b.rox

This bears reading. Dumas Carter is a cop who was at the Convention Center in New Orleans, and he really tells it like it was. Contains some well-deserved expletives.

Just got a phone call from my friend and co-worker Howie. He’s back in New Orleans. He was lucky. His home escaped damage.
But he’s upset and wanted to rant about it. He said that there’s plenty of food and water getting distributed, but people can’t cut through the red tape to get the financial assistance [...]

Originally uploaded by dental ben.

Dental Ben has posted a set of pix taken in Mid-City (my neighborhood in New Orleans) over the last couple of days.

I got a job! John Byers hired me to help with a renovation he’s doing. I spent about four hours this morning pulling nails out of dismantled cabinetry and pulling floorboards up in an attic. It was sweaty and dirty work but not particularly difficult. I suppose I’m doing it more for the sake of [...]

Been surfing the internet all day… Don’t know what to say… Except…
Real Reports of Katrina Relief
New Orleans Independent Media Center
Jacob Appelbaum’s weblog
Katrina: The Mid City Story
Nix Bits
GulfSails
Katrina Feeds
Common Ground
Katrinaville
katrina-flood-depth-estimation-09-03-2005.jpg (JPEG Image, 1991×1559 pixels)
A 5th grader’s account of Hurricane Katrina Poignant!

I talked to our insurance adjuster the other night, a guy named Roland Graybill. I told him that to the best of our knowledge the first floor of our home was flooded with up to six feet of water, and has been sitting in water for a couple of weeks now. He said that in [...]

According to the New Orleans Flood Map our property is now dry, after soaking in 6.6′ of water for sixteen days.

The drive to NOLA

Originally uploaded by ioerror.

Jacob Appelbaum has posted a bunch of photos that were taken in New Orleans in the last few days, including this one of my friend and co-conspirator Malik Rahim.
The pix are really excellent and deserve to be seen by [...]

Poetry in Exile: My friend, neighbor and co-worker Biljana D. Obradovic has started a blog. She’s looking for people from the XU English Department, so if you’re reading this, please get in touch with her.
Get Your Act On: Andrea Garland is heading back in to New Orleans. Good luck, Andrea! I wish I could be [...]

What we brought with us:

three cats
documents relating to home and car
about three changes of clothes each
some food
dental floss
toothbrushes
Xy’s contact lenses
meds
dope
my cheap-ass Panasonic video camera
a Nikon Coolpix 990, which belongs to the University
The Boat of a Million Years

What we didn’t bring but wish we had:

my G4 iMac
photo albums
jewelry
Xy’s teaching documents
personal documents such as Social Security cards, [...]

Last night our friend Jaylene came down from Indy with her step-dad. They were delivering a bed and some other furniture for us. The bed was available because Jaylene’s mom — Jimmy’s wife — died just a few weeks ago.
As I sat on our front porch talking with Jimmy, I recalled something I’d said to [...]

Our friend LoJo in St. Louis made this poster with her partner. Feel free to print the full-quality original and post it wherever you like.

It was the silverware that really got to me.
A couple days ago we moved into a house on the east side of IU’s campus. The housing was graciously donated to us, rent free for at least a month, by Timothy and Susan Mayer. They are parents of Andrew Mayer, a friend and video collaborator who [...]

My co-worker, neighbor and friend Michael Homan made it out of New Orleans alive. He has written an account of his experiences which is simply must be read to be believed. So take a deep breath and read it.

Yesterday I had lunch with my old friend Kevin Kennedy. We went to high school together in Greenwood, Indiana. I learned from him that our 20 year high school reunion was that very night.
At first I didn’t want to go, because it’s hard to celebrate anything when people are dying in New Orleans. But the [...]

This story about us appeared in the local Bloomington paper yesterday. Thanks, Mike.
NOLA evacuees just glad to be back in Bloomington
by Mike Leonard
H-T columnist
September 1, 2005
Bart Everson and Christy Paxson hadn’t evacuated New
Orleans in the six years they’d lived there and didn’t
pay much heed to Hurricane Katrina, either, when
chatter about the storm increased in intensity [...]

Lots of people have been contacting us over the last few days, via phone, internet, and in person. We appreciate the many offers of help and support.
Many people have also been asking us questions, and I haven’t been able to respond personally to every query. But here’s an attempt to answer the most frequently asked [...]