NOLA

in multiple exposures

and multiple eyes...

June 2010

Second line is a tradition in brass band parades in New Orleans, Louisiana. The "main line" is the main section of the parade, or the members of the actual club with the parading permit; those who follow the band just to enjoy the music are called the "second line." The second line's style of traditional dance, in which participants walk and sometimes twirl a parasol or handkerchief in the air, is called "second lining." It has been called "the quintessential New Orleans art form — a jazz funeral without a body."

The magazine of the New Orleans jazz club The Second Line took its name from the tradition in 1949.

The style has spread beyond the confines of the city of New Orleans, although it remains most common in that area.

NEW ORLEANS, LA

New Orleans is famous for its distinctive cemeteries, and New Orleanians are renowned for their celebration of these "Cities of the Dead." One of the most unique in the city has to be St. Roch Cemetery.

In 1867, New Orleans was in the grip of a furious yellow fever epidemic, and there was little anyone could do to stop the spread of the disease. Reverend Peter Thevis prayed to St. Roch, a medieval saint who ministered to plague victims. After his congregation was spared, Rev. Thevis saw to the creation of the cemetery and its famous chapel.

The Chapel is the most unusual in the city, with its hundreds of mementos of cures attributed to St. Roch. Shoes, braces, crutches, and replicas of body parts line the walls. There is also a whisper that some of this is related to Voodoo, as ceremonies were once supposed to have taken place here.

New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, and named for the regent of France, Philippe II, duc d'Orleans. It remained a French colony until 1763, when it was transferred to the Spanish. In 1800, Spain ceded it back to France; in 1803, New Orleans, along with the entire Louisiana Purchase, was sold by Napoleon I to the United States. It was the site of the Battle of New Orleans (1815) in the War of 1812. During the Civil War the city was besieged by Union ships under Adm. David Farragut; it fell on Apr. 25, 1862.

The population of New Orleans, including Anglos, French, Blacks, Italians, Irish,Spanish, and Cubans, reflects its cosmopolitan past. The CAJUNS, or Acadians,are descendants of French emigres expelled from Nova Scotia (or Acadia) during the 18th century. They speak their own French dialect. The port is one of the world's largest and ranks first in the United States in tonnage handled. Major exports are petroleum products, grain, cotton, paper, machinery, and iron and steel. The city's economy is dominated by the petrochemical, aluminum, and foodprocessing industries and by tourism.

The most important annual tourist event is MARDI GRAS, which is celebrated for a week before the start of Lent. The Superdome, an enclosed sports stadium, attracts major sporting events and is an element in achieving the city's position as a leading convention center. One of the legacies of the six-month-long 1984 World's Fair, held in New Orleans, is a new convention center. New Orleans is noted for its fine restaurants, for its Dixieland jazz, and for its numerous cultural and educational facilities. TULANE (1829), Dillard (1869), and Loyola(1849) universities are major institutions of higher learning. The French Quarter, or Vieux Carre (French for "old square"), is the site of the original city and contains many of the historic and architecturally significant buildings for which New Orleans is famous.

New Orleans is in in southern Louisiana and islocated on the Mississippi River. Most of the city is situated on the east bank, between the river and Lake Pontchartrain to the north. Because it was built on a great turn of the river, it is known as the Crescent City. New Orleans, with a population of 496,938 (1990 census), is the largest city in Louisiana and one of the principal cities of the South.

It was established on the high ground nearest the mouth of the Mississippi, which is 177 km (110 mi) downstream. Elevations range from 3.65 m (12 ft) above sea level to 2 m (6.5 ft) below; as a result, an ingenious system of water pumps, drainage canals, and levees has been built to protect the city from flooding. The city covers a land area of 518 sq km (200 sq mi). New Orleans experiences mild winters and hot, humid summers. Temperatures in January average 13 deg C (55 deg F), and in July they average 28 deg C (82 deg F). Annual rainfall is 1,448 mm (57 in).

Dear Sirs/Madams,

Recently, CNN Thailand Correspondents Dan Rivers and Sarah Snider have made me seriously reconsider your agency as a source for reliable and accurate unbiased news. As of this writing, over thousands of CNN’s viewers have already begun to question the accuracy and dependability of its reporting as regards events in Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, etc., in addition to Bangkok.

As a first-rate global news agency, CNN has an inherent professional duty to deliverall sides of the truth to the global public who have faithfully and sincerely placed their trust and reliance in you. Your news network, by its longtime transnational presence and extensive reach, has been put in a position of trust and care; CNN’s journalists, reporters, and researchers have a collective responsibility to follow the journalist's code and ethics to deliver and present facts from all facets of the story, not merely one-sided, shallow and sensational half-truths. The magnitude of harm or potential extent of damage that erroneous and fallacious news reporting can cause to (and exacerbate), not only a country’s internal state of affairs, economic well-being, and general international perception, but also the real lives and livelihood of the innocent and voiceless people of that nation, is enormous. CNN should not negligently discard its duty of care to the international populace by reporting single-sided or unverified facts and distorted truths drawn from superficial research, or display/distribute biased images which capture only one side of the actual event.

Mr. Rivers and Ms. Snider have NOT done their best under these life-threatening circumstances because many other foreign correspondents have done better. All of Mr. Rivers and Ms. Sniders' quotes and statements seem to have been solely taken from the anti-government protest leaders or their followers/sympathizers. Yet, all details about the government’s position have come from secondary resources. No direct interviews with government officials have been shown; no interviews or witness statements from ordinary Bangkok residents or civilians unaffiliated with the protesters, particularly those who have been harassed by or suffered at the hands of the protesters, have been circulated.

Why the discrepancy in source of information? Why the failure to report all of the government’s previous numerous attempts to negotiate or invitations for protesters to go home? Why no broadcasts shown of the myriad ways the red protesters have terrorized and harmed innocent civilians by burning their shops, enclosing burning tyres around apartment buildings, shooting glass marbles at civilians from high altitudes, attacking civilians in their cars, and worst of all, obstructing paramedics and ambulances carrying civilians injured by M79 grenade blasts during the Silom incident of April 24, 2010, thereby resulting in the sole civilian casualty? The entire timeline of events that have forced the government to take this difficult stance has been hugely and callously ignored in deference to the red ‘underdogs’.

Mr. Rivers and Ms. Snider’s choice of sensational vocabulary and terminology in every newscast or news report, and choice of images to broadcast, has resulted in law-abiding soldiers and the heavily-pressured Thai government being painted in a negative, harsh, and oppressive light, whereas the genuinely violent and law-breaking arm of the anti-government protesters - who are directly responsible for overt acts of aggression not only against armed soldiers but also against helpless, unarmed civilians and law-abiding apolitical residents of this once blooming metropolis (and whose actions under American law would by now be classified as terrorist activities) – are portrayed as righteous freedom fighters deserving of worldwide sympathy and support. This has mislead the various international Human Rights watchdogs to believe the Thai government are sending trigger-happy soldiers out to ruthlessly murder unarmed civilians without just cause.

As a current resident of "war zone" Bangkok who has experienced the effect of the Red protests first hand and is living in a state of constant terror and anxiety as to whether her family, friends, and home would get bombed or attacked by the hardcore anti-government vigilantes/paramilitary forces - I appeal to CNN's professional integrity to critically investigate and scrutinize the misinformed news reporting of your above-named correspondents. If they are incapable of obtaining genuine, authentic facts from any other source except the Red Protest leaders and red-sympathizing Thai translators or acquaintances, or from fellow non-Thai-speaking journalists who are similarly ignorant of Thai language, culture, history, and society, then perhaps CNN should consider reassigning field correspondents to Thailand.

I implore and urge you to please take serious action to correct or reverse the grave injustice that has been done to the Thai nation, her government, and the majority of law-abiding Thai citizens and expatriate residents by having endorsed and widely circulated poorly researched and misrepresented news coverage of the current ongoing political unrest and escalating violence in Thailand.

Copies of this open letter have also been distributed to other local as well as international news media and social networks for public information. Please feel free to contact me further should you require any additional concrete and reputable evidence in substantiation and corroboration of my complaints and claims stated hereinabove.

Thank you.


Yours faithfully,

Napas Na Pombejra, B.A., LL.B. (Lond.)
Bangkok, Thailand
May 17, 2010


Addendum

Enclosed herewith for your attention and information some examples of other quality international news bulletins by respectable foreign journalists so you may assess at your leisure the sub-par quality and misleading nature of Mr. Rivers and Ms. Sniders' journalism:

1. New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/asia/16thai.html
2. Fox News/Associated Press:
(i) http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/16/chaos-continues-thailand-govt-rejects-talks-continues-crackdown-killed/
(ii) http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/17/thai-red-shirt-general-dies-chaos-continues/
3. Global Post: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/thailand/100514/thailand-protests-bangkok
4. NHK: http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/17_15.html
5. Al Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/listeningpost/2010/04/2010423171540981286.html
6. Deutsche Welle (English media in Germany):
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5575254,00.html
7. Local English daily newspaper’s chronology of events on Day 3 of “War in Bangkok”:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/05/17/politics/What-went-down-30129533.html


Youtube Videos, images, articles showing what CNN has failed to circulate:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_xg0l6-oHY
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rGqZDvRa_U
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3tfBBSVJdU&feature=player_embedded
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=4hmSPbugDAA&feature=related
5.
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=XRi6m7QG06M&feature=related
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Aws3ZMXzNjs&feature=related
8. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=giuEOQ62n6E&feature=related
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=yy3a73Y6fBg&feature=related
10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLuffqnszIY
11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqnXV2ltUlE
12. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=LXMmQReCKVg&feature=related
13. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=FWN7zYV7_Bo&feature=related
14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=005jYjmEAVE
15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioOrreuQ94c
16. http://tweetphoto.com/22647514
17. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/37395/put-an-end-to-this-rebellion?awesm=fbshare.me_AMdZh
18. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=333752&id=118996168116475
19. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=El-zPySi9cQ&feature=related
20. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=KzcVcHokaVM&feature=related
21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agLBIWDKWkI
22. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=34hSEPOC71g&feature=related
23. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=kuAQyc5d1HY&feature=related
24. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Pv9Hpfb6gNE&feature=related
25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7yAVunxw1g&feature=player_embedded
26. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=328250&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=122351831122683&aid=-1&id=1785951766
27. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5959829&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=122351831122683&aid=-1&id=506055218
28. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5960844&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=122351831122683&aid=-1&id=506055218
29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8684405.stm
30. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=428905841067&ref=mf

Asia: individual hearts.

Photo: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

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