(no subject)

Facing South's "One Year After Index", as summarized by pamscoffee:

• Estimated percentage of New Orleans metro area's pre-storm population of about 460,000 that had returned as of June 30: 37
  
• Of the 368 buses operating in New Orleans before Katrina, number operating as of July 2006: 61
  
• Gallons of water the new Orleans water system loses each day due to breaks caused by Katrina and an underfunded repair budget: 85 million
  
• Months after Katrina that federal money for housing reconstruction was approved: 10
  
• Total federal funds dispersed so far to rebuild homes: 0
  
• Occupancy rate of livable apartments in New Orleans: 99
  
• Number of hospitals in Orleans Parish before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: 22
  
• Number as of August 2006: 11
  
• Approximate increase in New Orleans suicide rate since Katrina: 300%
  
• Percent of New Orleans small businesses destroyed by Katrina: 60
  
• By May 2006, percent of small businesses that had been approved for disaster loans from the Small Business Administration that had actually received them: 37

Much more here (including some pics that may disturb you).

(no subject)

This essay about "New Age Bullying" has been making the rounds on my friend's list for a couple of days now.

I think the author of this list left out the most significant form of new age bullying i've seen: where people tell you to "not let your pain control you."

There's a point in the healing process where you can finally do this. I've experienced it myself -- one day, the pain just doesn't overwhelm you anymore and you wonder how it could ever have controlled you the way it did.

Well, it happens that way because there is so separation between body and mind. An emotional or psychological injury affects the way your nerve cells communicate with one another and the ways your nerve cells react to neuropeptides and neurotransmitters. It takes time to fix this. Recovering from trauma is very much like healing a physical cut. And some injuries of this sort are too deep and big to heal in the space of a single lifetime.

So, while some people find they suddenly have the ability to own their hurt and not be controlled by it anymore, it is wrong for them to then turn around to people who haven't healed yet and demand they snap out of it. To do so is more injurious than simply listening and offering compassion while someone is still healing.

But the article also made me realize i can't hide anymore how much contempt i have developed for almost all spirituality. Every now and then i come across something which is genuinely healing, but most commonly what i see is emotional manipulation, collections of platitudes meant to make us feel better about injustice.

What if people stopped believing there was a big daddy-figure in the sky who was going to punish all the bad guys after they die, a Santa Claus type figure watching everything that happens and keeping a list of everyone who's good and everyone who's bad? Maybe people shouldn't find comfort in this idea. Even if it's true. Because maybe then they would be more moved to seek justice in this life.

and now for something completely different

I hate throwing away perfectly good food, but after one bite i had to decree the lunch i'd brought with me as wholly inedible.

Kashi's Black Bean Mango lunch should be more accurately titled "Kashi's Onion-slathered Onions in Onion sauce." I've been generally enjoying the Kashi's lunches, but, good grief!

Who on earth decided that onions are edible? When you slice them, your mouth doesn't water -- your eyes do. And you know why? Freakin' sulfuric acid. Who cuts open a bulb that releases sulfuric acid into the air and says, "Yum!"

I know my passionate hatred of onions is in total contradiction to my heritage. But i guess i have to distinguish myself somehow.