Mississippi Maelstroms: "This land is not your land"

Welcome to Tish Trek - THE JOB BLOG:

"This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me."
By Woody Guthrie - published 1944

With the words of Woody Guthrie's eloquent lyrics published in 1944, who's job is it in 2011 to decide whose land gets destroyed and/or who lives or dies on the land they love along the great and mighty Mississippi River?

My honeymoon was in New Orleans 25 years ago! 40 family members returned there to celebrate New Year's Eve post-Katrina to do our part to contribute to its economic revival. Six of my relatives have graduated from Tulane, LSU & UNO; and my niece was married in the old Gov's Mansion in Baton Rouge. I love both cities!

BUT... where is the raging debate in this country about wiping out your land and my land, along with the homes & farms of fellow citizens in rural areas to save the land in New Orleans & Baton Rouge. Are these the same faces of failed government agencies who harmed all & learned nothing from Hurricane Katrina?

Do we really think it's okay to create man-made tidal waves to increase the diversion of the water from the Mississippi River, flooding the land of our neighbors along connecting rivers & in less populated regions, to ease flood threats to Baton Rouge and my beloved New Orleans?

It reminds me - in an odd way - of all the land destroyed in the name of Eminent Domain which ruined the lives of families across this nation while lining the pockets of developers and politicians everywhere. Unfortunately, the Eminent Domain problem did not adversely impact 'enough citizens" to get the numbers of people a city would need to rise up to bring enough attention to this problem or to stop such outrageous practices... No surprise really considering most battles across the globe since ancient times have been over land rights and dirt, right?

I suppose if it's not your primary home, farm, biz, retirement community or backyard being bull dozed or wiped out with man-made floods, it makes the plan okay or your apathy on such a current event & topic acceptable, right? What if the drowning of your towns, homes or businesses are scheduled for next week?

This blog post is dedicated to the victims of the Timed Engineered Spillage Solutions currently being executed along the Mississippi River. Fifty years of technology advances and all the gov't officials & professionals know how to do - in 1970's fashion - is to destroy the land & lives of innocent neighbors to save others on land up & down-stream... HELP WANTED: NEW Government Leaders & NEW Engineering Leaders at the Army Corps of Engineers - experts in River Management & Urban Planning!

How would you like it if government officials chose to flood your land & home today and it felt like no one noticed or cared "From California to the New York Island." We'll that's exactly what's happening to tens of thousands of people living along the Mississippi this week.

In 1944, even Woody Guthrie worried citizens would face land challenges. Here's one of his verses that didn't make the final cut for that song familiar to many:

"In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?" ***

The 2011 Maelstrom playing out this week sadly re-confirms Woody Guthrie's premonition that 'our' land was never made for you and me.

But could even Guthrie have imagined that any government would release a violent man-made whirlpool using the power of the Mississippi to destroy the lives of humans under 'some' banner of disaster recovery & urban business continuity strategies?

These archaic solutions are directed at fellow citizens in the United States of America who cannot defend themselves or their land anymore. Does our apathy which is to the peril of men, women and children define what we've all become?

"A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting," my prayers are with all of you impacted by the violence of this agitated state of affairs.


With Respect & Sympathy,
TishTrek

*** Original manuscript republished in Elizabeth Partridge, This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie (New York: Viking, 2002), 85. ISBN 0670035351 included two verses not used in final cut. I included one in this blog post.