Mall demands 'blue roof' Christmas display be taken down (Katrina Xmas?)

[Moloch]

METAIRIE -- Frank Evans thought the tiny blue-tarped roofs, little toppled fences and miniature piles of hurricane debris he included in the Christmas display he builds every year for a suburban New Orleans shopping mall struck just the right humorous tone.

Mall management decided otherwise and told Evans, a landscape architect from nearby Gretna, to dismantle it.

"Although most people did enjoy the decorations, a few customers found the display to be in poor taste," said a statement issued Tuesday night by Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie.

Evans videotaped the display before dismantling it. The creation had sat since mid-November among a grand, more traditional display of gleaming Christmas trees, colorful gifts wrapped in holiday paper and Santa's elves on carousel horses.

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl113005malldisplay.245edeab.html

[Jella]

1. I actually would have thought it was quite fitting

We shouldn't forget, not this soon.

[Kailassa]

2. "Evans has long thrown political humor into his displays. "

"Evans has long thrown political humor into his displays. "It's fun for the adults," he said. "

No, Jella, we shouldn't forget. Christmas is a time when many people feel the loss of loved ones and the lack of family and money more painfully than any other time. And thanks to the bastards running this country, a lot of people who would have been enjoying Christmas will now be in this group.

- and a lot more are no longer even alive ...

But this architect put these Katrina-based models on display because he found them amusing!

[Jella]

3. I just can't help thinking

that if I saw that display, I wouldn't necessarily think of humor. Hell to me, it might have even prompted me to shave off a little of the present money, and maybe donate to someone else that was even worse off.

I guess regardless of his intent, it would have an impact on me to remember just exactly what the Holiday season should be about.

[Tesha]

9. You've nailed the actual "problem" with the display.

> Hell to me, (the display) might have even prompted me to shave off
> a little of the present money, and maybe donate to someone else
> that was even worse off.

You've nailed the actual "problem" with the display. It might have
impeded the mall's commercial interests, and we can't have anything
that might interfere with *THAT*!

Tesha

[EFerrari]

15. Yep. n/t

[Lisa]

27. my impulse would be to put all of my money into the donation box ...

... and go home without buying anything!

[DeltaLady]

6. No offense, but you do not comprehend New Orleanians.

Our city has endured much suffering, from yellow fever epidemics to the ravages of hurricanes with names like Betsy and Katrina, yet, despite it all we perservere. Some of the most popular of the carnival organizations have long used satire to make salient points about issues of the day (true, some did object to the "Preying Mantis" float featuring the face of Cardinal Law on the body of a bug); no, we do not find pedophelia or negligent homicide funny, it's a coping mechanism, and wry smiles are a long way from yucking it up.

We have been and continue to go through hell. Most of us have lost everything except our integrity and the ability to find humor even in the midst of tragedy. We can't cry all the time, but we are crying most of the time.

Just yesterday I found out that I do not have clear title to the home I purchased, poured my heart and pocketbook into, and lost to Katrina. As I talked to the representative for the closing attorney, I said "now it's very important we get this straightened out so I can sign the papers allowing the city to turn my property into "Waterworld." (This in reference to the plan to allow parts of the city to revert to swampland.) I wasn't laughing about the situation; but I did look for humor to keep from screaming. Though she apologized for laughing, laugh we did, and it was a welcome release for both of us.

Maybe this is considered in poor taste, but it is the only way some of us can "keep on keeping on." Bad humor trumps utter despair.

I know you mean well, and your heart is in the right place. Thank you for your loving compassion. There are still two friends of mine unaccounted for, and I know that even while busying myself with distractions they will come to mind again and again during this "season of joy" and I will weep.

[watrwefitinfor]

8. Thank you for your thoughtful and provocative insight, DeltaLady.

The only thing I can think of to say to you is, "Hang in there!"
Our hearts truly are with you all.

And welcome to DU! :hi:

wat

(edit because I KNOW not to try to write before that 2nd cuppa coffee.)

[Lochloosa]

10. Beautifully written and everyone that has ever been affected by

a hurricane has wept for the Delta. There are people who care.

And a big WELCOME to DU. Party hat for you.

:party:

[Al-CIAda]

16. THIS person is a true New Orleanian. -n/t

[Theres-a]

19. Welcome to du

I still cry sometimes when I read about what is happening to people down there.Every day,a new outrage.

[KamaAina]

24. Yeah you right, chere!

The second I saw it, I smiled and said to myself, "Now that's a fine example of that dark, twisted New Orleans sense of humor", which has informed my own (as evidenced, say, in my Lounge posts) as well as giving birth to Mr. Bill. "O nooooo! Not FEMA! They're going to ignore us! O nooooooooooo!"
And remember, I've been a "voluntary evacuee" for nearly fifteen years now.

Just yesterday I found out that I do not have clear title to the home I purchased, poured my heart and pocketbook into, and lost to Katrina.

Say WHAT??!! Have any of your neighbors had this problem? I smell a rat, one that will suddenly just happen to figure out how to clear the title(s) in time to pick them up for pennies on the dollar. :scared:

[EFerrari]

12. Gallows humor: you laugh because there's nothing else you

feel you can do. It's the opposite of ridicule. :)

[cyr330]

4. Metairie?

Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, is just about the most hideous place on earth. It has power lines running overhead, strip malls and fast food outlets galore, and white Republicans just adore it, because. . . . well. . . . because it's white!

[Jella]

5. Was it hit hard by Katrina?

or was it a suburb that wouldn't let any New Orleans folks in because of fear?

[EFerrari]

13. Welcome to DU, Jella. Gretna, the place where this guy is from

was the community on the other side of that bridge -- remember the sherrifs wouldn't let the NO folks across when they were seeking shelter after surving the storm and flood.

[Jella]

18. Thank you sfexpat2000

and, then it was in poor taste.

I've never been to NO, but my brothers, niece and Ma have for a Packer/NO game back in the day.

Even my Ma said, it was an Amazing City, and that comming from a Yankee!

[EFerrari]

20. I have been to NO. And one of the things I loved about it was

the sense of carnival, of subversiveness, of humor. Of taking holy cows and dancing with them as a way to cope.

Well, different people cope in different ways and on their own timetable.

[IHeartNewOrleans]

21. Its Not That Way

<I feel that I must say I live in Metairie, so you can take my opinion as biased if you want>

First things first:

There is no bridge that connect New Orleans to Metairie to New Orleans (except for many small bridges that cross a small canal).
The fact you referred to is a false rumor. The only truth behind it is, when New Orleans was being evacuated, the evacuees were asked to wait near the Causeway Bridge for rescue, in the middle of Metairie, and they were not allowed to leave this area (largely because of the New Orleans looting that had already taken place -- of course much of the looting was found to be done by NOPD, but that is a different story).

SideNote -- Metaire is not an official city, it uses parish (or as most people say "county") sheriffs

Second:
While Metairie did not suffer any major flooding, it did get a lot. If you have 8 feet of water or 4 feet of water, you still cannot live in you house. Metairie is the first suburb of New Orleans. We are right next door. You cannot have a major catastrophe in New Orleans and not have it effect Metairie.

Third:
The Christmas village at Lakeside mall looks like Metairie. In Metairie, everyone has blue tarps and everyone had to throw away their refrigerators. It is a representation of the current New Orleans/Metairie/Kenner/Slidell/Mandaville... landscape. Many cities, many areas were effected.

[Moloch]

7. I agree...

New Orleans is one of the most unique, cultured cities in America and its surrounded by the blandest suburbs imaginable.

[Al-CIAda]

17. David Duke country (Metarie), if you will... n/t

[localroger]

11. The zoo did something like this too

The Audubon Zoological Garden opened for the first time last weekend. Despite desperately needing funding they started out with a *free* open house to welcome us back. It was a rousing success, with over 60,000 visitors in three days despite the reduced population of the city.

In the Louisiana Swamp exhibit there's a large alligator pond, and since the exhibit opened there's been a little houseboat floating in that pond. When we returned the houseboat had a blue tarp, a duct-taped refrigerator and a case of MRE's on its porch, and a spray-painted X marker in the style that the animal rescuers use reminding us that they found "8 gators fed."

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I saw it on CNN

It was well done and historically accurate.

[KamaAina]

22. By popular demand, it's going back up

in fact, should be back up by now.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL120205lakesidemall.3113c5c4.html

METAIRIE, La. -- The outcry was so intense after a suburban mall removed a Christmas display of a miniature hurricane-ravaged town that the exhibit is going back up.

Frank Evans, who designed the tiny blue-tarped roofs and little toppled fences, said he will have them reinstalled for the weekend at the mall's request.

Some of the satire will be toned down a bit. Evans said mall management didn't want doorways marked with big orange X's indicating the building was searched for bodies, and Evans readily agreed....

Evans said the removal Tuesday prompted hundreds of e-mails of support for the display, compared to 10 complaints. The mall's marketing manager Tricia Thriffiley said she personally received more than 500 e-mails.



A work of absolute genius. This will stand as one of Metairie's great contributions to American culture, along with Dr. John and... um... er.. ahh... someone help me out here? :-) Now if we could only generate that kind of groundswell of support to have Congress put back the real houses...

[Al-CIAda]

25. LOCAL ONLINE POLL RESULTS-

12/1/2005: Grinch or not?
Lakeside Shopping Center pulled a winter wonderland display that included a landscape of blue roof houses, fallen trees and construction zones, because some patrons complained.
Was the display offensive or New Orleans style fun?

N.O. style fun 91%
offensive 9%


http://www.wwl.com/survey/default.asp

[Whoa_Nelly]

23. Pretending NOLA/Katrina doesn't exist doesn't make it so

One would think in the spirit of giving, the mall would embrace this part of the display and use it to set up a Katrina victims relief donation area near it.

[AnneD]

26. Just reading the thread title made me smile...

I got an instant mental picture. Yes it is gallows humour at it's best (poor taste would have been to include bodies in the water...but I could have done a thing or two about the slow evacuation that might have been funny). When you live on the coast, you make a pact with the devil I guess. I think it is the humour that will see you over the rough spots. And I think there should be a Mardi Gras. I just couldn't imagine there NOT being a Mardi Gras in NOLA. Now THAT would be a crime worse than anything FEMA could have done. You have to keep your perspective folks....Oh and the gator exhibit...what a hoot. The pet nickname for many kids in cajun country is gator bait...