Common Ground Relief - media collective

Breaking Ground Newsletter 15 August 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:39:19 +0000

Click on the image below to download the August 15th, 2008 Issue of Breaking Ground!

Breaking Ground 7.25.08

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:05:26 +0000

Click on the image below to download the July 25, 2008 Issue of Breaking Ground!

Support the Justice in Jena Campaign!

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:58:01 +0000

Common Ground Relief stands in solidarity with historically neglected commmunities, and stands firmly against racism in all forms. We must stand together with people in Jena, Louisiana. Please check out their website at freethejena6.org and get involved.

Together, we can unravel institutional racism that plagues Louisiana and our world.

Obama and Clinton Rock the Essence Festival

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:56:58 +0000

by Kate Marvin
Photography by Mavis Yorks

On the eve of July 5th, the first night of the Essence Festival concert series, I had trouble getting to the Superdome. I had tickets, but no car, and when I walked to Canal St. to hail a cab, I couldn’t find one. At 10pm, after a long trial with public transportation, I finally made it to the concert. I might have given up, if I hadn’t known that Senator Barack Obama was going to speak there. I wanted to see him in person. I wanted to hear what he had to say to the thousands of primarily African American people who came to celebrate at the Essence Festival. I wanted to know what he would say about New Orleans.

Desolation row: The Betrayal of New Orleans

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 18:30:13 +0000

by Andrew Buncombe

As published in The Independent

NEW ORLEANS--Less than three miles from the bustling bars of the French Quarter and the casinos of Canal Street, lie block after block of ruined homes, shattered lives and broken promises. Eighteen months after Katrina struck, New Orleans has barely begun to recover. Andrew Buncombe reports from the city that America forgot
Published: 09 March 2007

Jennifer Johansen's belongings have been safely packed up by the movers. She has said goodbye to her friends. This morning she will close the door on her yellow-painted house, take a taxi to the airport, and leave New Orleans for ever for a new life in Seattle.

Post -Katrina Portrait Project

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 19:00:09 +0000

At Last!
It's finally available!

The Post-Katrina Portraits - Written and Narrated by Hundreds is perhaps the most beautiful, socially inclusive and comprehensive collection of first-hand accounts of the Gulf region's disasters as they happened naturally and unnaturally:

The conditions of evacuation, survival and rescue, during and in the immediate aftermaths of Katrina and Rita, And the year of struggle for community empowerment, recovery and reconstruction which followed and set a new grassroots precedent for disaster relief.

416 glossy full color pages of strictly primary source historical and aesthetic collaborative document of the single most profound and revealing disaster to ever hit North America.

1 page Foreword and 4 page Afterword by "embedded artist," Francesco di Santis.

All portraits are original material rendered in charcoal, carbon, graphite, pastel and china marker on sketch paper and organized in chronological order.

All of The Post-Katrina Portraits are handwritten on by those who were drawn or annotated as transcribed off of a recorded monologue of those drawn.

Get the on-the-ground perspectives of survivors, returned evacuees, rebuilders and solidarity-based volunteers.

All net proceeds from sales here will go directly to Common Ground's continued volunteer disaster relief and community rebuilding work in the Gulf Region.

To see The Post-Katrina Portraits for free visit postkatrinaportraits.org

Keep memory alive while contributing to Common Ground's aid and solidarity towards the communities of the Gulf.

Breaking Ground 7.18.08

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:09:08 +0000

The July 18,2008 Issue of Breaking Ground is here...

Breaking Ground 7.10.08

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:03:41 +0000

Download the July 10, 2008 Issue!

Breaking Ground 7.4.08

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:52:20 +0000

Download the July 4, 2008 Issue of Breaking Ground!

Breaking Ground 3, Common Ground's Newspaper is ready and online!

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:10:03 +0000

Breaking Ground 3 is now ready. Click here to read.

Featuring:
The Long Slow Road Home • by John Briggs
Fresh Produce to the People • by Frank Sherlock
Street Rites • by Sean Hobbs
Kids and Cameras • by Zeph Fishlyn
Uneven Justice • by Thaddeus Delay
False Arrest • by Sean Hobbs
Resilient as Brick: Months of Covering Public Housing -various authors

Includes interviews with:

-Brenda Mitchell, President of United Teachers for New Orleans
-Scott Crow, a Katrina First Responder
-Bruce Davenport, Pastor and Community Leader
-Clifford, Housing Development resident
-K. Brad Ott, New Orleans Healthcare Activist

Creating a venue for news from New Orleans to the rest of the world.

Katrina's Child

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:09:43 +0000

Video Footage Available for Use

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:19:27 +0000

The Media Collective is offering up New Orleans residents and members of the film community at large the use of our video archives.

Below are listed events and interviews in no particular order. If you have questions about what they may contain, please contact cgmedia@commongroundrelief.org.

Visit our office at 215 North Jefferson Davis Parkway(or send an email) to request a copy.

Footage Available on Mini DV Tapes

CG Health Clinic Anniversary 9-8-06
Artists' Response to the Flood at Ashe 9-2-06
Black Labor’s Second Line
Community Unity Day at the Woodlands Apartments

Election Day 2006: Opportunity for New Orleans To Be Heard

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:50:10 +0000

Common Ground visited polling places in the 8th Ward, 9th Ward, and Broadmoor on November 7, 2006 to get a sample of citizens' opinions on voting, government, and their hopes for their city.

Media Team Seeking Volunteers

Sun, 14 May 2006 19:38:36 +0000

Stories and images depicting reality on the ground in New Orleans have subsided in recent months, perpetuating systems of oppression and collective amnesia.

Common Ground invites independent journalists whatever their medium to volunteer with our media projects.

Our media production teams need support this summer to document and get the story out about the state of New Orleans.

In our media promotions team we need:
skilled media people experienced with writing press advisories, posting online and doing media callbacks.

Video Production: CGR holds a vision for a video collective that works with projects to document their progress, and completes autonomous projects of their creation. So far, noone has taken the role of coordinator of this project.

Audio interviews with residents

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:31:05 +0000

Interview with KeShawn Harris, evicted resident of Louisburg Square Apartments:
download mp3

10/05 Interview with Alicia Billiac, arrested for 'curfew violation' at 6 pm, although curfew was at 8 pm at the time (in the Upper 9th Ward):
download mp3

11/05 Interview with Sean Dodson, contractor from Kentucky, and his friend in Algiers:
download mp3

11/05 Interview with David Luke, HIV+ man who was in Orleans Parish Prison for a minor offense when the hurricane hit, and ended up spending 40 days in horrible conditions, and contracting AIDS (off-site):