To date, we have donated more than one million dollars from sales of these relief prints directly to those who need it most, including human service agencies such as the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross and the United Way, and arts programs such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. With your help, we will continue. Thank you for your support!…. George Rodrigue is a Louisiana artist who created the Blue Dog image. He has been painting for forty years and still shows his work in his original gallery on Royal Street in the New Orleans French Quarter.
One of the beautiful things to come out of the tragedy that was Hurrican Katrina was the willingness of so many people to do what they could to help. That help has taken many forms over the past two years, some subtle and some impossible to ignore. No matter how big or how small the helping hand has been, though, even more needs to be done. George Rodrigue is someone who has taken his fame and the unique artwork he’s known for and turned it into a way to help New Orleans get back on it’s feet. No, selling a few prints isn’t going to put the Ninth Ward back together as if nothing had happened, but a million dollars can still do a lot of good. Rodrigue has taken his talent and used it to spread awareness and raise money for the city he loves. New Orleans may never be what it once was, but with people like Rodrigue doing what they can to help out, the Crescent City is in better shape than it might otherwise be.
The truly sad aspect of this story is that $1 million is a mere drop in the bucket. While still a large sum of money under any circumstances, $1 million will not even begin to make a dent in the needs the city of New Orleans currently faces. Soemthing is always better than nothing, though, and you can make a difference by purchasing some of Rodrigue’s work. Hey, c’mon now…Christmas isn’t that far away…and if anyone really feels like making a donation, I would LOVE to have this print. Yes, I would.
Is this blog from Seabrook, Texas???
My goodness, I lived there on the 70's when there was maybe one light and worked in Eaglelake where there was only a blinking light.
Bingo. I think you'd that the little backwater on the Gulf of Mexico is a fair bit different than what you remember.... :o)
I knew there was something familiar about your digs, Jack.
I was in your zone in late 1998 and early 1999, working on the Norwegian Sea that docked in Bayport every Sunday (? - or was it Saturday? - all the stores were open, and we had to take a $20 taxi ride to the nearest mall. And we could buy alcohol - which btw I cannot do today living in Michigan). I was the Systems Manager, er, glorified computer operator, er, onboard computer geek from end of December until April-May or so, then went back there on my vacation to visit the ship, play some golf, and down some good beers at a brewpub I found (just south of the NASA zone if memory serves).
Good times, man...
Ok, while we're all traveling down Memory Lane, I have the fondest memories of fresh-off-the-boat shrimp, brought home from Seabrook to Pasadena with the heads on, still crawling...best fried shrimp I've ever had yet...beer-drinking parents having the best of times.
And during late 70's, our boss from Baker, Lyman & Co (any mariners out there?) took us to Joe's at Kemah (NOT that Crap Shack place) and we ate, drank and were merry into the night. Joe's was an outdoor place with a sign that said "Where the Elite meet to eat in their bare feet."
Now Tilman Ferball owns the lot of it. Oh, well. Good times!