This past weekend, for the fifth year since Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Bloggers once again gathered for our annual Rising Tide conference where we discussed political, social, and cultural issues facing our city.
The nature of young urban intellectual movements is to gravitate toward a certain type of thinking. I never go to things like this expecting balance. That’s like going to a Christian tent revival and asking “is there an atheist in da ministry?” But I always keep my mind open to finding unique perspectives, and welcome them openly (if not for serious consideration then at least for debating entertainment value). Every year I struggle (but not too hard) to critique this group because they are my friends now, and our community is a small one. But I think they’re pretty used to me being the “difficult woman” in the room by now. Anyway, in some ways the event has improved much since the first one right after Katrina, but in other ways, nothing’s changed. For instance…
This year the politics panel included a nice mix of mainstream and alternative political writers, as well as bloggers, and *gasp* was that a right-winger up there!?! Props to conservative Jeff Crouere for being a good sport and taking the hits from the very liberal audience/panel. I was also glad to see blogger Jason Berry out there and putting up a good defense of his work. His remark about just getting to the truth regardless of who you help/hurt politically is one I respect. Also, I always enjoy Clancy’s input. True, he’s a big old liberal, but he has a rational intelligent delivery, brings in an enormous amount of local political, historical, and legal expertise, and doesn’t grate me like say… Jacques Morial, who cursed and ranted at the audience like a drunken uncle at a backyard bbq.
The other big improvement this year was the new crime panel, with a big star on it – NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas. Crime is one of the main factors people cite when choosing to leave Nola, so I thought it was a paramount discussion. Serpas spoke about many factors that influence crime that are impossible for the police to be tasked with such as education, proper home environment, etc… In other words, our crime problem is not a job the NOPD can take on alone, it’s a social issue that must be tackled from several angles. Panelist Jon Wool also showed admirable brazenness when he inquired if arresting people for minor drug offenses was the best use of police (and jail) resources. Much agreed there. My two main problems with this panel were that I feel I didn’t hear enough from the other panelists, and that was most likely due to the Chief’s powerful presence, and no one’s fault in particular. Lastly, the questions for this panel sucked. I hate to be harsh, but if you’re going to get up there, then ask a short, powerful and meaningful question, not something petty, or worse, laden with so much “sociospeak” that even the Chief (who has a PhD), has to ask you to clarify what you meant.
So what didn’t change? Oh for crap’s sake I almost threw tofu at the environmental panel (I wouldn’t waste a steak on that). Let me take a step back and say that I have a lot of respect for the work these three men do, and totally support moving in a “greener” direction in general. But I failed to see how preaching the “climate change” gospel (along with obligatory SUV bashing) was of any use. I would’ve preferred to hear more about their practical solutions to our coastal erosion problems other than whimsical eco-fantasies where we all go tribal (ok, they weren’t that bad, but they still didn’t tell me much of use). Ironically, LA’s coastal problems ARE mostly human-made, but they have much more to do with our poorly planned and managed levees, river diversion projects, and shipping canals rather than our fat carbon footprints.
On a happier note, congrats to Cliff for winning the blogger award. If you want to read a rational liberal with common sense and warm humor, go to Cliff’s Crib blog. It’s a thoughtful, clever, no-bullshit zone where he tells it like it is because he lives what it is. Read him.
The rest garnered less polarized opinions from me. I don’t think there’s any way to critique the Treme panel because it was just enjoyable to kick back and listen to discussion about a show that, for better or worse, is a powerful dramatization of life here in Nola. I did hear a few people say they were disappointed that the line for questions from the audience was longer for this panel than all the others. Ah, entertainment, you sexy bitch. There was also a presentation from Tim Ruppert about getting the federal government to recognize and treat levees to the same standard they do dams. I certainly liked the idea, but I think it’s going to be a long haul to get that accomplished. Lastly, our keynote speaker Mac MacClelland had an interesting perspective to share on the BP oil gush (human rights issues are a hobby read of mine), but I got the impression that she is the type of journalist who decides what she wants a story to be about before she discovers what a story is about. But that is a whole different branch of journalism.
So yeah, I nicknamed myself “token” because I think I’m the only non-progressive/uberliberal in this crew. If I’m wrong then you’re being too damned quiet. Speak the hell up, and I’ll see you there next year.
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