the lower ninth: K+36

Three years in the making, my first book is now available at Blurb

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border, forever changing the lives of thousands of people. One of the most devastated areas was New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, submerged beneath millions of gallons of water, in some places by as much as ten feet.

This collection of photographs by M Styborski documents three years of loss and recovery, destruction and rebuilding, and despair and hope in one of New Orleans’ oldest neighborhoods.

The video above highlights a small sample of the 135 photographs contained in the book. The music is the appropriately titled 'House Of Cards' by Final Academy, a band from New Orleans many years ago.

Here Comes Hurricanes!

A little something to sing with the kids until the power comes back. (Better memorize it quick!) From my forthcoming Hurricane Songbook.

Here Comes Hurricanes
(Any ol' version will do, but I wrote it to Elvis')

Here comes hurricanes, here comes hurricanes,
Right down hurricane lane.
Gustav and Hannah and maybe Josephine
Stirrin' up the rain.
Radar's pingin', weathermen singin'
All is battened down tight
Pack your luggage and say your prayers
'Cause hurricanes come tonight!

Here comes hurricanes, here comes hurricanes,
Right down hurricane lane
We've got storms all filled with noise
For boys and girls again.
Hear those house frames rattle, prattle,
Oh what a frightening sight
So jump in bed and cover your head
'Cause hurricanes come tonight!

Here comes hurricanes, here comes hurricanes,
Right down hurricane lane
They don't care if you're rich or poor
They'll screw you just the same
Hurricanes blow down all Gods children
Brown and yellow and white
So fill your hearts with weatherly fear
'Cause hurricanes come tonight!

Here comes hurricanes, here comes hurricanes,
Right down hurricane lane
They'll come around when the news rings out
That it's August once again
Peace on earth may come to all
If we survive one more night
So cross your fingers and clench your toes
'Cause hurricanes come tonight!

Humberto Rising

It's Thursday, September 12th, just past nine in the Ante of the Meridiem. As I type, TS/H Humberto is slowly creeping east toward our homes. Already the storm has knocked out power for 100,000 Tejans and reportedly killed one. This bodes not well for our town as the current administration has yet to clear many sewers of Katrina's debris, not to mention the collective trash of the past fifty years. Mark my words, if Humberto doesn't die out in the next six hours, we will soon be swimming in the streets again. Remember, the slower it moves, the longer it dumps on us. This is your Action Weather Pest, signing off for now.

As for the winds, well, I recently had the Army Corps contractors over for a Garden Party and they had a work order different from the estimate given to me by the ACE. The upshot of it is, the tree leaning toward my neighbors house is still leaning toward my neighbors house and the tree whose branches are spreading through the power lines still has its branches spreading through the power lines. As the lead tree guy told me, "I wouldn't worry about those. You haven't had any big storms or hurricanes yet."

Well thanks for your brilliant insight you myopic twat. It's the storms in the future I'm worried about! So far, the City of Kenner, the Parish of Jefferson, the ACE, and Entergy have all picked up little twigs and sticks from the yard, each claiming that they or the ACE would bring these trees down. After the first four months of waiting I brought two down myself, but they were relatively small and not leaning over the neighbors or next to high voltage lines. Two years later and still getting that good old Beauraucratic Runaround. My tax dollars at rest, eh? I wonder how much I'll be able to sue them for if these trees come down during Humberto? I better shove the attorney section of the Yellow Pages in some Tupperware, I may need them!