PeaceBang

Cajun Delicacy, Courtesy of My Louisiana Colleague

He told me about this but I ditn’t believe him.

Do you dare me to make this for Thanksgiving?

http://www.cajuntaste.com/Turducken.html

I am wickedly tempted.

Marzipan Babies

marzipan babies
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

Now you really CAN eat your young!!

Why did I know that there would be some “Precious Moments”-oriented sentimental Christianity thing along with this artwork (or should I say, “artwork”).
The e-mail containing dozens of shots of these sugary tots started, “Look at the talent that God gave this amazing artist.”

Meanwhile, I just want to carry these to the next pro-choice activist gathering I attend. When I pull them out, pop them in and crunch down, I have a feeling even the most pro-Planned Parenthood person would be alarmed.

Preservation Hall

As far as I’m concerned, everyone gets Preservation Hall Jazz Band recordings for Christmas, hoo yea!

http://www.preservationhall.com/2.0/donate.php

You can make a donation to their musician’s support fund on the site, too.

If you never had a chance to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band play in New Orleans, I’m sorry you missed them. If you love Dixieland jazz, you’ll love their recordings.

Keep Givin’ Til It Feels Good!!

Sister Of PeaceBang tells me that she’s sent out some packages to the shelters and that Cousin Of PeaceBang and others have also done so. This makes me exceedingly grateful and so happy. I hated leaving before accomplishing much of anything relative to the tremendous need for community organizing and transportation of supplies.

If any of you are wondering where to send dollars or donations, I’d like to direct you one more time to this earlier post:

http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2005/10/katrina-relief-donations-ideas-october.html

I would also like to encourage any of you with cash wealth and philanthropic instincts to consider a contribution to:

Scotlandville Middle School
9147 Elm Grove Garden Drive
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70807
phone contact: Iris
225.774.2510

or to :
Mayfair Elementary School
9880 Hyacinth Road
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810
(sorry, no phone contact)

Both of these schools are serving entirely evacuee student AND teacher populations. They are doing okay for supplies right now but they need money for bigger items that they need to order: filing cabinets, shelves, furniture. They are located in abandoned schools so they’re lucky to have the buildings but they need a LOT of basic furnishings.
For those with philanthropic instincts but smaller budgets, I believe that both the schools are hoping to collect autumn jackets for the children. It doesn’t get very cold in Baton Rouge but it certainly gets chilly. Phone or write the contact people for more information, as these needs change quickly as people respond.

A note: if the phone company says that lines are down “due to the hurricane,” just try again in a few minutes. My experience is that the recording is random and does not reflect accurate outages.

Thank you for your generosity. Fellow bloggers, it would be much appreciated if you might consider linking to this post.

What You Can Photograph

I’m sorry I don’t have photos of the really meaningful things I saw in Baton Rouge, like Allen Chapel and the River Center Red Cross shelter, but I was trying to be sensitive to people’s dignity and privacy. I just didn’t think it would be compassionate or appropriate to whip out my camera and take photos of people’s misery but Volunteer Steve told me that actually, the little kids at the shelters love having their photos taken. It helps relieve some of their boredom. So now I’m sorry that I didn’t, as I would love to have images of some of the lovely, intrepid souls I encountered there.

I left my heart in Baton Rouge. It was hard to leave just as I was getting a sense of how to get around and how to help a little bit.

Outside of Broux Bridge

Outside of Broux Bridge
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

When we drove out to Avery Island on Saturday to visit the Tabasco factory, we saw some of the residual damage from Hurricane Rita, who was terribly upstaged by her terrible sister, Katrina. Those two bitches.

So We Bought A Lot of Hot Sauce

Crick’s Risin
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

This is the little post outside Avery Island. The man who waved us through told us that the yellow tape marks how high the flood waters rose after Rita. “And last big one that came through here,” he said, “Only came but halfway as high. Not even.”
I don’t want to give you the impression that we were in Louisiana sight-seeing. Saturday was the only day we took off. I shouldn’t have, as I was only in town for the one week, but Volunteer Steve had been working like a dawg for weeks and he needed a fun day. He was a simply awesome social worker from Long Beach, California who had moved to Baton Rouge for a month to help out. What a guy.

Lake Martin, Lousiana

Lake Martin, Lousiana
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

After having an iced latte in Broux Bridge (!) and visiting the Tabasco factory, we drove around this gorgeous lake, or rather Volunteer Steve drove and I hung out the passenger side window trying to spot alligators. I was very committed to seeing some gators on my trip, for which people teased me. They kept insisting I should just ORDER some for an appetizer. They say they taste like chicken. Ha ha. But they really do, apparently.

We never saw any gators but after we pulled up to the lake to watch this guy fishing I heard a tremendous snorting, whoofing kind of sound and I knew it could only be one thing.

Gators.

Steve said no, maybe bullfrogs, but honey, that was no bullfrog. I asked someone later what gators sound like and sure enough, that’s what they sound like: kind of like what you’d get if you mixed a pig with a dog and made them breathe real hard through a straw.

Home From Baton Rouge

The trip back to Boston was just as bad as the trip out to Lousiana was.

(You can blame my grammar and incoherence today on sleep deprivation)

I awoke yesterday at 4:50 a.m., drove to the Baton Rouge airport, returned my car and boarded the 8:30 flight.
I arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth at 10:30 and grabbed a sandwich to take on my 10:45 a.m. flight.
I heard that our flight was delayed and sat around for half an hour.
The flight was delayed again. We all groaned.
Finally, we were told at noon to board the plane but warned that, due to WEATHER in Boston we might have to sit on the plane for a bit.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing like sitting on the tarmac for four bloody hours in an enclosed, un-air conditioned plane to make you realize — if you hadn’t already realized — how lucky you generally are.

At 4 pm we finally left for Boston and arrived at about 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Why the big delay? Not weather ‘tall, my dears. Just the radar system down, or some such thing with air traffic control. The flight attendants told me that all the air traffic controls in the entire country are outdated and need to be replaced, and we’re all in for many more similarly obnoxious delays in air travel.

Not that the $3.00 snack box wasn’t delicious, with that salty Slim Jim-related item and the busted Lorna Doone’s. Just what a hungry traveler needs; even more comforting than the bacteria-encrusted pillows the airlines USED to hand out, years ago when they had some money.

Air traffic control systems. Just another casualty of the Bush Administration’s brilliant economic plan to destroy the infrastructure of America while inflicting “democracy” on Iraq and putting more money into the pockets of his filthy, stinking rich buddies.

I’m late for class.

Anorexic Barbie

anorexic barbie
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

Does she come with a cocaine habit and with Wilmer Valderrama’s phone number already programmed into her Sidekick?

(Is that his name? Valderrama? Or did I make that up?)