Last week, I had a conversation with Rex Hammock about an effort related to Hurricane Katrina relief, and he informed me very briefly about a conversation he was having with the publisher of a magazine out of Louisiana who was in a tough spot in the aftermath of the regional disaster. Yesterday, he wrote about the conversations he had with Romney and Charley Richard, owners and publishers of Louisiana Cookin' Magazine - and possible plans for how to keep the publication up and running by any means necessary.

For the blogger in all of us, it's great to see that they did easy task #1 - started a blog. Additionally, they're working with Rex and others to figure out how best to get the next issue written, compiled, edited, printed, and out the door to the loyal readers of the magazine. While there are obviously life and death-related things going on in New Orleans and thereabouts, seeing a positive story come out of the devastation can be fruitful for us all.

My kudos go out to Rex, the Richards and all the other people who have stepped to the plate to make this work and keep the publication alive and well.

This week, FEMA had stated its policy about the media not photographing the dead found as the Southeastern U.S. was drained of floodwaters and the relief efforts and cleanup ensued. Tonight, Taegan Goddard informs, that policy has been reversed in light of a lawsuit filed by CNN, herein "opening the door" for the press to photograph any bodies that are recovered.

Nick Madigan details the concern that has arisen across the mass media about the use of certain terms, such as "refugee," when describing those who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Some of the problems are with terms considered possibly racist in nature, or, more specifically, the context of how those words are used, whether describing white people, black people, or others. I've shared my thoughts on this situation, at least regarding "refugee" as a term, but I'm certainly not surprised with any outrage by Americans about certain usage of terms to describe various groups of people.

After reading this alert over at Lost Remote that the National Weather Service had put out last Sunday, prior to Katrina's slamming of Louisiana and other points surrounding it, I have to say that the jokes about the weather being completely off base for daily forecasts will probably be left alone for a while. Additionally, this is just another point against all of the involved agencies, local or otherwise, who didn't realize the magnitude of what was happening, or at least what could happen.

Over at BusinessWeekOnline's Blogspotting, Stephen Baker writes about how a reader of that blog doesn't fancy so much the use of the term "refugee" to describe those individuals who have lost their homes and ways of life in the Southeastern U.S in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As far as style and usage goes, it's probably not improper to use the term in this manner, but it might not be the most appropriate. Baker seems content to utilize it if it's "reframed" based on the negative feeling that the word might have with some individuals, but I don't think that's the big issue here. I'd lean more towards using a more appropriate word in a grammatical or stylebook-ish sense, such as "evacuee," "displaced person," or maybe what is the best choice, "survivor."

Sure, a quick glance at the bulk of terms that come up in the thesaurus to replace "refugee" might not be so positive in feeling, but that isn't the only way to use a better term in his place.

[ed: for those who the post title was lost on, check here. And yes, I know the title was probably a bit 'inside baseball.' Oh, and for those of you who believe this post's topic is splitting hairs, I'll agree with you - but at the same time, based on the reaction that "looter" has caused by many, I thought it worthwhile to post this.]

In case you haven't heard all the details about WWL, the AM radio station out of New Orleans that managed to stay on through the dedication of its employees and the assistance of a market competitor, the Wall Street Journal's Sarah McBride sums up how the Entercom Communications-owned station was able to have a profound impact of those on the ground in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last week.

While we were here in the States hoping that our newspapers would stay away from the insensitive or downright stupid headlines regarding Hurricane Katrina, it turns out that the cake-taker is a bit of a ways across the Atlantic. The U.K.'s Times ran an article on August 31 entitled "Mississippi drowning." If you don't get it at first, here's your reminder.

[via Testy Copy Editors]

The folks at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies are have set up a message forum for anyone connected with New Orleans' alternative newsweekly, the Gambit Weekly, to post their whereabouts, news, or other information that might be relevant. If you know someone involved with the publication or are a staffer who has access online, you can drop by there to re-connect with others.

MediaBuyerPlanner (which I'm all about of late) posts about an easy way that the Red Cross has set up for website owners (including us bloggers) can grab up-to-date banners and other ad sizes to place on websites to help drive donations to the organization.

If you're not into the Red Cross, then I'd ask that you check out the Best Friends Animal Society, a group working to bring back all the pets that may have been left behind or lost during the destruction. 100% of funds donated to them will go towards these efforts.

Last night, I spent a bit more time watching television news than I usually do, primarily because I've already read about what is being discussed before it hits the airwaves. But something made me flip the set from college football to MSNBC, where I watched a bit of Rita Cosby and moved over to catch some of Bill O'Reilly. Part of it was to see what developments had been made, if any, in the Southeast U.S., where the rescue (let's not even discuss "cleanup" at this point) has been semi-stalled, or so it seems.

Part of me thinks that the reason it looks so bad is that the opportunity to actually get in and help people is in so small a scale right now that 99% of what is going on is bad, while maybe 1% of activities are good. Part of me thinks that we have a serious problem here, and that we weren't prepared at all to handle a disaster of this scale on our own land. And after reading K. Paul's comments this morning about Anderson Cooper and the efforts of other journalists on the ground, I felt I had to comment on this.

While watching O'Reilly, I caught a segment where he was talking with Shepard Smith, who was on the ground in New Orleans. O'Reilly was saying that New Orleans would absolutely be rebuilt, don't worry, yada yada, and Smith said something along the lines "I'm not so sure about that..." The host seemed unfazed by Smith's comments, and Smith followed up with "You're not here, you don't see what is happening." And that got me thinking - are we actually in a place where the destruction and subsequent rescue missions are going to do more than just leave us with a swath of land that might not be the best place for our people to live, but that the people who live in the area will have such a bad taste in their mouth for what they went through that divides in this country will get wider than they are? I'm not just talking about North vs. South, or white vs. black, but philosophical and political positions - they're all involved here.

I don't think I ever believed I would see the day when there was a man laying on an interstate highway, covered with some clothes and a blanket, left there dead. For days. On television. But it's here, and it's not - television, in that made-for-TV disaster movie sense. On top of that, I think there are many an American who is sitting in their house, thinking that they could spend their long weekend trying to help out somewhere in the South, but they realize that they don't necessarily have the money to gas up the car or truck and go, and make it back. It's like a perfect storm that dissipates, but the waves and the undertow keep you from going back in the water.

[update] More on Cooper's statements here at FishbowlDC and TVNewser.

CyberJournalist has a link to a slideshow of images from the Katrina cleanup at MSNBC that is simply staggering in nature. See it here.