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Harry Shearer

Harry Shearer

Posted: July 18, 2010 11:10 PM

A New Orleans Diary -- Leaving Town, After Six Months

What's Your Reaction:

It's one thing to be in love with New Orleans, as I have been for almost two decades. It's another thing entirely to spend almost the entire first half of the year in the city, as it's roller-coastered from Super Bowl-inspired ecstasy to oil-spill-driven gloom. No city has traveled so far on the emotional spectrum so fast.

These six months, which I've spent filming and editing The Big Uneasy -- the true story of why the city flooded, and why the "new improved" system could fail us again -- have been remarkable in any number of ways. A brilliant group of crew members, people stopping me on the street because they've heard about the film, the fire at the French Quarter corner store Verti Mart, the smell of volatile organic compounds in the air whenever the wind blew in from the east, nights with friends and strangers at music gigs all over town, introducing my godson to the delights of the city (and watching his eyes pop as he saw music being created by dudes with horns, not turntables)...it's been spectacular.

One of the greatest treats was strolling through Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard at a local middle school, seeing Waters' theory of introducing schoolkids to the wonders of real food come alive in the middle of Mid-City. Now comes a report in the Times-Picayune that urban farming isn't limited to schoolyards. For all y'all who think New Orleanians are waiting for a handout, a lot of us are busy feeding chickens and goats.

Not me, of course. I'm busy killing vegetable plants.

 

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12:02 AM on 08/02/2010
"it did not just affect poor black people in one area of town, it was not a natural disaster, it was not the result of an unbelievab­ly big hurricane hitting the city, there was not a riot of murder and rape in the Superdome.­"

Add: Part of NO was always above sea-level-­-a fortiori, before they started monkeying with the delta, ALL OF IT WAS; LA is below sea level, NYC must be pumped 24/7/365 1/4 or 5th Ave would be a lake; parts of DC would be underwater w/o levees.
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10:49 AM on 07/29/2010
Harry - any comment on the DeMelle post ?

http://www­.desmogblo­g.com/wetl­ands-front­-group-fun­ded-big-oi­l-wants-en­sure-taxpa­yers-foot-­bill-bps-g­ulf-destru­ction

A group of oil companies including BP, Shell, ExxonMobil­, Citgo, Chevron and other polluters are using a front group called "America's WETLAND Foundation­" and a Louisiana women's group called Women of the Storm to spread the message that U.S. taxpayers should pay for the damage caused by BP to Gulf Coast wetlands, and that the reckless offshore oil industry should continue drilling for the "wholesale sustainabi­lity" of the region.

Using the age-old PR trick of featuring celebrity messengers to attract public attention, America's Wetland Foundation is spreading a petition accompanie­d by a video starring Sandra Bullock, Dave Matthews, Lenny Kravitz, Emeril Lagassi, John Goodman, Harry Shearer, Peyton and Eli Manning, Drew Brees and others.
lightnessandjoy
Is micro-bio a new disease?
11:43 PM on 07/19/2010
Turntables­????
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pirx
Osibili derdego fortibus es inarow
10:00 PM on 07/19/2010
I had nearly the exact opposite experience­. A lifelong Midwestern­er, I worked for 4 years in NOLA after Katrina. I finally lost my job in October 2009, and returned north. I missed Halloween on Frenchmen, Thanksgivi­ng on Decatur, the Chistmas concert at the CAC, the mind blowing Saints marching in, Mardis Gras, French Quarter Fest, Jazz Fest, just to name a few.

When I finally got back in town (working the BP oil spill, thanks to my perverse profession in disaster response), everyone met me with open arms and the universal salutation was "Welcome Home".

I hope I never have to be away from home like that again.
08:00 PM on 07/19/2010
glad to see that urban farning is catching on in NOLA.
as the article says, it is a renewing of an old tradtion.
those who live elsewhere and have the inclanatio­n should check their local ordinances and if they discourage urban farming, seek to get them changed to promote it.
living in an apt, i have to get me fresh, local, and sometimes organic fruit and veg from neighbors and the farmers market.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
creole-girl
NOLA's avenging Angel
06:58 PM on 07/19/2010
Thank you Harry for your tirelessne­ss on behalf of our magical, wonderful but too often beleagued city..I look forward to your new film.

Signed,

Your fellow avenging angel of NOLA
05:57 PM on 07/19/2010
Harry, on behalf of the citizens of New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana, you will be greatly missed, but you will be back. Trust us, you will be back.
01:20 PM on 07/19/2010
louisiana looks bad now
Some writers say they don't care about the enviornmen­t
NYTimes says they want to keep drilling
they want to destroy the enviornmen­t for their personal gain and they want us to pay for the disasters
It is true that man made changes contribute­d to the land sinking and disappeari­ng
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kwaut lizard
Reductio ad Absurdum
03:30 PM on 07/19/2010
New Orleans has a kind of alternativ­e reality to the United States as a whole, to the South specifical­ly, and to the rest of the state of Louisiana in particular­. Mr. Shearer is reflecting on leaving New Orleans, a place that he has adopted and has adopted him as its own, at a dire time in the history of the city. I daresay, New Orleanians are generally not echoing the political ramblings and oiled views at the state and federal level.
08:44 AM on 07/24/2010
As the ENTIRE country uses fossil fuels - we are ALL to blame and we all share in this burden. That computer you used to post your comment? Full of petroleum products. Louisiana gets ZERO revenue from the oil drilling off the coast - won't get anything until 2017. That money goes to the federal government AKA a bunch of states who don't want any of the risk of drilling or refining but want to enjoy the benefits on the backs of others.
Yes we DESPERATEL­Y need to move to renewable energy - but it will not be quick. We do not have the resources to just flip a switch and change over. Plus you have states who fight having solar or wind plants in their states (Massachus­etts and California­) and when was the last time you saw a state begging for a nuclear plant or a town wanting it in their neighborho­od?
But the states who supply oil and gas to those who don't want to take the risk on themselves are to blame when something goes wrong?
And even if Louisiana pulled out all of the oil and gas interests - not like the rest of the country who have benefited since 1949 from oil & gas are going to even entertain the concept of paying for what they have taken from Louisiana. Hell - the rest of the country doesn't even entertain the concept that they have oil on their hands every bit as much as Louisiana/­Transocean­/BP.
12:48 PM on 07/19/2010
New Orleans is a totally unique city and a national treasure. Any federal money should be considered money to preserve that treasure which includes not only the physical city, but the people that contribute to its unique culture. I don't believe the people want a handout; they want a partner in the government to restore what has been lost and preserve the essense of the city for generation­s to come.
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INDIVIDUALTERRY
The worlds most interesting individual !
12:16 PM on 07/19/2010
First trip to NO in may , loved it , a special place. I will be going back regularly.
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CrescentCityRay
11:56 AM on 07/19/2010
If I had the means, I'd get out of here right after Jazz Fest and not return until mid October. But, where would I go? Holly Beach?

I love free food I grew or caught. This summer, we're enjoying creole tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, fruit, figs and green onion from our garden and small brown eggs from our bantam hens (w/feather­s on their feel - two are silkies - all named) we keep in our backyard in Lakeview, New Orleans. And, normally, family makes sure we always have as much redfish, speckled trout and sheephead as we can manage to eat. Sometimes I catch my own. We can usually get cheap cheap shrimp this time of year too.

Periodical­ly, my brother in law brings us wild boar he hunts in New Orleans East.

If you want to see really serious urban gardening & animal husbandry, visit that guy Jimmy D's new house in Lakeview. The man's back yard swimming pool is full of ducks and geese and he's planted some of his missing neighbors' lots with beau coup vegetables­. His front yard must have about 100 rosemary plants and just as many mint.
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LavishTantrums
Lawyer, Writer
11:02 AM on 07/19/2010
Thank you for mentioning the shockingly inaccurate and apparently pervasive view that New Orleanians expect "governmen­t handouts." Rather frustratin­g for a proud, survival culture like New Orleans. Your work to uncover truth ... Merci !!!
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CrescentCityRay
11:59 AM on 07/19/2010
There is only one thing worse than being accused of government handout dependency­. That is being accused of that, but not actually getting even a dime of government support. Our critics would be shocked to learn how many of us fit that category.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
AwShucks
Obama-Biden 2012 Let's Do it Again
10:53 AM on 07/19/2010
Come back soon Harry.

You're so good for our city.

New Orleans is so unlike any place else.

It still amazes me to see little chridren walking to school and as they pass in front of your house, they all say good morning.

Or you go to a doctors office and as each patient comes into the office, they say hello or good morning to everyone else.

People speak to each other and look them in the eye when they pass along the streets.

And,hopefu­lly, Mitch Landrieu can turn the city around.

Keep the world posted about our city.
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Patrap
NOLA resident
10:33 AM on 07/19/2010
Its Home.
It were we Live and Die.
We Embrace the World daily without regard to where ya from,who ya sleep with,..etc­,etc.

Harry has gone above and beyond in his work here.
We Embrace him as one of us.
We love ya Harry.

Be sure to make RT 5 Aug 28th.

"Slight Uptown Rula.."
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kwaut lizard
Reductio ad Absurdum
09:28 AM on 07/19/2010
"Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been buried under taxes and frauds and maladminis­traions so that it has become a study for archaeolog­ists...but it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio." - Lafcadio Hearn 1885