Writers Helping Writers
Caitlin R. Kiernan reports that, although she hasn’t heard from Poppy Z. Brite since she left New Orleans on Sunday night, she believes Brite is okay, and will notify her readers (many of whom are also Poppy’s readers) as soon as she gets new word. In the meantime, mutual friends have set up a private relief fund. They also note that Poppy’s devastated at having to leave behind about two dozen local cats for whom she’d been providing shelter and food, which led to the mention of Noah’s Wish, a relief organization that puts all its efforts into one project–rescuing animals from disaster areas. (Unfortunately, it looks like they won’t even be allowed into the city this time.)
Similar efforts are taking place within the romance community to help Larissa Ione, whose home in Gulfport, Mississippi, was completely submerged according to reports from her neighbors (she and her son had already made it to shelter while her husband works search-and-rescue operations for the Coast Guard). Stephanie Tyler provides detailed info on a planned charity auction, and Alison Kent describes suitable gift certificate donations.
UPDATE: Poppy posted two quick entries from a wireless place in Jackson, devastated but safe.
1 September 2005 | uncategorized |
That’s What I’m Talking About
Shortly after I mentioned “an idealized dream scenario wherein an alternative media outlet …could find somebody with specific expertise to dig into [the Katrina] story on short notice,” Slate posted an article on New Orleans’ environmental history, observing that “the sodden city has long placed itself in harm’s way, relying on uncertain artifice to protect it from unpredictable environs.”
Ari Kelman’s claim that “New Orleans’ dysfunctional relationship with its environment may make it the nation’s most improbable metropolis,” which was also the subject of his book, might get some argument from Los Angeles’ most persistent critic, Mike Davis. But the article is a smart and fresh introduction to the historical context–exactly the sort of thing I was looking for yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, Davis seems awfully busy these days himself, contemplating Dubai and the avian flu. But don’t be surprised if he turns up at some lefty policy journal by the end of the year talking about the institutional failures that made this disaster a lot worse than it could have been.
1 September 2005 | uncategorized |
Our Endless and Proper Work is my new book with Belt Publishing about starting (and sticking to) a productive writing practice. 
