New Orleans on My Mind

Melissa Hung
September 1, 2005

apkatrina.jpg

This was forwarded to me in an email. Caveat: I'm not sure whether or not these were the actual captions written (though it would not be surprising), and who wrote them. The same person? Different people?

Our founding publisher, Yuki, is from New Orleans. Luckily, her family evacuated in time, though they are now without homes or jobs for many months. I've also not heard from a writer friend of mine; we had not kept in touch recently. But our other friends have not heard from him either.

Contributor: 

Melissa Hung

Founding Editor

Melissa Hung is the founding editor of Hyphen. She was the editor in chief for the magazine's first five years and went on to serve in many other leadership roles on the staff and board for more than a decade. She is a writer and freelance journalist. Her essays and reported stories have appeared in NPR, Vogue, Pacific Standard, Longreads, and Catapult, among others. She grew up in Texas, the eldest child of immigrants. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Comments

Comments

Peter wrote on Fri, 10/07/2005 - 12:07am
I heard it,He's something else!Just think he's 2nd generation real McCoy Vanderbilt blood too ( real establishment's pet boy that is! ) and he told the real deal... I used to think Mary Landreau was one of the better policticians... I guess truth and reality come out when the tests are ' issued '...... :-(Peter
Lauren McLaughlin wrote on Sat, 09/03/2005 - 10:30am
I love the color-coded definitions of loot and find. I hear Anderson Cooper went ballistic on Senator Mary Landrieau on the air and that tv journalists in general are starting to get fed up with the "everything's okay" facade they're getting from politicians. You think maybe the great wall of bullshit is starting to crumble?
free speaker wrote on Sun, 09/04/2005 - 12:44pm
Much as I'd like to believe, as it is being parroted by the more optimistic progressives, that this is the end of the bullshit, this is probably something else.Anderson Cooper, and every other celebrity TV journalist, is very good at gauging popular sentiment (as in what motivates the TV audience) and acting as though he is "leading the charge." Did he go "ballistic" on the Bush administration at the start of the "war on terror" (or whatever the hell it's called this year)? Did he go "ballistic" on the admin at anytime during the "wars" in Iraq? Did he go "ballistic" on Bush, Chernoff, or FEMA on day 2 (or day 3, or day 4?). No, he waited for a relatively uninfluential female democratic senator who already (deservedly) had the contempt of virtually every American and lacked the skills and resources of the Bush administration's bullshit machinery. Wow. Courageous. Carry on, Anderson. Maybe Anderson can try aiming that obnoxious self righteousness at the (gulp) President of the United States who deserves the most criticism. Or, better yet, maybe he can turn it on himself and his colleagues who are also responsible for helping to legitimize all of the immoral and irrational policies and actions of the Bush administration over the last several years.By the way, Anderson Cooper's self-righteousness has many layers. Not only is he wealthy from TV dollars, but he is Vanderbilt wealthy...literally. I wonder how much the Vanderbilts (yes, THE Vanderbilts), are/will be contributing to the rescue and rebuilding....The only way something truly good can come from this staggering tragedy is to see it for what it is: a symptom of something much larger and deeper, of which celebrity journalists, who would do anything to stay famous, are a part.
Camus wrote on Mon, 09/05/2005 - 11:07am
"Finding" bread and soda "from"? It just doesnt sound right, "finding" bread and soda "at" would make more sense. But if we replace "finding" with "looting" we get "Looting" bread and soda "from" which also sounds more correct.Not saying anything, its just that sounds a little strange.