Hampton Roads to Haiti

The 7.0 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12 brought world-wide attention to the beautiful – and often troubled – nation of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Even before that, thousands of people in Hampton Roads – through their churches and nonprofit groups -- have been connected to our neighbor in the Caribbean. Now a strong military presence in the disaster relief effort strengthens the connection between Hampton Roads and Haiti. This blog dates back to April 2009 when Pilot editor Nancy Young tagged along with a Catholic missionary group to Haiti and has since visited the country five times. In January, Pilot military reporter Corinne Reilly and photojournalist Steve Earley traveled to Haiti with the amphibious assault ship Bataan and their posts and photographs describing earthquake relief efforts are still available. Look here, and in The Virginian-Pilot, for ongoing updates.

Category: Mission

■ 05 April 2010 | 9:55 AM

Mindbending juxtaposition 1,000,001 -Katie Couric and the iPad in Haiti

From Nancy Young

I was just reading my Google alerts on Haiti and saw that Katie Couric had tweeted yesterday that she was on her way there.

And then there was a second tweet of her just before leaving for Haiti. It had a picture of her looking perky even for her and gloriously in love with her new iPad.

I'm not sure how you keep both thoughts in your brain: on my way to a humanitarian disaster zone where there is unending suffering and

Hey, check out the iPad!

I'm also reminded of the first time I learned that no one likes a humorless old fart. I was 17ish in a debate in English class over soap operas. I argued, earnestly, that even though I watched them sometimes, we'd all be better off without them because our minds and hearts should be engrossed by such things as how to save the world...or at least reading a good book.

I lost, badly, to the side who argued that soap operas were fun and therefore an unmitigated good.Even the English teacher, who was trying to get us to enjoy the classics and the wonders of poetry, looked at me blankly when I made my case.

So I don't want to deprive Katie or anyone of their iPad -- and when I sign off here maybe I'll check out what the latest offerings are on Hulu.

I know that Couric won't be walking around the camps of the homeless showing off her iPad, particularly not if it's raining. She's good natured and she's got a good sense of humour, so she might lift some spirits.

And the greater good of her going there, I'm sure, is to keep Haiti in the news and to let people know that almost three months out from when the earthquake (or, as my friends in Haiti call it, "the problem") struck...and the situtation is still dire.

Link to post

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.

Toolbox

Save & Share

Find. Do.

Tag. Share.