The third annual surprise pillow fight occurred tonight on the Embarcadero. From these photos, you will get the idea. Although I know a bit about this event courtesy of Laughing Squid, I'm still not clear about who came up with this idea, not to mention why so many people find it fun.
But, despite the mess they made of our downtown streets tonight, with so many feathers that it looked like snow, this seems like a harmless outlet much like Burning Man for young people caught in a society that often seems utterly devoid of any relevant spiritual rituals.
In this context, youthful energy has no other collective outlet but irony. That this year's event took place on Valentines Day, the commercial equivalent of Christmas for flower vendors and chocolate companies, is a perfect post-modern statement.
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Meanwhile, thousands of miles and cultural light years away from tonight's downtown pillow fight, those survivors of Hurricane Katrina living in FEMA trailers were urged by the agency today to move out, because the trailers have been found to be toxic.
FEMA Plans Trailer Exodus
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press
After downplaying the risks for months, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday it will rush to move Gulf Coast hurricane victims out of roughly 35,000 government-issued trailers because tests found dangerous levels of formaldehyde fumes.
FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said the agency hopes to get everyone out and into hotels, motels, apartments and other temporary housing by the summer, when the heat and stuffy air could worsen the problem inside the trailers.
"The real issue is not what it will cost but how fast we can move people out," he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes. Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, can lead to breathing problems and is also believed to cause cancer...
I can vouch, as one who was on the scene as the first survivors moved into these smelly trailers a few months after the storm, that we all knew then that these were unhealthy environments. It's yet another measure of the Bush administration's callous disregard for the fate of the poor that it has taken this long for FEMA to admit the obvious.
Shame on you!
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1 comment:
David,
As a Katrina Survivor, I'm Still Waiting For The Fed (NOT)
I want to proclaim here and now that I am proud to be a “Katrina Survivor”. It required raw courage to overcome my personal challenges during that trying time, and no one can take that from me.
The local Walmart ran out of my favorite canned vegetables and fruit, and for days we lived in fear that the shortages would spread to bottled water, camping supplies and the like. I was disgusted with the naive customers who seemed strangely complacent with the empty shelves. What a bunch of sheep! Didn't it occur to them that Walmart had failed to properly prepare for this disaster?... Apparently, those mindless wimps were buying the lame excuse that these missing items had been donated to folks who just “happened” to be a little closer to the storm. And what business was it of Walmart in the first place? Clearly, just another cheap ploy to get more customers and make more money. To add insult to injury, Walmart even botched that! The trickle of attention they received for the untold millions they threw away sending convoys of trucks with MY fruits and vegetables down there was absolutely shameful. They'll go broke making decisions like that! The government, at every level, had been brilliant by comparison; names like FEMA, Brown, William Jefferson (remember his courageous use of emergency guard personnel to save his frozen ass-ets), really too numerous to list here but all becoming household names without an advertisement budget. When will American industry wake up!
Different city, different problems (but maybe not so different) Detroit – all hail Detroit!
I'm sending along this link to the Detroit News item tagged by Drudge. Seems Congressman Conyers (who has also been highly “advertised” from time to time) has a wife, Monica (settle down Hillary, nothing to do with Bill this time), who has threatened to get a gun or have her 4 brothers whup ass on a guy in Detroit. Part of the advertising draw for this Monica is that she's currently the head of the Detroit City Counsel (we certainly do have a lot of “family things” in this country). This is elevating my “Ridiculous Gage” again, which is to say it's another tragically depressing story except for the hilarious spectacle it makes.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/METRO/802150385
Dan
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