Saturday, March 29, 2008

Homeward bound

Thanks to our hosts; It was great seeing friends. We’ll be back!

Growth spurt

Facing South notes that the South is still rising, but no one is paying attention:

Strangely enough, there has been almost total silence in the political blogosphere about the major new report from the Census Bureau on the explosive growth of metro areas in the South [...]

But anyone who cares about U.S. politics should be paying attention. These latest numbers show the South is home to growing centers of political power in the South that cannot be ignored—especially with the upcoming 2010 Census, where Southern states stand to gain Congressional seats and Electoral College votes.

Bloomberg News reports:

The 50 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. in 2006 and 2007 were concentrated in the country’s western and southern regions, the Census Bureau said today.

Eight of the 10 areas with the biggest population gains as measured by percentage of increase were in the South. Palm Coast, Florida, led with 7.2 percent growth, followed by St. George, Utah, 5.1 percent; Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina, 4.7 percent; and Gainesville, Georgia, 4.5 percent.

Desire

I’ve only been to New Orleans three or four times in my life, all of them to visit with my friend the documentary filmmaker Julie Gustafson who I’ve known since she was a director of Global Village back in New York.  She came here in 1995 to make a film and has stayed since. The film is titled, Desire:

Nearly a decade in the making, this refreshingly honest film documents the challenges and desires of a group of young women in New Orleans by letting them film their own stories. As this diverse group of young women-two teenagers from the Desire housing projects, a single mother from the working-class suburb of Belle Chasse across the river, and two girls from the most prestigious private high school in New Orleans-make short films about their own desires, this provocative film records the intimate dramas of their changing lives.

Sensitively and intelligently interweaving the girls’ short videos throughout the film’s narrative, DESIRE pivots around the intimacy and risk that the two generations of filmmakers share together and with the audience. Addressing everything from sex and contraception to the impact of educational and material opportunities on their futures as women, DESIRE presents a nuanced and authentic look at modern young womanhood.

Mississippi riverboat