(no subject)

As y'all know, I love New Orleans, and have been horrified by the response to Hurricane Katrina--the federal, state and local response, as well as the latent racism being revealed in some people's lack of compassion for these people ("they were stupid not to leave earlier; they got what they deserved" or "I'm going to withhold aid as retaliation for the so-called 'blame game'"). But I'm equally pissed at the way some people (I've seen this on TWoP and my message board) minimize the looting that went on--either they say it was exaggerated by the media, or they excuse it by saying all the looting was okay because insurance will cover it, or they only took necessities like food, clothing, water (nb.--IMO, they shouldn't call stealing necessities 'looting'--any one of us would do the same, especially if it appeared that the government had left us to die). Okay--NO. Stealing electronics, stealing antiques, stealing anything not necessary for survival is fucking looting. If you do that, you're scum. Color has nothing to do with it. You're shit, and I have no problem with martial law, with all that that entails, being declared. These savages were stalking the good people of New Orleans--the vast majority of the left behind were decent, good people, who were suffering from the looters even more than the owners of the looted businesses. And color had nothing to do with it--certainly the looters didn't care what color anyone else was.

From the Yahoo! article linked above:

Margaret Richmond stood watching, tears streaming down her face, as members of the 82nd Airborne Division used a crowbar to try to pry open the door of her looted antiques shop on the edge of the city's upscale Garden District.

The store, Decor Splendide, had been looted in the chaotic days after Katrina struck. Antique jewelry, a cement angel with one wing broken off and lamps were lying scattered on the floor. Someone had wedged a piece of metal in the door to jam it closed, hoping to deter other looters.

"What they didn't steal they trashed," Richmond said, gazing through a window of her shop, before the soldiers were able to break open the door. "They got what they could and ruined what they left."

Business owners, facing damage that could take months to repair, said hopes for a quick recovery may be little more than a political dream.

"I don't know why they said people could come back and open their businesses," said Richmond, whose insurance policy will cover the lost merchandise. "You can't reopen this. And even if you could, there are no customers here."

Here's another article I read in the New York Press:

People keep asking me why I stayed as long as I did. I saw reports that it was because all of us who stayed were lazy or stupid or criminal. We all had our reasons for staying.

I had two reasons. First, my landlady could not take her dogs, which we both loved very much. So I kept them until she could come back and get them a few days later. The second reason was my neighbor. She's about eighty years old and maybe eighty pounds and she was all alone. Her son was supposed to come get her and take her to safety.

...

Since I stayed to help her, she had told me her son would be happy to take me with them. As it turned out, he picked her up days after in the pre-dawn hours and never came to get me. So I was stuck, and my last available ride out was gone. It was time to go on my own.

...
I've seen reports since I got out about looting. Some reports claim it was prevalent and some claim it was exaggerated. I can say that the looters were much more organized than the police or relief efforts. The day of the hurricane, while the winds were still in the 60-70 mph range, there were already groups of people in the back of trucks and stolen U-Hauls roaming areas where police cars could not get through. In one morning, I watched at least four groups of young men try to break into the Habitat for Humanity warehouse.

The people across the street from my home went out to loot and came back with shopping carts loaded down with stolen goods from the grocery a few blocks away. They stole mostly soda, cigarettes and alcohol.

By Monday night, the looters were getting bold enough to come knocking on doors, robbing anyone who came out. If no one answered they would just break in and steal what they wanted anyway.

The attitude of these people came right out Mad Max. They were reveling in this, happy and exultant in their ability to destroy and hurt and terrorize. They were, by definition, terrorists, and they were having the time of their lives. I know because I had to fight two of them just to leave the city with the few possessions I was able to carry.

I tried to get to the Superdome but the water was nearly waist deep and a family walking away from there told me someone had tried to set a fire in the stadium that morning. So I walked to the alternate pick-up at the convention center. The amount of people there was staggering. In less than fifteen minutes, I witnessed more crime than I had in the entire time I lived in New Orleans.

I saw three guns in the first 15 minutes I was there. I saw people break into the Riverwalk Mall and bring back piles of stuff. Not much of it was clothing or anything that could help you in an emergency. People were posing for news cameras with their newly stolen loot.

In a corner of the parking lot, I watched a large prayer circle gather. The people were holding hands, praying for their safety and the safety of their families. There was no mention of other people in the prayer. When the circle broke up, most of those who'd been praying marched across the street and broke into a small grocery store, leaving with alcohol and cigarettes.

I wish the people who are trying to minimize the looting would read this. It happened. These people were scum--not some sort of misunderstood victims. They were predators, animals, viruses. Their actions were as bad as the government's inaction. They victimized the vast majority of the left-behind as much as the flooding did.

Anyway. The archivist/historian in me wanted to set the record straight (as I see it) even though it is pretty much in the past.

Opening weekend

So, we opened Friday night. The show went pretty well--not perfect but well. It's all a little blurry because we had two shows yesterday as well. But Friday went well, and a bunch of us went out to a local pub for cheap-ass beers, and crappy food. I chatted for awhile with the guy who plays Lysander (his name is Chris)--he said something about being from DC so I checked out his bio in the program which said he'd played "the beleagured Greek God Prometheus in Maurice Martin's 'A Hillside in Hell.'" I flipped! Out! I told him about Brass Tacks and the Samuel French, and how I directed it. This guys is not that big--I don't know how good his body is, but I think of a Greek God as being tall, blond and a cut build...which is why I wanted Doug to play it. Don't ask me why D'Aulaires always showed the Greek Gods as blond, but Homer talked a lot about blond Greek Gods as well (Helen, who was a demi-god since her father was Zeus, was also fair). They had a big black woman playing the Rock--I told him how Kevin Molesworth had wanted to cast a woman as the Rock and I whipped out my directorial dick and said NO. Mainly because casting is the prerogative of a director, at least when it's some small festival like that as opposed to a bigger production. And we won our night at Brass Tacks anyway, so obviously I know how to cast [/smug]. I chatted a lot with Michelle (Puck) as well, whom I really like.



We were talking about acting teachers who foster dependency by putting you down--she's had some experience with that, and I've dealt with some crappy teachers as well. Eventually I left and got back around 2 am.

Woke up this morning exhausted--I'd slept a good 8 hours but I felt like a bag of cold pudding. I fed the babies, showered, drank a can of Red Bull and staggered up to the Bronx. I was really dead. The first show went fine--Tracy was there. After the show we went out and got something to eat, and I got more coffee. Kelly (Helena) and her friend, who was also Tracy's friend, joined us. John (director, Rachel (producer/Titania) and two of the little fairies (Maribel (my favorite, shhh!) and Stephanie) walked by and Maribel attacked me with hugs. The little ones are SO CUTE. They keep writing Michele, Rachel and me notes saying "I love you" and "you're pretty." Aaaaughhh!!!! So cute!

Eventually it became time to get ready for the show and Maribel's mother, whom I'd met the night before when she taped the show, wanted to take our pictures. We posed for cuteness



and the mother and I awkwardly tried to converse, since she spoke very little English, and I speak only a little Spanish although I started remembering more talking to her. Very sweet woman. Unfortunately, the Asshole who plays Oberon (the guy who's too old, and annoys me on 9 different levels) came over and said to the mother "Are you going to be taping the show tonight like you did last night?" In this really aggressive hateful tone. My hackles rose immediately--my protective instincts went up because this poor woman didn't understand him, she just smiled at him, trying to figure out what he was saying. I said to him "She really doesn't speak English" and he snapped back "Well, that's too bad. Because I don't speak much Spanish." The whole time this poor woman is still smiling at him, not understanding. I was PISSED. Something about this situation, how rude he was to this nice woman who loved our show, and was proud of her daughter and wanted to tape her, and has been nothing but lovely to everyone in the cast--I was pissed. I just told him to take it to Rachel--I didn't want the woman to feel uncomfortable. Ugh! So rude! Whatever your objection to the taping is, it's OBVIOUS this nice woman doesn't want to step on any toes. Just say nicely whatever your problem is. ASSHOLE.

He stomped off and said something to Rachel--the problem was with the woman's camera, the light was bright and she was in the front row and I guess it DISTRACTED his greatness. They asked her to sit back--problem solved. I also brought in a camcorder and was taping backstage--I would focus on the person and say something about them. That camera is great--I wish I used it more. I kind of rediscovered it today. John wickedly suggested I go into the men's dressing room and tape the Asshole which made me snicker. We're going to tape the show on Thursday.