The rats, the expectations, the possibilities?

They were philandering in the midnight lined garbage cans. The rats, or the hungry? Both? I didn’t look to see. It was enough to keep on walking. The churning, the loitering of the plastic ballerina-dancing- jewelry box song via a cold, steel, garbage can on the side of a Brooklyn thoroughfare. It’s harsh. But it’s not even winter yet. It is still temperate, mild, and accommodating enough to look as this distraction. But the senses have been so long distracted, I just keep pacing forward. It’s not interesting or compelling anymore. And I wonder what I’ve lost by that. What of myself I threw in that garbage can by choice, circumstance, or subconscious action.

With guitars and bags of gear slung over the shoulder like the work horse that I am, I was on my way home. And all I could think of was that. Home. And the little dog that would be awaiting my arrival so eagerly, with the love, warmth, and joy a person can never find in all the parties and pleasantries of even the most divine. A place something like home, but never just so. A place with the accoutrements, and the silverware, and sitting area, but never quite the same appeal, the same soul, as home as I once knew it to be. We’re all just transitory strangers to ourselves and each other at this point. Even as I walk home with my significant other, and the philandering scavengers I don’t bother to look at or perceive. I hope we can overcome this. I hope we do leave eventually. Cause these concrete livelihoods are no place for fragile hearts softly beating. We all know this.

By 6am this morning (it’s now 2:37) I’m supposed to be on a flight to New Orleans, from which I am supposed to be driving to North Louisiana, Shreveport to be precise. There is a very big hurricane to hit by night Friday. But I’m still expected to fly into the middle of the impending disaster. Is any music really that important? (No). Because no one knows the trouble at hand. This is sad, and frightening. But it looks as if I’ll just fly right into Shreveport anyway, instead of new orleans. I should just barely miss the hurricane. But who won’t miss this hurricane is what worries me.

The dollar of everyone is at a higher premium than safety, prudence, and reasonable judgment. And we’re all victims of this crutch. Hey, I have rent to pay. So. Do they? So do they.

So we’re not isolated, free orbiting beings. We are connected after all. And when this category five lands, we’ll have a whole new land of brothers and sisters stranded. But hopefully this time we’ll know better, know we should react before, not long after.

But who am I to say that? With my family in tact and a temperate bed to rest in tonight. I am no one to say that at all. But I can’t help but keep thinking of change to come. What change we can make. Or can we?

I don’t mean to be idealistic. I know the world is a mean place. But even the rats in the garbage cans have their good days. And there is more possibility for goodness than we ever knew.

Perhaps we just have some digging to do.

Is this bothersome?

A corporate conversation: Delta Airlines.

So, I'm often perturbed with the horrendous customer service (or lack there of) and corruption, with the entire corporate paradigm- the phone companies, the airlines, the credit card issuers. All a bunch of vulchers and thieves who slip in extra charges in hopes that you don't have the time or patience to sit on the phone for an hour to get them to fix it, or do not provide the service you paid for, etc. But every now and then I feel as if a company treats me like a real human being. Like they respect fairness, and value. JetBlue is one of these rare corporate utopias! They are helpful, well-priced, give a great service, and are fair to their customers (like refunding money if you don't wish to fly yourself into a hurricane in your destination city).

It's been a while since I've used the other corporate evils for flight. After Katrina, JetBlue is not currently offering flights to New Orleans.... where I had to fly into to get to a show I have scheduled in Louisiana (northern part) this week.

I was routed to Delta on travelocity, who was up and running in New Orleans. Now, the new hurricane has caused evacuation of the city, and the Gulf looks like it may be in a bad place this week. I called Delta to cancel the flight, and get a refund because of the weather. It went something like this....


(After holding for 10 minutes listening to elevator music).

Delta: May I have your flight number?

Me: 1415 from New York to New Orleans. The mayor has ordered the city be evacuated again due to the new hurricane hitting this week.

Delta: Okay, let me check on the bulletins.
.....
That flight has not been cancelled. But since there has been an evacuation posted, let me double check to see what Delta is offering, we can probably give you credit for future flight or a refund. Let me check. Please hold.
......
Okay mam, I have my supervisor on the line and Delta is not issuing refunds or credit for this flight since the flight has not been cancelled. You'll have to call tomorrow to find out if the flight has been cancelled, or pay for the ticket even though you aren't making the flight.

Me: But my flight leaves tomorrow at 8am, tomorrow is too late to work out flight details. The city is being evacuated, it's unreasonable to fly people there right now.

Delta: You don't have to take the flight, but it is your responsibility since you booked the ticket and Delta has not cancelled the flight. You can check the status in the morning.

Me: I understand they haven't cancelled the flight. But the city of New Orleans is being evacuated, there will be no one there for transportation to as a means to get out of the city, the airport, etc. Do you guys usually continue with flights that are going directly into a current natural disaster?

Delta: Since you booked your flight on September 15th, you were aware of the problems. It is not Delta's responsibility if you knew the potential hazards.

Me: No, on September 15th, travelocity routed me to New Orleans on Delta. On Sept. 15th, New Orleans airport and roads to and from it were functional. Delta was up for business and operating to and from the New Orleans airport which had power, staff, and transportation to get out of. If Delta felt it reasonable to operate business to New Orleans after Katrina, then I assumed the same. If Delta was unable to refund tickets due to NEW hurricanes and disasters then you shouldn't have booked me for the flight.

Delta: This is our policy and no refunds will be made unless the flight is cancelled.

Me: What is your policy? To keep as much money as possible even if it means flying your potential customers to their deaths?

Delta: We are not responsible for hurricanes. The flight has not been cancelled.

Me: So the city will have no one in it to get people out of the airport, but as long as lightening, the 150mph winds, or the good grace of your bad karma, don't physically take your airplane out of the sky then you'll keep the flight scheduled and not respect my request to have the ticket refunded because it is unreasonable to fly someone into the middle of an impending category 5 hurricane?

Delta: I can't answer that question for you. You can call tomorrow and check on the status of the flight.

Me: Well okay. So, Delta gets to keep my $200, and I get nothing. (thought to self: you cheap bastards just filed for bankruptcy anyway. it's not like you have to account for your lost profits anymore. just give me my fucking $200 and respect the fact that I value not throwing myself into the middle of a category 5 hurricane. no wonder you bastards went bankrupt. corruption comes back to get you! karma suckers.)

Delta (impatient/pissy tone): You can call again tomorrow. I cannot refund your tickets, is not our policy. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Me: You know, maybe you can just reschedule my flight to a different place.....
....... how about Iraq? Likihood of survival is about the same there I'd guess. Or do you guys have any packages to North Korea? Maybe you could even just drop me out the emergency exit somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, atleast I wouldn't have to worry about deranged, dehydrated gun-wielding looters if I got stuck there.

Thanks for your help!

---

So, I thought I'd look up more information on the poor treatment of Delta's customers and I found plenty of treats!
Perhaps the fact that they just went bankrupt has to do with their unacceptably poor service.

http://www.deltareallysucks.com/

http://www.boycottdelta.org

Stewardess fired for Blog.

A Plan to be nice?

Mercy Corps

I recently played a benefit show and the proceeds went to Mercy Corps to aid in relief from Hurricane Katrina.
This organization seems to have a very comprehensive approach to disaster relief, including long-term
goals to help rebuild lives and communities, economically and otherwise. This is important, as
organizations like the Red Cross serve immediate needs, but not long term rehabilitation.


www.mercycorps.org

Also http://www.charitynavigator.org gives them a four star rate of approval. Charity Navigator
is a good resource to check out non-profits efficiency (how much of the money actually goes
to programs rather than salaries/administration).

How we love New Orleans.

Sweet New Orleans.

Certainly you have heard the back-alley stories of the Big Easy: the booze, breasts, and brawl of mardi-gras season bourbon street, the witchcraft and esoterically indulgent corner shops selling everything from authentic voodoo dolls to authentic plastic mardi gras beads (made in some sweat shop in China).

New Orleans, unlike most of the places I’ve been, has a real soul. A dark soul, but a soul none-the-less. The culture of New Orleans, the heart beat of it, runs as deep as the roots of the Magnolia trees, and is as staggering as the dewey stormy skied moss that hangs from it’s branches.

New Orleans is where you go when you’re a kid from Baton Rouge who wants to be rebellious and go out drinking all night even though you’re still 17, where you go see chicks strip before you’ve even conceived the idea of sex or such adult perversions, where the riverboats are just as grandiose and beautifully painted as they were when Mark Twain was writing of them in the long passed golden days of a purer American sentiment, where you can go to café dumond into the morning hours with a cup of Louisiana coffee and plate of powdered beignets and let the world sink into your skin with the humid breeze coming just over the levee from the river.

The river to your left, the late-night wayfarer characters to your right, and an infinity of history more steeping into your bones. Almost any hour of the day there is a jazz band playing, a bright eyed little boy tap dancing on the corner, a gypsy promising to tell you of all that is to come, artists working their art on portable pop legged tables, seafood just off the boat being fried. This was New Orleans.

New Orleans is a James Dean, a Janis Joplin, a Jack Kerouac, a Martin Luther King, a Robert Johnson, an Elvis, a King. New Orleans is what all the affluence and architecture of an increasingly pretentious modern world cannot forge. New Orleans has a soul.

And I sit here in this metropolitan island, isolated and paralyzed. While the rest of the world is mobilizing, I can hardly move. What do you do? Giving money right now will certainly help the immediate needs, the food and water, and rescue efforts (which the federal government should have already taken care of, but clearly we can’t leave such issues as survival up to them… at least not when the people in need of survival are not privileged and white. Fuck!). But what about six months from now, a year from now, when our memories have been cramped with the latest news, the latest preoccupations, and more selfishly indulgent ways to again return to wasting our disposable incomes?
That’s what worries me. Because all the people were helping feed and house right now, will still not have homes to return to six months from now, or jobs, or any resource to provide for themselves. This affects the very poorest, the middle class and rich will recover. One third of the population of New Orleans lived in poverty before the hurricane hit. What now?

Mother nature’s tantrums can’t be prevented, but our civilizations and governments have significant resources on how to minimize (and possibly outright prevent) the damage caused by such disasters. The scale of disaster was well known and predicted. Officials KNEW the levees could only handle up to a category 3 hurricane, when Katrina was supposed to come in as a category 5 (she landed as a high 4).

Why has this hurricane affected so many people, and left so many people stranded without means for escape? We knew it was coming; we had time to get people out. Where was the National Guard (30-40% of Mississippi and Louisiana’s Nation Guard members were in Iraq)? Where were the evacuation teams, cars, busses, helicopters to get the people the hell out of there before it hit (those who did not have the luxury of owning their own cars or having the means/money to escape)?

It’s sick. It’s shameful. And it’s outright fucking unacceptable. And what a shame it is that it had to take such an extreme event of devastation for this inequity and discrimination rampant in our current governance to be highlighted and put on the neon signs.

The breaches in the levees could have been prevented, had proper funding requested been granted. It was denied, due to budget restraints because of the war in Iraq.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12562638.htm

“The Washington Post reports that the project, which was supposed to cost $744 million overall, needed $62.5 million next fiscal year. The Bush administration proposed $10.5 million.

Engineers in the area had warned about catastrophic flooding for years. That left a Corps of Engineers spokesman offering this hollow explanation to USA Today about why New Orleans was so vulnerable: “We're talking about a tremendous effort at enormous expense at a time when the nation is strapped.”

Some resources to immediately help those in need:

http://www.hurricanehousing.org
http://www.secondharvest.org