Continuing working on Dr. King's Time in Boston, writing about Martin and Coretta meeting. Latest installment just below.
Peter Tosh joined Radio Roofscape last night as a listener. Welcome Peter! Legalize it, indeed. We're adding 1 or 2 new listeners daily.
Making up the new issue of Roofscape to drop tomorrow, 1/15, on Dr. King's birthday.
Strong sun slanting through the bare trees. Passing snow squall earlier. The harsh grasping claws of winter cold eased. It's almost up to freezing after being in the frigid teens all week. In which I've been biking. Calls of crows. A sky of nude blue pearl, as Lawrence Durrell describes the sky over Alexandria. Muffled sounds of the world at work, distant machinery softer than the sound of gentle surf heard behind high dunes. The mantle of snow tired and worn but stubbornly persistent. A day to start seeds for an upcoming seed starting article.
But lazy, I really knocked myself out yesterday, spending most of the day biking and walking out in the cold. It was 19° when I left the house by bike at 8:00 AM yesterday, so Charles told said. I nearly collapsed after I hit Back Bay a half hour later.
The devastation in Haiti caused by the earthquake is just, well, shocking. Houses and whole buildings crumpled like they were made out of cards or bad construction paper, but they're concrete with real people trapped under the rubble. That such a total disaster should strike one of the poorest nations in the Americas - an average Haitian scrapes by on only $2.00 USD or less per day - is just heartbreaking. What's heartening is that Obama junped into the fray immediately, unlike W. after Katrina - which happened on our own little island. CNN reported his response as follows.
President Obama on Thursday announced $100 million in aid, saying, "This is one of those moments that calls for American leadership."
"I can report that the first waves of our rescue and relief workers are on the ground and are at work," Obama said, calling the relief effort one of the largest in recent U.S. history.
"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken," he said. "You will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you."
Touching on the obstacles facing search and rescue units, Obama said, "Even as we move as quickly as possible, it will take hours and in many cases days, to get all of our people and resources on the ground. Right now in Haiti, roads are impassable, the main port is badly damaged, communications are just beginning to come online and aftershocks continue."
We make fewer jet fighters, one less destroyer, abort several cruise missles, ax an aircraft carrier - and we'll be able to swing this thing. Boston has the third largest Haitian population (Miami and New York leading) in the U.S. Our hearts go out - and our wallets open up - to your families back home.
Image ... Beacon Hill rooftops and chimneys in the snow. From the roof of Charles Street Supply at 54 Charles Street.
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