"A City Of The Dead"

Most people remember where they were when the levees broke in New Orleans. I was in Trinidad at the time. My daughter who lives in Dallas, Texas, called a few days later to say that many of her cousins were trapped on their way out of Texas a few days later when many parts of Texas were threatened by another violent storm. Apart from very long lines of traffic along the highway for several hours (it seemed as though it were a gigantic parking lot) they escaped the fury of this natural force.

Last weekend Louis Lee Sing and Tony Lee, two of my dearest friends and I attended the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Although I went to hear jazz I took the time out to explore the city. I was amazed by the beauty and mystery of the city.

After I arrived at Louis Armstrong Airport, I took a cab to Crown Plaza Astor where I stayed. In the cab, I was assailed by Johnny Horton's rendition of Jimmy Driftwood's "The Battle of New Orleans." It is a song with which I was familiar. Recorded in 1958, it became a hit at the end of the nineteen fifties. It re-imagined the Battle of New Orleans, the final battle in the War of 1812.

Listening to the lyrics, I could well imagine what the battle felt like. The lyrics proclaimed: "Well, in eighteen and fourteen we took a little trip/along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip./ We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,/ And we caught the bloody British near the town of New Orleans./ We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin./ There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago./We fired once more and they began to runnin'/ down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico."

And running some of them did all the way to Trinidad where they settled in Princes Town, Trinidad. In fact, between 1815 and 1816, over seven hundred free Black Americans who fought on the British side of the war were given refuge in Trinidad. These free Blacks became the first inhabitants of the company villages. If I am not mistaken, Prime Minister Patrick Manning may be a descendant of these Free Blacks.

New Orleans looked like any other West Indian town. With its mixtures of people and its zest for life Bourbon Street resembled any Port of Spain street on Carnival Monday night. There were more live bands on this street that anywhere I know about and the liquor flowed copiously. A friend remarked: "You can regard New Orleans as the most northerly city of the Caribbean; Port of Spain as the most southerly." It represented the coming together of explorers and pirates, Voodoo Queens and Carnival (Mardi Gras) Kings, African slaves and European aristocrats.

I was interested in the Voudou aspect of things. It was introduced into New Orleans by slaves from the West Indies. As fate would have it, on Friday evening we went out to Red Fish Grill on Bourbon Street to get a taste of New Orleans' Creole cuisine. To my amazement one of the waiters at the restaurant was a direct descendant Marie Laveau, a Voudou Priestess, of New Orleans fame. One account described her as having a combination of "spiritual power, clairvoyance, healing abilities, beauty, chrisma, showmanship, intimidation, and shrewd business sense that enabled her to assume leadership of a multicultural religious community and accumulate wealth and property."

Such a description reminded me of our own Mother Gerald in Tacarigua, a Shango priestess, who claimed to have mystical powers. All of us in the village paid her the necessary respects and my grandmother was one of her faithful followers. Whether in New Orleans or in Tacarigua, these seer-women played an important role in keeping the community together and aspect of our African tradition alive.

No visit to New Orleans would be complete without a visit to a "City of the Dead," the cemeteries of New Orleans. Since parts of the city are actually below sea level, New Orleans had to construct a system of tombs above the ground to honor their dead. These tombs looked like live vaults that sough to maintain the sanctity of those who passed away. They resembled miniature cities with family tombs arranged very neatly and walkways to match.

A visit to the city of the dead prepared me for my visit to the 9th Ward where Hurricane Katrina had struck with all of her fury. That expanse of land lay abandoned. No one seemed to care for the people who had lost all of their worldly possessions. A federal government that had spent over 500 billion dollars on a War in Iraq seemed indifferent to victims of Katrina whose belongings (or what was left of them) were strewn all over the place.

The 9th War[d] reminded one of the cities of the dead. Somehow the city of the dead looked as though it were better cared for than the abandoned remains of Ward 9. Maybe only God that can put a hand to assist these abandoned victims of Hurricane Katrina. I hope it does not take too long.

Posted with thanks to:

Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe, Professor
President, NAEAP
Africana Studies
Wellesley College

Professor Cudjoe graciously permitted me to quote his article in its entirety. I'm immensely grateful to him for his affection and concern for New Orleans, the home of my heart, and for his reminder of the historical connection of the city with the islands of the Caribbean. New Orleans history and culture are rich and greatly diverse. Whenever I visited the islands, the styles of the buildings in the old sections of the towns seemed quite familiar to me.

Dr. Cudjoe says of the New Orleans, "I was amazed by the beauty and mystery of the city." And so am I, even with the familiarity growing up there. Whenever I return, I am amazed once again, having lived elsewhere for over 40 years.

I remember where I was upon hearing of the levee breaches. We were at our small farm northwest of Baton Rouge, all 15 of us in two small farmhouses, with five dogs and three cats, having evacuated from Thibodaux, Houma, and New Orleans. On a grainy TV screen powered by a generator and rabbit ears - for we had lost power there, too - we first heard that New Orleans had "dogded a bullet" from Katrina, that the city had fared pretty well. And then the levees broke, in Lakeview, in Gentilly, in the Lower Ninth Ward, and in St. Bernard Parish and the waters came, the federal flood, due to faulty levees that did not do the job that they were constructed to do. Dr. Cudjoe's comparison of the cemeteries to the Lower Ninth Ward is apt, as is his reflection that the dead were cared for better than the living.

No help came for several days, and then it began to trickle in, slowly, oh so slowly, even today coming much too slowly. But for the sheer determination of the citizens of New Orleans and the help of volunteers and gifts from all over the world, what progress that has been made would have been much less. And the war grinds on, the killing fields devouring money in amounts that our imaginations can't take in. And so it goes.

Dr. Cudjoe's homepage is here.

H/T to Rmj at Adventus for the link to Professor Cudjoe's article.

The Insanity Of The Iraq War and "Appeasement"

From James Carroll at the Boston Globe:

Insanity is defined as repeating one mistaken action again and again, each time expecting a better result that never comes. Prime example: the United States in Iraq. Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein, but instead of responding with diplomacy - internationally coordinated weapons inspections - it went to war. When Saddam Hussein was toppled, the initiative should have passed from the Pentagon to a State Department-led program of stabilization and reconstruction, but instead a crudely violent military occupation was begun. Diplomacy was once again rejected.
....

Let's call this repeated insanity the mistake of "supermilitarism," choosing war over diplomacy, and expecting order to follow, instead of chaos. The mistake was made at the beginning, in the middle, and is being repeated now, in what should be the end. The mistake is so deeply rooted in American structures of imagination, economy, and government that it isn't even perceived as a mistake by those in power. And it threatens the future as much as it burdens the past.
....

The occupation is the mistake that keeps on taking.

The healing of Iraq would be far more readily achieved by an American acknowledgment of failure, and by the engagement of other nations that such an acknowledgment would immediately invite. But insanely holding on in Iraq until Washington can claim something like "victory" means that this globally oriented geo-political ambition - America's standing in the world - is being bought at the price of Iraqi blood.

And now Barack Obama is being Swift-Boated by the president himself in a foreign country and by John McCain for wanting to try diplomacy with "rogue nations" before launching wars. Remember Bush's Axis of Evil, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea? Well, according to CNN, Bush is negotiating with North Korea:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States said Friday it has reached a deal with North Korea to provide 500,000 metric tons of food aid over the coming year to the closed-off communist nation.

The Bush administration says the aid is unrelated to its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with a nation President Bush once included as part of a rhetorical "axis of evil."

Obama is being accused of "appeasement" by ignorant or deceptive people who do not know or care what the word means. Using diplomacy with leaders of other nations is NOT appeasement. Will the American people buy this ugly smear? We shall see.

Drug Dealer Calls Cops For Help

From the Advocate:

HAMMOND — Deputies arrested a Hammond man Friday after he allegedly called to report that someone stole the drugs he was selling, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office reported.

Cedrick Riley Sr., 23, 42336 E. Pleasant Hill Road Extension, told deputies that he was trying to sell drugs when his would-be customers hit him across the head with a gun, tied him up and robbed him of his illicit merchandise near a gas station on University Avenue and Puma Drive in Hammond, said a statement from the Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff's office found two outstanding warrants against Riley. Tough luck.

Note to Cedrick: Next time suck it up.

Still Not Ready For The Olympics

As you slip, don't crack your head, hurt your back, or break your arm or leg. Go down gently.


Please no hands over mouths. Keep mouths visible at all times, to show that you are not conversing, or spitting, or spewing spittle while you converse.


It's quite easy, even if you don't speak Chinese.


No smiling, laughing, or happy expressions which might suggest that you are having fun.

(For the record, the lame captions under the signs are mine.)

Thanks to Doug for the signs.

"That's How The Light Gets In..."

The video nobody "got" at Filmapalooza the sequel. Not that there was anything to get, but it's much more fun if I make myself sound like a misunderstood artist. Anyway, this is our interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Anthem", which is a lovely song. Enjoy.
Dylan Wendell Cunningham and Caitlin Davidson.

Lifted from Ann at What the Tide Brings In.

Ann says:

"A video for Pentecost. How are we cracked by life? How can the Spirit get in?"

Feast Of The Martyrs Of Sudan

Episcopal News Service

The Christian bishops, chiefs, commanders, clergy and people of Sudan declared, on May 16, 1983, that they would not abandon God as God had revealed himself to them under threat of Shariah Law imposed by the fundamentalist Islamic government in Khartoum. Until a peace treaty was signed on January 9, 2005, the Episcopal Church of the Province of the Sudan suffered from persecution and devastation through twenty-two years of civil war. Two and a half million people were killed, half of whom were members of this church. Many clergy and lay leaders were singled out because of their religious leadership in their communities. No buildings, including churches and schools, are left standing in an area the size of Alaska. Four million people are internally displaced, and a million are scattered around Africa and beyond in the Sudanese Diaspora. Twenty-two of the twenty-four dioceses exist in exile in Uganda or Kenya, and the majority of the clergy are unpaid. Only 5% of the population of Southern Sudan was Christian in 1983. Today over 85% of that region of six million is now mostly Episcopalian or Roman Catholic. A faith rooted deeply in the mercy of God has renewed their spirits through out the years of strife and sorrow.

From the proposal before the 75th General Convention

Readings:

Wisdom 3:1-9
Psalms 109, 110, 111, 116:10-17
Hebrews 10:32-39
Matthew 24:9-14

PRAYER

O God, the One who is steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before you the blessed martyrs of the Sudan, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they refuse to abandon, even in the face of death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

From James Kiefer at the Lectionary.

"Thought for 05.15.08"

From Tobias Haller at In A Godward Direction:

Charitable feelings are of no use
without acts of charity.
Compassionate feelings are of no use
without acts of compassion.
Loving feelings are useless
unless they lead to acts of love.
The Priest and Levite may well have felt sorry
for the wounded man
as they steered a course past him,
and the Samaritan who stopped to help
may have been muttering
under his breath
at the inconvenience
the whole time.
How they felt
was immaterial to the wounded man.

I post these wise and wonderful words as a reminder to me.

Lucky Senator Vitter

From the New York Times Editorial Board:

As Congressman Vito Fossella, Republican of New York, faces demands he resign for the one-two punch of a DUI charge and revelations that he fathered a daughter from an extramarital affair, he can only envy the good luck of Senator David Vitter, his Republican colleague from Louisiana.

Senator Vitter, a hearty family values Republican, shocked Louisiana constituents last year when his name popped up on a Washington madam’s private phone logs. Reeling from the news, Senator Vitter offered no explanation, simply providing a quick apology for a “very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible.”

“Responsible,” perhaps, but not accountable, apparently.

The Senate Ethics Committee responded to the complaint filed against Sen. Vitter by dismissing it. Since the meetings with the prostitute took place while Vitter served in the U.S. House of Representatives, the committee members concluded that they had no jurisdiction in the matter. Since Vitter is in the Senate now, the House no longer has jurisdiction. As the board says:

There’s a lesson here, kids, if you’re thinking of running for Congress. If you do something unethical while you’re in the House — you’d better get elected to the Senate.

Allie Is Doing The Lambeth Walk

Allie is a young graduate student from central New Jersey. We met at our gathering of the crazies in New York City last year. She is charming, smart, and funny. She calls herself an Episcojew.

At her blog, The Conformist Rebel, Allie tells us:

Many people don't know this, but Lambeth has a "Young Adult Stewards Programme." Basically, if you can get to the University of Kent, they cover room, board and a small allowance that I think might cover tube fares.

I recently recieved an email informing me that I was accepted into the programme. This includes being a general grunt, "one on one" time with the ABC, and attending "the garden party and Buckingham Palace" (the bourgeois church at its best, I suppose) with the rest of Lambeth attendees (and I'm sure a huge number of other people as well).

I'm very excited for this opportunity, and yes, I will be blogging the entire time...

but, as many of you know, I've crashed my car and my laptop died.

So I'm asking you, if you can, to help me get to Lambeth.
The cheapest tickets I could find were $850 (which I bought) but that also doesn't account from getting (by rail I assume) from Heathrow to Kent. If you can help at all, please let me know.

As you see, Allie's had a bit of bad luck lately. I'd rather give my money to Allie to go to Lambeth, than to some of the bishops. If you can help her even with a small amount, she will greatly appreciate it. Here's the mailing address:

Alicia Graham
c/o
Grace-St. Paul's Episcopal Church
3715 E. State Street Ext
Mercerville, NJ 08619

You can see that Allie is legitimate, because her church will receive the money and make sure it goes to the right place. Allie, careful with the "one on one" time with the ABC, and attending "the garden party and Buckingham Palace". You know the English and their propensity to throw bacchanalias.

Kirstin - The Half-Vulcan

From Kirstin at Barefoot and Laughing:

I'm not looking forward to seeing my ear for the first time--but part of me is also giggling at the idea of being half-Vulcan.

Yep. Still loopy. Or just damn happy that this part is over. Thankful to God, my doctors, my community, and my body.

She may be missing part of her ear, but she's not missing her sense of humor. Click the link to see her picture. She looks great!

Thanks be to God!