by Jordan Rock
Let me start by saying I’m not entirely sure how I ended up here. My life has been needlessly complicated and full of drama, half of which I caused myself. No, I’m not going to step up to this mike and try and get over by saying this was destiny or all according to some master plan or any of that garbage. Instead, I’ll tell it to you like this; life is not a highway; it’s a catapult. You wake up inside the basket, and before you know it, you’re getting launched over the horizon with no parachute. That’s the only way I can explain how I went from being a shy 12-year-old kid watching the warm rain fall over New Orleans to a jaded 20-something watching the Portland Skyline as it gets drenched. That’s Portland, Oregon, for the record.
How in the hell did I end up here? Well, we’ll get to that later.
My name is Jordan Rock, and in my short time on planet Earth, I’ve been a lot of things. Stage performer, fiction writer, public speaker, sketch artist, food service worker, film scholar, and most recently; animation student. More than any of those things, what I’ve always been, and commit to being is a Storyteller. Mostly, I prefer to write pieces of fiction, none of which is currently published. Don’t bother looking for my work, because, frankly, you won’t find it. To you, I’m a nobody, and for the moment, I’m fine with that assessment. It means that when I speak to you about matters that are important to me, you just have to take my word that I’m being serious and honest with you. Telling stories is my passion, and that’s what I intend to do over the course of this article and others. I want to tell you, in neat little pieces all about New Orleans, how I was taken away from it, and why I’m not there presently.
Actually, let me ask; who are You? If you’re reading this, I assume you’re a New Orleans native like me. And you like to read, probably half out of spite because folks don’t like to read any more. Probably you live in the city, or someone who does told you to take a look at this. That’s my best guess, anyway. I could be wrong; you could be someone that has no idea what I’m talking about. Either way, thanks for coming.
For the uninitiated, here’s a quick rundown. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina came barreling up the Gulf Coast and hit New Orleans head on. People were expecting a big blowout. Every once in a while, a major tropical storm hits New Orleans, it’s just a matter of course. The wind and the rain will come, and some trees will get blown down, maybe a window will get cracked, so tape ‘em up. You know the drill, storms come, and they go, and you just pick up the pieces and get back to your life. Nothing special.
That’s the sentiment I remember hearing from the grown-ups around me. I was 12 years old at the time, and I was full of anxiety about the storm. It was one of the few times that I paid attention to the news as a kid, trying to guess at how bad things would get. It wasn’t until two days before the hurricane hit landfall that my family made a decision about what to do. All of the news reports prophesized a calamity, and to me, at the time, seeing that massive swirling cloud on the weather report was like looking straight down the barrel of a gun. I don’t think anyone could have imagined how heavy the blow would be.
Let me take a second to talk to you about my city. Your city. Do you remember New Orleans? That’s a trick question; everybody knows the city a little bit differently. To me, New Orleans is good music and good food and art, some kind of art everywhere you look. I remember walking under the ancient oaks that lined the path to the New Orleans Museum of Art. I remember going to the sandwich shop on Magazine Street. Hummingbirds and owls and rats and roaches. The smell of hot sausage cooking and the sound of buck jumpers shuffling their way down cracked pavement. All sorts of music and stories, stories, stories.
I remember the warm rains in the summertime, the kind you could set your watch by. Bad streets and good people. The kindest, most jocular people on the planet Earth. That’s New Orleans. And now? Last time I came home, here’s what I saw; New Orleans is like a stained-glass window that got broken in a storm. It’s beautiful; you can see the light change color as it passes through the glass that’s still there, but you know the pieces are everywhere and nowhere, and what it was is beyond repair. I wouldn’t return to New Orleans properly until I was 15 years old. Exploring the devastated remains of my city then, as an angsty, cynical teenager hurt me in ways I have a hard time describing even now.
Now, I know how cynical and tired that sounds, but I promise; I’m going somewhere with this. This piece is Part One of Two, after all, so tune in next time to hear the rest of my immediate thoughts on the matter.
This is a fabulous new writer! I enjoyed reading these articles. Jordan Rocj is a name I will remember.
We need Excellence like “You”!- The NOLA “Kakistocracy” is alive and well…
LBRC- What is Kafkaesque? What are consequences when you rank “Last” in the “Nation” educationally and most citizens are “Functionally Illiterate” (Disclaimer and Truism: Never Equate Education with Intellect! How many so- called College Educated you know, who are “Poor Thinkers”? Who is immune to “Gift of Gab”, deceitful “Political Sycophants”?
1. Kafkaesque | Definition of Kafkaesque by Merriam-Webster- http://www.merriam-webster.com-Kafkaesque definition- of, relating to, suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially : having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality.
2. What happens when you attempt to transact business “Statewide and Locally”? Once you get past the down right hostile and “Incompetent” Customer Service Reps., how much time and income have you lost during your “Work Day”? Inquire via travel, how’s it in other states rated “Literate”? btw- How do most “Southern Red Racist” and States Rank? Gomer says- “Surprise, surprise, surprise…”! Commercials and Media says they’re not Racist, we are “Post Racial”, right? Okay…
3. However and nuanced- There are exceptional municipalities within states who defy incompetent stereotypes, “Their Local Literacy” sees to it! These contradict low expectations fostered by poor educational systems, norms and incompetent outcomes! It’ll take more than Slick Commercials, Gifts of Gab, “The Band Wagon Effect” or “Coattails” aka “Brain Washing Techniques”, ludicrous claims and ‘yada, to dupe these! Sure, they make mistakes, but mistakes are only new votes away!!!
4. It’s a nice benchmark, claiming to be the 1st this or ‘Dat! What happens when you’re the so- called 1st African- Sheriff, yet?
a. Inmate deaths, Deputy Malfeasance and incompetent Administration is at a point where the Feds have placed you under a “Consent Decree”! btw- You always seem to deliver more excuses than you do “Results”! More Taxes will solve everything right? Btw-Your Jails are over 90% Negro? Is ‘Dis ‘Thang on???
b. What’s the difference when your Police Chief is a Negro? Did they “Ever” report Citizen Abuse or objected to “Racial Profiling”? Yeah right! Are incidents of “Planted Evidence” abated? What about Profiling??? What is the Racial Composition of those under your command (If it’s Majority Negro and Profiling, Police Committed Homicides, Low Response Times to none in “Majority Negro Postal Codes” range from none to non existent and yada…, and Chief is a Negro? Well…, maybe the “Bigger Long” syndrome/Fictional Harriet Character who never existed in 1865 but does in 2020? We just ‘sayin…
c. What happens when your mayor says, “The City needs more money”, aka taxes? This mayor gave themselves a 100% pay increase while in Public Office, which made their salary 5X the Median Salary of at least 60% their Constituency , plus this mayor hasn’t settled their “Tax Debt” for nearly a decade! Yet, this mayor expects citizens to ante up taxes locally with 5X less than what “The Mayor Gets”! Somebody(s) ‘ain’t paying attention yet alone taxes! Who buys this paradigm/ Rhetorical..?
5. In a “Kakisticracy”, Free Abuse of “you” dominates and you pay taxes on ‘Dat!!! In 2020 from “The White House to The 2020 Local Out House”, incompetence is flourishing! Also Why you have trials with “No Evidence or Witnesses”! Abuse has run amok! Citizens are either too stupid or simply do not care! Un- Learned so be Helpless!!!
6. The Most High abhors “Learned Helplessness”!!! We wondered why The Most High told Joshua to “March” 7X! Definition of March- “A Measured Walk”! The significance of a March?
a. You can’t sit on your ‘Azz and March at the same time!
b. Only “The Obedient” follows directions! Success in life depends on who you listen to!
7. Who created The 2020 Kafkaesque State and Local Kakistocracy? “You”!!!
Peace Out…
[…] Missed Part One? Read It Here […]
LBRC- Those with eyes see and ears hear! Every Education Curriculum Should Be intentional about taking Our Present and Future Progeny out of The Dark Ages of Racist Constructs and Brain Washing Propaganda which has Produced a Dispictable and “Uniquely Ignorant” breed of Negroes, to include but not limited to Thievies, Con Artist, Murderers, Political Deceivers and everything Dispictable to The Most High!
1. There is a Contemporary crop of current Negroes (Not All Thankfully!!!), ‘Dat is a grudgingly dying Breed of American Manufactured Misfits! Sorry to say! Fortunately, significant numbers of our “Finest” and “Gifted” are being exposed to “Research” and Study by determined Teachers, Real Scholars and Researchers, who are reaching out each day. Let not your Heart be troubled, by all the ignorance you observe overtly on streets and on “The Idiot Tube” plus other venues! It’s a deception!!! Sure it appears ubiquitous, persistent, stubborn and insurmountable in state, however and as America descends into “The Sociopath Trump Paradigm” (A Dying Democracy) plus The Evils of Perpetual War/PNAC and The Anti- Christ Like Agenda! Eventual Economic Decay (Don’t Be Fooled, it’s already underway), the Dark Side of Ignorance is alive and well and yada…, Share this with your receptive Young People! A “Select Seed” will take hold in due time!!! Noah’s time only yielded 8 of millions! “Right is always a minority”!!! Few will find “The Narrow Path”!
2. Lots of Black Youth among us are looking for “The Guided Path”! We must not allow any, to the best of our ability to be lost forever! But Discern Strongly!!! Frankly, do not waste your time attempting to educate Zombies, especially the Chronological Adult Ilk!!! Depart “Kicking The Dust off Your Feet”!!!
3. We will continue to share to those receptive until “The Final Trump”, pun intended!!! As always, 1st Truth, then Destruction!
Go to YouTube>>>
Stolen Legacy of African History ft Asa Hillard and Dr. Ben (Black PPL)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvZRIQmdAo
Peace Out…