The N.O. Morale Booster

I’ve been quiet about New Orleans. Certain people had accused me of being too caught up in the condition of the city so I just sat back and watched for the last month or so to see what might happen. Well, it’s been long enough and it’s still the same so I am now getting back on my amateur soapbox and complaining. The biggest gripe I have at the moment about being back in the city is the low quality of life for the citizens and the lack of action to change any of it. I have tosay morale is low. The only people that are having a great time are the thieves, hustlers and prostitutes. Everybody else is in a bad mood or stressed. With that in mind, I am going to list ten things that can be done right away within reason to give some life and morale back to the all the fools that have returned home. They might as well use my list since no one else has come up with anything. These are things to just make everybody feel better.

1. Stop Telling People to Come Home: I know the mayor thought that was the right thing to do but the truth of the matter is that the more people we add without housing to match is the more chaos that goes on. I miss my family but I couldn’t tell them it’s time to go back to their street with a clear conscience. At least they are in a cleaner and safer city where they are now. The Ninth Ward just got water last week and even uptown where I work the water comes out kind of brown. There is no way we could handle another five thousand people without the available housing.

2. Re-institute the city curfew: This is not normalNew Orleans since the storm and we shouldn’t act like it. The reality is that there is nothing to do outside of the French Quarter after midnight anywhere else so we need to have a 1:00AM curfew for everyone and 10:00 PM for kids under 18. Stretch it to 2:00 in the French Quarters to be fair and that’s it. If tourist can’t come up with a way to get drunk and fornicate in the privacy of their hotel then they should have stayed home.

3. Fix the traffic lights: Anyone living here now knows that you can’t tell if some of the traffic lights are green, yellow or red. There’s got to be a grant or something to get money for new traffic lights. It’s a safety issue.

4. Put the Inspector General position on the fast track: We have to show we are ready to change the way things are done down here and that is the whole premise of this position. Also, we need to give him/her the ability to go over all current contracts the city has regardless of how old they are.

5. Potholes, Potholes, Potholes: Uptown didn’t get as much water but they sure have the biggest crater size holes in the street. Your entire car can come up missing. It’s either this or FEMA allows everyone to trade in their car for an SUV.

6. Weekly press conferences by the mayor and city council: One of the biggest problems everyone is having is the lack of knowledge about what’s going on. President Bush might not want to admit the war was wrong but even he knows that you have to explain what is happening and that people’s questions may be valid.We need to have updates even if it’s just to say that they haven’t done shit all week. I can deal with that as long as someone acknowledges me.

7. Turn the Lights back on the lake: If the French quarter where the tourist are can have lights all night, then the lakefront where locals to go to hangout and maybe catch a few catfish. I go to the lake for peace when I want to relax. I’m tired of seeing darkness and barricades. That picture at the top is how the lake looks at 7:00 PM.

8. Threaten to place a toll at all entrances to the city: I realize that everyone in the area and the state would get mad about this and probably call Nagin and the Council crazy but I would appreciate the fact that at least somebody proposed something that was strictly for the benefit of the people that actually lived in the city even if it meant pissing off everybody else. They seem to have no problem doing and saying things that we don't like.

9. Hire a Spokesman: There has to be someone that can do a better of job of expressing the views and wishes of the citizens of the city than Clarence.

10. Stand up to the State and Surrounding Parishes: That talk about being a united metro area is only true for Saints games. Every time something happens in nearby city they use words that blame it on evacuees even though they never actually say any of the perpetrators are from New Orleans. I haven’t seen one thing that proves that. They need to start proving that shit or stopping that shit. I also think that one of the reasons the Road Home program is so complicated is because they put in extra shit just to make sure no one thought that New Orleans people weren’t getting over. I think we need to ask for our own money from Washington and tell them that the reason we have to is because as long as the Superdome, hotel and casino money comes in, the rest of this state could care less if one more “refugee” came home or not. I’m starting to think they like it like this.

Confidence

Confidence

Confidence is essential.
Everyone needs at least a lil bit.
Goes hand and hand with self esteem.
Confidence is my fuel.
I thrive on it.

I lost my confidence.
Been running on empty.
Been looking for that bastard for the last two years.
I have finally found it.
I can't tell you how.
It was probably there all of the time.
Sometimes dark days will hide it from you.

Now I remember that I am the shit.
Accolades and compliments are expected.
I missed feeling this way.
Welcome back old friend.
I need some new theme music.

Clifton

Daddy Stress

I'm not going to name the person that inspired this blog. All I am going to say is that sometimes we have to tell our friends and family the truth about what’s really going on. He will never read this anyway. I am not the perfect father. I can't comb girl's hair. Reading the same book more than once in a day is crazy to me and I refused to watch Barney. Despite these flaws, I have a pretty good idea of what a dad is supposed to do. It's only right since I have the best one ever. The number one thing all brothers must remember is that you instantly become second to your child. My daddy had a wife and 5 kids. He made him the 7th most important person in our house. That man didn't do anything based on his own wants and needs first. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for holidays and his birthday, he would have had the same pair of underwear since 1974 because he never would have bought anything for himself if he thought we needed the money first. When the baby is on it's way it's not about you anymore. I didn't realize this until I experienced it. Babies don't care if you are grieving, or depressed, or feel less than a man, or whatever other kind of hang-up you might have. It's not their job to suffer while you work out your hang-ups. I'm sick and tired of all these cats that legitimize their lack of responsibility because of some sad story. That's not the baby's job to understand the bullshit you are going through. It's your job to try and make sure that they don't have bullshit. I know people from New Orleans have been through a lot. I'm high on that list. What kind of man would I be if I woke up Christmas morning and said 'Hey, daddy don't have any presents because he lost his album collection and couldn't get over it"? That would be bullshit and Tara would have the right to curse my manhood cheap if she saw fit. I couldn't be mad. I tried to tell the inspiration for this blog not to be mad. He doesn't understand that once that mama switch gets turned on in a woman's head, she could really care less about whether or not you don't feel like lifting boxes at work. If lifting boxes buys pampers then lift some boxes. Look brothers, two months after celebrating my first baby's birth, I was laid off, my uncle passed, I was unemployed for 5 months and took a twelve thousand dollar pay cut when I went back to work, then my godfather died unexpectedly, then my grandfather passed away, then came Katrina and I lost my grandmother, then my aunt died of cancer, and the whole time I was tripping. If you read this blog you know that it's been a rough ride. Through that whole time I kept working, got a promotion, my salary doubled, I drove 600 miles a week back and forth, and learned all the names of the characters on the Sprout channel even though I wanted to take off running like Forrest Gump did when Jenny left.


But I didn't because I couldn't.....


I'm Daddy....


I put myself last....


Now get your ass up and go get a damn job to take care of your family!

Only In America

Only in America can a senator get away with going to rehab for liking underage boys and people defend him or hide it just to keep power. I find it funny that once a month Dateline NBC has a show that makes men who do the same thing look like the sickest freaks in the world. In all the years I have been drinking, I have never had enough liquor to make me want to send instant messages to my little brother's friends.

Only in America can we spend years fighting a war for reasons that change every six months. Meanwhile, every little punk-ass leader that wants a rep is talking trash because they know we can't do anything about it. Do you really think North Korea would be testing weapons if they knew we could kick some ass?

Only in America can an entire generation destroy itself behind words with empty meanings like "hate" and "beef" and people think that shit is normal. At least the Muslim kids fight for what they think their god wants them to do. We are dying because someone doesn't like the fact we got new rims.

Only in America can a state develop a plan to help it's citizens get their life and home's back together but make it so damn complicated and full of penalties and rules that no one understands it or really gets the help they need. I was pretty good at trigonometry and calculus in school and I still don't understand how the Road Home program works.

Only in America can a city struggling to recover have a mayor endorse a congressman that had money in his freezer to use for bribes just to return a political favor.

Only in America would that crooked congressman have the balls to run again in spite of his lack of creditability and the need for people to re-invest in his city.

Only in America would that mayor and congressman not have to worry about the locals creating a guerilla army, naming a new leader, and locking all of the current leadership in a undisclosed concentration camp. This is an idea that I contemplate often while riding through empty neighborhoods.

Only in America can a billionaire try and move his football team to another city while the entire region was still in hotels and shelters, then have everyone forget about that a year later. How do you go from being a pariah to getting the key to the city without ever really doing anything special?

Only in America could I write all of this and not have anyone come to get me......I hope

The Chicken Dance...

You know, I was taking me a week or two off from blogging. Sometimes it's cool to just watch things go by and observe without having to talk about it. Then, I run across something that touches me so deeply that I just have to say something. Please watch the video above. I have friends of all races and backgrounds. This has nothing to do with them. I have to say what I am about to say from the heart..............

Niggas should never ever ever dance for chicken. That goes for the chicken dance, the chicken noodle soup dance, and this bullshit up here.

You can disagree and find this shit funny but we have to have some kind of damn standards. We can't shake our ass to everything.