Day 1095: The New Orleans Speaks Symposium
August 26, 2008 - Filed Under new orleans, recovery
On August 30th, the New Orleans Insitute will host a New Orleans Speaks Symposium at UNO. Among many notable others, Karen Gadbois will be speaking in the afternoon about her work with Squandered Heritage, Latoya Cantrell of the Broadmoor Improvement Association will moderate a morning roundtable and Pam Deshiell of the Holy Cross neighborhood association will also speak in the afternoon. [SCHEDULE]
What interests and heartens me about the institute is how many individuals and organizations it has been able to bring together, and that one of its main interests is taking the message beyond New Orleans for help and to help.
Day 1095: Damn You, Gustav! [Updated]
August 26, 2008 - Filed Under WTF, new orleans, weather
August 29th, 2008 - finally a day off from work where I travel nowhere and can spend time by myself in quiet contemplation. Now, I have to take pictures of all of our stuff and gather the important items in Rubbermaid containers that fit in the back of the truck. All Just In Case We Have To Evacuate For Hurricane Gustav. This time, our tentative plan is to head straight up to Wisconsin, in order to avoid long waits in westbound traffic.
What a pain.
Dad thinks the storm will head to the Yucatan while Mom utilized her divine powers of prognostication to deem that it will come nowhere near us. This would make me feel better if we hadn’t used up all of our Storm Repulsion Karma over the course of the last two seasons.
All of you out there may be listening to Mahler, but we’re currently rocking Holst at VatulBlog World HQ. Here’s Jupiter - The Bringer of Jollity from The Planets suite. Jollity, indeed, because this five-day storm track is nothing if not jolly. Oh, rapture!
Update: You know what, I’m really stressed out right now while slowly preparing for a possible evacuation and do not need negative Twitterheads, people like Will Bunch and vile commenters at Daily Kos making my mood fouler. Democratic bloggers who think that the hurricane, if it comes here, will be “a potential nightmare for the Republican Party” are, to quote Adrastos, “the left wing equivalent of those wingnuts who want another big terrorist attack because it will help the ‘daddy’ party and hurt the ‘mommy’ party.” Listen up, stupid self-centered faux progressives, we are voters, citizens and humans, not your political lab rats! More from HumidCity.
Day 1093: Rising Tide 3 - Dénouement
August 24, 2008 - Filed Under blogistas, citizen journalism, new orleans, rising tide conference
Robert Cerasoli attended our pre-party, Lee Zurik was there, we made the Times-Picayune and Clancy DuBos is one of us, one of us.
Follow up posts coming on:
* interconnectedness - why New Orleans and Louisiana are important to the rest of the nation, just as the Dakotas, California and the East Coast should be important to us.
* parallels and dissimilarities with India
* education as a lowered national priority and how that is already coming home to roost
Again, thanks to all of you who made Rising Tide 3 happen. We need to meet more often before next year. Geek dinners, anyone? I’ll bring the Indian food!
Day 1092: Live From Rising Tide 3 - Blogger Award
August 23, 2008 - Filed Under blogistas, new orleans, rising tide conference
Time for the Ashleys! This is an award for excellence in blogging handed out by the Ashley Morris Memorial Foundation. Glass awards created and crafted by Liprap, not just a blogger but also a glass artiste (I’m impressed!).
And the winner of the first Ashley is the late, great Ashley Morris himself.
The next winner is Matt McBride of Fix The Pumps! Go, Matt!
The final winner is … KAREN GADBOIS!!!
And, with that, we’re done. Off to socialize. This was a great conference and I thank everyone for being here, even virtually!
Day 1092: Live From Rising Tide 3 - Politics Panel
August 23, 2008 - Filed Under blogistas, crime, government, new orleans
Adrastos moderates a politics panel that includes Greg Peters (*groan* oops, I mean *cheer*), Brian Denzer, Gordon Russell from the Times-Picayune, Ethan Brown and our very own “queen of the universe,” Dangerblond!
Who’s going to / whom do you want to run for Mayor? Boos for Jackie Clarkson and Rob Couhig. Yay for Karen Carter, Mitch Landrieu and our Eli Ackerman.
District Attorney race: Ethan Brown says that the blogosphere the law enforcement establishment in New Orleans (thanks for the correction, Ethan!) has a “zombie narrative” going that New Orleans entertains a very liberal/lax policy when it comes to incarceration. New Orleans has a high incarceration rate for drug-related crimes and Louisiana has a very high number of people in prisons. High rate of 701 releases, yet only 2% of NOPD arrests are for violent crimes. Dangerblond says we need a DA who does not spend the first term preparing for the second term. We need a DA who is not going to prosecute every low-level “jughead” with “resin and a crackpipe.” Any avenue for social restitution for these people is now squandered because now they have a criminal record in their background. Greg Peters wants our new DA to have good managerial skills, not just lawyer finesse. Schroeder reminds us that we don’t have good metrics - “making quantitative records available to the public is important.” violent offenders tend to be repeat offenders and need to be put behind bars, but crack-pipe criminals may be able to go to Drug Court, as proposed by Linda Bizzarro as well as Jason Williams, who is with us at RT3 today.
Jason Williams says we need to prosecute cases using a Quality of Life dynamic. 95% of arrests are small change offenders. “Repeat violent offenders are allowed to go back to the street very quickly. First there are the 701 releases, but the justice system here is ill-equipped to deal with all of the cases.” So violent offenders are thrown back out with the low-risk folks. All was cool until the “Vote For Me” plug at the end - so unnecessary.
2nd District Congressional Race: Adrastos refers to William Jefferson as “a tragic figure, but, man, does he like money.” To help us understand the race better, Brian “The Nerd” Denzer gives us statistics, maps and visual aids. The thrust is that the 2nd District is majority black and this is going to be a major factor in this race. Based on a Southern Media poll, Brian says that Byron Lee, Dollar Bill and Kenya Smith together will garner about 16% of the vote. The poll shows Troy Carter, James Carter and Cedric Richmond going head to head, with Helena Moreno not making it to second primary.
(I don’t know who to vote for. *sigh*)
Gordon Russell is unsure how the voting is going to play out, but agrees that race is a factor. Helena Moreno is the only white candidate and could benefit from white votes in a sea of all black candidates. Greg states that Dollar Bill is not going down because of scandal but because he is no longer adept at bringing home federal money. Dangerblond is on the OPDEC and says James Carter (?) has national appeal and has OPDEC endorsement - yet states that people don’t know whom to believe. (My indecision is vindicated.) Ethan: “I’m from California where no one cares about the garbage contracts … We have a smaller pot of money so everyone is fighting over it.” Brian brings up coastal restoration and the Stafford Act: “They all lack the ability to speak to particular constituencies.”
Senate Race: Question is “Will Obama at the top of the ticket help or hurt Mary Landrieu’s chance for re-election?” Greg thinks it doesn’t matter because “John Kennedy is as useful as tits on a bishop.” Brian: “It helps because it increases black voter turnout.” Gordon: “It doesn’t matter.” Dangerblond brings up a $50 reward for anyone who can prove a credible story of corruption on the part of Moon Landrieu or anyone in his family. At this conference, Dangerblond raises the reward to $100.
Bobby Jindal:
Me: “Bobby Jindal exorcised me!” Adrastos points out that the exorcism obviously hasn’t taken and introduces me as his friend with lovely eyebrows. “I don’t get them waxed, either.”
Greg: “He’s a hydroponically-grown prototype,” “fake ideologue persona who will do what it takes.”
Brian: “He’s got a long way to go as an elected official.”
Gordon: “His ambition seems to have no limit and he will run for president.”
Dangerblond: “He’s a glib phony.”
Q&A Time a la Oyster:
* Are crime cameras and traffic cameras of any political relevance? Dangerblond says that we as a nation have turned into sheep allowing ourselves to be searched before flights, on trains, etc., so NOLA is not different. Brian wants crime cameras to be taken off streets and placed outside City Hall.
* Gary Wainwright gives a rambler of a sermon. And then asks us to vote for him?!?!
* Jimmy Huck brings up shifting populations and demographics and the Latino vote. Brian is disappointed with Helena Moreno for running as a white candidate and not as an advocate of the growing Latino population. Gordon asks, “If we have more Asian and Latino voters, would we have more sophisticated politics instead of I Look Like You, Vote For Me?” Yes! Adrastos supports immigration and that we have more people identifying as other than White or Black. (Hello! Dedra jokes that they have me lumped in with the Vietnamese.)
* Cynthia wonders how to go about advertising New Orleans as a destination for living. (We need to keep crime down and grow better schools for that.)
* More Latino community discussion. It’s puzzling to me that there are people here named Hernandez and Juarez (historically Spanish folks) who don’t want Hispanic immigrants moving in here or don’t advocate for them.
Ok, I’m done with this panel. Time for the Awards Ceremony.
Now watching a sneak preview of Ken McCarthy’s “The Katrina Myth: The Truth about a Thoroughly Unnatural Disaster.” Sandy Rosenthal of levees.org introduced it. 0 comments #
Loki would like you all to know that HumidCity is temporarily down while they wait for the domain transfer to propagate. The site is currently showing as down, but it will be back up again in just a few days up and running at its new host. 0 comments #
Day 1092: Live From Rising Tide 3 - Journalism Panel
August 23, 2008 - Filed Under blogistas, citizen journalism, media, new orleans, rising tide conference
Back from a fine J’anita’s lunch of spicy BBQ and a Diet Coke. Thanks, Craig and The Beautiful Kim! Also back from telling a couple of people to stay calm. Me?! What’s the world coming to?
Panelists, from left to right:
· Lee Zurik: WWL-TV investigative reporter
· Kevin Allman: author, journalist, and blogger, frequent guest blogger at Gambit’s Blog of New Orleans
· Eli Ackerman: blogger at We Could Be Famous
· David Winkler-Schmit: journalist and frequent contributor to Gambit Weekly and the Blog of New Orleans
Jeffrey introduces the panelists, reads the following excerpt from David Simon’s Does The News Matter To Anyone Any More? and asks the panelists their opinion of it.
… I understand the economic pressures on newspapers. At this point, along with the rest of the wood-pulp Luddites, I’ve grasped that what was on the Internet wasn’t merely advertising for journalism, but the journalism itself. And though I fled the profession a decade ago for the fleshpots of television, I’ve heard tell of the horrors of department-store consolidation and the decline in advertising, of Craigslist and Google and Yahoo. I understand the vagaries of Wall Street, the fealty to the media-chain stockholders, the primacy of the price-per-share.
What I don’t understand is this: Isn’t the news itself still valuable to anyone? In any format, through any medium — isn’t an understanding of the events of the day still a salable commodity?
Zurik, Allman and Eli don’t think ads influence them, but Winkler-Schmit admits that it is required to keep his job going, his paper running and television stations on the air.
Kevin Allman wants us to check out Robert Smigel’s scathing animation against NBC’s parent company, General Electric. Here is the VIDEO.
Applause for Zurik’s journalism with reciprocation from Zurik. Zurik lauds the efforts of Karen, Sarah and Eli in getting the story out.
Eli suggests that internet democratizes the news more so than papers. Zurik disagrees and contends that the shrinking newspaper and cutting staff is not a good thing. Internet news and mainstream media news cannot be conflated. Mainstream media cannot do investigative journalism in the same way. Mainstream media, however, “has real power and access, but blogs and MSM can be complementary.”
Now, they’re talking about Bill Moyers’s feelings on the media of the future:
… By 2011, the market analysts tell us, the Internet will surpass newspapers in advertising revenues. With MySpace and Dow Jones controlled by News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch, Microsoft determined to acquire Yahoo!, and with advertisers already telling some bloggers, “Your content is unacceptable,” we could potentially lose what’s now considered an unstoppable long tail of content offering abundant, new, credible and sustainable sources of news and information.
So, what will happen to news in the future, as the already tattered boundaries between journalism and advertising is dispensed with entirely and as content programming, commerce and online communities are rolled into one profitably attractive package?
Allman says, “There’s nothing progressive about Arianna Huffington [who wants to pay bloggers nothing to write at her space]. She is turning into the faux-progressive equivalent of Drudge.” Read Kevin Allman’s posts tagged “Write for free!” to get the back story on why he is not happy with Huffington. Eli says it’s too early to say if the whole internet is going to be corporatized, but there are no Democratic candidates promoting net neutrality.
Now Jeff asks, “What is ultimately the quality of content when you’ve cut the budget to that degree?” He had something else to ask but had a brain fart so Kevin is giving us a story about Sam Zell. When asked if a paper should have advertising containing adult content, Zell is said to have stated to a number of employees, “What kind of man doesn’t want to look at pussy?” Very derogatory, very whorish on his own part. Winkler-Schmit says people like Zell want to “make sausage” and don’t care about content. Zurik comes back that it’s better to invest in quality journalism because publishing crap is ultimately not worth it. Eli says, “The cream of the crop rises to the top.”
Winkler-Schmit brings up how the NOAH story was broken. Zurik is upset that the biggest consumer reaction actually came from Nagin’s dismissive response to media questioning. He does not like that “the sex appeal of this story” comes from Nagin.
Forgot everything said in the last few minutes once Zurik said, “I read your blogs. My eyebrows are real! I don’t get them waxed!” Room almost explodes in laughter.
Q&A time. BTW, Sophmom’s blog is back up and she is liveblogging, so if you want to read another perspective on the Journalism panel, go to DotCalm.
Mark LaFlaur asks a great question: How do we take all these instances of internet/citizen journalism and have them rise to the top? How do we increase visibility? This is a question I brought up towards the end of my civic activism panel last year. Eli talks about Daily Kos diary and TPM Diary.
Varg brings up how one can’t be taken seriously when leaving anonymous comments. Much derision for the unmoderated, bigoted cesspool that is the Comments section of NOLA.com blog posts. Read my post on mainstream media blogs for context. Eli says, “If you’re too racist for talk radio, you turn to the NOLA.com comments section.”
Adrastos tells Zurik that the bloggers are going to start a band called “Lee Zurik’s Eyebrows.”
Clancy DuBos, “reborn as a blogger,” reiterates Simon’s question, “Does anyone give a shit about real news any more?” The panel says that people generally tune out when the news is too heavy. Allman says, “What people want are hard local complicated news and Saints football.”
Older Posts »
