HOUSTON, TX (MMD Newswire) August 16, 2010 — From Hurricane Katrina to the Middle East: A True Love Story…With Life Lessons Learned is Jo Ann Godfrey’s story of how she fell in love with a man who had already accepted a job in the Middle East, but when Katrina hits, it changes both their lives forever.
Godfrey’s memoir, From Hurricane Katrina to the Middle East, is the tale of how one brave woman stays positive, never gives up hope, and uses the lessons of her past to catapult her into a future beyond her wildest dreams. When Godfrey meets Gary, she never expects to fall in love. A breast cancer survivor now coping with her mother’s illness, she isn’t sure she can count on him, especially when he takes a job in Saudi Arabia. She stays behind, but when Hurricane Katrina strikes, she begins to realize what really matters in life.
A true story that is meant to be as inspirational as it is entertaining, From Hurricane Katrina to the Middle East reveals how being adaptable and learning from life’s experiences can be both enriching and life-changing.
From Hurricane Katrina to the Middle East: A True Love Story…With Life Lessons Learned is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.
About the Author
Jo Ann Godfrey was a flight attendant for over 25 years. She also is a licensed interior designer with her own firm, Interior Analysts, Inc., and has taught decorating at Delgado Community College.
Actress Jurnee Smollett Hosts Docu-Special That Follows Stories of Men, Women and Families Devastated By Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill.
NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (PRNewswire) — Five years after the United States’ most devastating natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, BET News returns to New Orleans for an exclusive prime time special, HEART OF THE CITY: KATRINA FIVE YEARS LATER — Sunday, August 22 at 10:00 p.m.* For the past year, BET News has followed stories of several men and women living in the Ninth Ward, the community in New Orleans most devastated by the hurricane and levee breach. With emotions running high, residents take viewers inside their lives by detailing their challenges and outlining their hopes for the future. This hour long special will also raise the question: will the BP oil spill make it harder for the people of the Ninth Ward to recover from Katrina? Or will the disaster put fresh attention on an area in distress? HEART OF THE CITY: KATRINA FIVE YEARS LATER is hosted by actress and activist, Jurnee Smollett.
ABOUT JURNEE SMOLLETT
Jurnee Smollett got her start on TV at the age of five, and she enjoyed recurring roles on such shows as Hanging with Mr. Cooper, Full House and On Our Own. Her film work includes title roles in the critically-acclaimed big screen movie, Eve’s Bayou, and The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington and produced by Oprah Winfrey. Smollett’s maternal family is from New Orleans and she has been vocal in raising awareness about the issues surrounding Katrina. Smollett is also a strong activist in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
HEART OF THE CITY: NEW ORLEANS FIVE YEARS AFTER KATRINA is a BET News Production. Barnard Jaffier serves as producer and director with Dan Klein as executive producer.
For more on HEART OF THE CITY: KATRINA FIVE YEARS LATER visit www.BET.com/news.
The development of the Gulf Oil Spill narrative is important to track since he who wins control of the narrative, controls the story in terms of political capital – for good or ill.
Austin, TX, June 02, 2010 (PressReleasePoint) — In an exclusive analysis by The Global Language Monitor’s NarrativeTracker™, there are now several differing story lines emerging from the Gulf Oil Spill.
The ‘narrative’ refers to the stream of public opinion captured by blogs and other social media outlets on the Internet, as well as the leading print and electronic databases.
The Narratives emerging from this on-going (and slow-moving) disaster include:
Obama was Slow to Respond – 95% of the social media conversations characterize the President Obama as ‘slow to respond’.
Obama vs. BP: who’s in charge? — 52% see BP in charge of the spill. This may or may not be a political liability. Democrats need the blame assigned to BP; at the same time, Obama needs to be seen as in overall control of the disaster
Worst environmental disaster ever – 42% see the current spill the worst environmental disaster ever.
Federal Response — 57% see the Federal response using ‘poor’ or related keywords. Not a good month for the Feds; come to think of it, not a good year for the Feds.
Katrina vs. Exxon Valdez – 61% make the comparison to the Exxon Valdez; about 39% compare the ongoing spill to the inundation of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Biblical Prophecies Abound Once More — About 61% of all references involve the Bible. (Even Ted Turner has a theory how the oil spill might be a warning from God.) These are markedly different in tone than those used with Katrina where the references focused on apocalyptic imagery, End-of-the-World scenarios and doom.
The Obama Style of Leadership – This is a close one 52% see Obama as ‘hand’s on’ leadership, 48% see ‘hand’s off’. Again, this is either positive or negative depending on your political bias. Ronald Reagan was seen as a ‘hand’s off’ president and that was considered good. Jimmy Carter was a ‘hand’s on’ type president and that was considered bad.
“The development of the Gulf Oil Spill narrative is important to track since he who wins control of the narrative, controls the story in terms of political capital – for good or ill,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of GLM. “With the mid-term elections just five months away, and the prospect of the Gulf Oil Spill continuing unabated for months, control of the narrative is more important than ever.”
The rise of the narrative can render positions on the issues almost meaningless, since positions now matter less than how they fit into a particular narrative. The NarrativeTracker is more effective in capturing the true opinion of the public because it tracks unfiltered keywords in Social Media and other sources, rather than how that opinion is interpreted by the news media or by pollsters.
The term ‘narrative’ in this sense is now appearing thousands of times in the global media on the Internet and blogosphere as well as throughout the world of social media, meaning the main streams of public opinion running in the media that needs to be fed, encouraged, diverted or influenced by any means possible.
GLM recently announced The Healthcare NarrativeTracker Index™ (NTI™), in partnership with OpenConnect Systems of Dallas. The Healthcare NTI is the first product specifically designed to use social media-based monitoring to better understand the issues driving healthcare reform, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic related to healthcare, at any point in time.
The NarrativeTracker is based on the GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator™ (PQI™). The PQI tracks the frequency of words and phrases in global print and electronic media on the Internet, throughout the Blogosphere and other social media outlets as well as accessing proprietary databases. The PQI is a weighted index that factors in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum, and velocity.
About the Global Language Monitor
Austin-Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogs the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English. For more information, call 1.925.367.7557, send email to pjjp@post.harvard.edu, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.
“Tavis Smiley Reports” on PBS examines how New Orleans residents have rebuilt their city and explore what still needs to be done.
LOS ANGELES, May 5, 2010 (PRNewswire) — For his third “Tavis Smiley Reports” primetime special, Tavis Smiley will travel to New Orleans to capture the mood and spirit of the city’s courageous residents five years after the levees failed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The episode, entitled “Been in the Storm Too Long,” premieres, July 21, 2010 at 8pm/7pm Central on PBS.
This special comes out of a ongoing collaboration between Tavis Smiley and Academy-Award-winning director Jonathan Demme that began in 2006 when Smiley aired Demme’s documentary “Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward” as a week-long series on PBS. Demme has spent the past five years chronicling the people of New Orleans as they struggle to recover and rebuild their city. Smiley now returns to interview some of the city’s most resilient residents who share their rich cultural heritage as they rebuild schools, churches and homes against enormous odds.
Joining Smiley in this hour-long special are:
Jazz musicians Ellis and Branford Marsalis
Actor John Goodman, long-time resident now starring in the acclaimed series “Treme”
Actor Wendell Pierce, a third-generation native also starring in “Treme”
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun, whose experiences were chronicled in Dave Eggers’ award-winning book “Zeitoun”
Heroic residents including educators, environmentalists, activists, and religious leaders
“In many ways, New Orleans remains a lightning rod for issues of race and class in this country,” says Tavis Smiley. “We see two sides of the city — the tourist areas that have been redeveloped with federal funds, and the devastated neighborhoods where everyday people have taken it upon themselves to get their homes rebuilt, their schools reopened, and their lives back.”
Tavis Smiley will be shooting on location in New Orleans May 12-16.
TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS is produced for PBS by The Smiley Group, Inc. /TS Media, Inc. and KCET Los Angeles. Executive producer is Jacoba Atlas. Funding provided by Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and Public Television Viewers.
About Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley is host of the nightly talk show TAVIS SMILEY on PBS and “The Tavis Smiley Show” from PRI. Smiley launched America I AM: The African American Imprint, a world-class exhibition celebrating the extraordinary impact of African American contributions to our nation and the world, on January 15, 2009. The exhibit is on a four-year, 10-city tour. The next stop is Cincinnati, OH on June 19. Smiley is also the author/editor of 14 books, including The New York Times best-sellers Covenant with Black America and What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, and his most recent, Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. For more information, visit www.tavistalks.com.
(Friday, November 13, 2009) NBC Nightly News “Celebrities Making a Difference” special week long series. Country singer Tim McGraw talks about his charity founded with wife Faith Hill to help communities in need and it’s special focus in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina with NBC’s Amy Robach.
Faith Hill and husband Tim McGraw (Larry Busacca / Getty Images)
Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill have long been giving back to charitable organizations but were looking for a way to make a direct impact. Raised with similar values where neighbors helped each other out, together they founded Neighbor’s Keeper in 2004. Concerts called “red and water shows” are among the many ways the organization raises funds to assist communities with affordable housing, recreational activities, and more. In light of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Tim describes a special focus they took on via Neighbor’s Keeper to help children deal with the trauma of the natural disaster through art therapy.
The embed code provided on msnbc.com does not work with my WordPress page so I’m placing the link to the interview for you to watch below. Continue to read my reaction, and I encourage you to comment with yours.
NOTE: If the links do not work, go to the Making a Difference website and you’ll find links to each celebrity about 2/3 down the page under a heading “Celebrities Making A Difference.”
Amidst the current controversy swirling around Tiger Woods and his wife Elin, it’s nice for me personally to turn the focus back for a moment to a celebrity couple who are in the news for doing something positive- Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. As this special series closes out with Tim McGraw, I’m inspired by his willingness to leverage his notoriety in a positive light through giving back. Neighbor’s Keeper gave $1 million to Sister Judith Brun’s art therapy and family counseling program in Baton Rouge. Seeing the children’s artwork as they process something horrific touched my soul in the already soft spot I have for Hurricane Katrina.
I recognize it probably makes business sense for all of these celebrities to do some charitable work, but watching the featured interviews with Tim and the other celebrities from the week allowed me to see how much passion they had for their specific causes. As Tim reminds us, charity begins at home.
This is nothing but another bad hustle, unfortunately from an ex-gang member. I feel similarly to this as I did about the Lower Ninth Ward tours in New Orleans (see article “Refugees to Evacuees to Tourist Spectacles, more of my post-Katrina anger“). Total exploitation of people. Watch this news clip.
If you saw it, the reporter, Leanne Suter from ABC 7 in Los Angeles, mentions that this guy has negotiated a cease fire from 3 gangs already to help ensure safety…between the hours of 10am and 1pm. I heard the first part and had hope. Then, I heard the rest and was like, wtf?? Heaven forbid a tour run past 1pm.
Whether it creates jobs, opens communication, is “non-profit” (I’m not sure I buy that it’s truly a by the book non-profit) or otherwise, I think this is all around bad idea.
“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” regularly airs a “Making A Difference” segment whose focus is to showcase the “extraordinary efforts of ordinary people.” Beginning on Monday, November 9, 2009, NBC Nightly News hosted a special edition of this segment “Celebrities Making A Difference” highlighting philanthropic efforts from celebrities each night this week. Today (Friday), will close out this series, but I wanted to bring this information to you through my blog to encourage viewership and discussion.
Here’s a schedule from this week’s “Celebrities Making A Difference”…
MONDAY
(Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)
Jon Bon Jovi speaks to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams about his Soul Foundation (www.jonbonjovisoulfoundation.org) established to help create affordable housing in the Philadelphia and New Jersey region where he grew up.
TUESDAY
(Kevin Mazur / WireImage)
Alicia Keys speaks to NBC’s Lester Holt about her Keep A Child Alive foundation (keepachildalive.org) aimed at providing lifesaving medication for those in Africa and India who have succumbed to HIV/AIDS.
WEDNESDAY
(Bryan Bedder / Getty Images)
Glenn Close tells NBC’s Anne Thompson about her ongoing work supporting New York’s Fountain House (www.fountainhouse.org) a place that assists the mentally ill.
THURSDAY
(David Livingston / Getty Images)
Halle Berry is interviewed by NBC’s Natalie Morales about her continued support of the Jenessee Center (www.jenesse.org) in Los Angeles that serves women who have been victims of domestic violence.
FRIDAY
(Larry Busacca / Getty Images)
Tim McGraw closes out this special series in an interview with NBC’s Amy Robach about the organization he co-founded with also famous wife Faith Hill called Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation (www.neighborskeeper.org) that provides ongoing aid to survivors from devastating 2005 Hurricane Katrina.
Each of these segments will follow in separate blog posts.
Talk to me local gulf region folks. What’s it like down there?
With the current political climate, everyone wants to be the hero, so I can only hope and pray that if Gustav hits hard my country will have done ALL it can do and will take an IMMEDIATE call to action in the aftermath.
check one of my favorite sources (fellow blog supporter) for more… NEW ORLEANS LADDER
Man! I’m going to run late to work as I dress and am glued to CNN. McCain is speaking now. What a great opportunity for him to showcase himself. He is doing the right thing. I only hope that we also get to hear from Obama today as well.
What I’m most worried about is the mental health of so many victims from just 3 years ago, almost to the very day. Just imagine what that triggers for the young children, even ones who are in other parts of the country and the world who witnessed it on television and may not have completely sorted out what Mother Nature’s fury can and has done not only in the US, but all over the world.
Remember all the reports with images like the one below? (source: People mag from 2005)
and all of the faces we watched with hope and despair…
I’m not trying to exploit these photos nor sensationalize, but I want you to reflect and think about the impact. Sometimes for us, it takes that “in your face” imagery to get us to really register what’s going on.
Hopefully, Gustav comes in and leaves like a lamb as it approaches the gulf region.
p.s. I’m sooooo glad that everyone is able to take their pets with them as they evacuate. I can’t imagine what I would do if I were ever forced to leave my doggie behind presented with an urgent situation. He’s my baby, a part of my family, and I know all animal lovers completely recognize what a wonderful comfort they are during good and bad times.
If there’s a story that I have become obsessed about, it is Hurricane Katrina. I remember it like it was yesterday. My husband and I were visiting some good pals in South Carolina and recall looking at the giant mass on CNN of Hurricane Katrina heading for the Gulf region. I, like so much of the country, stood by stunned and helpless as we watched the news flash of Hurricane Katrina’s fury.
And then the levees broke…
Honestly, I’m traumatized by the events and I was not even there. In NO WAY do I want to take away from anyone who had to live through the experience firsthand, but I just want you to know that it broke my heart. It literally broke my heart to see a moment in the US of A, one of the richest and ablest countries in the entire world, my country that is busy defending me from evil in Iraq absolutely fail to organize an immediate call to action. I remember it was when I first discovered Craig’s list as I was frantically googling how I could get to the Gulf region and do something after seeing Mayor Ray Nagin meltdown on CNN. Craigslist had all kinds listings from people organizing rides to New Orleans or people looking to ride with others. I was millimeters away from just doing it, but my obligations to grad school and some sense talking from my hubby and mother kept me at bay. Those are those moments that if I only had myself to be responsible to and for, I would’ve just jumped in my car. Instead, I immediately signed up with the local Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity, but to this day I have not been down there to do my part.
It just amazes me, as a girl from the ‘burbs, how quickly housing communities arise even in a depressed housing market, but we are still pecking away at rebuilding New Orleans and so many nearby areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. How is it possible to still have someone living in a trailer 3 YEARS LATER?!? This was a defining moment and Bush absolutely dropped the ball.
I have been to New Orleans for a short weekend trip about a year before Katrina hit. I honestly can’t get myself to go back there even to support the economy because I can’t get the images out of my head. People died in the Superdome! To me, that’s now sacred land. There’s no way I could sit and watch a game or a concert in a place today for the sake of folly when so many evacuees went there as a last resort.
The following youtoube video from the Real News Network is extremely powerful. Please watch it and tell me what you think.
I guess I’m just starting this post to generate some current dialog on the subject. I want to hear from people who were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina and also the added nightmare of the broken levees. I also want to hear from any of you who, like myself, maybe had little to no direct impact and what you have to say when you think about it today. I want to hear from any of you who have gone down for relief efforts. Send me pictures, blog links, articles, books, documentaries and films, more youtube footage, etc…
Let’s keep the dialog going until our fellow citizens in the Gulf region (many former citizens now, I guess) have put the pieces of their lives back together again.
One more thing…
I’m a documentary fanatic and have watched several on this subject. Most recently, I watched “Desert Bayou“, by the masterful Master P, that talks about New Orleans evacuees (black evacuees) that were dropped in Utah to resume life. It’s a good one, if you’re interested. I think I saw something about it on the side pane of Field Negro’s blog and added it to my Netflix list.
50% of your donation (less Pay Pal fees) will go to Emerge Global charity (http://emergeglobal.org/). The other 50% funds the sweat equity I put into my work for your enjoyment. My hope is that one day I will be able to donate 100% to charity.
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