Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

"Finally, America will have to get over the shock of seeing itself in a new, unflattering light."

– from The Guardian 

I’m not shocked. After a year working on the front lines in Memphis, I am not shocked. I imagine that very few of the Midtowners or fellow-interns I met this past year would be shocked in the least. We have let our poor down. I have been trying to recall the quote which states that the measure of govertnment is how it treats its poor. We have failed. 

Last night I met a woman who was talking about her personal trainer who she’d hired for $70 per session. A few minutes later, we discussed the 2,000 people from New Orleans being brought to Boston to stay in the Fleet Center. This woman wasn’t sure she was comfortable having these people come to her city. I did not punch her in the face.

My friend Kristin asked if I’d seen Meet the Press. I hadn’t. Now I have. Police working in NOLA have begun killing themselves and turning in their badges. Certainly, this work is more than just a regular day’s work. Still, there are some glimpses of hope in all of this. Small ones. Very small.

I just saw this posted on Boing Boing. It’s a way to donate time without going to NOLA. It involves taking unstructured information and putting it into a standardized form so that it’s easier for people to search for loved ones. I think I’m definitely going to donate at least an hour or two to doing this.

Rachel went down to volunteer in NOLA and is blogging about it. I have a lot of guilt having left Memphis on Sunday morning and Nashville on Monday morning, ahead of the hurricane the whole way. I’m glad Rachels are doing so much.

Whoah! So the guy who exposed himself on the subway a few weeks ago has been identified and arrested. What’s really weird is that he is a co-founder and owner of a raw food eatery in New York called Quintessence. His name is Dan Hoyt, and here’s his bio:

Apparently, Mr. Hoyt thinks this is no big whoop. He received 2 days of community service for doing the same thing at the same station in 1994. I hope people don’t keep eating this guy’s food. I mean euuuw!! Thanks to the reader who shared the update with me.