Liar, liar, pants on fire!

The one kind of person that I completely hate and can't stand is a liar. True, everyone lies at some point whether it's to protect the other person's feelings or to cover their own ass but why would you lie about the most insignificant things? The most effed up thing is that I'm talking about my brother! He lies about EVERYTHING. When it comes to grades, girlfriends and right down to even what he ate for breakfast, he LIES. I know that families should stick together but when someone is in your face swearing to God that they're not lying when they really are, it's hard to even like the person. And no, he is not 13 or even 17; he's a grown man of 26. When I lie and get caught in it, I apologize and feel like an ass. But when he gets caught up in a lie, he covers it up with more lies and at the end of the argument, he makes you feel like it's YOUR fault he lied. I see him lie straight to my mom's face all the time and I have to suppress the urge to just kick him in the nuts and call him out on it but my mom thinks he's an angel and "means well". Like man the fuck up! I love how I'm talking shit about him as I get ready to pick him up from the airport...

ANYWAY

I'm glad this semester is over. So far I have a 3.9 GPA for the semester and I'm still waiting for one more grade (for this class). Now it's time to start shopping for Ecuador..

Sorry for the negativity but I really didn't sleep well and I'm just moody.

Good luck to everyone and Happy Holidays!

"I never thought I'd die this way..."

When a huge disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, devastates the country, it is hard to be completely prepared for it. However, everything in our power needs to be done to help those in need regardless of the cost. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There were many things and warnings that were ignored prior to the storm especially the cries for help from the people who had their homes and lives destroyed by the storm.

While I was watching Frontline-The Storm, there were many moments when my blood started boiling. There were warnings issued prior to the storm that outlined the disastrous potential of the storm yet officials chose to look the other way and failed to evacuate the city. After watching the documentary I feel that the main reason everything went wrong was the lack of emergency preparedness on everyone’s part.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was established by Jimmy Carter in 1979 after he realized that a compilation of random smaller agencies weren’t doing their part in emergency management and there was a lack of organization. FEMA first had a chance to prove itself when Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 storm, hit Florida and surrounding states in 1992. Unfortunately, the agency focused on Miami as being the main target of the storm but the hardest hit areas were in Florida City and Homestead. These areas waited for help to come but they had to wait days until they received it.

As time went by, FEMA kept getting reformed. During the Clinton administration, a new head of FEMA was appointed. The former heads were politicians but this was the first time that an actual emergency responder was in charge. However, during the Bush administration, the budget for FEMA was cut; the government just didn’t see a need for it. FEMA got a chance to prove itself to be beneficial again during 9/11; headlines claimed that they did a “good job”. However, shortly after 9/11, FEMA was downgraded and became a sub-department of Homeland Security. After this, the morale of the agency plummeted and 80 million dollars were taken out of its budget and placed in other areas of Homeland Security.

According to the documentary, FEMA began conducting an exercise called Hurricane Pam in which they were hypothetically planning where their money and aide would go if a disastrous storm ever hit us (prophetic?). However, after $850,000 was invested in this exercise, the plug was pulled. In the reports of the scenario, certain key parts were still left to be determined such as communication, medical care of victims and transportation. If they continued to have the funding, all of these blanks would have been filled in and they would have been a lot more prepared when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Why am I telling you the history of FEMA? I feel like its important because these are the guys that we rely on the most when disaster strikes and if they’re not prepared or if they don’t have enough funding, who will we turn to?

When the storm hit, everything went wrong. There was no power, no means of communication, no resources, no boats or means of transportation; nothing. When the mayor was asked about transportation, he said that he had school buses but there were no bus drivers. In the documentary they said that school buses were the main reason that many people survived in Hurricane Carla in 1961. Why didn’t they think of that? And why do they feel like they have to lie to the public? Some of the officials said that they didn’t tell the public the truth because they didn’t want anyone to panic. If the public knew about the extremity of the situation, more help and aide would have been sent.

Because of the lies, cutting of funds and indifference of government officials, Hurricane Katrina proved to be a whole other issue. They keep saying that they’ll be more prepared next time but they haven’t learned any lessons from all the other disasters that our country has been through. So why should we believe them?

The documentary ended by saying that the government further plans on cutting FEMA’s budget even though they’ve funded bullet proof vests for canines and air-conditioned garbage trucks. Really?!

New Orleans

New Orleans began in 1718 when it was first established as a port city. People from all over the world came to the port and the city was influenced by many different cultures. New Orleans also had the highest population of free slaves in the south which already contributes to its unmistakeable uniqueness. This uniqueness continued to thrive while the cities all over America become more and more saturated with hate, fear and resentment towards blacks. However, due to economic and political changes, the very foundation of New Orleans began to dismantle and the city's progress took a major nose-dive.

Due to the industrialization happening all over America following World War II, the infrastructure of New Orleans began to change. Highways tore once peaceful, integrated neighborhoods apart. This caused there to be a literal barrier between blacks and whites. Over time, there was a great surge of white flight. The many highways and bridges allowed the establishment of suburbs in the back swamps of the city which were intended for whites only. This left blacks and their residential areas at the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain which was known to flood frequently. Although there were white ghettos in the city, they weren't as bad as the black ghettos. As Pierce F. Lewis states in "New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape", "All in all, New Orleans was more segregated than it had ever been, and the inequities between the rich and the poor was as extreme as at any time since the legal end of slavery." There was a lack of funding in the black neighborhoods especially in the public school system. Because of all the poverty, there was a lot of crime, drugs and gang activity. Unfortunately, this trend is typical in the urban areas of America.

Another unique and unfortunate attribute of New Orleans is its location. It is nestled in the banks of the Mississippi River. Because of its location, New Orleans was able to prosper in the early stages of its existence; thriving financially as well as culturally. However towards more modern times, its location has just become a vulnerability. The banks often over-flooded, threatening the safety of the city's residents. In order to protect themselves, a system of levees was built. Little did they know, the only thing protecting them from the harm of masses of water would soon fail them.

There were many indicators that were chosen to be ignored that would have prepared New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina. There were many reports prior to the disaster claiming that there were levee failures and severely distressed portions of the levee system. Although Hurricane Katrina was a "natural disaster" it was also a political disaster. Government officials knew of the potential impact of the hurricane but chose to ignore it. This just shows that the government doesn't care about human lives and further adds to the distrust people already have towards the government.

New Orleans has been influenced by many different cultures. Its architecture, food, and music greatly reflects that and that is exactly why it is so unique. Although many of us have never been to New Orleans, New Orleans is all around us. From the food that we eat to the sultry sounds of jazz coming from our neighbor's open window, we are touched by New Orleans and the hardships of its history and present everyday.

The Lost Symbol

I just finished reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I bought the book cause I read his other ones: The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. I was pretty excited about it since those other books were really interesting and mind boggling BUT this one was a major fail. Okay, this book is HUGE; 509 pages of words; ramblings, really... sometimes I just had to skim over the pages cause I was not into it. Needless to say, I finished it in 2 days. Most of the crap was so predictable or maybe I just knew what to expect cause of the other books. To not totally spoil it, the book is basically about Freemasonry and some secret the brotherhood has hidden in Washington, D.C. It's interesting but meh..

Honestly, I was reading the book as a way of procrastinating from studying from my finals but towards the end of the book, I just wanted to get it over with; I actually preferred to study for my finals, haha. It wasn't HORRIBLE but it's nothing compared to the two other ones I've read. I'd give it a 2.282742189/5 stars.

But anyway- good luck to everyone on finals and don't get absorbed into some mediocre books as I did cause you'll end up having to break night the day before your first final as I am currently doing. word.

Food.

Another reason why I love New York City: FOOD!

Recently, I've come to appreciate food a lot more (maybe it's the whole aging thing). If I eat something, I want to experience the whole thing; smell it, taste it, savor it. Back in the day, I would just stuff my face with pizza or McDonald's (Number 7, no mayo, please) but now, I want to go out and try new places and new types of food. Luckily, New York City is the perfect place for my experimentation. It is the melting pot (or salad bowl;no pun intended) of ethnic food.

My current obsession, though, is Middle Eastern food. There's something about falafel, hummus, shawarma, baklava and bureka that makes my tummy happy. Most of the good middle eastern places are in Queens so whenever I get my cravings, I drive up to Astoria, where there are like 30 different joints on one block and they're good and CHEAP.

Another favorite is Cuban (no, I'm not saying it for extra credit!) There's this place around my house and Baruch called Sophie's Cuban Cuisine. They have AMAZING picadillo, ropa vieja, fricasse de pollo, pernil and mariscada all done the Cuban way. Throw in some yellow rice, black beans, a colombiana (a type of soda) and maduros and BAM!

...Did I mention I'm on a diet?

The Rum Diary

I just finished reading the book The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. It was a pretty decent book and I think they're making it into a movie starring Johnny Depp soon. I wanted to share the last couple of paragraphs of the book with you:

"He leaned back and said nothing. It was almost dawn, but Nelson Otto was still lingering at his piano. The song was "Laura" and the sad notes floated out to the patio and hung in the trees like birds too tired to fly. It was a hot night, with almost no breeze, but I was feeling cold sweat in my hair. For lack of anything better to do, I studied a cigarette burn in the sleeve of my blue oxford-cloth shirt... Down on the waterfront I could hear the slow clang of a ship's bell as it eased against the pier, and somewhere in the city a motorcycle roared through the narrow streets, sending its echo up the hill to Calle O'Leary. Voices rose and fell in the house next door and the raucous sound of a jukebox came from a bar down the street. Sounds of a San Juan night, drifting across the city through layers of humid air; sounds of life and movement, people getting ready and people giving up, the sound of hope and the sound of hanging on, and behind them all, the quiet, deadly ticking of a thousand hungry clocks, the lonely sound of time passing in the long Caribbean night."

For some reason these words really hit me. I just felt like I was there sitting with them, sipping on rum and looking out into the blue, empty ocean. But then again it has a sense of hopelessness. Wasted time and youth. Maybe I just need a vacation..?

Citizen Journalism

Everyone knows that the media controls everything. It is the most influential source of information for people. Unfortunately, it is very rare to find a source that is completely unbiased. It is also rare to find a source that gives you all of the facts, not just the ones that they feel it is safe for the public to know. Citizen journalism gives people the opportunity to report the cold, hard truth to people at a more personal level.

Blogging gives citizen journalism the opportunity to reach out to more people in a more discrete way. By posting blogs and using the internet in general, you can conceal your identity which protects your family and most importantly, you, from any danger that people who don't agree with what you're writing and the government from causing you harm. Blogging also enables the citizen journalist to post images, videos, and to reach out to other citizen journalists who might share the same interests.

A well-known citizen journalist is Yoani Sanchez. She takes full advantage of the ability to blog. She reaches out to thousands of people inside and outside of Cuba and reports the things that are really going on in her country. The great thing about her blog is that she is very blunt. She states her opinion and isn't afraid of writing it even though the government knows very well who she is and where she lives. She reports the things that the government-run newspapers would never write about. As great as this is, it is also very dangerous. Because she chose not to remain anonymous, she made it possible for people to know exactly who she is and is open to any violence from people who disagree with her.

Because citizen journalists generally report on things that the newspapers don't, it is hard to rely on them. The "facts" might be embellished or sometimes even completely false. Because blogs are put on the internet, it is hard to say whether they really happened or if there is any validity in them. For example, there is no way you can tell that Yoani Sanchez's blog is completely exaggerated or even totally made up. It's really up to the reader to decide whether they want to believe in it.