The Long-Awaited “Dead Tree” Edition “Mark LaFlaur’s genuine love and concern for the future of Louisiana shines throughout this collection of blog posts and interviews.” —Ivor van Heerden, former deputy director, LSU Hurricane Center, and author of The Storm Dear...
Year: 2015
Rising Tide: Still Standing, Unfatigued, and Enduring
Back now from New Orleans for the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and Rising Tide X—refreshed and still feeling that positive, creative energy and will to survive and rebuild that we felt at our first Rising Tide (the second annual) in 2007. We shall see...
Ten Years After, and Looking Ahead
A Time for Celebration, but Not for Complacency Has it really been ten years already? Indeed it has: a long ten years. And the work of rebuilding, the labors of love and determination, dedication, devotion, and sometimes of desperation—aided by countless volunteers...
Rising Tide X Is Aug. 29, Tenth Anniversary of Katrina
DeRay Mckesson, Social Justice Activist, Is Keynote Speaker We are registered and all kinds of psyched for the 10th annual Rising Tide conference—“the premier annual new media conference in the GulfSouth”—to be held on Sat., Aug. 29, at Xavier University in New...
We Support Nuclear Agreement with Iran
On Thursday, April 2, in Lausanne, Switzerland, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced that negotiators had reached an agreement on key elements of...
At the Intersection of Jon Stewart and Brian Williams
* Jersey Boys. Brian Douglas Williams and Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz both went to high school in New Jersey and held common, low-level jobs before working their way to the top of their respective, and interrelated, professions. * “Finally someone is being held to...
In Defense of Brian Williams, New Orleans’ Loyal Friend
Now He Really Is Under Fire The veracity of the leading network news anchor, Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News, is in question—by his own fault—and now the sharks and wolves smell blood. A feeding frenzy ensues. [ cross-posted at Daily Kos ] Williams has...
Honoring Rev. King, Recommending “Selma”
* “Our whole campaign in Alabama has been centered around the right to vote. In focusing the attention of the nation and the world today on the flagrant denial of the right to vote, we are exposing the very origin, the root cause, of racial segregation in the...
Après Charlie Hebdo, Thoughts on Free Expression and Islamic Violence
Will we give the enemy the satisfaction of changing ourselves into something like their hate-filled, illiberal mirror image, or will we, as the guardians of the modern world, as the custodians of freedom and the occupants of the privileged lands of plenty, go on...
Annus Horribilis : 2014 in Review
* Good Riddance to a Bad Year In a speech in late 1992, Queen Elizabeth II used the phrase “annus horribilis” to describe Great Britain’s no-good, very bad year (tabloid-quality marital troubles of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, a fire at Windsor Castle, etc.)....