A Prolific Time

Over the past two weeks, I've had 3 different pieces aired on different radio programs. The first was on WWOZ, a community station dedicated to New Orleans music and culture. This evening a story of mine will air on the local NPR affiliate, WWNO. And FSRN led with a piece that I did on Monday. Unfortunately, two out of three of these stories focus on the impact of the oil spill that is already hitting the Louisiana coast.

Sunday, one of my neighbors had a dog shaving party. She put posters up all over the neighborhood, and, like a good reporter, I went all the way around the corner to see what was going on. The clippers were buzzing away and there were several buckets full of fur and hair around. It was a really local effort to do something about what is happening on the coast, a catastrophe that is ongoing and that most of us here have no sense of power over.

Yesterday, as I came out of a house where I had been doing a census interview, it smelled like diesel. The neighborhoods where I live -- and where I'm doing census work -- are called the Bywater and the Marigny. The are some of the oldest communities in the city, and they face the Mississippi River. Or at least they face the levee which stands about 8 concrete feet high on the top of a little ridge. We're not particularly close to the Gulf, but it's not the first time people in New Orleans have reported smelling the fumes from the spill.

One good thing is that yesterday Obama proposed increases to the 2010 and 2011 budgets in a range of areas that will have to deal with the spill and its aftermath: the EPA, Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and others. What really needs to happen is a war on erosion. I have to admit, though, that seeing people like Patti, my neighbor, doing what they can to make a difference is heartening. Sometimes I get stuck criticizing and not doing enough to create something different. This is especially easy to do as a journalist. Thanks, Patti. The future is in OUR hands.