My Mind on Tuscaloosa

[AverageJoe]

Please, please, please watch this incredible video of a young man singing about our town and what we've lost. I hope you'll recommend this thread and kick it and kick it again and again and again.


http://youtu.be/QISlyR5M2Mg?hd=1

[AverageJoe]

1. Kicking

kicking because people really, really need to see this.

[Suich]

2. Nice!

:kick:

[Syrinx]

3. k&r for Tuscaloosa

It's in 720p, so it's taking hours and hours to get on dialup, but I'm going to get it all.

That young man really seems familiar, but I can't place him.

I'm almost certain I've met him before, but I have no idea where.

Thanks for posting. :hi:

[AverageJoe]

5. Maybe it would be quicker to go to YouTube?

The singer's name is Sean Rivers and the song title is "My Mind on Tuscaloosa."

Thank you for taking time to look at this.

[Leopolds Ghost]

13. Click on the 240p button, it's slow here too. Actually, to bookmark it, remove the &hd... tags.

[LiberalAndProud]

4. Kick.

[AverageJoe]

6. kicking my own thread

because I really hope people will listen to this song.

[bobbolink]

7. While I wait for it to load, I will kick and recommend. Tuscaloosa has been on my mind steadily

since this happened.

I am so worried about the poor people, the ones who lost everything and have no way to recoup their losses.

And just like Katrina, I don't see any evidence that anyone particularly cares.

[AverageJoe]

8. It is beyond belief here

Great swaths of land, once neighborhoods,pulverized. Crews work steadily to clean things up, but I have no idea what will happen to the displaced poor. This is a catastrophe.

At least with Katrina, there was a ton of media coverage. I hope the world does not forget us.

[bobbolink]

9. Hey, Joe (you are NOT average.. you obviously have a heart) I put out a plea

for help to a "Progressive" group and received ZERO response. :grr:

I am trying to figure out what we can do.

I am planning a LTTE, with some salient facts on how destroyed subsidized housing is NOT replaced.

Here is my feeling on this... if people can make trips to Madison to protest with unions, then they can make trips to Tuscaloosa to demonstrate for low-income housing! Period.

Are there any groups there who are organizing things like this, or are they just ASSUMING it will be replaced?

[AverageJoe]

10. I can't say that there is no such group, but I've not heard of anything

For what it's worth, right now people are still dazed and reeling here. We do have a fairly progressive mayor who so far has been doing well in the face of the catastrophe.

I'm not sure how effective an organized protest over anything might be here right now. People might not be ready.

[bobbolink]

11. I understand that. This is the shock phase. However, what I am thinking about is down the road,

when the memory of this has gone from the rest of the country, and that includes DU. There is a very short memory where poverty is concerned.

Once that land is taken over for condominiums, it is too late.

It takes time to organize, and by that time, people will be more ready.

OF course, the people themselves must be heard. They must be the ones leading this. That is a given for me, and I guess that is so unusual that I should get in the habit of making that a caveat. But, I am concerned deeply about a replay of what happened in NOLA, and timing is hugely important.

I am trying to put together an LTTE, and I hope others will do the same in other parts of the country.

Please keep up up-to-date!

:pals:

[Leopolds Ghost]

14. Why do disasters like this always afflict impoverished, Blue cities?

:shrug:

And when they afflict wealthy areas we don't hear about it because they brag on the nightly news that they'll be back up and running in no time with bigger and better houses than ever... and money from the state.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Kick

K&R

[AverageJoe]

15. Hey Will

Many thanks for the kick. I've been hoping that the folks at DU would pick up on this song to the extent that it made it to the front page, but I don't guess that's going to happen. It is such a lovely and sad tribute and I thought it might help keep us in the public mind.

For what it's worth, I Googled the singer, Sean Rivers,and the woman to whom he dedicates the song, Loryn Brown. Sean is a local musician, plays bar gigs, things like that. Loryn Brown, who was killed by the tornado, had just graduated from Shelton State Community College here in Tuscaloosa and was set to enter the University of Alabama in the fall. She was passionate about sports, a very fine writer, and aspired to a career with ESPN. By all accounts, Loryn was a wonderful person.

Here's a link to her Facebook page, in case anyone is interested: http://www.facebook.com/people/Loryn-Brown/1003140121

My wife and I were able to drive through the hardest hit areas for the first time yesterday afternoon and again today. As horrific as I thought it was based upon what happened to 15th Street, I now know that things are much, much worse than I could have imagined. I don't have the words to describe the smashed neighborhoods.

I keep thinking that I should be crying. I keep thinking that crying would make me feel better, somehow. But I don't have any tears right now. Isn't that strange?

RTR

[bobbolink]

16. Another kick for people who seem to already be forgotten.

:cry:

[bobbolink]

17. kicking until this gets the attention it deserves...

:kick:

[AverageJoe]

18. Kick & RTR nft

[bobbolink]

19. last kick of the day