed to take over the top of the NFC West and contend for a Superbowl berth. They had all of those expectations and could barely get their plays called last week. I expect that they have prepared for this game against the Saints like it’s the NFC Championship. The Saints haven’t played in almost two weeks and I don’t know if they are ready for this kind of atmosphere in week 2. It could catch them by surprise and the 49ers could come out so intense and play with a huge sense of urgency on their home field that we can’t recover from. If that happens then the Saints will get their wake up call and snap out of the 2009 celebration. If the 49ers don’t come out like that then I guess we will still be riding the Who Dat high next week because playing like mad men is the only way that their coaching staff with Alex Smith at quarterback can beat our staff and Drew Brees.

I’m calling the score 24-14 Saints. I think you are going to see at least three long touchdowns by the offense after being a little out of sync last week. The Saints are too well coached and can win games in too many ways to lose this game unless the 49ers come out playing like they are trying to save their coach’s job and stay that way the entire game. I don't think they can do it unless Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana have both been wearing Reebok Shape-Ups and are coming back for this game.

Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Four

I can’t believe Reggie Bush had to give up his Heisman trophy. That had to be a difficult and painful thing to do. It would have been hard for me to give it back because it was earned because of my play on the field. Regardless of what was going on off the field he still played in those games and performed so well that he won the award by the second largest margin ever. It’s huge deal to give back the trophy. People shouldn’t dismiss the impact this is going to have on him. I know he has a Superbowl ring now and fans think that trumps everything but a lot of people get rings when a team wins a Superbowl. Guys that didn’t even play all season get a ring. The Heisman gives you a certain level of immortality in football. Out of all the thousands of people to play college football there’s only 74 men that can say they won the Heisman and he just lost that privilege. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few dropped passes and mental mistakes the next few games. You can’t be a player that wants to be as special as we does and just shrug off something like that. I’m rolling with Reggie through the whole thing and I hope the three touchdowns Monday take his mind off of it for awhile.

I don’t know what weather system is causing all the tropical storms to turn north before they get to the Gulf of Mexico but if it has a name I hope it never goes away. I hope I didn’t just jinx it. If we end up sitting in contra flow you can blame me for it.

I was looking at the performance scores of the RSD and charter schools in Orleans Parish. It goes to what I said in my last post. The first thing I thought about is I made a good choice of schools. The second thing is that I can’t understand why every school isn’t required to adopt the practices of the higher performing schools. These figures make the case for people who think the school takeover was a good idea. Check out those high school scores. Those are the kids that went to school in the old system. All I can say to that is it’s a damn shame and I hope we can save as many of them as we go forward. This is why we need a solid adult education program to help all the people that want to do something better with themselves but missed out on the reforms.

Why do the school zones in the city end at 3:45 when most of the schools in the city are letting out after 4:00? These kids stay in school longer their parents are at work.

Who has more software updates Blackberry or Windows7?

I’m so jealous of the employees of the Public Belt Railroad. They got to live it up on all that public money without anyone checking anything. I don’t understand how this could possibly happen without something criminal being involved. I work for an agency that receives public money and you can’t buy a pack of ink pens without documentation let alone take trips and eat at Ruth’s Chris. In my view this story is not receiving the proper level of outrage. I guess Nagin’s name needs to be tied to the spending to get that going in the right direction.

I know I have said this before, but people are doing a bit too much on Facebook. They are doing the same thing on Twitter. I think we are just doing too much in general. Like this youtube clip a friend posted the other day. If we are going to be putting our business in the street like this the least we could do is not film it and show the rest of the world.

Remember during the health care debate when all of those old republican leaders called themselves feeding off the energy of the Tea Party? Well, I guess at the time they didn’t realize that the Tea Party folks were going to ride against them too. The funny part is that Republicans will be fighting for the next few weeks for the direction of their party and the Democrats still won’t figure out a way to win. Both parties are all over the place when it comes to getting things done but I still blame independents for nothing getting done since both parties are competing for their favor. I’m going to say this again. Stop taking polls asking what party you favor if you don’t belong to either one. Keep them all guessing so we can find out who’s capable of doing a good job and who’s not.

I’m still campaigning for something to replace the Crunk song as the Saints theme music. I have been lobbying for Fifth Ward Weebie to do the 2010 song but I couldn’t find a clip with a song of his that didn’t have questionable lyrics and the NFL has a conduct policy. I still want it to be someone local so I am going to go with Chocolate Milk as my plan B. They are pretty safe and judging from the last few Superbowl halftime shows the NFL likes older groups. I think this could work out.

Who Should Run The School System

I read this story Sunday about the plan for New Orleans public schools and who will control them. Basically, the debate is who should be running the school system. At the moment most of the schools are controlled by the Recovery School District ran by the state. Some people want the schools returned to the New Orleans Public School Board immediately. There's a bus load of community leaders going up to Baton Rouge for a meeting to discuss this. I’m sure before it’s all said and done the conversation will get pretty heated.

The education debate symbolizes every problem in the city where pre Katrina and post Katrina circumstances collide. It’s the perfect issue where statistics and emotions collide to make things more complicated than they should be. I’m guilty of it myself but I can’t help it. I have never been a person that felt like New Orleans residents couldn’t straightened out problems on their own. One of the main things I couldn’t stand about our last mayor is how it seemed like every responsibility was being subcontracted to a company out of town. It was almost as if we were admitting that we lacked the capacity to do the job. I feel the same way about public schools being under state control. I truly believe that if qualified well meaning New Orleans leaders, educators and parents got together and everyone did their part we could turn the schools around without the state or charters having to do it for us. I won’t apologize for feeling that way because it strikes to who I am as a person. How could I be proud of being born and raised here and at the same time think we can’t do anything thing right except play music and dance? That’s the emotional side of the issue and it's not going away. Let's all acknowledge it's there and deal with it so we can come up with the best solution for the kids.

If you take the emotion out of the equation and look at things rationally, the reality is that before Katrina when we had local control public education in New Orleans was falling apart. The schools were doing so bad that a lot of good people didn’t return home after the storm because of the condition of the schools and the desire to give their kids better opportunities by keeping them out of New Orleans and the schools. No matter how nostalgic we get or how much we kick and scream about deciding the future of our own children, we can't deny the fact that we failed thousands of children in the past. The truth hurts sometimes but it's the first step towards change. I think there are a lot of people in the community that let the emotion involved cloud their judgment and won’t let them admit that something needed to happen. Now, the timing of the takeover, the way it was handled and the way the teachers and staff were messed over was inexcusable and I will never support anyone who had a hand in carrying out that plan no matter how well they explain why they did it. However, I can't debate the need for things to go back to the way they were. That statistics are not on that side of the argument so I think we are going to have to let Mr. Pastorek implement his plan and hope for the best. It's not like the state has knocked anyone's socks off since they took control but our local track record worries me enough to give the current setup more time.

I's cool with an extension of the Recovery School District running the schools for a few years and we can give the school board a few of the failing ones back to their control so they could figure out what works and what doesn’t before the state turns the entire system back over to us. While this planning and transition period is going on we need to also be figuring out what the most improving schools are doing and start implementing those things in all public schools. I still feel like the current set up is an experiment and the system has no order or clear guidelines for parents to understand what's really going on. I have no problem with families having more choices for their children but I'm still finding out about new schools from signs posted on the neutral ground and that is no way to inform the community of something that important.

If there’s a special school you want your child to go to then fine but the basic excellent education should be available everywhere. We shouldn’t have one charter doing one thing that’s working and another school doing something that isn't working causing those kids to fall to the back of the line. It doesn’t take the entire school system failing to create a criminal element. All it takes is one or two schools full of kids with no real chance to create a crime spree and they are all going to be living here with us. Regardless of who has control of the system I think we need some consistency so everybody gets the same chance. If we can't get that accomplished then it doesn't matter who has control because everyone is a failure.

When Freedom of Speech Comes With A Camera Crew

The fact that I am even talking about this is proof that something has gone wrong. I shouldn’t even know who this guy is. So, Reverend Jones says he is not going to burn a Quran tomorrow. The situation was so critical earlier this week that even General Petraeus and The White House got involved. According to what the pastor is saying now, all he wanted was the planned mosque near Ground Zero moved and he is meeting with the imam who’s in charge of the project. That’s some nice.

Honestly, I don’t think he was ever going to do it in the first place. He got just what he wanted out of the situation. He got some attention for his cause by acting crazy and the media paying attention to it. That’s the real hidden issue in this whole story. Nowadays anyone can get mainstream media attention no matter how obscure they are. I had never heard of this guy before he wanted to burn a Quran. What if he had went ahead and did it but the only people there were a few people from his congregation? He would have still been the same amount of crazy but no one outside of his immediate circle would have known. We wouldn’t have had to get the whole national security team involved in making sure he didn’t do it so it couldn't be broadcasted all over the world and put the troops and American citizens around the world in danger. At the worst it ends up on a viral video site but that’s not the same as having it shown on CNN.

The tragedy on 9/11 was nine years ago. Reverend Jones is not the first person to think about doing this and I am sure there might be someone out there that actually did it. You would have thought that back when it was a more recent event people like Jones would have been popping up all over the place. Maybe they were but I don’t remember it and I don’t hear anyone referencing a past attempt when talking about the reverend. I think the mainstream media needs to be more careful about who they give validity to.

Say what you want about all the blogs and video sites, the big news channels still hold more weight. You could log into YouTube or a site of its kind right now and see people from all walks of life saying the most outlandish things and doing some of the most head shaking acts possible. It’s out there for the world to see and a few thousand people may stumble across it if they get lucky or are looking specifically for that kind of thing. However, a major news station could take that same video; multiply it’s viewers by millions and turn the actions of one fool goofing around in his bedroom into a national discussion we will hear about for a month. I’ve heard people debating whether or not burning a Quran is covered under freedom of speech. If it is then so be it. I just feel like when Americans choose to exercise their freedom to say and do crazy things it doesn’t have to come with a camera crew and a satellite feed.

Goodbye Last Season and Hello New Season

Right now I am watching “America’s Game the 2009 Saints” on NFL Network. It is without a doubt the second greatest sports related television event in world history. The greatest of course is the Superbowl itself which made America’s game possible. There are two things I had to see before I could let last season go. One of them is America’s Game that I am watching tonight and the other is the raising of the Superbowl championship banner. After that I will be in 2010 season mode and ready to see what happens.

Last year I didn’t think the Saints were going to win the division. I thought we might get a wildcard slot and have a chance to win a game in the playoffs. I was wrong and so this year I don’t have any preseason predictions. We could be 13-3 or 14-2 or we could be 7-9. A lot of strange things happen during the season. I know I wish Darren Sharper was playing. I hope we don’t live to regret not resigning Mike Bell or Scott Fujita. I guess we will get a better idea after tomorrow’s game. Win or lose there will still be 15 more games after this one. Somehow Saints fans have let the Brett Favre groupies in the national media act like the Saints have to win this game to validate what happened last year. I don’t feel that way at all. We could lose 55-0 and the banner would still stay up there in the rafters.

This game has nothing to do with what happened last year at all except for the fact that this year everyone’s week has been flipped upside down because we basically gave up downtown for the NFL. I have to leave work tomorrow to rescue a kid from school in the French Quarter before they activate the electric fences for the crowd control. It sucks for the local business and vendors down there near the stage area for the kickoff concert. I won’t be going down there for any of the festivities because I have a feeling that by the time you make it back to your car and get home half of the game will be over. I’ll be good right here in the battle room.

I grilled in my lucky shirt for Labor Day to get that combination of smoke and beer smell. I have tested the surround sound. I have visualized the three Reggie Bush touchdowns tomorrow night. My cousin has already sent me 234 text messages about how no one respects us. My boy has already told me to stop being paranoid about the defense 50 times. We are in midseason form and ready to go.

All we need now is something to replace the Crunk song. The Crunk song is going to push Saints fans to a level of obnoxiousness that we haven’t seen since “Who Let the Dogs Out”. We need a new song.

The Ashley Morris Award And Taking A Break

I would like to thank the folks involved with the Rising Tide Conference for presenting me with the Ashley Morris Award for 2010. I was very honored and humbled to receive an award named in honor of him. I have to admit that I had a few words prepared but when people started clapping I got a little flustered. It almost felt like my kindergarten graduation when I was supposed to be doing the hokey pokey on stage but ended up crying and my mama had to come and get me. I am glad that didn’t happen Saturday because she’s way in Memphis so we might still be sitting in there waiting for me to stop. I'm not sure Rising Tide has enough money in the budget to pay for that extra time. I’m glad I held it together. I went the great Rickey Jackson route and spoke from the heart. I just made sure not to mention a small town named Pahokee Florida. It was a cool experience and I made it all the way home without breaking the plaque.

I brought my little brother from the mentoring program to expose to him another side of New Orleans life. I knew he wasn’t feeling it at first because he told me he had a dream he wasn’t really there and he never fell asleep. I think his day got better because he wandered around a little. He played around in the book area, seemed to be having an informative conversation with Stephanie Grace from the Times Picayune and even hustled up a t-shirt. I am certain he’s the only little boy in the hood with a Rising Tide t-shirt. I’m happy about that.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Howling in the Wires book signing and reading last Thursday. That went a lot better than I thought it was going to go. There was a lot of good energy in there for such an emotional topic and I don’t think it was just the alcohol. I’m glad I did it. That was first time signing an autograph. If this keeps up I might end up ego tripping like Kanye West and buy a big medallion shaped like the Superdome.

I also would like to thank anyone that comes here to read my thoughts and opinions. I’m happy you do even if you don’t agree. We can disagree or have different opinions as long as we are trying to come up with the best solution to what’s going on. Last week was so heavy emotionally and draining that I felt like I sat around and didn’t get a lot done. After we made it through the weekend I decided that I would dedicate this week to being productive at work and getting my mind back in order. I’m going to keep that going and spend the rest of this week staying focused and trying to get Sean Payton to accept my phone call so we can over the game plan for opening night against the Vikqueens.

Before I go I want to send a belated happy birthday and shout out to Neecha Turner. She started blogging with me back in 2004 and I am sure if it wasn’t for that storm we just had an anniversary for she would be here in New Orleans right now raising hell. You can click on the link in her name but you won’t find any archives because she won’t stop changing her address and blogger service. I love that sister.

I’ll be back next week.

Today Is Not A Holiday

To my New Orleans friends and family,

It's okay if you don't want to watch, read, or participate in any of the Katrina events. It's also okay if you want to go to the second line then call up a public official and cuss their ass out. Whatever you decide to do today is the right decision. You went through the struggle so the choice is yours. After a long emotional week I think I am going to sit this one out.

I'm Howling In The Wires

On Thursday evening August 26 at a nice establishment called Mimi’s there will be a book release party for a book called Howling in the Wires. The book is a collection of original writings from local writers and bloggers during the days after Hurricane Katrina. There will be book signing and the reading of some of the work in the book. Somehow yours truly ended up in this book and I am supposed to be reading a piece of my work at the event. We'll see how that goes.

When I was first asked to be involved I was okay with it but I didn’t want to read anything. I didn’t think that I could make it through without being emotional. The emotional phase of Katrina is over with for me or at least I like to pretend it is. That’s why I have been ducking Katrina coverage as much as possible. The other reason is that I had no idea what I said back then and had never went back to read any of it. The blogs that were selected for this project were all written in a hotel room in Jackson Mississippi when my mind was all over the place. I wasn’t sure if any of it made sense or did justice for exactly what I was feeling. I thought about it and I don’t think anyone really could express what they were really feeling. I guess that’s why everyone wasn’t asked to write something new. I’m sure everyone would see things a little different now. I am looking forward to seeing the book for the first time. I want to thank Sam Jasper and Mark Folse for asking me to be a part of it. I would like to invite everyone to come out to Mimi’s on Thursday and see if we can have fun while reflecting on such an emotional time.

No matter what anyone tells me I don’t look at myself as a writer. It just makes it easier to wake up every morning and go to the office to look at data and reports all day. Calling yourself a blogger is a lot less official and takes away a lot of pressure because you could just stop one day and it would be easier to deal with. I’m not a writer but I think I am a pretty good blogger. Every now and then I do something the people like and that’s good enough for me. Whenever stuff happens like this because of something I wrote I always feel like the kid in the hood that’s never been anywhere. I’m in awe of the whole experience.

Back in September 2005 I didn’t have a house, many clothes, or my vehicle. All of that was gone. I had a job in New Orleans for a non profit agency and I wasn’t making enough money to put me in a hurry to get back to the city any time soon. Plus, my job is based on funding sources that weren’t necessarily coming back. I didn’t know what I was going to do. One day I got a call from my supervisor Fran. She told me to hang in there and she was going to see if we still had our funding so we could get paid. She called me the next day and told me that we still had funding and not only was I going to get paid but she was going to give me a raise to a level I could survive with. I couldn’t make it to Monroe, Louisiana where the agency had relocated after the storm so she sent me a laptop that I could use for work while I stayed in Mississippi until the agency moved back to New Orleans and I could find a place to stay to come home. If it wasn’t for her sending me that laptop I would never have blogged about anything and wouldn’t be in this book. If it wasn’t for her taking care of me when I didn’t have anything I probably wouldn’t have been in New Orleans with the job I have now.

My participation in this book is dedicated to Fran Ledger. Like most genuinely good people she has never made a big deal out of these things and I am sure we never even discussed it. I’m going to see if she’s in town and invite her to Mimi’s to buy her a drink because she has a lot to do with me being there.

The Blond Haired Sister in Popeyes Chicken

Every month I go to a meeting full of wonderful people who help the city’s most vulnerable and needy people. I don’t want to sound corny but I am truly honored to know and work with people like them. Today’s meeting was a little aggravating because the room was hot as hell and there was just too much talk about Katrina for me. I understand why but the constant talking about it makes things a little heavy. I’ve come a long way but not far enough to want to talk about it for two weeks in a row. I’m usually one of the last people to leave the meeting. Today I was the first one to leave and I left early. I have never left that meeting early until today. I didn't have it in me and I didn't feel like faking it.

On the way back to the office I decided to stop at the Popeye’s Chicken on South Claiborne Avenue because it was early enough that not many people were at lunch so I could probably get in and out. When I walked in the manager was cleaning water off of the floor. I just so happened to have the same color shirt she did. While I was waiting for the young lady to take my order she walked up to me and said “I was about to say he got a shirt just like me. I was about to switch shirts with you because mine is wet.” I then told her I didn’t mind switching if she let me have my chicken for free. She laughed and said no.

About two minutes later a tall lady with blond streaks in her hair and about 7 gold teeth walked in with her elderly mama. She closed the door and the first thing she did was scream “Hi everybody! Praise be to God baaabby! How that song go mama?” She broke out into a gospel song but I couldn’t tell what she was saying because I was too busy laughing at her dancing. She then gave all of the ladies working there a high five and shook my hand. She spoke to all the people sitting down too. She looked at the cashier’s name tag and asked her, “Baby, how do you pronounce your name?..What?....Lord, tell your mama I said stop that madness”. Everybody started laughing. Two police officers walked in after that and sat down. When she noticed them she turned around and said “Hey officers how y’all doing? Ya’ll not the ones that arrested my son in law last night ha? Let me tell you about him. That boy ain’t nothing but the devil.” That’s around the time my fries were finally ready so I got my food and left her in there talking to the police officers while her mama just shook her head saying ‘that child is crazy.”

Now, some people might read that story and find it ignorant but with all the things we have been through I found it beautiful. I can’t quite put into words why this five minute episode in Popeye’s made me feel so good about being from here but I had to sit at my desk before I eat lunch just to write this and thank that blond haired, gold tooth sister for feeling good, being herself, and so New Orleans. I needed that today.

We Have Enough Trouble Already

About a week after Katrina I was driving my dad and some other family members back from the Army base in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. He kept telling me about the times when the buses would stop and how there would be policeman surrounding them with weapons to make sure no one left the rest area while the bus wasn’t moving. I remember exactly what he told me; “Man, the mayor had those people so scared of us talking about how we were all on drugs that they thought we were going to go out and destroy everything if they let us be free.” If I had to list the most frustrating things about life right now it would be how black men don’t realize that we are not judged as individuals. I wish we were but it is just not true. I know every mug shot that pops up on that screen is a blow to my image.

That’s why I cringed when I saw and heard the promotion for Street Negro Sundays at a local club. We have enough trouble without adding to our own image problem. Think about what people might be saying. Not only is New Orleans more dangerous than Iraq, they openly celebrate the folks that make it so. What ever happened to Ladies Night? Now, there could have been only 10 people out there or it could have been 1000. Maybe it was a total failure. Either way I hope it was a one week event because as soon as something happens out there and the news gets a chance to report about violence breaking out at Street Negro Sunday the damage will be done.

Why would anyone want to hangout with that many street Negroes anyway? This isn’t a rap video with a bunch of rich dudes pretending they still live in the street. Real street Negroes are not that cool. They never listen to anything you try to tell them. They always want to keep it real and do what they want to do whenever they feel like doing it. Then, once all of that blows up in their face and it always does, they want to try and make you feel bad if you don’t mess up your credit and spend all your extra money to get them out of the mess they wouldn’t have been in if just listened to you in the first place. If you want to go to a club full of cats like that and hang out go ahead but you better get there soon because it won’t be open that long. I just hope nothing bad happens before they get shut down.

Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Three

I would like to thank Mother Nature for taking her finger off the humidity button and making this the first morning in weeks where I wasn’t totally miserable. I know the cost for the breeze might be a severe thunderstorm but we get those anyway. August is the worst month of the year in terms of weather. The older I get the more I hate being outside or even dressed during the month. It’s also the month where tropical waves blow up to category 5’s overnight. I can’t wait until it’s over. School started last week in New Orleans. Personally I would prefer starting the year in September and extending it into June if they wanted the extra teaching time. I think parents should get to vote on this kind of thing.

Speaking of voting, anyone who has had a job and pays into social security should get a vote about a raise in the retirement age. You can’t put me in the “no” column. I would vote to lower it to 60 years of age. Social security isn’t a handout because every pay period I give more to FICA than I do to federal and state taxes combined. If all goes well when I turn 65 I will have worked a full time job for 47 years. That’s 564 months and over 1200 paychecks with money being taken out for social security. On June 11, 2039 someone better have a check for me or there’s going to be some trouble.

I had some seafood for lunch today. It smelled okay to me so I went with it.

The following question has nothing to do with the job Mayor Landrieu is doing. With the news this week that people are still fighting the Road Home program for money and that black homeowners were discriminated against, how different would the mayor’s election had been if one of the other candidates knew the person that had a lot to do with setting up the Road Home program would be the first deputy mayor and chief administrative officer? With that being said, I’m happy with my vote and Mayor Landrieu is doing a good job so far.

Unless Osama Bin Laden or Al Qaeda’s name is on the lease the Islamic center in Manhattan should be allowed to go forward. Americans need to realize that when you go against your own basic principles solely because of the religion of people involved you validate everything the terrorist say about us.

So you can’t text and drive anymore in the state of Louisiana. It’s a 175.00 ticket if you do. I guess that makes everyone safer despite the fact you can still get drinks without shutting off your car or try to eat a combo meal from McDonalds from the drive through without getting it on your clothes. Personally, I find women in short pants way more distracting while driving than my phone.

I don’t care about Dr. Laura or what she thinks about me. I have no reaction to her ending her show. I’m much more worried about the mentality in our community that would come up with a club promotion called Street Negro Sundays. The people that attended this are more of a danger to me and my family. As a matter of fact, this deserves its own post.

I’m not ready to get into the five year Katrina anniversary until next week. If I start talking about it this early I would never make it to the 29th without a lot of anger coming back. I would like to personally endorse this post for your reading pleasure. My peeps couldn’t wait to get it off her chest. She did a good job.

It’s too early to give any thoughts on the upcoming Saints season but I already have a dream scenario that would be the second best thing next to the Saints repeating. It’s week three of the season and Brett Favre ankles finally get tired of leaving Mississippi so they both give way and he’s injured and finally has to stop playing. The next week Tavaris Jackson takes the field and throws for 500 yards and 4 touchdowns. The crowd is going crazy, his teammates are excited and Brad Childress is relieved. Soon as the sideline reporter starts interviewing him Tavaris takes off his helmet, looks right into the camera and tells everyone in Minnesota especially Brad Childress and his teammates to kiss his black ass and that Wrangler jeans suck then walks off with Kanye West. I would never delete that from my DVR.

School is back in so the little girl friendly hip hop takes its place on the MP3 player.

One Working Man's Opinion On The Bush Tax Cuts

I have been trying to understand how this debate about the economy as it relates to spending and tax cuts. I listen to Democrats and Republicans argue about this on Sunday morning talk shows yesterday. One of the main issues seems to be the tax cuts for the wealthy that were done by President Bush. Republicans feel like having these tax cuts repealed would be bad for the economy because those are the people that create jobs in America. Democrats and some economists say we should let the cuts expire because they are not paid for so they are just as bad for the deficit as spending. That’s the basic argument without all the big technical words.

First of all, I am not one of those people who believe the rich should pay a higher percentage of their money than anyone else. You shouldn’t have to put in a higher share than anyone else because you are financially successful. I say everyone should have to pay the same percentage. Rich folks would end up giving more because they have more but it would still be the same percentage as people like me so everyone is making the same sacrifice and no one thinks the other side is getting over. I would be on board for something like that since the deficit is as bad as it is and we have two wars to pay for. Once we pay off a few of those loans from other countries and bring the troops home then we can talk about cutting everything again.

The second thing is I find it funny that so many of us want to accuse people of being less American if they think government should help people but think it’s okay that so many people have to depend on the decisions of a private citizen or corporation to determine their faith. What I get out of this debate is “If we don’t take care of the rich they will not do anything to hire you.” Unless you are the CEO or the chairman of the board you are still dependent on someone other than yourself. Every morning people get up hoping that some foreign country or computer program hasn’t shown the powers that be a way to do what you get paid to do for half of the cost. That’s why we have self checkout machines in the stores and the kids play with toys made in China. At least with the government having some say so you can keep voting and hope to get it right. If the private sector is going to decide the faith of the country with no regulation and paying no taxes at all we can’t do a damn thing if they decide to take all that money and keep it in their pocket. Let’s be honest for a minute. If someone gave the majority of us a check for ten thousand dollars and didn’t say we had to spend at least three thousand on other people would we? The answer is no so whether we give tax cuts to businesses or people, it won’t make a difference unless you put some stipulations to it.

The third thing is the one question I don’t hear anyone asking. If the tax cuts are supposed to spur economic growth, why are we in a recession now when the rich haven’t been paying these taxes since 2001? Shouldn’t unemployment be at 5% or lower if low taxes and less regulation was the key? I’m a fair minded guy and if President Obama would have taken office with a surplus, eliminated the tax cuts and things fell apart, I would be the first one to say that was a dumb ass policy but that’s not what happened. The economy finally fell apart in 2008 largely in part to the greed of the same people who weren’t paying these taxes for seven years already. How is that going to change all of a sudden? If you did the same thing with your money for this long without a positive result you would be bankrupt. That’s where we are going to be if both parties don’t start dealing with reality.

Saturday Night School Memories: Bus Tickets and Canal Street

It’s almost the middle of August which means the kids are going back to school. The summer went by so fast. They should give parents the same amount of vacation time as the children get. I haven’t talked about education issues in awhile but I have some things I want to talk about now. We won’t get into all of that heavy stuff today since it’s the weekend. Earlier this week I was having a conversation with my co-workers about school and how it was a good thing now that the city has so many school buses to take kids to and from school. Back in my day most of the kids in Orleans Parish rode the RTA bus with bus tickets. I really can’t stress to you how important it was not to lose those bus tickets. Bus tickets were more important than money. That was a long walk home without them. My friend Fred used to lose his bus tickets for weeks at a time and always have to walk home. That must be why he stayed so skinny. One year they changed up the system and gave us stickers to put on our student ID cards. You could get on any bus in the evening by showing the sticker. We were all over New Orleans in places we shouldn’t have been. That only lasted one year. They got rid of that quick. I’m sure we cost the RTA millions in free joyrides and made at least ten drivers retire.

Thousands of school children of all ages would be on Canal Street in the afternoon just walking around. That was the meeting place for school aged children. Most of the city’s bus routes connected up there so we all could hang out thee and still get home. You could stay up there for a long time if your transfer didn’t expire. If it did then you were stuck and had to walk from Canal and that was a lot of neighborhoods to make it through to get to your house. That happened to me a few times since I was so careless with small stuff. The thing about being on Canal after school was that since there were so many people from all over the city up there you could run into anyone and see anything. If it was football season there was always a chance for a good school fight to happen. Some days you might get a cute girl’s phone number. Some days you might run into friends from elementary school that moved to other neighborhoods. On other days a group of guys from Fortier High School might try to steal your new tennis shoes (I shouldn't be picking on a school that had their building stolen after Katrina. I was a just a joke.) It was always fun, sometimes dangerous, and we did it everyday either way.

After the Canal experience was over everyone would go the bus line that took them home. My spot was the St. Claude Bus Stop on Canal and Rampart in front of the Popeye’s Chicken place where the old man used to sell newspapers and pecan candy in the front. The only goal then was not getting on one of those round shaped buses where the windows didn’t open. This was extra important if it was raining because a crowded bus full of sweaty people who have worked all day and rain water does not mix very well. You also didn’t want to get one of the bus drivers who had a bad attitude so he would pass up a bunch of stops just to make everybody walk a little longer.

Just thinking about those times in my teenage years reminds me of how you change with age. Back then I couldn’t wait to get up there in the evening to see what was going on. Now you can’t get me to go anywhere if I think there will be the slightest argument. I’m glad these kids today don’t have to deal with all that stuff after school. Besides, we got out at 3:15. Kids now get out anywhere between 4PM and 5 PM so they wouldn’t get home until dark. I guess we can chalk transportation up to the positive side of school reform.

Congratulations Again To The City Champ

I know my team’s place in NFL history. This weekend my favorite NFL player of all time Rickey Jackson is going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the same time as Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice. I love Rickey but those are two of the top ten players in NFL history with a lot of rings. I understand why they are going to get the majority of the spotlight. I was hoping that the NFL Network would dig up a tape of one of # 57’s games in his prime so the rest of the country that are not long time fans of the Saints would understand just how good of a football player he was. I hope there aren’t many people that think he got in because the Saints went to the Superbowl. That probably made the committee look at his resume closer but he earned it on the field. He’s going to look good in his yellow blazer.

I have the same love of football that I did when I was ten years old. The only difference now is that I have a better understand of how life works and money flows. I understand that the Saints are only here because we found a way to make it profitable for the owner. I also realize that as much as we love someone like Drew Brees, if Miami would have put up a few more dollars and been more positive about his shoulder injury a few years ago he’s probably playing there and the San Antonio Saints may have started training camp this week. That’s not a shot at Drew. Those guys get beat up in the prime of their lives and need to make all the money they can. I don’t get mad at any player for doing what they have to do to get paid even if it means not playing in New Orleans for my team.

I can dig that at 36 but when you are a kid sports are different. You look at those guys like they are larger than life. I was 7 years old when The City Champ was a rookie. I grew up with his career. That wasn’t easy because before Jim Mora and Jim Finks hit town some of those Saints teams looked so bad it almost seemed like they were losing on purpose. Through all of that Rickey Jackson brought it game after game. He never whined and he never complained except for that one time when he gave the Trigger Man speech that I and my dad still quote when leadership is breaking down (Greatest post game interview ever and I can’t find it anywhere). That’s why for the first time I am going to watch an entire hall of fame induction ceremony because from my perspective the greatest Saint ever is getting the recognition he deserves. I’m sure that about 20 years from now some current little kid is going to feel the same way about Drew Brees.

P.S.

If anyone knows the post game interview I am talking about when he talks about the trigger man please let me know where I might find it. It happened during the season when Steve Walsh was quarterback.

Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Two

I want to start off this post by giving a shout out to my baby brother. Yesterday he had an accident and wrecked the family vehicle. He’s okay but it could have been really bad. Since I am the big brother and knew he needed some perspective I called and told him the story of my very first car. I bought my first car for six hundred dollars from a guy didn’t want me to test drive it. The first night it broke down twice. The second night it broke down three times. On the third night I took all my friends cruising through New Orleans and it stopped running four times. When it was about to stop for the fifth time I panicked and ran a stop light. I hit this guy’s car and he was nice enough not to call the police. It cost me nine hundred to get his car fixed. My car never ran again. I spent fifteen hundred dollars to drive for three days and had to catch the bus forever before I saved enough to buy another car. The moral of the story is sometimes you do things as a young man you can learn from. The other moral is never purchase a car from a guy without any teeth in his mouth and if you do take your dad and not Big G because it will cost you.

I’m inside under the air conditioning vent and a ceiling fan because it is 95 degrees at night time. I went to work today and the heat was brutal. Right now I am sipping on a Red Stripe and trying to watch a Canadian football game. Watching Canadian football in place of American football is like getting a lap dance through a bulletproof glass. It looks like the real thing but doesn’t feel the same. We can’t talk about real football until the great Rickey Jackson enters the Hall of Fame. That’s going to put me in the right frame of mind to defend the title.

I bet you the people in Alaska are really pissed off right now. The Exxon Valdez spill happened in 1989 and they are still cleaning up 21 years later. The Deepwater Horizon spill leaked for months and was supposed to be even bigger than the Exxon Valdez and yet magically the oil on the Gulf Coast appears to be disappearing in record time.

Despite our modest non profit budget, our computer network is set up where no one can install anything or view certain files without the technology director’s password. How was someone able to download and expose Afghan war secrets?

The fact that people are discussing tearing down the Claiborne I-10 overpass shows what gentrification and changing demographics can do for parts of the city. I don’t know what it means to live in New Orleans without the interstate running through the city. I walked under that overpass almost everyday in high school. If you talk to any older people that grew up before the interstate was built you know how much they loved Claiborne St. It just so happens that those neighborhoods were the historically black ones and that’s why no one gave a damn when they made the decision to run it right through the heart of that area. Ten years ago if someone would have went to a City Council meeting and brought this up they would have cut the microphone off and called security. Now in 2010, you get some new residents and a television show named after a historic neighborhood and tearing down the overpass is a serious discussion. I find this fascinating and eye opening.

I wouldn’t be against that kind of project if we had extra money left over after building hospitals and new school buildings. Give me about ten new complete school buildings and two hospitals and I might be on board.

Things going on in the news and around the city lately have been just as aggravating as always but personally I have been in a very good mood. I don’t know why but I am. I hope I didn’t just jinx it.

A Complicated Issue With No Simple Solution

I had a good vacation but I made one mistake. I watched too much news. I got to see and read too much coverage about the Shirley Sherrod, NAACP, Tea Party and Fox News fiasco. It was hard to watch that stuff. It seemed like everyone except Mrs. Sherrod wasn’t thinking clearly. After the health care debate got out of hand I have been able to deal with these racial issues because I know three things. 1. The president’s administration won’t have your back when the drama starts. They don't want any parts of the race debate. 2. Organizations like the NAACP have watered down the issue of race to the point where it’s become limited to name calling and hurt feelings. That doesn't take away anything these groups have done in the past. I respect and honor that but fighting racism in these days and times is much more layered than just someone saying the N word and we have trouble dealing with it. 3. What Fox news is doing is way more about brainwashing white people than it is about me. When we play along we just help the process.

The saddest part about things like this is the way people keep trying to put the issue of race into one box. It’s either has to be all the way one way or the other. In 2010 race is a complicated thing. There are so many ways you can talk the situation that it’s almost impossible to come to a clear conclusion about anything. My opinion changes from situation to situation. I’m much more serious about the systematic things like education and the justice system. I’m much less affected by the name calling and stereotypical things. Only people willing to be opened minded should even attempt to discuss it openly. There are so many other things to take into account than just skin color. There’s education, geographic location, economics and all kinds of other factors. A lot of the issue has to do with life experiences. That actually makes racism more confusing because people can ignore personal experiences in favor of generalizations. We could be living in a country where no two people have the same exact views on race unless they are too dumb to think for themselves and just follow what someone else tells them.

I can only speak for myself. The best way I could describe my attitude about race is that I have a necessary acceptance of a certain amount of superficial racism. I’m sad to admit that but it’s true. Too many white people have done things for me in my life to paint them all with a broad brush. It would be unfair and dishonest to sit here and tell you that I think all white people are trying to hold me back. I couldn't look those folks in the face again if I did that. Besides, I was raised to believe that I could make any person respect me if I carried myself the right way and that’s been true 95% of the time no matter what race the other person is. At the same time I listen to talk radio, I read blogs and internet comments. I know that there is a section of the population that is judging me based on something they heard on the news or watched on BET. I realize that no matter how well I treat my kids, or how hard I work, there will always be someone that looks at me as inferior.

When me and my friends go to a nice restaurant or Best Buy there’s going to be someone in there thinking to themselves that their money is paying for my steak or buying my new television. I can’t do anything to change their minds even if I showed them my check stub and made them realize I make more than they do. That’s their problem and not mine. Why should I be miserable and let them mess up the taste of my steak because of their closed minds? The funny part is that the person doing it is probably telling it to his son and they are both wearing Reggie Bush jerseys. My main focus is my own actions and making sure that the next generation has even better opportunities than I have. That’s the way to move past all of this in my opinion. We just have to work and educate ourselves through it because talking isn’t working.

Some of the people who read this won’t agree with me. Then there will be some others that wonder why I am being so lenient on the white man. Others will read it and say I am lying and can’t wait for the next FEMA check like the rest of the blacks from New Orleans. I could respond to all those people all at once and tell them to get together to kiss my ass but then we would be right back where we started from and that’s exactly what’s happening now. That’s why we need to start ignoring some of these things in the media if they are not going to deal with it seriously.

CP3 Wants To Leave Us

I am not upset that Chris Paul wants to be traded. Basketball is his business and if goes to New York he will have more opportunities to make money. When you are a fan of small market teams that’s just how it goes. I love the Saints as a team more than any individual player because none of them are obligated to have the same passion for my city as I do. I love what they do but I am always prepared for them to leave for better situations. Even though the Knicks have sucked for years and besides the few years in Patrick Ewing’s prime when they got close haven’t been able to win jack, I understand why Chris Paul wants to go to New York. It fits the group of players that he's friends with.

I say let him go as long as the trade doesn’t end up being like the one Memphis did when they sent Pau Gasol to Los Angeles. We need to get at least two starters and a first round pick from someone or it’s no deal. He can stay here and sit out 40 games with a sprain thumb ligament like NBA players do when they want to be traded. Baron Davis already gave us a sample of that stuff a few years ago so we know what’s coming. I was just hoping he at least gave the new coach and general manager at least a season to show him if they could turn things around or not. I guess the people the Hornets hired couldn't match Pat Riley's stature. That's how it goes.

The only thing that’s really going to piss me off is the brown nosing reporters that work around the NBA. They are going to take every opportunity to dog New Orleans like somehow we didn’t do right by Chris Paul. They are going to make it seem like Chris Paul had to escape this dysfunctional place and do the best thing for him and his family(This does not apply to Adrian Wojnarowski). Lebron James had that same message on his Twitter account yesterday. I just want to tell the world that ever since Chris Paul was drafted all the people of New Orleans have done is give him nothing but love and praise. Until this offseason you would have trouble finding anything written or said about him in a negative light in this city. I guess being in a city where you could make the most money and get treated like a hero isn’t as important to a player and his family as it used to be. Maybe I'm just too New Orleans to understand anyone wanting to leave without a good reason.

You know what….. I think I’m just going to go ahead and blame this one on the oil spill too. That way George Shinn can file a claim for all the tickets he won’t be selling if Chris Paul leaves.