Bloggy ‘bout bookies…

Bloggy ‘bout bookies…

Now that my summer classes are over and I have a short break before fall semester begins, I really want to get my summer on or in my world-get my read on.

One of the biggest problems I have during the school year is having the time to actually sit down and dig into a nice fat juicy book. In fact the last books I read were over spring-break (Such a Pretty Plaid & Mommywood) and before that was Christmas break (The entire Twilight Saga & Host.)

Books are for me like well drugs are too well people who do drugs to escape. I read to escape into another world, slip into another person’s shoes or get chased but sweaty hot wolves.
Granted my life is better in real time now, so escaping isn’t needed as often. But a nice stroll down streets of Tuscany can do a heart and mind good.

Since real time life is better but broker, I can’t go a hog wild in Barnes & Noble, but the library is free and gives at least a good 2-3 hours of solid entertainment a week for my three kids. So I hit the new book aisle and looked up a few that had been recommended to me and here is my list (for right now) of books I am wishing to read.

1. The Great Deluge (Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the MS Gulf Coast) by Douglas Brinkley
2. Breach of Faith(Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City) by Jed Horne (Thx to @tigergoesroar for suggestion)
3. Life is Short But Wide by J. California Cooper
4. The Storm (What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina) by Ivor van Heedren (Professor terminated from LSU for speaking out about things)
5. Come Hell or High Water(Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster)by Michael Eric Ryson
6. The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous (Fighting to Save a Way of life in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina) by Ken Wells
7. The Water Cooler Diaries (Women Across America Share Their Day at Work) Joni B. Cole & B.K. Rakhra

Right now the list is pretty heavy on the Katrina topic and I think that is because the anniversary is coming up and I like to keep the feelings that anniversary has for me. I may not get to all of them (Katrina topic) because I do have a saturation point on most subjects, even ones I can obsess over and or try to torture my soul with.

If you have any thing that you would like to recommend please feel free to leave me a comment, drop me an email or tweet me on twitter.com/Shannon_anicas. And if you have anything you would like me to read and review contact me ASAP because summer will be over before you know it!

Now, I am off to sit under the umbrella in my backyard that sits over my blow up 4x4 pool and pretend I’m on in Fiji and read a good, juicy book….

Here we go again…

I hate that saying, yet at this moment I am sitting as I was 3 years ago. Sunday night, flipping between CNN, the Weather Channel and Fox News, hoping and praying that a hurricane would keep heading westward and listening to government and media persons running their traps about how "if you stay you will pay". So many did but not just at the hands of a storm, but at the hands of the government, police, politicians and storm born militias.
I sit on a Sunday night praying for the safety of my family and friends in the path of whatever weather comes their way. Not sure of what the coming hours hold for them and the rest of the people of the gulf coast. All I can do is watch and pray.

Small victories are still sweet ones

I just came across a story from Biloxi, MS (near where I grew up) that said that a couple that was sueing its insurance company for not paying on their claim for the destruction of thier property during Hurricane Katrina actually one their case. They weren't going all crazy asking for billions of dollars, only what the policy should have paid for the damages in the first place. Finally, some justice for the little guy.

Jury Returns Verdict In USAA Insurance Case

PASCAGOULA (WLOX) -- Friday morning, a jury awarded almost a million dollars to a Pascagoula couple suing USAA Insurance. James and Gladys Lisanby sued the USAA for paying them less than $42,000 on their $800,000 homeowners policy.

USAA's lawyers argued the couple's policy did not cover water, even if it is wind driven. But the jury ruled that the insurer should have paid more on the couple's claim.
The jury ordered USAA to pay $909,641 to the couple for damage to their home, garage and cottage.

After the verdict was read, the judge dismissed the jury until
Monday when punitive damages against USAA will be considered. Danielle Thomas is in Pascagoula covering this story and will have more later today on WLOX News.

Faith: Mississippi is Their Mission

The Signal

Original source: http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=52977&format=html

Faith: Mississippi is Their Mission

Members of Grace Baptist Church work to rebuild what Kiln, Miss. lost.
By Tammy Marashlian Signal Staff Writer

The destruction of Hurricane Katrina may be out of the minds of most Americans, but for Grace Baptist Church, rebuilding the southern states that were torn apart by the 2005 storm has turned into a series of relief missions focused on aiding the area’s devastated churches and families.

Right after ringing in the New Year in 2008, a team of Grace Baptist members took a trip to the small Mississippi town of Kiln to frame the building for the city’s First Baptist Church.

But that mission wasn’t a one-time thing for the Valencia church.
For the past couple of years, members and leaders of Grace Baptist have been visiting Mississippi to offer hands-on help that goes beyond dropping change into an offering plate on Sunday.

However, before giving any help, Grace Baptist had to get in touch with families in need by traveling to Mississippi.

Paul Leitzell, administrative pastor for Grace Baptist Church, said after Hurricane Katrina hit in August of 2005, the church saw a need to go down to the area and understand what needs could be fulfilled.

“We didn’t want to hit and run,” Leitzell said. “We wanted to make a long-term commitment.”

Knowing they could cause more damage by visiting the area unprepared, members and leaders from Grace Baptist conducted a series of “survey trips” to Mississippi to meet with contacts from Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization that offers assistance to people in need.

“We tried to assess where we could make an impact,” Leitzell explained.
After getting an understanding of what could be done, Grace Baptist took on the major project of building a home for the family of Pastor Willie Tebo in Mississippi.

But rather than traveling to the state, in 2006 Grace Baptist Church dedicated the patio space of its hilltop church to building the framework and walls of the house.

In coming up with blueprints, Leitzell said the structure was built so that it could be taken down and driven across the country to the town, and then reassembled on site.

As a personal touch, Leitzell said Grace Baptist members and supporters signed their names on the framed home as a way for the Tebo family to remember them.

One of the assemblers was Stephen Beckwith, a Grace Baptist member who has been part of the mission trips since 2006.

“We got it completely sealed from weather, dry wall and plumbing,” Beckwith said.

From there, Leitzell and Beckwith said the relief work continued to include a 2007 visit to build a garage for the Herron family, a local family that had adopted children over the years, and the donation of care packages to 200 families in need.

Grace Baptist’s charity work was topped off earlier this month when Beckwith and six other men framed a church for the First Baptist Church of Kiln.
During the six days in the small town, the seven men applied their construction skills to securing a hurricane-resistant structure.

While there, the group found that the people of Kiln and the church members had faith in God, despite the trauma that Katrina had created.
“I was definitely expecting people to be totally devastated,” Beckwith said. “It definitely was the opposite of my expectations.”

Although Beckwith said he’s been to Mexico to do charity work, he had never taken part in a relief trip on the same level as the Mississippi one.

He hopes the visits to Mississippi will become annual, but understands that planning additional trips will be difficult financially and time-wise.
Regardless, Beckwith said, “We all want to go back.”

Justin Klopfenstein was also on Beckwith’s team that went to Kiln.
Although he had been part of the logistical planning for the previous trips, this was his first time he went to Kiln.

“It was an eye-opener to just how much work has to be done,” he said, noting that the focus has always been on the city of New Orleans rather than Mississippi.

“If nothing else, you see just how people can help other people,” he said.
Even though Klopfenstein had never been to Mississippi, the Grace Baptist member is familiar with doing charity work as he previously spent summers teaching English to people in the Czech Republic.

As for what draws him to do charity work, he said, “I enjoy it, first of all. It’s a lot of fun to help people.”

He also sees the experience as a way to share the teachings of Jesus Christ and a message of hope.

Ultimately Klopfenstein believes the relief work is a way to bring people together.

“That’s the coolest thing I could bring back,” he said. “Seeing two separate churches coming together ... helping each other in a time of need.”

tmarashlian@the-signal.com
Copyright: The Signal

Finally a optimistic story on Katrina Recovery:Young Professionals Devoted to Rebuilding New Orleans

Young Professionals Devoted to Rebuilding New Orleans to its Former Glory

Wednesday, August 29, 2007
By Maggie Lineback

A few years back, the big acronym was "DINK," for "double income, no kids." In New Orleans, it's "YURP, " for "Young Urban Recovery Professionals." It's a small but growing trend in the population here in New Orleans — young professionals who have moved to the city after Katrina to help it rebuild and grow.

It didn't start as any kind of organized movement, but a group called "NOLA YURP" estimates there are at least 5,000 of these young people in the city. They range in age from 21 to 35 years old and come from all walks of life — they may be accountants or attorneys or architects. Some are young people who are from here. They may have gone to college out of state and decided to settle someplace else. Now, many are finding their way back home to help their family and their city.

But there's another segment of YURP who have no filial connection. NOLA YURP director Nathan Rothstein says it's a common story. In the two years since Katrina hit, many college students had the opportunity to visit New Orleans on Spring Break volunteer trips. They saw a real need. Then, once they graduated, these same kids decided to relocate to New Orleans.

Why do these young people come here? Rothstein says many feel like they can have the most impact in New Orleans. They can really make a difference here. They can directly help people who need it and also feel like they're a part of rebuilding a great American city.

Rebuilding comes in fits in starts. For every success story in New Orleans, there's also someone frustrated with the red tape and finger pointing that seems to abound. But, what is amazing is the spirit of New Orleans residents, new and old, and their dogged determinedness to get their city back on its feet.

Big Announcement!!!

Hello everyone,It has been a while since my last post like this, but I have some great news. I have just received my copies of the September/October issue of Mississippi Magazine and on pg 68 is my first ‘in print’ magazine published article!I am attaching a link to a copy of it via a .PDF link and if you have trouble opening it I am hoping to get it posted at here in another format in the next day or so.

I am beyond words at this amazing news. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.Thanks to everyone for their continued love and support.

Love and Blessings,Shannon

Katrina One Year Later…

I still know what I was doing a year ago right this minute. It was the day after Katrina made landfall and I had only heard confirmation that my brother was alive. I still didn’t know if my parents were or if my uncle in New Orleans was still alive. There was wide spread rumors and alot of uncertainty.

Now, a year later, I sit here writing just like I did then. It was how I dealt with the fear, anger and pain of what happened and what would happen in the days and weeks to come.
I have spent the last week watching every TV show about the storm and aside from quick clips, the stories still only refer to the New Orleans area as the main focus as if it was all that was destroyed. Now, I am truly sorry for the good people who were affected there. But I am not sorry for the city.

They are fully to blame for what happened. They were ill prepared for years, corrupt government for generations and crooked police for all of my life. They squandered and stole the money intended for levy improvement many times over and yet they want pity and hand outs. I don’t mean the citizens because they need help, but the government and the politicians want hand outs and billions of dollars in recovery.

Recovery of what? I truly believe they have no intention of rebuilding the flooded areas of New Orleans East and the 9th Ward. They are going to collect the pay checks to rebuild and six years from now the same debris piles will be there mold filled and bug infested. One day they will probably come along and bulldoze the whole area.

Why? Because their voting demographic doesn’t live in those area. There aren’t any million dollar homes or thousands of dollars of tourism there. They are poor, crime and drug ridden areas. The people that had worked hard to make a home there and live a better life before Katrina hit have tried to return to rebuild their homes and sometimes their entire block, by themselves never seeing a dime of Katrina fund money. With their sweat, tears and own money they are trying to make another start in an area of great uncertainty.

But enough about New Orleans, they already get enough press.

On August 29, 2005, another area was devastated by Katrina, the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The span of 27 miles across and as far from the coast as 14 miles was leveled by a storm surge that at some points was measured at 40 feet. This bulldozer of water came in and ripped apart every thing like it was made of match sticks. It carried enormous casinos inland as they pummeled every inch between where they were moored and where they landed.

Further inland the storm winds were over 130 mph and the storm even spawned dozens of tornados. When I visited in October of 2005, I was baffled by how some houses looked barely touched by wind and the house next to it was in splinters. There was no logic to the scope of the damage that my mind could wrap around.

To add insult to injury, the people of the Mississippi coast were completely forgotten. There was no news coverage of Bay St. Louis or Waveland, there were no cameras in Pearlington or Long Beach. It was like no one knew they were there.

On August 29th I called Red Cross to find out anything I could about my parents and our family and friends. They directed me to one person who directed me to another and all I got was more and more frustrated. So I turned to the only thing I could do: Get the word out there about the forgotten ones.

I went to every blog and news station in the region trying to leave a message for anyone who would listen that the people in Mississippi’s small coastal towns were in distress and needed help immediately. Eventually I was heard. My essay entitled “Katrina~My Story” was posted on over 500 websites world wide.

I started receiving phone calls and e-mails from all over the world asking how they could get aid to the coast. Suddenly I became one of many staging contacts for not only aid direction, but finding people who were missing from the region. In one day I received over 100 emails and calls from people who wanted to see if my word of mouth train of helpers had “found Mr. X or Mrs. Y” in one of my parents neighboring towns. It was overwhelming at times, yet I kept answering the phone and the e-mails because it was my calling, my way to help my home town region from 700 miles away.

I was interviewed for an Ohio newspaper about the effects on me and my parents following the storm. When they asked what message I would like to get out to the people of Ohio I simply said “don’t forget the small towns of Mississippi”. And if asked the same question today I would say the same thing “don’t forget the small towns in Mississippi.”

They don’t have anniversary coverage like New Orleans. They are still absent of the radar that is the media. Yet despite the lack of media attention the Gulf Coast is nearly 70% rebuilt. See that is the difference between Mississippians and the rest of the world, they take their lumps, pull up their boot straps and dig in for the long haul. Through the kindness of strangers and the love of their cities the people on the coast are rebuilding a stronger and better community.

Instead of whining about things and crying ‘oh poor me’ they got out there and started fixing things the same night Katrina hit. They are kinda like that ant that moved the rubber tree plant- small by size but grand on conviction. This is why the Mississippi coast is “further along” then New Orleans in cleaning up and recovery. All the way from the Governor to the private citizens, they love their Mississippi coast and do what ever it takes to return her to her former glory.

I have no doubt at the second anniversary of Katrina the Mississippi coast will be 100% rebuilt and stronger then ever in every way. Tourism will be back and so will the joy that comes from living in the sleepy communities that scatter the coast. The people will once again be singing and praising in the churches and on the street. The moss will begin to show itself on the old oaks again thanks to the preservation teams sent to the region. The lazy lap of the surf on the seashore will once again be cherished as a newlywed couple strolls down the beach at sunset.

Everything will feel new, yet old again as time marches on.

So as I am feeling a sense of great hope coupled with anger of the lack of media attention on this the first anniversary of Katrina, I leave you with a video that I came across on you tube. It is a residents’ personal account of before, during and after the storm.
http://www.youtube.com/v/oyGSnePG5Ds

This is a beautiful video of Waveland before the storm. When they turned the corner to Big E’s Tackle and Sno-ball stand I started sobbing. This was a place I spent many days in front of during 12 years growing up. I have this great picture of my children with my brother children in front of it with blue and green faces from the sno-balls. In October when I returned to my home town area my cousin and I went to go find Big E’s. It took us a while because so many landmarks were gone. When we finally found it Big E’s was a pile of rubble.

http://www.youtube.com/v/F2ovY-w7n-A
This is another great video shot at the Hancock County Emergency Management site before, during and after Katrina rolled in. An old friend from eons ago is part of its filming, Mr. Mickey LaGasse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs8Uk-r9LEU

This is a great video from New Orleans that shows what lies the city told people about what and when levies were breached.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epwpnMztkM0

And finally a beautiful video filmed around Mardi Gras. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMkPB44cGHw

McConaughey selling car for hurricane aid

McConaughey selling car for hurricane aid
DALLAS -
Matthew McConaughey is selling a sports car on eBay to raise money for hurricane relief. The 36-year-old actor is donating all proceeds from the sale of his 1971 Corvette Stingray convertible to Oprah’s Angel Network for Katrina and Rita recovery efforts, according to details on the Web site http://www.oprah.com

Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, forcing several hundred thousand Louisiana evacuees to flee to Texas. Rita slammed southeast Texas on Sept. 24.

McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde and grew up in Longview, says he bought the Mediterranean blue sports car in the late 1990s at a California car show.

He dubbed it Mako, like the shark, according to his statement on the Web site, and has driven to Mexico and back in the vehicle and many times across Texas, with the top down.

McConaughey’s film credits include roles in “U-571″ and “Sahara.”

Actor Pitt ‘Shocked’ at Hurricane Katrina Damage

Ok today is catch up day on Katrina stories…

July 16, 2006 2:00 p.m. ESTJoanna Wypior - All Headline News Staff Reporter
New Orleans, LA (AHN) - Hollywood actor Brad Pitt reveals that he was ’shocked’ upon surveying the remaining damage and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, almost a year after the storm hit.

In describing how he drove for miles and saw street after street of New Orleans, the actor says, “I was not prepared.”

The ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ actor was in New Orleans to give an update on a competition for ecologically sound designs in rebuilding neighborhoods that have been wrecked by the storm.
Pitt stated that the new designs, which use energy-saving materials such as metal roofing and recycled textiles, might not reflect the historic architecture that was once a part of New Orleans’ legacy.

“It’s impossible to replicate the past,” Pitt said, according to Yahoo News.

“The original designs are really good. They’re really efficient.” But, he said, “We can do better.”
I am all for using Pitt Power to get help in the region.