Katrina Anniversary SPAM
When you get an email from the President and CEO of a respected publication like The Atlantic —you answer it. Or so I thought... But after flying from Chicago at the crack of dawn to attend The Atlantic ’s “Katrina: 10 Years Later” conference at the Sheraton in New Orleans, I find myself wishing I had labelled the message as spam . I should have recognized the signs: a generic email with only slight attempt at personal touch (“you would add so much to the conversation”), the REGISTER HERE link at the bottom of her digital signature, and the fact that I had no clue where they acquired my information. And yet, I admit, I was a bit struck with the idea that maybe—just maybe —this was a personal email that just had the detached touch of a successful magazine CEO. I thought maybe my work as an artist and a vocal New Orleanian had made me, in some sense, worthy to be invited. But what I found out was that I was just there to fill seats. Which was disappointing considering that...