Left behind 10/17/07

It wasn't easy slipping away early last Friday, but I managed to get out of the office and onto the road by about 4:00. Now, Atlanta lies between me and New Orleans and on Fridays rush hours begin at about 2:00 so the early going was slow but it was moving. Before too terribly long I had broken the bounds of at least the city's traffic. It took me longer to leave behind the city's mentality, its edgier slightly anxious internal soundtrack and I was asking myself repeatedly why in the world was I doing this, driving 500 miles there and back for one regular length weekend. Somewhere on I-10 almost to Mississippi, I found myself with the windows down singing with the radio, feelin' that sea-level air and I remembered. I was happy to have finally shed Atlanta, grateful, knowing I must have needed it.

It was a great weekend to be there (and not just because of the perfect weather), 'cause Dangerblond (whose blog has been totally cookin' recently, with one really great post after another) had one of her posts picked up and published in last Saturday's Times-Picayune (even though she had to gussie it up a bit for MSM consumption). The original is here and the T-P version is here, an important perspective on one possible way individual rights might continue to be sledge hammered away (pick one and go, now, read).

After disparate busyness Saturday morning we met up at Canal Place for the New Orleans Film Festival showing of Left Behind: The Story of the New Orleans Public Schools, happily found Liprap and managed to snag three seats in the crowded theater. I'm so glad I went. In their beautifully crafted work the film makers, Vincent Morelli and Jason Berry, told a heartbreaking story. Here's how it's described on the website:

Left Behind is a 90-minute documentary that tells the story of three African-American high school seniors as they navigate through their final year of high school. Their final year in one of the poorest cities in the state; in a state ranked as the poorest in America; in one of the most violent cities, states and countries in the industrialized world.

The film, shot before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, shows how an uneducated impoverished population reacts under the stress. Our never-before-seen Katrina footage highlights our two-year-long documentary. We show reasons for the looting, rape, murder and mayhem -- the effects our man-made environment has on human behavior. We examine the core of our American values, the framework by which we live, and we show how our most vaunted beliefs and government policies have played a role in our nation's shame.

Interviews with Noam Chomsky, Jessie Jackson, Ice T, Congressmen William Jefferson and Maxine Waters, author Michael Eric Dyson, Jim Derleth (US AID Specialist in development and conflict resolution assigned to East and West Africa) and others accent our narrative.

After repeated promises to allow the film's makers access inside schools were broken, they resorted to hidden cameras taken inside with gripping results. They revealed a system soiled with dishonesty, in which contracts were awarded for personal gain without any regard for the fact that enriching those who were supposed to be in charge came at great cost to the children. Watching the fear with which one student faces his last chances at passing the LEAP test, required for graduation, I couldn't help but remember The Fool's remark in comments after I first mentioned hoping to see the film, a teacher, satirizing No Child Left Behind, calling it No Child Left Untested. I have to think there's a better way than standardized testing. Do we have, do we want, standardized children? While I can see the value of testing as measure and guide, ultimately, it can snatch any hope of graduation from some of those determined enough to have not yet dropped out. It seems to me that emergency action is required, even if it means bypassing the LEAP test and instituting some kind of remedial Plan B to stop the bleeding. Left Behind deserves a wider audience and I really hope they get it.

In spite of my restricted diet I managed to get in two wonderful meals and a parting treat without violating doctor's orders. Saturday dinner was the house special at Vincent's, cannelloni described on the menu as, "Homemade pasta stuffed with ground baby veal, pureed spinach and Parmesan cheese baked on a bed of Alfredo cream and topped with a light red sauce." It was amazing, and it had been a while since I'd eaten anything really, well, flavorful. Then Sunday morning Middle Son and I visited a favorite stop, The Bluebird Cafe, where I thoroughly loved every bite of eggs Benedict and jealously eyed his off-limits pecan waffle. As I reluctantly eased onto I-10 to force myself home, I was unable to resist the ridiculous urge to slip off the highway one last time before leaving New Orleans, for a time-consuming solo venture into the French Quarter to grab a Cafe au Lait and Beignets to go from Cafe du Monde, you know, for the ride. It was silly and rushed and I hated not having the time to poke my head in and quickly greet Adrastos, knowing how close I was, but despite the time lost and the resulting powdered sugar incident in the car, it was comforting to have that little bit of doctor-approved New Orleans riding with me as I left, enlightened and rejuvenated.

I'll leave you with a three minute taste of the film I don't regret driving 1000 miles in forty-eight hours to see. Peace. Out. Y'all.