To answer your questions…

This is the photo on my Chinese press pass. Glad I like it. The shot on my Riviera ID card was taken in our final, sleep-deprived 100-degree, stress-filled days at home and you can see all that in my baggy, bloodshot eyes and bewildered expression. That’s the one I have to look at every day. Oh well. i can pick what I share with you all.

I am still just blown away by New Orleans. I am glad to see the NBA and players seem to be stepping up to the plate pretty well. I would be rather disgusted by anything less.

I want to address a few issues which several people have emailed me about.

First of all, I’ve only just begun to pursue more work. I figured that I needed some time to get settled and it was waste of time to send pitches to anyone in New York in the final pre Labor Day weeks anyhow. I’ve sent a few out today, so we’ll see where that leads.

Right now, I’m really enjoying being unencumbered and not having anyone looking for me except my four family members.

We have been living in temp. housing in a little apartment and my only reliable online connection is Starbucks, where i am right now. Tomorrow, our big shipment arrives and this weekend, we move into our house. Then things will really settle down and I’ll have my DSL line. I think considering our limitations, we’ve been doing great and I’m really happy with this blog because it has made me write every day and kept my chops sharp.

I am also considering taking a 1 or 2-month extensive Chinese course, five hours a day five days a week. I think it might be my best shot at getting somewhere with the language.

That brings me to another thing many of you asked about — no, I can’t really understand local reports on the hurricane, but Becky just had her reporters here do a story on local reaction and in short they are disgusted and appalled and disillusioned, actually. Because a lot of people here hold us in high regard and think we have our shit together and this has exposed so much of what’s wrong in our society. i think for some here, it makes them really doubt where to turn for inspiration.

When we went to the aquarium last weekend, there was a TV playing news in the lobby and their coverage of katrina was more graphic than what I saw on CNN. They were showing closeups of people shaking, looking glassy eyed, clawing for some water. I could only imagine what the announcers were saying. What can anyone say? The images speak for themselves and what they say is not pretty.

So now the digging has begun and one doesn’t have to go too deep top nsee that w turned FEMA into a gathering of good ol’ boy cronies. Surprise, surprise.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/344004p-293718c.html

But, hey, let’s not “play the blame game.” This is an unbelievable thing to say in the face of such absolute fumbling. They impeached Clinton for NOT fucking an intern. But no one’s supposed to “play the blame game” for fucking up this disaster.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050907-2.html

(go about half way down and see the question beginning, “Q Scott, does the President retain…”)

At least, the horror of this mess finally woke up the snoozing press corps, even forcing FNC reporters to quit being “fair and balanced.”

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050906/the_medias_labor_day_revolution.php

I clicked through and was able to watch this link and I retract my “at least I can’t see Fox News” statement. Shep smith and Geraldo were heroically honest, blunt and gripping. This made me cry again. Great reporting and they deftly and effortlessly resisted Hannity’s every attempt to spin in “the Calvary is coming.”

I’m sure a lot of you saw this, but tom Friedman’s column was really good at connecting the dots of how bereft the admin has left us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/opinion/07friedman.html?incamp=article_popular