Operation Unified Response, The 377th TSC leaves for Haiti

At 11 in the morning on Jan 25th I got a call for Shaun Clark, the public affairs officer for the 377 TSC (Theater Sustainment Command), asking me how fast I could get ready to go to Haiti. I was told to be ready to leave by that evening, but later learned I had till the next morning. Everything time-related remains fluid when traveling with the military.

I arrived at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, LA, on Jan 26th . Shaun filled me in on the role the 377th TSC will play in Operation Unified Response. They will be the logistical support for all US soldiers in Haiti. They are relieving the 3rd Support Command Expeditionary, who have been surveying and analyzing distribution sites since Jan 19th. I am accompanying 19 soldiers, an early entry module detachment, who will be met by a much larger group once they are operational. This unit and the larger one deploying are prepared to stay at least a year.

We boarded a bus for Miami in the late morning, taking with us everything needed to sustain them for the start up period, from MREs (meals ready to eat) to cots. After a 16 hour ride on a chartered bus that included two fast food stops ( I confess to having McDonald's and Burger King on the same day) and a couple of smoke breaks for the night driver, we arrived at an airbase in Miami shortly after 5 AM to find out we might have to wait 2-3 days for our flight out. I write from a large waiting room in an airbase outside Miami where we are prepared to hunker down, if need be. We could still get out today, but no one knows for sure. Though the unit does logistics, they are not responsible for the logistics of getting themselves to Haiti. Overall everyone is in good humor.

The rest of the day our plans remained fluid .I got a little sleep in the afternoon. Early evening we were waiting for the plane we dined on Popeyes friend chicken and had a surprise visit from professional cheerleaders taking part in the Pro Bowl Game. The flight meant to leave at 10 pm was delayed till 12:15am, and then got cancelled. We end up checking into a Comfort Inn Hotel. Hopefully in the morning we will be on our way. The start of this trip is a forecast of what to expect in Haiti. Haiti was no longer the top headline in the news when we departed, but the story is far from over. From where I sit, it's getting more interesting by the minute.

Update - shortly after falling asleep, i was woken up and told to come to the lobby to catch a bus back to the airbase to fly out.
We all got on a C-130 for Haiti and landed as the sun came up. I arrived in Haiti tired, but ready to take it all in. A logistical nightmare that is being tackled moment by moment, is one way to describe the situation here.

Homage to Flo McGarrell

Flo McGarrell wearing one of his fiber art creations

When I first heard of the earthquake in Haiti I thought of Flo McGarrell. I knew he was there. I called his mother Ann, and I conveyed my sense that Flo would be fine, leading the rescue efforts of others. I was wrong. Despite Flo's strength, the earthquake's suddenness made survival more an act of luck than will. He was killed instantly on January 12th when the Peace of Mind Hotel in Jacmel collapsed. His body still remains trapped under the hotel. A friend who was with him at the hotel and the remaining members of FOSAJ, the art center Flo ran, have been unable to dig him out. The State Department may send some heavy lifting equipment to Jacmel so the body can be recovered.

One natural disaster put me on the path to meet Flo and another has taken him away. Ann McGarrell, Flo’s mother, contacted me after seeing a series of photographs I did about post–Katrina New Orleans. We collaborated on a book using photos she selected from my series and a poem she wrote inspired by my photos. This collaboration also brought Flo and James, Ann's husband and Flo’s father, into my life. Both are fine artists of the highest caliber.

I was privileged to share a Thanksgiving with them. Flo prepared raw food concoctions that were scrumptious. That weekend I took pictures of Flo’s crocheted hats so he could enter them in a fiber-art competition. Ann, James and Flo acted as models on a cold Vermont autumn day. He talked to me about the art center in Haiti he was going to be running and invited me to visit and teach a workshop there, an offer I will always regret not having accepted sooner.

Flo was multi-talented and had a generous spirit, openly sharing ideas and help. His life and his work were interconnected. Working and living in Haiti was a synthesis of his many interests. He had started making "agrisculptures," using plants and recycled materials to make a statement about sustainability. In Haiti, he ran the art center on a shoestring, committed to bringing the local art community in Haiti together. His optimism and positive outlook were infectious.

In a recent interview Flo said, "I have a few guiding principles, which I think must propel me toward this artistic freedom you speak about: Don’t hide, don’t lie. Do that which scares me. Resist the urge to settle. Be as many things as possible in this lifetime.” From what I know of Flo that is exactly how he lived. Flo’s commitment to these principles and his life’s work are inspirational. The randomness of his death is difficult to grasp.


On Friday, Jan. 15th I went to a banquet hall on Wall Street to photograph a benefit for FAR, the Fund for Armenian Relief, a humanitarian organization formed to aid the victims of the earthquake that hit Spitak, Armenia 25 years ago. I arrived early and followed voices I heard in the distance near the Stock Exchange. There was a rally, tying many issues together. A mishmash protest of sorts by the Bail out People Movement . The crowded chanted that Wall Street should bail out Haiti, return the riches it has stolen. Councilman Charles Barron on Brooklyn, stated the $100 million Obama pledged to Haiti amounted to $50 per person and demanded more help be given to Haiti.

At the banquet a few of the speakers mentioned Haiti, but their focus was Armenia. The evening was a reminder of how long it takes an impoverished nation to recover. I write this waiting for a flight back to New Orleans, a city still hardly better and stronger than ever, as Bush had envisioned it. It is unfortunate there is no end in sight to war. Cleaning up the wrath of nature seems task enough for the world. The earth's moving plates know no boundaries, and when they shift, we are all equally in peril.

To Flo’s family and friends, I reiterate my deepest condolences. To everyone else, I want to share Flo’s life and work.

The McGarrells wearing Flo's fiber art creations

To see more of Flo’s work go to www.gowithflo.net

The Rutland Herald wrote the following
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100115/THISJUSTIN/1150333

To read more of Flo’s own words read a recent interview in Art : 21 Blog
http://blog.art21.org/2009/08/28/inside-the-artists-studio-flo-mcgarrell/

To see James McGarrels site created by Flo click here http://www.redwingstanza.com/index.html

Protest on in NYC for more aid to Haiti

Protest in NYC for more aid to Haiti/ Councilman calling for more aid to Haiti

Climate Change + Man-made Environmental Disturbance = Environmental Refugees

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is in full swing. Hundreds of protestors are being arrested while figure heads from numerous countries go to meetings, discussing how to slow down global warming and the cascading list of problems already resulting from it: melting ice glaciers, rising sea levels, drought, and climate change refugees.

Louisiana and Iraq are both seeing their marshlands disappear while the indigenous people become refugees. Louisiana’s marshlands have been compromised by the oil and gas industry and water management projects. Iraq’s Marshlands were dried up by eco-terrorism followed by drought. Water management worldwide is always problematic. Long-term effects of changing the natural environment are often ignored until the foreseeable damage occurs. These changes, like land loss due to salt-water intrusion and the exodus of certain species of plants, animals and peoples, are magnified by climate change.

The Biloxi-Chitimacha Indians of Isle de Jean Charles will be forced to move as their Island is erodes away. The island falls outside the levee protection system proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers, who deemed it unsavable. Many of the Island’s residents left after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hammered the island in 2008. Approximately eighty remain, unable or unwilling to relocate just yet.

The Marshland Arabs population in southern Iraq is also being forced off their ancestral land. Saddam Hussein cut off the water to the Iraqi Marshlands by damning it up to punish the indigenous people for rebelling after the first Gulf War. The ecosystem changed from marshlands to desert rapidly. After Saddam’s fall, some of the dams were broken and areas of the marsh were partially restored, but drought has brought further hardship to tribes who remain.

While protestors are arrested in Copenhagen, a football field-worth of land disappears from the marshlands of Louisiana every 15 minutes.


Click here to see photo essay on the Biloxi-Chitimacha Indians of Isle de Jean Charles http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157622865496771/
Click here to see the newest video on Over – the- Wire films on the Marshland Arabs of Iraq

http://overthewire.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/marsh-arabs/

images on this post were shot on the Isle de Jean Charles and in Pointe- aux-Chene, Louisiana

Thanksgiving in New Orleans post Po-boy Festival

I haven’t gotten used to Christmas lights going up before Thanksgiving and I’m not sure what to make of the newest addition to holiday lawn decoration, the blow-up turkeys. This year Wal-Mart is taking care so people wont get stampeded to death at their stores on Black Friday. Since they take out insurance policies on their workers, losing one or two of them probably isn’t too bad for the bottom line but equating shopping and danger couldn’t be a good marketing device.

Sure as it is Thanksgiving my father will be carving the turkey my mother cooks, tasting a few prime bits in between slicing the bird. Bo, the poodle will poodle will be nearby waiting for scraps that will inevitably end up her way.This Thanksgiving I am in New Orleans, touched by five different invitations from people who wanted to make sure I wasn’t alone since I’m away from my family. For fear of eating way past my limit I’m limiting myself to going to two celebrations.

Thanksgiving is a holiday I have had mixed feelings about ever since I was a kid and learned that the American Indians who so graciously helped the Pilgrims learn to farm and shared the original Thanksgiving meal celebrating their harvest were later banished from their land and in many instances massacred. Though I will never stop thinking about the plight of the American Indians on Thanksgiving, I understand why it is an American favorite and do participate in a special meal wherever I find myself on the day. Giving thanks is always a good thing as is eating with friends and family. This year I will have more crawfish pie than turkey. One of the advantages of being in New Orleans: lots of local goodies will be served along with turkey and cocktails will start being poured by noon.

Here is a link to another food related topic: the New Orleans Po-boy festival. I posted images of the event on Flikr. I don’t usually eat when I work but couldn’t resist the soft shell crab tempura po-boy. Though it didn’t win best po-boy in the festival’s competition, it has my vote.
Happy Thanksgiving

Images, Top: Father carving turkey in Englewood N.J., Lawn turkey light, Chalmette, Bottom: Soft-shell crab Po-boy, Po-boy festival offering in New Orleans, Taxidermy turkey form the Fairbanks Museum in Newbury Vermont

Autumn brings subtle changes in Louisiana

Update from New Orleans:

This fall President Obama visited New Orleans for a town hall meeting. The USS New York, a battle ship built in Louisiana with recycled steel from the World Trade Center disembarked headed for its namesake. Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell resigned weeks after the international press picked up the story of his refusal to marry an interracial couple. Republican Congressman Cao, who ran against former Democratic Congressman Jefferson, voted for the health care bill while Jefferson got a 13 year sentence for bribery and racketeering. Some of Mayor Ray Nagin’s close associates have been indicted on corruption charges, creating speculation on when it will be his turn. The Saints won eight games straight and along the shores of Lake Verret cypress trees turned shades of orange.

Check out an interview about my news book that was on Fox8's morning show on Nov. 17. 09 - link to interview To see more images shot at Lake Verret click here to see a set on Flickr.

Gulf Coast A Year After Ike

Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm, hit the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana on Sept 13, 2008. The storm’s surge flooded the coast and caused billions of dollars worth of damage. According to residents of Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula, just east of Galveston, where Ike hit the hardest, there is no official death count. Crystal Beach wasn’t under an order for mandatory evacuation. No one is sure how many stayed behind or how many were lost. Entire houses disappeared with no trace. Much of the peninsula is still uninhabited. Jean Peshenella showed a friend from New York the slab where his cabin used to be. He sold it six months before the storm and feels very lucky. A few more miles east in Gilchrest, Joan Vogel was shocked to find her home relatively damage free. It was one row of houses in from the coast. Only a handful of homes remain there. The pylons holding the house up were cracked, but her windows didn’t break, so her house didn’t flood. She now has beachfront property. Her insurance company covered the repair, but nothing makes up for her missing neighbors.

As I write, Angela Street in Arabi (just outside of New Orleans) is underwater. A heavy downpour is causing some minor flooding, a reminder of the area's vulnerability. Waiting for approaching storms when you are a property owner is no fun. Coastal erosion has added to the mix of already dangerous conditions for those who inhabit coastal areas
and low lying one’s like New Orleans, a reality one must deal with every hurricane season. Whether one acknowledges the connection between global warming and unstable weather conditions or not, hurricanes are a force to be reckoned with.

Watching people rebuild with the Gulf in their backyard and the ruins of damaged structures dotting the landscape left me scratching my head. Yes, it is nice to live next to the sea, even a polluted one. The Gulf Coast from Galveston to Cameron is polluted with all manner of contaminates. A sign on the beach at the Sabine Pass, where Texas and Louisiana meet, warned not to go into the water due to high levels of unfriendly bacteria. But a few miles further east I found people swimming and catching fish; pollution doesn’t lower peoples' desire to enjoy the sea. Why do people go back after a storm and rebuild? There's no single answer, but the concept of “home” is a common denominator. Sony Meaux of Holly Beach, LA is sixty-five and though he lost his home to Hurricane Rita and then a trailer home to Ike, he and his wife Loretta moved into a new trailer home on his lot. He reopened his seafood shop in a giant freezer and sells crabs and shrimp. He doesn’t know anything else and isn’t planning to ever live anywhere else.

The people I spoke to on Bolivar Peninsula and in Holly Beach are frustrated by new government regulations. Many cannot afford to comply with revised building codes. The new codes call for construction at costs much higher than their homes were worth. The Meaux’s were sent a certified letter saying their power will be cut since their trailer home is now an illegal dwelling. The local government is trying to force them out. Coastal communities that were made up of working and middle class people will now be accessible only to the rich. The rich aren’t any more protected in the event of a storm surge than the poor; though some of the hurricane-proof homes did make it through Ike, most did not. A mobile home can be moved before a storm, so it isn’t in danger. But economic factors dictate what's acceptable these days. If a residence has a license plate on it, the owner doesn’t pay property tax. The Meaux’s aren’t asking FEMA (Sonny says he has yet to meet anyone from FEMA) for money; they have spent their own. If the government would stop trying to regulate them, the rebuilding process would happen much faster. He is convinced the new rules are about economics, not safety.

Ike hit as a Category 2 storm. Nothing is in place to stop nature from whipping up a Category 3, 4 or 5. The big one is still an ominous possibility.

Too see a large range  of images from the Gulf Coast click here- Flickr set 

And to watch and hear what coastal residents have to say about what life for them is like a year after Ike watch these video clips 

Sonny Meaux of Holly Beach , LA who has re opened Meaux's Seafood for a third time

Alice on her slab in Holly Beach, a newcomer who bought land after Hurricane Rita

Jean, former property Owner in Crystal Beach explains what the area was like before the storm

New Orleans four years after Katrina

Last year, just before the third anniversary of Katrina, President Bush visited Jackson Barracks, where a 200 million dollar renovation was well under way in the Lower 9th Ward, and reaffirmed his promises: “Together, we are working to make sure that New Orleans comes back - even stronger, safer, and more vibrant than it was before the storm.” He acknowledged more work needed to be done with the tone of a cheerleader, not a world leader. Bush's first view of the devastation after the storm was from the windows of Air Force One. I wonder which neighborhoods he toured before giving his rah-rah speech. Did he see what I was seeing?
A year later as Katrina’s 4th anniversary approaches, a headline in the local paper, the Times Picayuane, reads, “Obama keeps close tabs on New Orleans recovery -- from a distance.” I wonder what these "close tabs" are. Can one know the situation without seeing it for oneself? Block after block of abandoned destroyed homes, a city with the nation's highest murder rate, and many other substantial problems with no plan in place to solve them.
This anniversary, Mayor Nagin's focus won't be remembering the dead. He has said it is time to move on from mourning. Nagin plans to highlight some of the progress made under his administration while his staff scrambles to protect themselves against lawsuits and Federal investigations. The Feds are looking into numerous acts of wrongdoing going up the ladder to Nagin himself.
The 4th anniversary of Katrina is a good time to ask why New Orleans recovery is so far from complete. Ivan Van Heerden, a former professor at LA State University, stated, “If we had the will and one month’s money we spend in Iraq, we could do all the levees and restore the coast.” Many neighborhoods have not recovered much at all, others are threatened by levees that still do not offer protection against a Category 4 storm. While 130,000 troops and countless private contractors remain on stand-by in Iraq in case Iraq proves unable to handle its own security, and while we expand the battlefield in Afghanistan, much of New Orleans resembles a war-torn Third World country.

I have been following the progress of Brad Pitt’s “Make it Right” housing project in the lower 9th Ward since 2007. Currently there are fifteen completed homes and another 150 to be built. I met one of the residents, Lloyd Griffin and interviewed him. Here is a link to a video interview of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia19Wodq_sc
To see more images of a photo series on New Orleans right before the 4 years anniversary of Katrina check out this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157621951982065/

To New Orleans on Katrina’s Anniversary, may the healing process speed up.