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The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is here and there’s a ton of news coverage and citizen commentaries out there. Right now I’m watching Anderson Cooper’s Katrina Killings (CNN) and it blows my mind that we were in this place a year ago. It’s embarrassing. It’s a shame.

I caught Spike Lee’s When The Levees Broke (HBO). It was a great film; I highly recommend that everyone watch it since it is a powerful historical document that needed to be made. I was nervous in Act 3 when they spent some time on music in New Orleans, but it’s saying something different. It’s telling another story. I’m finding that the stuff out there is keen on addressing how fucked up it is that no one was prepared, the government’s response was appalling, lives were lost, people couldn’t be rescued, etc. etc. It’s endless the number of terrible things that desperately need to be said so we can learn… and never ever allow this to happen to our people again.

But I find comfort in knowing our film, No Cross, No Crown, is accomplishing something else. Yes, we lost a lot of lives. Don Vappie, banjo player and band leader of the Creole Serenaders, says in our interview with him that just about anyone who survived Katrina knows someone who died in Katrina. And yes, there was billions of dollars in damage to people’s homes where they’ve been rooted for generations. Alfred Doucette, a Mardi Gras Indian Chief, noted in his interview that he can replace his tools and remake his Indian Suits, but he can’t replace his grandfather’s.

No Cross, No Crown however, will describe that what we impacted in New Orleans was American culture. Americans, I don’t think, really know that the people of Southern Louisiana may be a tad eccentric, but for over a century, their contributions to America and American culture have been tremendous. We can be critical of the “corruption” and “hedonism” that was rampant in New Orleans, but for crying out loud—not only did the locals crave that their children be safe, educated, and given job opportunities just like anywhere else, but there’s corruption in every city in the world. The people of New Orleans definitely have a tendency to express themselves in extremes, but consider that with the light, there’s also a dark that’s more polarized in New Orleans. But as Tom Piazza, author of Why New Orleans Matters, told us, we need to love New Orleans for her flaws as you would love a person with their flaws.

New Orleans was the one place in the world that demonstrated that people of all classes, ethnicities, cultures and nationalities, can share a history and make history together as they celebrated life in a way the rest of us seemed to have homogenized out of our strip-mall-loving system. Fred Kaston of WWOZ says that their ability to get along by expressing tension and struggle in art, music, hospitality, and cuisine, should be praised and is the basis on what makes America potentially a great country.

So the film’s coming together. I’m pretty sure I won’t make the Sundance deadline– even with a rough cut (I figure I could burn the $75 late-entry free and have more fun than giving it to Sundance). Next week I’m going to Washington DC to visit College Park’s National Archives and get some footage for the film. I’ll be staying with an old high school friend I haven’t seen in twelve years. I miss him and am excited to catch up.