This Web Blog was haphazardly produced without using Spell Check one danged time. We like it that way.

ESOTERICA: In the coming weeks, expect our partnership with CinemActivist.com to provide you with reviews of great documentaries from Cinema Libre Studio, PBS, the History Channel, the Visioneerng Group and Working Films that provide you knowledge and move you toward activism. Just so you know.

Depending on the events of the day, we'll likely be bringing you information about a great new film on New Orleans from independent director Alex LeMay, "Desert Bayou," slated to appear in New York City and New Orleans in early October before rolling out across the country. Cities and dates TBA.

As Longtime Readers know, I do not take my connection to NOLA lightly. My first published book chronicles my love/hate affair with that city and I have continued to follow developments there - as both journalist and editorialist - since leaving it in 2005. Working on promoting this film - proceeds from the profits of which go to both helping returnees rebuild their homes and helping evacuees return - has been a mixed experience. The film pulls the scab off of wounds that are barely healed. That latter is an objection that many NOLA residents raised while I was in New Orleans, while I - now returned to America - tried to point them to what I have called "the Higher Good."

Let's face it: most people in America don't know jack about New Orleans and never have. You have to have lived in that city and embraced it to understand its dynamic (good and bad) at all. Going down for Mardi Gras or JazzFest doesn't cut it. Like anywhere else I have lived in my storied travels, from Florence to Cairo to Belgrade, it's impossible to know a city as a tourist. It takes a minimum of six months to know anything about anywhere, as far as I'm concerned. It takes years to say you have been there.

So I was a b it unsettled, after returning to Austin, Texas, my new home base, from New Orleans this week to read the "Comments" section of an article about New Orleans at USA TODAY's Web site where various Americans poured out their raw vitriol regarding NOLA. The level of contempt and callousness was difficult to bear, especially considering my investment in the "Desert Bayou" project. "Perhaps America really does hate New Orleans," I thought.

Here's just a sampling of some of the comments:

The freeloaders of NO, the corruption of NO, the crime in NO, the dirt in NO. Too bad the hurricane didn't take the whole city out to sea. The world would be a better place. And the taxpayers in this country would have a lot more $$$.

Louisiana has been known as a haven of corruption for decades. We shouldn't send them another dime. From Congressman Jefferson's $90,000 bribe in his freezer to the recent crackdowns, Lousiana doesn't deserve another penny. Truth hurts, but too bad, they're on the "comes-around." What goes around, comes around.

It sounds to me like new Orleans is fully self sufficient and we can freely pull the taxpayer aid dollars that are being stolen by all of those fine people down there. I guess we can perfecting the art of political corruption to the list of accomplishments.

help us help us. poor pitiful new orleans.meanwhile we will figure out how to scam anyone and everyone stupid enough to help.hey lets sell the mre's we got on ebay.why not overcharge on everybill going to the government-we derserve to make a buck as well.pity the people that actually need help because the scum bag scam artists make it so no one wants to help for fear of getting burned.yes its been that way in the south forever graft and corruption but not on this scale and not with our tax dollars.but basically i have as the same amount of sympathy for someone who lives behind a dam of earth as someone who lives in a trailer in tornado alley.duh!

This city should never have been rebuilt... period... it is and always has been a cesspool...The Big Easy Money...

Well according to what someone that flew into there last week told me, the only way you can say New Orleans was rebuilt is if you consider tarps and Masonite walls. From what she said from the air it looked like all but the French quarter was still a disaster. And from the ground it didn't seem much different although I am sure she didn't go sight seeing.

Corruption goes hand-in-hand with New Orleans.

Just look at the city of New Orleans -- it is a putrid and fecal-covered cesspool of moral filth and urban decay. New Orleans is nothing more that a big drainage pit resulting in a sewer called the 9th Ward.

What would be the surprise in all of this if there were honest and incorruptible officials in New Orleans. Now THAT would make headlines.

All the money sent there, and nothing but the stadium and Bourbon Street have been rebuilt? Others rebuilt for themselves, having the means to buy insurance helps. The casinos and bars were open months after, but middle class homes are not keeping up. I don't care about "affordabel housing for the poor" who couldn't afford to live anywhere without government help. They contribute nothing.

All that tax money and money from charity all lining the pockets of public officials? Not surprised for one of the most immoral places in the country.

I suppose the long and short of it is that Americans look at the people of New Orleans as mad dogs who deserve no better than to be put down on the street with shotguns at the first opportunity... Or at least that's the impression one gets from the hundreds of irate commenters at USA TODAY. I guess the only thing they've brought away from the new Fox Channel program "K-'ville" is that New Orleans sucks.

"K-ville", BTW, was big news in all the NOLA media while I was there last week. From the Times-Picayune to the local Blogosphere everyone felt compelled to weigh in with their takes on the show. From my personal perspective, that meant that the producers and the channel had gotten much more hype than they deserved with for the live-action cartoon. But that's what media people want, is it not?

To its credit, the show does bring up some important issues about the lay of the land in NOLA but the Bondesque car chases and shoot-outs are way over the top. Great testfest material.

Because of the healthcare and mental health servces crisis in New Orleans, it's not reported that as many returnees have died - particularly high numbers are reported for the first year - as those who actually perished as a direct result of the storm. This is an under-reported story about the aftermath. The only report I've seen on it appeared in the New York Times a few months back.

I speak with one or another friend from NOLA almost every single day. During that first year, I would dread the conversations that began, "Remember So-and-so... ?" I already knew what the news was: s/he is dead.

Meanwhile, on in the ground in NOLA, most of the people I know are not involved in shootouts or car chases. They are too busy rebuilding or cleaning up their homes, negotiating with insurance companies for pennies on the dollar in remuneration, going to work every morning, worrying about their kids.

Not that that would be a concern of the Hollyweird types.

See you next time.

BIG NEWS! You can now and henceforth find all of the G21 PODCASTS over at Blip.tv. Just click on the link http://blip.tv/users/view/g21guy and you can download to your iTunes or iPod and hear some of the thought leaders for this new century that I mean to bring to you. It will be updated with new episodes regularly, as you must know. You're welcome.

This post's video presentation focuses on international dance and music. Enjoy!:

Cheers!

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you in my own.

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Talk to you in a day or so.

Be well.