New Orleans and the national organizations -- please read

[NewsNet]

Dear Friends:  The AAASS convention will take place in New Orleans 
next year.  We did not cancel it or change the dates.  The call for 
papers will be available on our website -- www.aaass.org.

Wendy Walker
AAASS Convention Coordinator
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies


At 09:52 AM 8/23/2006, Marta Napiorkowska wrote:
>Why did AAASS change their upcoming conference location from
>New Orleans to elsewhere?
>
>---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:37:39 -0400
> >From: Devin Browne <dpbrowne at MAC.COM>
> >Subject: [SEELANGS] New Orleans and the national
>organizations -- please read
> >To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> >
> >Hi all -- I just came back from visiting my sister and her
>family in
> >New Orleans.  A year later and that city is still a wreck.
>Vast
> >stretches of poor and middle class neighborhoods (and a few
>wealthy
> >neighborhoods, to be fair) are still untouched, many with no
> >electricity or other services.  I witnessed a boat on top
>of a house,
> >dozens of cars in yards and sticking out of buildings, and
>hundreds of
> >flattened houses.  My partner and I took a tour of the city
>areas
> >affected by the hurricane.  Our tour guide, a retired
>school teacher,
> >even took us by what was left of her house.  The
>devastation is beyond
> >what you read about, what you see on TV.  It's hard to
>imagine that
> >this is an American city, so little has been done.
> >
> >The French Quarter, the Garden District and a couple other
>more
> >tourist-friendly sections are fine (including my sister's
> >neighborhood, Algiers Point, which is above sea level and
>was spared
> >major damage), but many stores, restaurants and other small
> >non-corporate businesses are really struggling.  The city
>needs so
> >much, most of which has to come from federal, state and
>local
> >governments.  There is little you and I can do outside of
>visiting New
> >Orleans itself and continuing to pressure our
>representatives to fully
> >fund reconstruction and urge them to visit the city
>themselves.  Here
> >in Pennsylvania, last I read, only one of our congressmen
>and neither
> >of our senators have seen the devastation first-hand.
> >
> >However, as language teachers, many with connections to
>national
> >organizations, we can urge these organizations to schedule
>their
> >conferences and conventions in New Orleans.  The city is
>again able to
> >handle these types of events -- the national librarians'
>association
> >was the first to come back into the city and the convention
>went very
> >well.  New Orleanians are very friendly, welcoming people
>who are
> >proud of their city and love to entertain visitors with
>incredible
> >cuisine and wonderful music.  For those of us who work
>closely with
> >the nationals, please ask them to consider New Orleans as a
>conference
> >destination.  Without an increase in tourism and
>conventions, the city
> >might not ever recover.
> >
> >Thanks for taking the time to read this.
> >
> >Devin Browne
> >French & Russian Teacher
> >Pittsburgh Public Schools
> >Pittsburgh, PA
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
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> >------------------------------------------------------------
>-------------
>M. M. N A P I O R K O W S K A
>Dept of Comparative Literature
>University of Chicago
>117 Classics Bldg
>1050 E 59th Street
>Chicago, IL 60637
>
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