Mardi Gras

February 28, 2006

Today is Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. The day that exemplifies everything that is New Orleans: excess, a lack of inhibitions, debauchery and pure unbridled joy.

At least, that’s what New Orleans used to be. Words used to describe the Crescent City now run more along the lines of “horrible,” “tragedy” and “poverty.” A great city sunk by one part neglect, one part Mother Nature, and one part location.

New Orleans waited on the edge of disaster for hundreds of years, fully aware that one bad storm would completely drown the city. That day came last summer, and the combination of botched relief and levees that were never kept up as they should have been took it to a point so close to death that many vowed never to return.

But, as we’ve seen so far this Mardi Gras season, New Orleans is alive. It’s fighting to return to it’s rightful place in the world. It’s celebrating the fact that it’s still around, though that’s really the only thing worth celebrating down there.

Mardi Gras represents one final bash before the sacrifices of Lent. New Orleans’ sacrifices all came this past summer, and everyone involved has been in need of a bash for a long time. I’d say it’s quite overdue — in fact, I’m not sure what else they’d be able to sacrifice when it ends tonight.

New Orleans will return. The spirit and joy that I’ve seen on New Orleans’ residents and visitors this past week are a breath of fresh air to a city that shouldn’t even be around any more.

Tonight, it would be a good idea to raise a toast to everyone that lived through the hell of Katrina. Raise a toast to your family, your friends — those who you care about deeply that will never know, thankfully, what fully happened last summer. And, of course, raise a toast to New Orleans.

And Happy Mardi Gras.

Tags: Travel |

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A cover switch

February 26, 2006

Sometimes being current and topical comes at a price, even in the New Yorker offices.

Bill Joyce, illustrator, was asked a few months ago to create a cover for the Mardi Gras edition of The New Yorker. He did, but it was bumped for a timelier cover featuring George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in a Brokeback Mountain-esqe love embrace, complete with Cheney blowing smoke from an (assumedly) misfired shotgun.

While it’s a clever (though tired) take on politics, news, and pop culture, it’s not as powerful as Joyce’s original cover. In fact, I’d be willing to say we’d all have benefited greatly from a post-Katrina Mardi Gras much more than we’d have with, say, another Brokeback Mountain joke.

Anyway, here are some of Joyce’s comments on his cover:

The image did what I’d hoped. It made people from here sad and proud at the same time.

I was hoping it would, I don’t know, somehow help. Help call attention to our plight. Help people understand us.

Then Dick Cheney shot his friend instead of a bird.

A more topical cover was cobbled together. A clever twist on Cheney’s folly.

I’ve had covers at the New Yorker bumped before. That’s just part of the game. But this one really mattered. The hurricanes have turned the people of Louisiana into activists. We no longer have the luxury of emotional distance with this story.

Louisiana had received its share of coverage lately I was told. They tried to find a place for it inside the magazine. Everyone said they were sympathetic. But nothing happened.
So we’ve been shunted aside again.

Our collective sorrow and tragedy mattered less than a single hunting accident.

I really had hoped that compassion would win out over clever.

Mr. Cheney’s friend is thankfully alive. Meanwhile we’re still finding bodies in New Orleans.

You can read the entire article, with picture, at Cartoon Brew.

You can also read a couple more comments, with the Bush/Cheney cover, at emdashes (a blog about The New Yorker.)

Courtesy The Millions.

Tags: Literature, Politics |

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South Dakota’s biggest failure

February 25, 2006

I’ve read quite a few things about the South Dakota law banning abortion – the one that currently sits on Governor Mike Rounds’ desk waiting to be passed or vetoed. And, quite frankly, I’ll never understand it.

I’ll never be able to understand it as a pro-choice liberal. This act reeks of a vocal minority taking advantage of a spineless Democratic party. It’s an act that overtakes a well-known precedent. It’s horrible to think that any governmental body has the power to choose an actual flesh and blood body’s purpose – to dictate what people can do to themselves.

I’ll never understand it as a fan of South Dakota. I’ve supported South Dakota through Zip Feed-bashing and anti-plains comments, but this is a black eye that I’ll never be able to apply any layer of gloss to.

Ultimately, I’ll never be able to understand it as a caring husband, a possible future father, a friend. If my wife, my daughter, or my friend was raped, there could be no abortion. There could be nothing, unless it was to be done under the table, in unsafe conditions, with the illegality of it hanging over both parties’ heads. You want morality? You tell me the morality of giving birth to a child that was conceived through the most heinous means possible.

My basic beliefs on abortion should be obvious. First off, I don’t believe a man should be allowed to vote on what a woman can or can’t do with her own body. I also don’t believe that life begins at conception – I’m in the party that believes it’s about 26 weeks, when the fetal brain’s higher functions are first activated and the fetus attains consciousness.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not clamoring for everyone to start getting abortions. I’m not an advocate of using abortions as a means of birth control. However, I think it’s ridiculous for some legislative body to have any control over it. And for a state to ban abortions even in the case of rape is enough to make my blood boil.

I can’t expound on this subject any better than any of the other hundreds of articles out there – in fact, I stay away from politics for this very reason: I’m not fully functional as a political speaker. I leave that for the crew at Clean Cut Kid or Dakota War College.

I did read a good opinion piece today, though, that got me to thinking about the abortion bill. There could be some good that comes from this – it might set the Democrats off. Roe vs. Wade was not perfect. Something needs to happen – something to replace the Surpreme Court ruling.

From AKG’s Newsvine piece:

Our mistakes have been many. First, we left it up to the Supreme Court to protect abortion, instead of winning the public debate and protecting the procedure through legislation, as should have been the case. Leaning on the crutch of Roe v. Wade (a bad ruling and an example of what happens when the Court decides to wing it) for 33 years has made us legally, morally, and rhetorically weak, and America’s intelligence has suffered for it.

Now, perhaps by the grace of God, the good state of South Dakota has passed a CRAZY law (yes, in caps!) that tempts our now conservative Court to do what it should probably do anyway: toss out an idiotic ruling. No doubt there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Union tonight. But tomorrow morning we have the responsibility to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and finish off this culture war once and for all.

America is ripe for an intelligent public debate on the issue of abortion, if for no other reason than it has never been done, and personally, I’m convinced that in an intelligent public debate, Democrats will win handily. I offer my pointers for how to do this:

This could be the deciding factor in creating a stronger liberal presence in this country. It might get the Democrats thinking that they should ultimately be following their party line: compassion, liberalism – an idea that the country could actually work for lower classes, for single mothers, for the artistic, the independent, the non-profit. An idea that this country could still go through it’s own renaissance, where people are treated as they should be: with dignity and honor, regardless of who you are.

If this isn’t the item that can kick the Democratic Party in the ass and get them fired up about taking back control of this country, then I don’t really think there’s any chance in hell that they ever will. And until something happens, you can bet this country will slowly recede like some senator’s hairline – right back over the bald hump of practicality and into the waiting arms of uncompassionate conservatives.

Personally, I think our world might gain quite a bit if people would stop worrying about when life begins and start worrying about the people that are already alive – the human beings that have fallen through the cracks, that have been victims of rape, of racism, of sexism, of a never ending cycle of poverty, and (most importantly) of the indifference of the handful of powerful people that actually rule this country. Maybe something truly intelligent can come from this.

Unfortunately, I won’t be holding my breath.

Tags: Politics |

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Walking on eggshells

February 23, 2006

I’ve been frequenting BKG’s Fresh Glue blog for the past few months, mainly because I’ve found myself more and more interested in well designed advertisements and websites lately. Quite possibly, Kerrie’s newsletter design work is rubbing off on me, or maybe I’m just lured in by sharp lines and bright colors – regardless, Fresh Glue usually throws something at me that blows my mind.

Today, however, it was a comment that led me to something I’d never even considered: advertising on egg shells.

In Fresh Glue’s article on AquaCell Media’s “Coolertising,” a concept that puts advertising on water coolers that are offered free to businesses like Kmart and CVS, a commenter (Joe) mentions EggFusion.

What EggFusion offers is laser etching for advertisers. On eggs.

From the Gadgetopia post:

Eggfusion is making all of this pretty attractive to egg producers; sounds like the producers will actually be paid to allow their eggs to be etched using equipment owned by Eggfusion. The revenue from advertisers and retailers pays for the equipment and makes it worthwhile to add the engraver to the production line. (According to the Producers section of the website, it’ll run at about 250 feet per minute — that’s a lot of eggs!)

Eggfusion also has a website where you can track your egg’s history, ala Bookcrossing.

Go check out the entire post by Dave at Gadgetopia.

Tags: Random Links, Advertising/Marketing |

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I AM THE BEST (though the polls don’t show it)

February 22, 2006

Okay, faithful readers.

Todd Epp at SD Watch has listed a poll: What Are Your Favorite S.D. Blogs?

GO! Head to the site and vote! Remember that we in the non-political world can beat those bully “we’re so smart because we know about the current events of our state” blogs with our sheer numbers! Viva la non-politicato!

Seriously. Go Vote. If you don’t, I’ll block you from the site. I’m already 40 votes behind 1st place, so I’m really just asking for 3rd right now.

Let’s see what power we have in this state.

Tags: Black Marks on Wood Pulp, Blogging |