IN Re v Iew

photo from rebuilding together new orleans

The Rebuilding of Community

reviewed by natalie pompilio

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We Shall Not Be Moved: Rebuilding Home in the Wake of Katrina
Tom Wooten
Beacon Press, $25.95, 256 pages

hen it mattered mostwhen federally built levees collapsed, when 80 percent of the city lay underwater, when citizens were dying in the streetsgovernment at all levels failed New Orleans. The inadequacies of officials on the local, state, and federal levels were on view for the nation to witness in the days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Less well known is the story of the citys recovery after the August 2005 storm. There again, the official efforts to rebuild the city often stalled and sputtered, leaving residents feeling frustrated and abandoned. But as anyone familiar with the Crescent City knows, New Orleanians are a unique breed, deeply loyal to their sometimes infuriating, often insane, and never imitated hometown. Its that spirit that Tom Wooten captures in the new book, We Shall Not Be Moved: Rebuilding Home in the Wake of Katrina. Wooten follows community leaders in five very different city neighborhoods as they struggle to take rebuilding into their own hands. He divides the book into three sections, introducing the individuals and their neighborhoods before the storm, recounting the rebuilding efforts, and finishing with an update on

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Musical inspiration while putting out this issue

the recovery five years later. Among the tales are those of 78-year-old Phil Harris, who struggles to rebuild his home in Hollygrove, an often-marginalized neighborhood; Father Vien The Nguyen, a Catholic priest/force of nature dedicated to rebuilding the largely VietnameseAmerican community of Village de lEst; Lower Ninth Ward resident Pam Dashiell, who refused to let her neighborhood go without a fight; and Terry Miranda, a bastion of the Lakeview section of the city. The book includes a forward by Walter Isaacson, a New Orleans native, noted journalist, and former vicechairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. He concludes that, for him, Hollygroves Harris is the books defining character. In the months after the storm, Harris hitchhiked across the city daily to rebuild the home where hed raised his family, where his wife had been born. Isaacson says: Through his steady, unfailing effort, Phil embodied the humble determination and resilience that has brought New Orleans back to life. It was heartbreaking, Phil said of the work, but we couldnt give up. I just said, Well, Ive got to get in and do it. That same spirit fills citizens like the so-called Broadmoors trifecta. Hal Roark, LaToya Cantrell, and Father Jerry Kramer were the Holy Trinity or the Three Stooges, depending on the storyteller and the day, the book noteswho helped rally their neighbors when they saw an early city plan to turn their residential neighborhood into green space. Its the same determination that inspires Dashiell, of the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of Holy Cross, to go head-to-head against the Army Corps of Engineers. Wooten writes from the residents perspectives, often using their own words, creating a narrative that rarely stalls. He draws attention to the heroes of New Orleans recovery: the residents themselves, as well as the thousands of volunteersfrom schools, nonprofit organizations and religious groupswho gave time and money to help rebuild one of the countrys treasures. Wooten, who now lives in New Orleans, recounts how he visited the city in February 2007 as a college student eager to help with the Gulf Coast rebuilding effort. He found a ravaged city that was far, far from recovery. Thanks to a fellowship from Harvards John F. Kennedy School of Government, he returned to the city after his graduation to work on his book, moving into the citys Broadmoor neighborhood, which is featured in his narrative. One of the impressive things about Wootens book is how right he gets it. He knows the neighborhoods, knows the players, knows the challenges. He brings home the frustrations of dealing with insurance companies and new entities like the Road Home Program, which provided homeowners with grants to rebuild. He manages to boil down complex bits of informationbe it about meteorology or bureaucracy into readable paragraphs. His research is impeccable. As of 2012, New Orleans remains a work in progress. But Wootens book shows how far its come. We Shall Not Be Moved is recommended for anyone with an interest in New Orleans, in reconstruction after disaster, or in community organizing. In some ways, this book tells the stories of many Davids fighting multiple Goliaths and often triumphing. But unlike David, these people do not fight alone; they join forces with their neighbors former strangersand take on big government. This book shows there is strength in numbers and in organization. It proves that a few determined people can change the fate of a city. y
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer who reported on hurricane Katrina and its aftermath for The Philadelphia Inquirer. she is a former reporter for The Times Picayune, and spends part of each year in new orleans. her work can be found at nataliepompilio.com.

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Theres No Leaving Now

The Tallest Man On Earths latest album showcases Kristian Matssons sweet, rolling melodies with his distinctive Dylan-esque vocals, guitar, and keyboard. A folksy, easy listen.

No Time For Dreaming

In a word, Charles Bradleys soulful R&B rhythms are honest, although never far from hopeful. Living on the streets for much of his life has given Bradley plenty to draw on when singing about the hardships of living in the United States, as in Golden Rule and Why Is It So Hard.

Grey Oceans
CocoRosie is made up of two sisters whose musical influences range far, from Native American ceremonies to the old-fashioned, gentle vocals of a European cafe. They explore many methods for producing beautiful music; even bath toys become instruments.
Have a listen at YesMagazine.org/music

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is not lost. Many in the wealthy 1 percentWarren Buffet and a group called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, for exampleare standing up for progressive taxation, reined-in CEO pay, and a reversal of Citizens United. And then, of course, theres you, and me, and the Occupy Movement, and every other burgeoning and related social movement around the world, the sum of which, says Collins, is far greater than the force of money. After all, its 99 to 1the odds are in our favor.
Scott Gast is an editor at Orion magazine. he lives in rural western massachusetts.

99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality Is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It
Chuck Collins
Berret-Koehler, $14.95, 144 pages

reviewed by scott gast

If a time-traveling robber baron from the Gilded Agea Rockefeller, say, or a Vanderbiltsomehow materialized in one of New Yorks or Chicagos or San Franciscos money-green suburbs, he wouldnt take long to find his bearings. Todays economic situation, summed up in Chuck Collinss useful new book, 99 to 1, is remarkably similar to that of the early 1900s. In those days, a handful of trusts and early corporate entities engaged in all manner of shot-calling and rule-rigging and now, with a post-World War II era of relative equality behind us, a very small percentage of Americans are again in control of enormous wealth and influence. But todays chasm between rich and poor is about more than unfairness. In fact, Collins argues, extreme wealth disparity can throw a societys basic stability into question, putting physical and mental health, ecological systems, and communities at risk. The end of the line for such a systemand were very nearly thereis a kind of economic ghetto, in which rich and poor limp toward fear and anger in separate, broken universes. But readers of this measured and well-researched book will find that all

Crazy Brave
Joy Harjo
W.W. Norton, 2012, $24.95, 169 pages

reviewed by rebecca leisher

Recalling the vision of her birth, the acclaimed poet and performer Joy Harjo declares, I was not brave. Born in Oklahoma of uprooted tribes and European wanderers, oil money and hard times, the fire spirit of her mother and water spirit of her father, she had to navigate the dualities of her life. At once self-assured and faltering, she deeply loved those whom she also feared. But she was conscious of her gift. I was entrusted with carrying voices, songs, and stories to grow and release into the world, to be of assistance and inspiration. These were my responsibility.

Harjo honors this responsibility in her new memoir, Crazy Brave, relating memories, dreams and visions along her journey to find her creative voice and fulfill her destiny. Understated yet forceful, her narrative starts with her childhood, reaches back to the struggles of her Mvskoke/Creek ancestors, and onward to the hope she at last gains through poetry. Harjo recounts the shadowy realms of her history and the sparks that illuminated her journey. Her white stepfathers violent dominance of the family tormented Harjo through adolescence, but she found refuge in books, art, and theater at school, and in the rare peaceful moments she shared with her mother and young siblings. An Indian arts boarding school in Santa Fe allowed Harjo to explore her creativity and escape brutality at home. Surrounded by other artistic classmates from tribes across the nation, she bonded with peers over common hardships that were the enduring results of oppression. While still a teenager, Harjo gave birth to her first child alone. Scraping by as a single mother and enduring abusive relationships, she strayed far from her gift. Even as she found liberation in the fight for peace and justice for her people, abandoning her voice left her disoriented. After years of living apart from her dreams, Harjo felt she was at the edge of death, caught between panic and love. Finally finding the strength to pull away from fear and trust the visionary spirituality she calls the knowing, Harjo walked through a doorway into a new phase of her life. It was the psychological and emotional breakthrough she needed to focus intently on her creative work. Harjos memoir is a gift that urges us to enlist our own crazy bravery to step through the doorways in our lives, following the knowing that exists within us all.
Rebecca Leisher is a freelance journalist and former Yes! intern. she is teaching literacy to youth in the dominican republic with the dream project.

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Bidder 70 a popular appeal befitting the newly energized movement DeChristopher helped create. Weve always just been told that things are just beyond our control and that corporations have all the power, says DeChristopher. We dont often get to be reminded that were citizens of what was once the greatest democracy on the planet, and were human beings with the power to inspire others through our actions. Bidder 70 is ultimately about people power and one of the many forms it can take. By the films end, DeChristophers audacious direct action seems not only heroic, but also accessible, possible, and perhaps one of the few real ways forward.
Samantha Herndon is a writer and filmmaker living in seattle. she is an intern at Yes! Interested? tim deChristopher began serving a twoyear prison sentence on July 26, 2011. peaceful uprising posts updates on his incarceration at bidder70. org. they recently organized a successful campaign to move deChristopher out of isolated confinement. YesMagazine.org/films63 watch the trailer

Bidder 70
Beth Gage and George Gage, 2012, 72 mins.

reviewed by samantha herndon

ne month before George W. Bushs final day as president, the Bureau of Land Management held a lame-duck fire sale in Salt Lake City, auctioning off oil and gas leases for 77 public land parcels in southern Utah. Attending the auction were energy companies looking to mine the rich landscape for oil and gas, a handful of heartsick environmentalists watching yet another climate disaster unfold, and the mysterious Bidder 70, who swept up 22,000 acres with bids totaling over $1.7 million. That bidder was 27-year-old economics student, Utah resident, and climate justice activist Tim DeChristopher. His spontaneous decision to take up the number 70 paddle and bid money he did not have monkey-wrenched the auction process, and kept the parcels in public hands until new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took office and withdrew them from the market. But the change in federal administration was not enough to prevent DeChristopher from being indicted on two felo-

ny chargesand eventually, serving a prison sentence. Bidder 70 tells the story of DeChristophers decision to bid and its consequences. As he awaited a trial that was postponed nine times, a process that dragged out over two years, DeChristopher intensified his activism. The filmmakers extensive access to DeChristopher allowed them to make a nuanced portrait of a young man who has become a symbol of resistance for a generation frustrated with the lack of government action on climate change. We see DeChristopher in quiet moments with family and friends, listen to him describe the urgency of fighting for a livable future, and see his leadership emerge at Power Shift rallies in Washington, D.C., and at backyard meetings of Peaceful Uprising, the creative activism group he started with friends. Scenes of the surreally beautiful Utah landscape DeChristopher saved, statements of support from Robert Redford, Terry Tempest Williams, and Bill McKibben, and a lively soundtrack from the likes of Wilco and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros give

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