We interrupt our program of amusement to ask: why did Ray Nagin or his government not make plans to set up post Gustav goods distribution centers? why did he plan to have people rely on charities and corner stores? was it not clear to him that many evacuated on public transportation and public aid, and that supermarkets – of which New Orleans has few since Katrina – might not be open? did he not realize that, had the storm been worse, distribution centers would really be necessary? Comment est-ce possible?
I also have comments about the idea that people cannot survive without electricity, and questions about curfews. Are we, perhaps, seeing regimentation and infantilization as substitutes for planning? I am not sure how fair these questions are but I do wonder about you in particular, Ray.
In any case, we must amuse ourselves. I did not want to do the Five Things “meme” because I would either have to restate facts you already know, or reveal new facts which, added to what you know already, would identify me fully, without room left for doubt. Then I wanted to do it because I decided it would be good for me to become conscious of the answer to the first question. So I designed a way to do it which reveals self but not identity.
What were you doing five years ago? Returning, energized, from a beautiful summer in New Mexico, California and Bolivia, manuscript in hand. Beginning a wonderful academic year (after a three year slump). Note that things declined after that year. Now I have again returned, with at least some of three or four manuscripts, from California and the Andes, and there are several indications that this year can be good.
Five things on your to-do list: Plant a complete vegetable garden, join the local community supported agricultural cooperative, restore the bathroom ceiling, tile the kitchen floor, seal the deck.
Five snacks you enjoy: Apples, edamame, raw almonds, miso soup, ceviche.
Five things I’d do if I were a billionaire: Buy as large as possible a tract of land in the Amazonian rain forest, to be kept wild so as to help the planet breathe. Employ well paid, well armed local people to guard it so that nobody can destroy it. Send frightening robotic hit women after any landowners and government officials who attack this forest. Forge connections in the United Nations and other organizations to support and protect my effort. Destroy though legal means any corporation which threatened my reserve.
Five of your bad habits: Staying up too late, not going to the gym or yoga regularly enough, smoking some nights and weekends, doubting my perceptions, accommodating others’ fears.
Five places you have lived: Exactly five U.S. states, counting only places I have stayed one semester or more (i.e., NEH seminars and other seminars or summer camps do not count!). Exactly five foreign countries, counting only those in which I was actually employed and/or actually enrolled in school.
Five jobs you’ve had: Two factory jobs, one in retail, one as an evaluator of standardized tests, and two teaching jobs at entities other than colleges, universities, or even regular schools (now that’s six, but these are all the paid jobs I have had other than babysitting and teaching/research jobs at institutions of higher education, and all were relatively short term!).
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 