Comments on: Sayonara, summer. Come on, Irene!

By: cgeye

cgeye — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:36:20 +0000

… bbut you don’t understand. MARTHA’S VINEYARD WAS EVACUATED!!!

HUNDREDS OF IMPORTANT VACAYS WERE DISRUPTED!

By: Perpetua

Perpetua — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:25:18 +0000

I have to say too as a life-long East Coaster (mid-Atlantic), it’s pretty common for us to be hit by hurricanes, either on sea or land (the ones that come aground are probably the most destructive in the East, because they often spawn tornadoes). I don’t remember any coverage like the Irene coverage in recent memory. I kept trying to figure out what was So Terrible and Scary about this particular hurricane, especially since it didn’t seem that strong. I’m still not sure if it had something to do with it aiming directly at very high population areas or the amount of rain/flooding that was expected or if the media was just looking for something to report on. But I wouldn’t say that there is always a special kind of hysteria regarding east coast hurricanes generally.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:52:47 +0000

Funny, the song in my head was “Good Night Irene”, sung by the Weavers.

And yes, the wildfire (now up to almost 5000 acres, is just up the road from me…it’s pretty scary.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:42:33 +0000

I hear you, Dickens Reader. I will say this, though: when a traumatic weather event conforms to the media stereotype of the weather in any given region outside of the east coast, they do run with those stories. Therefore, when Colorado gets a snowstorm, it gets big coverage because easterners don’t know their Vail Pass from the High Plains Desert. When California gets and earthquake, ditto. Rain in Seattle? The same.

We had a lovely night out under the stars. No wildlife sightings besides some very chatty squirrels picking out pine nuts and lobbing the cores of the cones on us, but we did hear some elk bugling this morning.

Here’s hoping you easterners have weathered Irene OK by now.

By: DickensReader

DickensReader — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:45:03 +0000

I think the attention paid to the east coast by the media reveals the disdain felt for the south (and the West, right now there is a 3000 acre wildfire). To make such a fuss about a category I hurricane that was quickly approaching Tropical Storm status was just a little too much fainting couch for my taste. But, the east coast is where all the ‘very important people’ (I am too annoyed with their self-importance to give them the double quotation marks) live, and the country would simply fall into chaos if anything happened to them. /sarcasm.

The south (the Gulf States) deals with Category I, II, III, IV and often V hurricanes Every. Single. Year. EVERY SINGLE YEAR! Yet, never do the media go into overdrive and cry “WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN!—I mean, the EASTCOASTERS!!!!!111!!!. ARMAGEDDON! This time for sure, unlike last time, and next time. THIS TIME IT IS ARMAGEDDON!!!!

Some could/would say that this is all a reaction to Katrina (and Ike, unfortunately there are still people to this day unaccounted for) and the east coast, including Obama, are simply trying to prevent the same outcome. I say no. No, it is an exploitation of Katrina, an opportunity to use Katrina as a vehicle to keep the nation’s eyes on the ‘Most Important People of our Country,’ East coasters. MEH!

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:29:38 +0000

I got out of Philly about 2-ish yesterday afternoon and by the 75-mile stone, westbound, was pretty much beyond the influence of the oncoming storm. I only saw one Official State Car of Colorado in about two hundred miles of driving on the Not-Colorado Turnpike, so I guess the term is apt.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:05:16 +0000

The east coast is sounding a lot like the west coast these days.

RJB

By: Tenured Radical - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Tenured Radical - The Chronicle of Higher Education — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:04:43 +0000

[...] De Vega of We Are Respectable Negroes will usher us into a post-racial society. When Historiann gets back from the vacation she actually got to take, she will end misogyny in the [...]

By: Comrade PhysioProf

Comrade PhysioProf — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 01:57:58 +0000

In the meantime: am I the only dame d’un certain age who’s had this song running through her head all week long?

Jeezus fucke, do you have to remind this shitte? I AM YOUNG, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!! ROCK AND ROLL!!! WOO!!!!!!!!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

By: ej

ej — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 01:37:30 +0000

Too funny. We (having evacuated from Norfolk due to Irene) were at a street fair in Roanoke today and the band du jour played “Come on “Irene”.’ I thought I was the only one who got the joke~

Have a great weekend, and a very, very, very good Sunday! Those Colorado mountains are especially nice this time of year.