Potpourri

Originally posted Oct. 12, 2005

As promised yesterday, I said I'd talk a little about our photographer's experience covering hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

It took our company a while, but we finally decided to send a photographer and two to three reporters down to the Gulf region to follow some of the Bay Area locals who had gone to help. Our people made it there about two weeks after Katrina hit. Rita was brewing. Hotels were packed with displaced residents and other press. The whole area was described as completely lacking infrastructure.

The photog said that with her press pass, she was given carte blanche to drive anywhere in New Orleans. She said it was deserted except for the devastated residents sifting through the rubble of their homes, looking for memories. She followed around an Alameda County Fire battalion chief for a while, then outran Rita on a backroad to Texas to pick up one of our reporters who got stranded there after the National Guard plane he was on broke and the Guard aborted its deployment.

Once there, she stayed in a hotel for what would be the only time during her entire assignment. The reservation was made by one of our reporters here, and no one could believe we got the room. When the photographer called the hotel to double-check the reservation, the employee told her she got the last hotel room available for 500 miles. Turns out the reporter got the room on the first call. Talk about luck.

The rest of the time, the photographers and the two to three reporters (they were there at overlapping times) camped out, slept in the rental SUV...they even slept in a hospital one night and a high school gym on another -- thanks to the good graces of a few sources they were following. The photog's laptop crapped out not long after getting there, so she was having trouble transmitting. The WiFi wasn't working correctly and her PC card port blew. So she had to use her company stipend to get another laptop and have the reporter going to Texas bring it with him.

After that, she had full power from the SUV. They had the new laptop hooked up to the car, they could transmit via WiFi and cell phone...they pretty much filed everything from the car.

She said they smelled bad because they didn't have ready access to showers, and they were living on MRE's that were region-specific -- such as jambalaya and cheese tortellini. The MRE's are self-cooking once you add water, and she said they're pretty good. So they tried to bring a bunch home for earthquake-preparedness kits, but the plane was too full. They ended up taking two cases and leaving the rest in the airport. The airport employees said no one had eaten all day, so those MRE's ended up feeding hungry ticket-takers.

Anyway, I found it all fascinating. I always love journalism "war stories" about covering assignments out of your area. This same photog went to Ground Zero after 9/11 happened. She has amazing stories about that, too. Maybe I should take up photojournalism. It always seems so exciting.

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Check out this letter we got faxed today...this will give you yet another idea of what kind of people we deal with.

"To the Editor,

My name is Katrina XXX, I am a high school Senior at XXX School. I'm writing you for an answer to a question I have had since hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and my name became plastered on the television, newspapers, magazines and broadcast all over the radio. I would like to know where the people who name the hurricanes get the names? I mean there are hundreds of names that start with a K that are more popular than mine, so why Katrina? Why can't it be something other then a name? Something that people aren't going to get made fun of for. Since my name came out across the world, not a day has gone by that I have not had some random person come up to me and start singing songs that involve the word hurricane or saying things like "Thanks for ruining New Orleans." I know they think that it is funny, but do they ever stop and think about how serious this issue really is. Katrina is not a laughing matter. It is a serious tragedy that has taken many lives, left homes and businesses leveled, and has left many people stranded with no where to go and only the clothes on there backs. So my question to you is how do they come up with the names for the hurricanes?

Concerned Student,

Katrina XXX"

Obviously I removed her last name and school name to protect her identity. But girly, have you heard of google?? Why don't you just google "hurricane names"? You're a high school senior. You don't know how to do this?? Oy. That makes my pulse race.

Also, I don't know many songs that contain the word hurricane. Can you send me some? And "thanks for ruining New Orleans" is rather innocuous, considering YOU didn't personally ruin New Orleans. Don't take it so hard. Maybe in a few years you could ruin New Orleans, since you seem to already be on the path to ruining the English language, my confidence in 18-year-olds, my hope for the future and my longstanding belief that someone like you could google a simple question before shooting it off to the newspaper. Do you drive? That scares me. You're a high school senior!! You're honestly put out by the fact that a hurricane has your name? You're actually letting people get you down by singing you silly songs and saying you wreaked havoc on the South?

Maybe I should write her back.

"Dear Katrina,

You're fat, aren't you?

Sincerely,

Kim (gasp...maybe they could've named the hurricane after ME! I start with K!!)"

Someone, please round up this chick...do not let her pass go, do not let her collect $200...please just send her straight to the Burger King she'll be managing for the rest of her life.

Ah, mais quelle imbecile! Find something worthy to winge and complain about! And learn the difference between there and their...you're a fucking senior, for cryin' out loud!!