My brother Jim wrote to me to say that from the pictures I sent it looks like they need an army of bulldozers.
Yup. Bulldozers needed. In some places they can just let it rot. No one's coming back. In southwest Cameron Parish, entire towns were wiped off the Earth by Hurricane Rita.
I'm based in Baton Rouge, about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans. So it's relatively normal here but I'll be traveling all over the state to shoot stories. Some of the southernmost parishes have roadblocks you have need special permission to pass. Our ID badges should gain us admission.
We've had enough roadblocks inside the bureaucracy we deal with. The mission for the Recovery Channel is supposed to be to serve the evacuees. That may be so but our liasons often want particular officials included for political reasons. This person or that needs to be included in an on-camera interview, I'm told. Does it make the story more relevant to someone left homeless and jobless by the storm? No but it will make someone happy somewhere and it's clear that this is the real mission.
That's the sad part. The funny part is that we're told to include these elements and then the people we're supposed to interview are not available.
But the Recovery Channel can be a useful venture and I'll keep pushing to make sure it is.
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This is John McQuiston's blog, where you can subject yourself to his musings, his music, his photographs and even some of his professional work. John does not always write about himself in the third person.
- John
- Reporter, Writer, Video Biographer, Essayist, Photographer, Musician, Observer. On air, On-line, Whatever it takes to tell the story. These are some of mine. See more @ JohnMcQuiston.com
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1 comment:
This project is pretty admirable. And pretty courageous/interesting. I'm guessing the officials don't know about your blog...?! Where is this Recovery Channel supposed to air? I'm guessing it's no Extreme Makeover: Hurricane Katrina Edition. Which if it was, maybe, just maybe, the relief efforts would be as great as the disaster...
Loved this line, by the way: Here's the thing the pictures don't show: It's not that you see damage. It's that you don't see anywhere there is no damage.
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