Monday, August 28, 2006
No direction home - Salon
Mardi Gras Indian chief Kevin Goodman lost family and his home to Hurricane Katrina. Can the New Orleans he loved resurface again?
... Goodman's Flaming Arrows, a tribe founded by his father, Therdot, marched the streets of New Orleans' 7th Ward for more than 40 years. A lifelong resident of the city who worked as a house painter before the hurricane, Goodman has served as Big Chief for 16 years and had never missed a Mardi Gras. But a year after the storm breached the levees and flooded his neighborhood with 6 feet of water, Goodman, 46, is still living in Austin, Texas, where he was evacuated with literally nothing but the clothes on his back after surviving for days in harrowing conditions.
...
Everyone important in his life has been scattered across a thousand miles of the South, from San Antonio to Atlanta. Like so many other New Orleanians who loved their city but lived by modest means, he finds that Katrina continues to take a toll. In recent months, two members of Goodman's family have died and another remains in critical condition in a Dallas hospital, all from illnesses that took a turn for the worse after exposure to toxic floodwaters and the stresses of dislocation.
Mardi Gras Indian chief Kevin Goodman lost family and his home to Hurricane Katrina. Can the New Orleans he loved resurface again?
... Goodman's Flaming Arrows, a tribe founded by his father, Therdot, marched the streets of New Orleans' 7th Ward for more than 40 years. A lifelong resident of the city who worked as a house painter before the hurricane, Goodman has served as Big Chief for 16 years and had never missed a Mardi Gras. But a year after the storm breached the levees and flooded his neighborhood with 6 feet of water, Goodman, 46, is still living in Austin, Texas, where he was evacuated with literally nothing but the clothes on his back after surviving for days in harrowing conditions.
...
Everyone important in his life has been scattered across a thousand miles of the South, from San Antonio to Atlanta. Like so many other New Orleanians who loved their city but lived by modest means, he finds that Katrina continues to take a toll. In recent months, two members of Goodman's family have died and another remains in critical condition in a Dallas hospital, all from illnesses that took a turn for the worse after exposure to toxic floodwaters and the stresses of dislocation.
Labels: suffering
Feet washed in apartheid apology - BBC News
Rev Frank Chikane survived a murder attempt in the 1980s. He said he was grateful for the gesture made earlier this month by ex-minister Adriaan Vlok.
Mr Vlok testified to the post-apartheid truth commission and received amnesty.
...
Mr Vlok was security minister in the late 1980s, a period when emergency laws granted police sweeping powers of arrest and detention against anti-apartheid activists.
Rev Chikane, former head of the South African Council of Churches, told at the weekend how Mr Vlok had arrived at his office and given him a Bible with the words "I have sinned against the Lord and against you, please forgive me (John 13:15)" on its cover. ...
"He then asked for water ... he picked up a glass of water, opened his bag, pulled out a bowl, put the water in the bowl, took out the towel, said 'you must allow me to do this' and washed my feet in my office," Rev Chikane said.
Mr Chikane, who was head of the South African Council of Churches during the state of emergency of the late 1980s, survived an assassination attempt when clothes impregnated with poison were placed in his suitcase while he was travelling. ...
Rev Frank Chikane survived a murder attempt in the 1980s. He said he was grateful for the gesture made earlier this month by ex-minister Adriaan Vlok.
Mr Vlok testified to the post-apartheid truth commission and received amnesty.
...
Mr Vlok was security minister in the late 1980s, a period when emergency laws granted police sweeping powers of arrest and detention against anti-apartheid activists.
Rev Chikane, former head of the South African Council of Churches, told at the weekend how Mr Vlok had arrived at his office and given him a Bible with the words "I have sinned against the Lord and against you, please forgive me (John 13:15)" on its cover. ...
"He then asked for water ... he picked up a glass of water, opened his bag, pulled out a bowl, put the water in the bowl, took out the towel, said 'you must allow me to do this' and washed my feet in my office," Rev Chikane said.
Mr Chikane, who was head of the South African Council of Churches during the state of emergency of the late 1980s, survived an assassination attempt when clothes impregnated with poison were placed in his suitcase while he was travelling. ...
Labels: forgiveness
Saturday, August 26, 2006
The 34-stone teenager - BBC News
Fewer dieters are as honest about their weakness as Bethany. "It's will-power. I tried all the diets with the help of the hospital."
As she needs to lose at least 20 stone (127kg) to reach a healthy weight for her 5'6" (168cm) frame, that requires an awful lot of will-power, strenuously applied over a number of years.
"You lose your will-power really. Food comforted me; it made me feel better. When you are feeling low, and something makes you feel better, you're going to want to keep doing it," explains the soft-spoken 19-year-old from her Lincoln home.
...
One patient in 100 dies from weight-loss surgery, so it's a risky procedure. Bethany decided it was a risk worth taking after her doctors warned her that without it, she'd most likely be dead by the age of 30.
The operation is starting to have an effect, but still Bethany's weight is killing her. Her heart is overloaded, her periods have stopped as her body overproduces oestrogen, and she risks developing a raft of diseases such as diabetes. She doesn't go to the cinema because she can't fit in the seats. "I'm all right with doorways but I still worry about it - what if, you know?"
...
She's self-conscious about walking or exercising, finding it embarrassing that others can hear her getting out of breath.
Nor is this helped by the stares and catcalls that accompany every outing - Bethany's size has made her public property.
"People stare at you, you get glares, you get children saying 'Mummy, why's she like that?' They just chuck everything at you - throw abuse from across the street."
"If someone had been particularly horrible to me, like a drunken person across the street shouting 'Oi you fat bitch' [she giggles to take the obvious sting out of the memory], I'd feel so low that I'd just go to the corner shop and buy two or three packets of sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a fizzy drink."
So what does she do now to make herself feel better? "I hug my mum. That helps."
Fewer dieters are as honest about their weakness as Bethany. "It's will-power. I tried all the diets with the help of the hospital."
As she needs to lose at least 20 stone (127kg) to reach a healthy weight for her 5'6" (168cm) frame, that requires an awful lot of will-power, strenuously applied over a number of years.
"You lose your will-power really. Food comforted me; it made me feel better. When you are feeling low, and something makes you feel better, you're going to want to keep doing it," explains the soft-spoken 19-year-old from her Lincoln home.
...
One patient in 100 dies from weight-loss surgery, so it's a risky procedure. Bethany decided it was a risk worth taking after her doctors warned her that without it, she'd most likely be dead by the age of 30.
The operation is starting to have an effect, but still Bethany's weight is killing her. Her heart is overloaded, her periods have stopped as her body overproduces oestrogen, and she risks developing a raft of diseases such as diabetes. She doesn't go to the cinema because she can't fit in the seats. "I'm all right with doorways but I still worry about it - what if, you know?"
...
She's self-conscious about walking or exercising, finding it embarrassing that others can hear her getting out of breath.
Nor is this helped by the stares and catcalls that accompany every outing - Bethany's size has made her public property.
"People stare at you, you get glares, you get children saying 'Mummy, why's she like that?' They just chuck everything at you - throw abuse from across the street."
"If someone had been particularly horrible to me, like a drunken person across the street shouting 'Oi you fat bitch' [she giggles to take the obvious sting out of the memory], I'd feel so low that I'd just go to the corner shop and buy two or three packets of sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a fizzy drink."
So what does she do now to make herself feel better? "I hug my mum. That helps."
Labels: attachment
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