Exhaustion, impotence, anger

[smokingboot]

Drifts of land gulls all across the park; looks as though it is going to be a beautiful day.

I have been pretty impotent, you know, in the face of others' pain recently. I want my dearlarians to be OK, and am sure he will be, but there is something hopeless and miserable about not being able to make it better. He has been very brave and positive. Soon, this stupid situation will be over.

New Orleans is also on my mind. It's not just the human disaster - as many have pointed out, there have been far greater catastrophes in other areas of the world - no, this is different because of the aftermath. In most disasters, the tragedy happens and then there is rebuilding, painful, but comparatively fast. Here, the Hurricane seems to have just been the beginning. I have never seen such disintegration. It is like watching healthy teeth being pulled out of a mouth, and then watching the jaw suddenly crumble...

Where's the organisation? The infrastructure? The support for victims? What is the point in being able to 'Shock and Awe' the benighted population of another land if the richest country in the world cannot protect its own people? What is the point of all that money if there's no food, no medicine, no security, no care? To have the power of a giant overseas and no fresh water at home? Consider me shocked and awed now. The people deserve better than this.

Cities have spirits, I tell you. Every place has a genius loci, a spirit of place, made up of many things. Study London for any length of time and you will believe in the genius loci, for it is powerful and hard. Below, is a little cartoon of the genius loci of New Orleans, a child of stereotypes, kitsch-sinister, cute and nasty. My only beef with it is that it is called, 'Katrina will pay,' as though the hurricane was to blame. The hurricane is innocent. But those who have should have acted, and have done nothing, or those who have taken advantage of the carnage...these are a different matter. I like the pic, so here it is:

http://skary.net/katrinaDA.jpg

Don't know why I can't sleep, I'm pretty tired. Maybe I should just go and sit in the back garden, watch the morning grow bright.

P.S Forgot to say, prints, posters, magnets, stamps, etc, of the picture are for sale, all proceeds to the Red Cross. Those who are interested, check out katytowell's last entry in darkvictoria, or her stuff at deviantArt store, (http://www.deviantart.com/print/197606/) and cafepress (http://www.cafepress.com/skary) for more information.

Comments

Cities

[lucyas.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you about cities having spirits. It does seem so dreadful the way New Orleans residents are acting in the aftermath of the hurricane and I can only think it must be the general mood of the place. By contrast, I was so proud of the way Londoners behaved (mostly) in the aftermath of the recent bombings. And it isn't just the heritage of the people - after all, London is full of people originating from all over the world. New Orleans must be pretty cosmopolitan too, I would think.
I remember when I did sociology at school, talking about areas where there was lots of trouble and violence. It really didn't seem to matter what people moved out or into the area, the amount of trouble remained the same. Troublesome families moving to peaceful areas tended to stop being troublesome. Families with no former history of being a nuisance often developed problems after moving into problem areas.
Obviously things like the wealth of an area and the density of housing and quality of life in the area makes a big difference - but not entirely.
I expect this long ramble doesn't make too much sense. I have just got up and only had one cup of tea so far :)

Re: Cities

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I don't know what it is, and I don't understand it at all, but I know it's there. I suppose the feeling of a place comes from money/ housing/ ethographics etc; understanding more of sociology would definitely help. I recall studying the area of Whitechapel, particularly Spitalfields and the surrounds of Hawksmoor's Christchurch. One night, I watched as, less than 100 feet and just over 100 years, from where two of the Ripper's victims were mutilated, the girls came out to work again, shivering in short skirts and high heels, poor, drunk and rough as hell.

Later investigations took us into the pub near Christchurch; we stuck our noses in and left almost instantly. This time it was the middle of the day, but there was almost no light in there, just a naked woman writhing on the floor for men with pints. The atmosphere was horrible. It was the 10 Bells...

And I suppose there's nothing surprising about it really; poor end of town for hundreds of years, poor end of town now. They've tarted it up a bit, and it's been yuppified and artsied very nicely; even Christchurch has had its soot scraped off. And yet, there is an ugly echo to it, a resonance, something in the air. Or maybe its my imagination!