Katrina Summit Sessions

I was absolutely blown away by Deborah Grison's poetry. Her work is so powerful and beautiful. Perhaps we can post some of her work (and that of Tyehimba Jess) on the Katrina Summit website so that those who weren't able to be there in person can read her work. And for those who didn't hear the primeridian Wednesday night (including Tri's 10-minute improvisation that kicked things off at the Virginia), check out their sound online.

Finally a few moments to describe more fully the events of opening night. Several elements deserve reflection. I don't want to neglect anything here but I will, to focus on the presentation by Maria Lovett and the discussion that followed. Maria's work involves what I think of as cinema verité, but she calls it Video Action Research. The film she's working on is a work-in-progress focused on 83-year-old Herbert Gettridge who is rebuilding his home in the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. This we know from the Katrina Summit program, but you must experience Maria's film clips to understand. As she said, she was sharing her field notes with us, written with video. Powerful and profound don't do it justice, but I'm stuck here writing with words. So in the panel discussion that followed, a couple of major themes emerged. Also an übertheme which I'll get to eventually, probably in a later post. First theme: Race, the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. Actually I think we do want to talk about it but the conversation becomes uncomfortable mighty fast, so we don't often take it very far. To wit: a very articulate member of the audience challenged Maria's intent, or possibly her qualifications to as a white woman tell the story of an African-American man living in New Orleans. He felt her film ended on a note of optimism, just like the other narratives of hardship and racial oppression we see so often in popular films, in television, and in commercial print. I didn't think Maria's presentation ended on a happy note at all for Mr. Gettridge or the lower Ninth Ward, but I think the challenger raised a crucial issue. There is injustice, but then justice is done, goes the narrative we like in America. Especially White America that wants to pretend we are color-blind and beyond systemic and institutionalized racism. Popular media culture can't tolerate a story line that indicts us so deeply, unless at the end there's a hero riding into a sunset. So I understood his point, though I didn't see it's application to Maria's work. But we can talk about that. Second theme: Media. Many people on the panel and in the rest of the room spoke about how dismal and exploitive was the major media coverage of the Katrina crisis. For one hopeful moment, it looked like we'd see even Fox news speak truth to power. (I exaggerate, of course.) The light seemed to almost shine on not just the ugliness of racism and the poverty of opportunity in America, but on its root causes. But then the light moved on. What we got instead was the packaging of Katrina, a product to sell on the nightly news. We had an opportunity to confront the deep issues that plague America, and we missed it. The truth is, confronting deep issues is no longer what the media does. The media is for selling products, whether the products are cell phones and new cars, a president, or the American narrative of divine exceptionalism. Racial injustice doesn't sell cars. So the question arose, what do we do about this? A good question to ponder and discuss. Two modest suggestions here: Let's not be so distracted by a so-called popular media that has failed us so deeply. And let's have more people like Maria Lovett who discard the models that brought our media to such a state of irrelevance. She's making something new, and we need it very much. Jack Brighton WILL TV|Radio|Web University of Illinois Reporting on the Katrina Summit

There are other meditations on Katrina and "When the Levees Broke" in the blog area; see Inspired by a friend after Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Who? Katrina and Me Man's Inhumanity to Man Recent Lessons Learned Katrina as utterly shocking Now I know The humanity behind the headlines

Another point about forecasting and evacuation ... all evacuation does is save your life. It doesn't save your home, your belongings, your neighborhood. So many times during this summit, people have said that the disaster isn't just the single event, it's everything that happens after the event.

I hope the summit starts some new connections among people and that we continue the momentum with future events and conversations.

Mike Ross, director of the Krannert Center for Performing Arts, during the Katrina Summit opening session. Give it up for Mike Ross: "We have to find a way to be comfortable with each other, and develop "strategies of being" that allow us to be and express ourselves in community. We have to be able to deal with some very difficult stuff, and some very naughty problems..." Jack

This panel got us off to a wonderful start. It's so interesting to see how common themes begin to emerge, how the different presentations and performances resonate with one another. The three things that most struck me about the mobile hospital panel: -- I have a greater sense of security knowing about the competent, dedicated medical professionals who are right here in Urbana-Champaign, and who are willing to hit the road to provide aid where and when it is needed. -- I believe it was Dr. Winston who talked about The Three C's: Caring, Competence, and Capacity. Caring is a great start, but you have to have the skills and the resources that enable you to follow through. -- And finally, the value of volunteerism. The medical professionals and our Red Cross speaker, Anne Fox, really stressed the indispensibility of volunteers. And as Jack said, even though not all of us can drop everything to do extended field work, there are things we can do locally. If everyone gives what they are able to give, in money and time and skill, we can make a huge difference collectively. Anne told the story of a little girl who ran a lemonade stand and gave her earnings to the Katrina relief effort. That definitely makes me want to get off my butt and do more.

This is something that came up during the live chat (archive available) that I'll try to encapsulate here. I think the term "social entrepreneurship" could be a valuable way to refer to/reframe "activism." SE seems like a phrase less likely to spook the horses, so to speak, without any "hippie dippie" connotation. It articulates the value of activism for a new audience, perhaps, demonstrating that we're taking about hard work and follow through and creativity and innovation. We're talking about moving beyond the impulse to do something good into actual implementation. Not that this is new as a phenomenon, but I think this new label has a certain power.

"A terrible truth revealed itself...If I did nothing about Rwanda, then I cannot occupy a higher moral ground to expect other people to help New Orleans." - Kalamu ya Salaam

I found that very surprising. My first guess was 30 percent.

A report issued today found that the rate of volunteerism among college students has risen, and that college students are more likely to volunteer that other segments of the population. Bravo!

Hello tbarker, I am conducting my research on some similar questions as yours. One question I have is how can we measure the significant impact of the volunteer experiences? Take a look at my blog post if you would like.