DTWOF: The Blog

Alison's immersed in work again, so I'm stepping in to toot her horn, if you will. Those of you who live in the Burlington area (that's Burlington, Vermont, not Burlington Iowa — sorry, corn huskers!) might want to check out the Burlington Literary Festival this weekend. It's happening Friday through Sunday, and features readings and workshops with Galway Kinnell, Russell Banks, and a host of local literati. Alison's speaking on a panel on Saturday night with New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss, and cartoonist L.J. Kopf. I think she's also going to be signing some newly released copies of Invasion of the Dykes To Watch Out For, the 11th DTWOF book. The official release date is Oct. 1, but Alison should have some copies available Saturday night.

If you’re inexplicably reluctant to send hurricane relief donations to Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blesssing,” as FEMA has suggested, or bushclintonkatrinafund.org or even the Red Cross (like my mom, who’s still mad at them for planning to use some of the money they collected after 9/11 for other purposes), check out the Sparkplug Foundation’s site. It lists grassroots community organizations that would probably make better use of your money, though of course I can’t guarantee that. Thanks to Susie Day for letting me know about this.

That’s what rapper Kanye West said on the NBC hurricane benefit concert Friday night. This was a departure from the approved script, and his comments were axed from the west coast broadcast, but to anyone who wasn’t stranded on a desert island last week, or similarly insulated from reality, like, say, by being the homeland security secretary or the Director of FEMA, West was only stating the obvious. It was interesting to watch the national conversation evolve during the week. First no one mentioned the fact that the people abandoned in New Orleans were overwhelmingly African-American. Then gradually there was an acknowledgment that class was a factor—people were stranded because they had no cars or other resources to get out of town. Then by the end of the week, race started being mentioned openly in the mainstream media. I haven’t been able to bring myself to monitor Fox News, but Frank Rich reports that even Bill O’Reilly was forced to acknowledge the truth by Thursday night. Unfortunately, we can’t blame this horrific social collapse solely on George Bush. We live in a deeply racist society, and openly acknowledging that fact is the first step toward changing it. I know we all have quantum-particle-sized attention spans these days, but I don’t think the Republicans will manage to sweep the shameful Katrina fallout under the rug anytime soon. Not even with Bush’s ridiculous distraction ploy of nominating of John Roberts for chief justice.

...that followed my Holy Shit post.

Sorry about that. I don't know what's going on.

Well, don’t I feel presidential, rhapsodizing about my Town Car ride while the entire Gulf Coast was sinking into unimaginable chaos? Could something constructive possibly come of this not-so-natural disaster? A tidal wave of get-the-fucking-national-guard-home-now and fucking-stop-global-warming-while-you’re-at-it sentiment washing the Bushcons out to sea without a paddle?