In Austin

I've been hearing and reading some news stories recently, that some prominent New Orleans musicians have decided to permanently relocate in Austin. If these stories are true, it will cause me to place my bid firmly in the Austin marathon camp.

The first thing I heard was a story on NPR last Friday and I've excerpted some of the meat from that story below. You can click on the link if you want to listen to the whole thing.

From: New Orleans Musicians Fearful of City’s Future by David Brown, All Things Considered, Friday, 10/28/05

Cyril Neville: “I wouldn’t want to go back to a place that they’re sayin’ is gonna be a combination of Disneyland and Las Vegas.”

Producer Leo Sacks: “There’s an undercurrent going on here. Their lives are in transition . . . they’re wondering what kind of New Orleans could they potentially be going back to. . . . is New Orleans going to turn into one big, uh, casino or Bourbon Street?”

Reporter David Brown: “It’s a growing concern among New Orleans musicians that, no matter how much is done to rebuild their city, the street music scene may be lost for good, that reconstruction will leave little more than a plastic, family-friendly imitation of what the Crescent City once was . . . one senses that, for some prominent musicians with ties to New Orleans, Austin’s looking like more than just a temporary home.”


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4980270

Corrupted by Power?

Beware, Fearless Leader.

As George W. Bush recently discovered, alienating one’s most loyal followers is a mistake.

We’ve been good. We blogged, faithfully, prior to Duke City, and afterward. We trained. We showed up at Duke City. We finished, one of us despite surgery.

You were there with us. We didn’t look like Amway salesmen as we crossed that line, did we? Hell, no. We looked like warriors, every one. We crossed the finish line, limping and bloody. Triumphant. We took you in our arms.

We didn’t vote you in, so we can’t depose you.

But we can track you down and kick your ass.

Finding Out What We Know

"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know, but there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know." —Donald Rumsfeld, Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing.

Some tribe members have expressed concern about the health conditions in New Orleans. I've been given the task of finding out what can be known about environmental quality in the area, post-Katrina, and reporting back to the tribe what I find.

Because clean-up is ongoing, environmental quality will change, and I expect to be making several reports over the next few months.

Right now, I am gathering sources of information and I would like to enlist your help in this part of the task. If you come across any news reports which provide sources of information, please forward these to me or otherwise let me know about them. Let me stress that such reports are not, themselves, scientific information; they are useful only if they cite actual scientific studies I am able to obtain, or if they provide links to legitimate, scientific sites which I can access. The best sources of information are those that will be conducting continuing testing in the area. So far, I have identified the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana State University and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

I will gather what I can and I will start reporting on my findings in a few days. My posts will include the sources of the information so the tribe members can assess it for themselves.

What I find may serve only to, well, muddy the waters. As Mr. Rumsfeld said, there are unknown unknowns, and some tribe members may never feel comfortable with any risk, while others may not care to have the information at all.

That said, I would also like to remind everybody that health concerns are only one factor in many which may be used to determine whether we go to New Orleans or somewhere else, and that the ultimate decision about where the 600 lb. marathon is held is up to our two chiefs, although they will be interested to hear the tribe members’ opinions on the subject.