Just a quick post from a friend’s office computer, as I am without internets and emales and all the things that make me happy usually.
Sally has lotsa trees down in her yard, as do most of the people I know, but everyone is okay. No one has power, so we are all sweating like 10 cent whores. Hey, PF and Contessa, pretty please call me on my cell phone.
The MS Gulf Coast is as bad as it looks in the pictures, if not worse, and friends whose families from New Orleans evacuated up here are nervous about what, if anything, they’ll return to when finally permitted to go home.
So, here we are, in the dark, in the heat, with no internets but cell service, thinking of all of you.
xo—gorjus
Gorj and All: We’re pretty okay here in Baton Rouge. No power at home, but we do have it at the university, so we’re keeping cool at work. Our friend Bob from New Orleans has been sheltering with us for the past few days, and is understandably anxious about the state of her home; she lives in one of the few areas that hasn’t gone under water so far, so we’re hoping that it will survive mostly intact. I still haven’t really processed just how bad it is down there and on the coast—hope everyone is well.
Gorj, I’ve got your number, but it’s somewhere I’m not—I’ll dig it up when I get home, or you can e-mail me when you get a chance; I’ll be here all day.
glad to know that all are okay in jackson. i was getting a little worried. we made it okay here in starkville, some tree damage, but nothing that can’t be fixed.
i hope that everyone is okay. i know that may seem like such a trite statement, but in the end, you have to know that no matter what happens, you will be okay. hugs to all.
It’s so good to know that everyone’s okay.
Hey—you all take care of yourselves. Thinking about y’all up here in Canada.
Professah…
Hollah at us at home if you and Contessa don’t have power. She has our numbers.
SW
professor:
same here…if you need anything let me know…
If you haven’t heard from me via e-mail yet, or phone, don’t worry—internets are down & cell coverage is still spotty. I think I may seriously be moving into the Edison-Walthall for a couple of days, if only to be able to hear music.
That’s what I miss the most: listening to music. I dug around in my toolbox and managed to find six C batteries (purchased by whom, or when, I know not) and fired up my cd player, which refused to play “Wiliam Tell” by simple machine, so I had to settle for Born to Run.
(I’m posting via comments, which I can do via Blackberry)– of the six people in my Jaxxon office, none have power at their homes. Our coast office is likely gone, and the homes of our folks down there have literally been erased.
My preferred method of sleep-inducement works, almost, despite the heat: a couple of Tylenol PM’s & a few glasses of red wine.
I almost had a fucking breakdown at lunch today when Tony DiFatta mumbled glumly that we may have lost so much of Walter Anderson’s art to Katrina.
I know I should be worried about the loss of life, but all I can think about are his originals, the walls of his house,the wood blocks; unless the family somehow got it out, it’s all gone. All of Shearwater, their glazes and molds, as well.
Today at work my bosses started playing guitar and singing up in the front of our office, and I drank Maker’s & Coke and stared at my computer, wishing the goddamn internets worked. I swear to God, I have everything in the world and I’m so terribly greedy.
I just feel so guilty that there’s nothing I can do to help anybody. I’m not a doctor or a nurse and I can’t help anybody. I can’t even donate any towels to the Salvation Army because I’m always behind on my laundry and they’re all dirty, along with every other thing I own except for ten French-cuffed shirts and about two dozen pairs of tube socks.
I mean, I’ll be out of pants, but tube socks? I’ve got those for days.
I just hate it so much when people die and I can’t do anything at all to stop this.
I know it’s dumb to feel guilty over natural disasters. I’m thankful my friends & family are okay. Maybe it’s just because this is like a weird enforced vacation where all the rules are sort of relaxed, and I don’t know what to do with all that.
Seriously, though: if you’re reading this, and you’ve been hurt by the storm, please know that people are worried about you and that we love you.
Now, time for bed again.
Hey Gorj, I got power at the house. jp! & the fed came over and enjoyed some AC and hot showers. You are welcome to do the same if you like. If you need a ride we can supply. Call me on the house phone (we are getting zero cell service) or email me.
[...] erStars.com are organising charity poker tournaments for Katrina relief. Good on ya, Wil. PrettyFakes: “Everyone’s okay in Jaxxon”. Gorjus, losing power, is reduced to posting via the com [...]
hey, big brother, i know just how you feel. i spent most of the morning yesterday thinking of ways that i could help and nothing came to mind. then, mom called and i got ideas.
i used my lunch break to take toys to kids that didn’t have anything left. i talked to grocery stores about donating food. i’m calling the tv today to get the message out to the public about where these people are staying now and how we all can help them. i’ve contacted churches about adopting families in need.
the loss that is here is tremendous. i can hardly breathe when i think about it and i have stopped watching the television because all i end up doing is crying. but i found out yesterday that hope doesn’t come in bright and shiny packages, wrapped with ribbons and new paper. hope comes as a used Barbie doll given to a little girl that has nothing left. it comes as a can of green beans to someone who has no food. it comes in the embrace of a stranger who reached out and said “what can i do to help?”
hope is there, it’s hidden and it’s afraid to come out. we need to show these people that sooner or later, it will be okay. so, brother, you may not be able to give up any towels, but people need tube socks, too.
[...] onths. When the levees broke the city just turned into a lake. Anyways, this blogger Gorjus is posting on his own comments whenever he can and he had the most coherent thing I’ve he [...]
Gorjus Esquire,
Woodland Manor has power, and an open invitation for you to come on over. I saw Dr. and Ms. Wagner Tuesday morning (they were checking on EVERYONE to see if everything was ok) – its great that they’ve got power back on.
So, c’mon over. I’ve got a truck load of flat mt. dew and some makers mark.
well, not completely OK.
I didn’t know Gorj. was alive or otherwise until just a bit ago i found someone to let me use a computer and found this post. I haven’t heard from him or seen him yet despite calls and walking down to check on things (he lives 2 blocks away).
My house had a tree crash into it after destroying my garage. we still have no power and the water is just now (i believe i heard that right) safe to drink. its been roasting outside and we ran out of propane to cook with. Luckily Jah and Wah did come by and check on us. they have power now and they helped us clean some of the debris. I cannot thank them enough for being such good people. also Dr. Wagner and family who provided a grill to cook up the last of our food and a place to shower when their place.
My mother lives in Diamondhead, MS which, if you didn’t know, is pretty well dead center for where the storm hit. she moved there about 2 weeks ago. I had not heard her voice until last night when I found she had made it to alabama. We have no idea if her new home still stands.
No one in my family had heard from my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins that live in or around Houma, LA. i have no idea how bad they were hit there and none of use know if they’re alive.
So, yeah, i’m in jackson, but i’m not really OK.
I snatched this sad news from the comments of artblog.net for you guys (it’s by a fellow the name of James Bailey):
The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art’s new Gehry museum on the Highway 90 appears to me from aerial photography to have been destroyed. It also appears that the renovated 19th Century home of Pleasant Reed, a former slave from Mississippi who built the house by hand, has also been destroyed. The Pleasant Reed Home was relocated from its original location to the new museum site to be operated as a living museum of African-American history in the state of Mississippi.
I once worked for the museum and being from Mississippi know every square inch of the Gulf Coast. Aerial photography seems to confirm this destruction.
It’s harder to tell about the current Ohr museum, which is located in the Biloxi Public Library. The normal hurricane policy is to move the museum’s invaluable collection of Ohr pottery to bank safe for the duration of a storm. Hopefully, that was done. I have friends at the museum whose homes were obviously destroyed. I’ve been unable to contact anyone.
The historic Tullis-Toledano Manor and Museum in Biloxi (which is located right next door to the site of the new Ohr museum) appears to have been destroyed. I hope I’m wrong about this. It’s very hard to tell because it appears as though some of the ancient live oak trees survived and they may be obscuring a clear view of the home if it did in fact survive.
The Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum appears to me to have been destroyed.
The historic Mardi Gras Museum in Biloxi appears to me to have been completely destroyed.
I believe it’s been reported in the Biloxi Sun Herald newspaper and the Jackson Clarion Ledger newspaper that Beavouir in Biloxi has been destroyed. I’m not sure about the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library that’s located next door on the property. I’ve seen no aerial shots from over that area.
It’s also very difficult to detemine the status of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
polly, plese let me know if there is anything that i can do to help. i have computer access here so if there is something that i can look up for you, or people that i can try to find, please, oh please, let me know.
and i didn’t mean that today you would be okay. i meant that at some point in time, it would be okay again.
i love you and if there is any way that i can help, just tell me.
Polly—sorry to hear about your house, and I hope that your mom’s house will be okay, and especially your family in Houma. Let us know if there’s anything we can do here in BR to help locate them or get in touch with them.
Info from Mr. Bailey about the Ohr-O’Keefe museum here:
http://blackcatbone.blogspot.com/
I’m so relieved to hear that everyone’s safe. If anyone needs to get away for a while, Knoxville is a fairly short drive, and we’ve got several bedrooms and a stocked wet bar. gorjus, I poured myself a strong Maker’s Mark and Coke in your honor tonight.
Peace.