Warning Order
To date, I have been using this blog to document various art/construction/nerd projects that I've been working on. It's been fun, and I hope to continue doing it, even if nobody ever looks at it. For now, however, I've got to change directions.
Over the past week, I've been fuming at the absolutely ridiculous bullshit, propaganda, and politicization over what's been going on regarding the calamity in New Orleans, LA (which will from now on be called “NOLA”). Over the last couple of days I've considered dropping everything and just driving there and helping out wherever I could (it's pretty easy for me – I work freelance). Well, Saturday morning I said, “Fuck it. I'm going.”
I packed up a little bit of gear – work clothes (mostly old BDU pants and jungle boots from my days as an 11B1P), my laptop, and a couple of nice cameras (courtesy of a good friend and a TV production company I have often worked for) and hit the road. I'm writing now from Phoenix, AZ, where I took a pit stop to figure out what exactly I'm going to do.
Here's what I've decided:
I have two general options (besides just going there and gawking at the carnage like the main-stream media, hereafter referred to as “MSM,” which ain't gonna happen).
Option 1 – Link up with a NOLA-deployed National Guard (“NG” - or even “LANG,” to specify Louisiana NG, if necessary) unit and act as an “embedded” reporter. Well, actually, I'd be more of a photojournalist. I have contacted a couple of MIL-bloggers (that's “military web loggers” for you n00bs) and a few other people who might be able to link me up with the proper chain of command that could actually authorize this. I don't intend on mooching their supplies, nor do I intend on getting in their way, but rather to follow them around and document the reality of the situation – a reality that has thus far been virtually absent from the doom-seeking MSM. Fortunately, I know where to look – and by that I mean sifting through both sides of the partisan divide found on “TEH INTARWEB.”
Option 2 – Volunteer with the Red Cross. Now, while this seems like the most humanitarian approach, I called their Los Angeles office and they were swamped with offers for physical help. “That's a good thing,” to quote our beloved, electronically-manacled Martha Stewart. However, I wasn't really interested in waiting around for them to figure out the situation, so I left them my number. They can call me. If I can't link up with a military unit, I will absolutely show up at one of the Red Cross NOLA aid stations and offer my services. If they have a problem with that, I'll start filling sandbags on my own...
What will follow is a photo and story documentation of what I find on my journey. I'm sure there will be exciting and graphic content as well as more mundane descriptions of people getting things done – doing what they have to do. I will try to include as much about the people involved as I can, without losing focus on the grand scheme of things.
(FYI, I may - read “will probably” - migrate all posts on this topic to a new blog site – I will make mention of that when it happens).
Over the past week, I've been fuming at the absolutely ridiculous bullshit, propaganda, and politicization over what's been going on regarding the calamity in New Orleans, LA (which will from now on be called “NOLA”). Over the last couple of days I've considered dropping everything and just driving there and helping out wherever I could (it's pretty easy for me – I work freelance). Well, Saturday morning I said, “Fuck it. I'm going.”
I packed up a little bit of gear – work clothes (mostly old BDU pants and jungle boots from my days as an 11B1P), my laptop, and a couple of nice cameras (courtesy of a good friend and a TV production company I have often worked for) and hit the road. I'm writing now from Phoenix, AZ, where I took a pit stop to figure out what exactly I'm going to do.
Here's what I've decided:
I have two general options (besides just going there and gawking at the carnage like the main-stream media, hereafter referred to as “MSM,” which ain't gonna happen).
Option 1 – Link up with a NOLA-deployed National Guard (“NG” - or even “LANG,” to specify Louisiana NG, if necessary) unit and act as an “embedded” reporter. Well, actually, I'd be more of a photojournalist. I have contacted a couple of MIL-bloggers (that's “military web loggers” for you n00bs) and a few other people who might be able to link me up with the proper chain of command that could actually authorize this. I don't intend on mooching their supplies, nor do I intend on getting in their way, but rather to follow them around and document the reality of the situation – a reality that has thus far been virtually absent from the doom-seeking MSM. Fortunately, I know where to look – and by that I mean sifting through both sides of the partisan divide found on “TEH INTARWEB.”
Option 2 – Volunteer with the Red Cross. Now, while this seems like the most humanitarian approach, I called their Los Angeles office and they were swamped with offers for physical help. “That's a good thing,” to quote our beloved, electronically-manacled Martha Stewart. However, I wasn't really interested in waiting around for them to figure out the situation, so I left them my number. They can call me. If I can't link up with a military unit, I will absolutely show up at one of the Red Cross NOLA aid stations and offer my services. If they have a problem with that, I'll start filling sandbags on my own...
What will follow is a photo and story documentation of what I find on my journey. I'm sure there will be exciting and graphic content as well as more mundane descriptions of people getting things done – doing what they have to do. I will try to include as much about the people involved as I can, without losing focus on the grand scheme of things.
(FYI, I may - read “will probably” - migrate all posts on this topic to a new blog site – I will make mention of that when it happens).
posted by RNDMSFREE at 2:26 AM
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