Day 1035: Charity Hospital In Architecture Week
June 27, 2008 - Filed Under culture-society-history, government, health, new orleans, photographs, recovery
This completely slipped my mind until now: Charity Hospital was featured prominently in the June 11th issue of Architecture Week in an article called Historic U.S. Places at Risk.
One of my pictures of Charity’s magnificent facade was used in the article (with permission) along with several from other contributors. Also mentioned is the LSU/VA plan which involves “demolition of some 200 homes and buildings constructed prior to 1880 in 25 blocks of the Mid-City Historic District, despite the existence of a largely vacant site nearby.”
Lower Mid-City was flooded in 2005 but not as badly as many other parts of New Orleans. Through hard work and the attendant pitfalls of the last three years, this is one part of the city which has been able to come back in an appreciable manner, the Deutsches Haus a prime example of such a rebound. It seems criminally negligent and wasteful to demolish a whole neighborhood that has mostly succeeded in recovery and in maintaining its historic roots to put in a much-needed hospital, but one that has the option to build elsewhere.
Currently in circulation is an open letter to Mayor Nagin and City Council demanding public hearings on the LSU/VA campus development plan. Worse than a hospital complex going up on top of a recovering historic neighborhood is the public left out of the planning process.
Day 1033: Rest In Peace, Vinit
June 25, 2008 - Filed Under desi / india, health, the game of life
SAJAForum: Vinit Chakravarty Loses Battle With Leukemia
In March 2008, we wrote about the passing of Sameer Bhatia, one of two South Asian men whose struggle with leukemia had caught the imagination of South Asians and others across the U.S. We are sorry to report that the other young man, Vinay Chakravarthy, 29, passed away this morning.
… Vinay, through HelpVinay.org and Sameer, through HelpSameer.org, used their illness as a way of mobilizing the community and bringing attention to the lack of South Asians in the national bone-marrow registries.
Vinay and his wife, Rashmi, were profiled in the recent PBS special, “The Truth About Cancer.” Through their tired eyes, I could see the young couple’s hope. 29 is no age to die and three years of marriage is way too short for a woman so devoted to her ailing husband.
In the last three years, I have lost three loved ones to cancer and now observe its growth in my grandmother as well as two friends.
And I am a heel for being one of those South Indians not on the national bone-marrow registry, relying on the sad excuse that a recruitment drive has not been held in New Orleans or a city conveniently located on my paths of travel.
I just registered myself with the Asian American Donor Program and requested a home test kit that doesn’t cost anything. Even if it does, I’ll gladly pay it. According to the site, “kits are fully funded through a special grant for anyone of all or partial ethnic minority descent” while donor eligibility requires “being in between the ages of 18-60, having no serious, ongoing lower back problems and being in good general health.” Within this lifetime, I hope my marrow helps save a life.
Day 996: Travel, Sick Relatives, Computers. Gah.
May 20, 2008 - Filed Under computing & internet, family & friends, health, travel, wordpress
Things have been rather hectic here at VatulBlog HQ lately. So busy that I have neither the time nor the inclination to blog. I’ve seen more of the insides of airports and geophysical data than any human should and the best part is that it isn’t over. More travel and data schlepping ahead.
This past weekend, I flew up to Ohio to spend some time with my parents and grandmother, the latter of whom I haven’t seen since my wedding around sixteen months ago. This is Patti’s (Tamil for grandmother) second battle with that awful beast known as cancer and she has just come out of another demeaning round of chemotherapy and radiation. Yet, she got out of bed and walked into the living room to spend time with one of her favorite grandchildren and, through coughs and sniffles, lovingly related to me all the things I used to do as a precocious young kid visiting my grandfather and her in India. I want to take this opportunity to say the following to my grandmother: Should this fate befall me, Goddess help me be half as strong as you are and look half as beautiful as you do after swallowing harsh, cancer-killing chemicals and being zapped by gamma rays, neutrons and protons that make you sicker than your illness provides. You, my dear lady, kick ass. I love you. (I also admire the hell out of you for tuning out the inevitable, heated discussion on American politics that went on among your children and grandchildren.)
Should this fate befall me. Let’s see - paternal great-grandmother and maternal aunt dead of breast cancer, paternal uncle dead of lung cancer, grandmother fighting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and I live on Cancer Alley. Nice. When I mentioned this to him, Herr Doktor Brother assured me that nanotechnology will cure all within the span of a decade and that I’ve got to have faith in the coming and unstoppable advancements in medical science. I’m similarly optimistic about the oil industry and alternative sources of energy, but, like any passive consumer of products I don’t know much about, I’ll believe the cure for cancer when I see it.
Speaking of frustrating illnesses, Dangerblond’s blog is on the fritz. More specifically, we are battling File ‘./blog/wp_comments.MYD’ not found (Errcode: 13), which probably means a corrupt Comments file/table which in turn means a Wordpress upgrade. I may not be able to fix cancer, but I will make her blog cry Uncle, by gum. Tonight, I go in with a Ka-Bar between my teeth. Wish me luck.
Day 960: Aware That I’m Stressed
April 14, 2008 - Filed Under family & friends, health, the game of life
Which is all I can I muster this National Stress Awareness Month. (H/T, Liprap)
Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society.
Is it a coincidence that Tax Day falls right in the middle of said month? Another coincidence that the entire month falls right in the middle of miserable allergy=insomnia season? And yet another that it’s Bar Exam result time for many new lawyers yearning to breathe free?
Silver linings: Taxes were done a whole two weeks ahead of time. A CPA can handle them next year. Maisnon now swears by acupuncture and the neti pot as allergy cures. I don’t see how being stuck by needles and drowning yourself qualifies as healing, but, hey, it’s got to be better than constantly itchy eyes, almost incessant sneezing and steroid-induced puffiness. Additionally, congratulations to Mac and Amanda, who passed their Louisiana bars on their first and subsequent tries, respectively.
Day 943: Rest In Peace, Sameer
March 28, 2008 - Filed Under desi / india, health
Sameer Bhatia passed away yesterday after a brave battle against leukemia. My thoughts are with his wife and family.
There are many still in need of bone marrow. Sign up for the next drive or find a donor center in your state.
