My Blog Post, Who Is So Funny

I shall now give you a quick run down of some of the funnier moments of When The Levees Broke.

It started with a gentleman listing his family members who lived in the house with him..."My gramma, which is 81. My sister, which is 43. My cousin, which is 27..." Which??? Really??

Then you've got your wanna be journalist guy, who probably didn't get beyond fourth grade, talking about the horrific living conditions he experienced in the Superdome in the days after the hurricane...."You got sewers backing up, so people got shit and piss all over 'em....you got women with they periods comin' down on 'em..."

Women with they periods comin' down on 'em. Someone actually said that. With a straight face.

Women with they periods comin' down on 'em.

Another highlight was the Rev. Al Sharpton describing one of his visits to speak with the victims waiting in the Superdome. He said it was terrible that these folk had lost their home and their families, and now had to lose their dignity. He said it was "like pouring salt in their wombs."

SALT IN THEIR WOMBS......SALT IN THEIR WOMBS!!!!!!!! I had to pause the video and do some improv for Eric, miming how painful salt in your womb would be, and wondering aloud the myriad ways that one might pour salt into someone else's womb.

You had the public school teacher telling us about how so few children were coming to school now that everyone had left town, but that the reason for all the violence was a lack of education. That it was vicious cycle. A cycle that never resolves. She said it was like a dog wagging it's tail.

Oh yes, a dog wagging it's tail. You know, cause wagging's just so futile. What's the point.

Eric got a couple of good laughs in, too. There was the woman who told us that she'd never leave New Orleans, because generation after generation of her family had lived there. Her great great great great grandparents had lived there.

Eric says, "Um, I'm pretty sure your great great great great grandparents didn't live there. Unless your great great great great grandparents were Cherokee Indians (and from the looks of her, they weren't), you have no idea how young our country is".

He also liked the guy who was talking about the Army guys who came in to save everyone, and how they were carrying AK 47s. Eric scoffed, "Really?? The US Army soldiers were carrying RUSSIAN guns? How about an M-16, dummy..."

But my longest laugh was at the older woman who decided to sing us a song that her mother used to sing to her. A song that got her through the terror of Katrina. She closed her eyes, and sang this song slowly with so much expression:

"Wathe in the water.......Wathe in the water, children......wathe, wathe, wathe in the water...."


You have to watch this film for that moment alone. You just can't believe it's happening. A hurricane that wipes out a city, yes. But someone truly believing that you can wathe in water, never in a million years.