Cold Spaghetti

… was one of the signs we carried. Several parents pushed empty strollers that read “future of our city??” along with the signs. Other signs included: “No Children — No City,” “No Child is born a killer,” “Children’s Laughter is NOLA’s Music,” “NOLA’s Children: Long Neglected and Unprotected,” and pictures of Francis with “Friends of Francis” labels.

The March and Rally were initially organized by the Marigny/Bywater community and anticipated maybe a few hundred people. Over 1,000 met them at the base of Canal Street. When we began to walk up Canal and over to Poydras, the crowd began to explode. It is hard to explain exactly how it happened, but people seemed to be pouring in from everywhere… coming down out of office buildings, meeting up with the crowd from side-streets. I was in heaven taking pictures, standing on curbs or other elevated surfaces to snap pictures as the crowd went by — and the way it kept growing was surprising, and energizing.

I had heard that several neighborhoods organizations were gathering to march to City Hall separately. So when our crowd (from Canal Street) got to City Hall, we were met by other groups coming from different parts of the city. Estimates put the numbers of people somewhere between 3,000-5,000 people. Considering that the city’s current population is roughly 200,000 people, that is an incredibly high turnout — and on a mid-week workday!

I’ve been to several Marches and Rallys, walked the picket line with the Union at Michigan, attended the March for Women’s Lives in DC (which, I believe, holds the record as the country’s largest march at 1.2 million people). In my experience, this was by far the most passionate and emotional event I’ve attended. The energy was palatable; it seemed to hold us all together in a mix of diversity that others tell me is unprecedented in this divisive city.

Speakers represented various neighborhoods and experiences. No political official was allowed to speak (even when some called for the Mayor, who stood quietly behind the speakers microphones) clarifying that this event was specifically about allowing the people of New Orleans to be heard. I was so thankful for this. We needed the event to specifically be about our anger, our vulnerability, and our ideas.

The statement that resonated in me and that stays with me came from Reverend John Raphael, (whose fantastic speech may be viewed through that link) who said,

“New Orleans maybe the city that care forgot. But today, we declare that New Orleans will never again be the city that forgot to care.”

Because the job of law enforcement is to protect citizens only when they march, in numbers into the thousands, to City Hall to demand it.

“What took so long? The community finally woke up. We had a tragedy or two. The community should have, in fact, probably spoke up sooner.” – Police Superintendent Warren Riley on CNN

I’m too tired to say much of substance and am still processing the day. But it was incredibly powerful. Being there with such an amazing group of people was inspiring.

Times-Picayune has several articles that cover some of the media focus at the event. Thanks for all the messages regarding watching us on CNN. If you could drop a quick line to your local representatives, we would really appreciate it.

We TiVo’ed several evening news broadcasts to review later, but we know that you can see images of Paul, Kate, and even me — as well as other Abeona-related people — in these places (hat tip, Emmy!):

Join Abeona parents tomorrow as we march for Francis Pop and the children of New Orleans — long neglected and unprotected. If you can’t be here with us, PLEASE — call your radio station, your television news, your local paper. We are not so naive that we believe our local government will change with a demonstration — we know that we need media, Big Media, attention to refocus eyes on the terror, tragedy, and suffering in our city.

If can join us, we are gathering at the Harrah’s fountain starting around 11 — look for the Abeona sign. Email or call me for more information.

I’m going to start tracking packages. After unnecessarily stressing over where the heck the package went… it finally arrived! I drew another portrait; this one of my adorable nephew, Brayden, and was so worried that the mail had devoured it…
Based on some parent feedback and other positive comments, I am considering doing some “real” photography and artistic work on the side. While it would be great to have extra cash to pay off some lingering bills, build back our savings and pay for the work we’re doing on the house, the bottom line is that we are fine. I would rather do a fundraiser to put money in Abeona House, where it is really needed.

With that in mind, I wonder if anyone would have thoughts on what would be a fair price for me spending an hour with you, your family, or your kids taking pictures and providing a CD of all the images for you to use however you’d like in exchange for a set minimum (or more) donation (tax-deductible) to Abeona. For an added fee, I could take one of the photos and turn it into a portrait drawing. Taking into account the value of the time put into these (especially the drawings, which take a seriously decent chunk of time) what would be a fair minimum donation to request for providing these services as a fundraiser?

The kids and I cleared out Saturday afternoon to give Paul the remainder of the weekend to work ’round the clock undisturbed. On Sunday, my parents got a praline birthday cake (it read: Holly – 29 again) and we had a little impromptu party. Will gave me a solo rendition of “Happy Birthday Mommy.” It was excellent. The best birthday present ever! (Unfortunately, it now exists only in memory. Paul had the video camera at home, doh!)
Will also counted my candles. After counting to 20, he paused and said “4”! What a guy.

My birthday was also remembered by friends and family — fun PJs from Gwen, soaps and earrings from Steph, funky fun necklace from Amy and family, and a great package from Paul’s Mom that Will opened enthusiastically with his Christmas presents before any of us realized what it was! Thank you, everyone!

Kate, in her adorable overalls from Aunt Amy and Uncle Kevin. The t-shirt usually goes under the long sleeve top, but Daddy is trying to start a new trend in baby-wear.

The last conversation I had with Helen Hill was a friendly hello at Abeona — we both wanted to say more but were overwhelmed with our kids at the time. I had hoped to send the images from Oak Street Cafe to her over the break and we had talked about getting together for New Years, neither of which happened. So, it may sound silly, but it was very important to me to get the images to her family directly. We dropped them off in a sturdy folder with the flowers and cards at their front door. Soon after, Emmy and Renee (friends and Abeona instructors) visited the memorial. They saw the folder and recognized it; wanting to keep it safe, they gave it directly to a family member and showed the photos I took. They were very well received, and were brought directly inside the house to Helen’s family. Media swarmed. Emmy felt they all were piranha-ish… with the exception of one British man who she felt was very respectful and caring. She gave him my phone number.

… And this is how I met Charlie Varley. When we first spoke, I had no idea who he was and acted very suspicious. Photography is a funny medium. It can easily be exploitative and I am very sensitive to this. I consider it a privilege to photograph people and feel that, particularly where children are involved, a photographer needs to be very careful with their work. So at first, I was very unsure how to handle Charlie Varley, who wanted to send some of my work to several news sources that were preparing memorial articles for Helen. By the end of our conversation, I was assured and agreed to send him some images. Then I googled him and realized who he was… when I sent him the photos, I wrote that I felt like I was sending a crayon sketch I made at age 10 to Picasso.

I was surprised to receive a wonderful email response from him. For one, he encouraged me to protect my work by adding a photo credit to the images and made some suggestions in that regard. Before sending them on, he embedded my credit into the image file for me. Second, he said wonderful and encouraging things about what I had done: “very professional and not at all amateur if you ask me.” He went on to say some personal things about being a parent and covering this story. It was, in every regard, a kind and thoughtful message.

Quickly following on the heels of Charlie’s message, came a phone call and email from Schroeder. Another uplifting and friendly bit of light coming unexpectedly.

Yesterday was my birthday. These little pieces of kindness and thoughtfulness were wonderful presents!

In late summer 2000, Paul’s cousin, Julie, held a commitment ceremony with her partner, Annie, in rural Vermont. Annie and Julie lived in Ann Arbor, where we had just moved, and were the first ones to welcome us to the city. We would have attended the ceremony, but my father’s retirement and Change of Command was the same day in Virginia.

Had we gone, we would have met Helen Hill and Paul Gailiunas, 6 years earlier than fate would finally have it. Helen is Annie’s cousin.