It's been a busy news week. I will acknowledge that. But it's become clear to me, over the last few years, how really truly terrible most news coverage is, including, I'm sorry to say, Salon.

Let me start by telling you a short story that is true:

 This last week, it started to rain in Nashville. I know because I live here.

At first, it wasn't that big of a deal. The Kentucky derby was running, and everyone was worried that they might have to cancel it because of the mud and rain. It was becoming clear that British Petroleum was getting ready to do a little side step, and political responsibility gauntlets were about to be thrown, although pretty much everyone who supports or who has supported offshore drilling holds some responsibility and knows it.  Oh, and the company is, of course, fully and utterly responsible. Arizona had lost its effing mind and decided that the Constitution wasn't that big of a thing anymore. 

And it kept raining. 

At first, I wasn't that worried. It was rain, yes. It was heavy, sure. In fact, I couldn't believe how heavy it was. But things were fine where I was. I didn't live in a flood plain. I had no basement. It was Nashville! The outlying areas do flood sometimes, near the rivers, and downtown's had some flooding in the past, but not often. It isn't part of the expected situation. And because it was unexpected and because it happened quickly, some people got killed. 

I took this picture outside my house about two hours after the rain started. 

I live near a small creek. Which was suddenly not so small. Fortunately for me and my neighbors, the creek runs into a 20 foot culvert. So, this run-off that you are seeing is what's left after a 20 foot culvert spilled over into the street. 

It was frightening. It happened so fast. Now, I understand, for the first time really, how very dangerous flash flooding can be, but I was lucky. My fellow citizens, not so much. According to WSMV,  nineteen people have died (so far--the water hasn't finished receding yet), many of them drowned in the rushing water. I kept my television on the local station all day and posted to my friends on Facebook, but oddly, everyone seemed surprised by my news. Flood? What flood? It was then I turned on the national news to discover ... there was nothing on it. Nothing. In fact, until the Grand Ole Opry flooded and Keith Urban lost some guitars stored over in that area, I heard very little at all on a national level. People believed I was exaggerating. It was maddening. But worse, it was criminal, really. People are dead. People have lost all their possessions, without any sort of flood insurance. It is terrible. But on NPR, that very day, as I listened to the news, some sort of water main break in the Boston took the fourth place in the running news stream, while Nashville got no mention at all. Apparently, people in the Boston area buying up all the bottled water, and maybe getting into fist fights over it, is far more interesting than people dying over here. 

Why does this matter? Well, if you don't know about it, can you contribute to the Red Cross? To any organization ready to help? No, no you can't. 

Big Salon itself fell down on this news front as well, this very week, choosing to put an article that was somewhat belittling (and inaccurate) about the Nashville music scene and Chely Wright, the nice woman who came out in People magazine recently. Apparently, Nashville isn't covering the big coming-out story because country music is everywhere! Well, that may or may not be true, but the media in Nashville aren't covering Ms. Wright's coming out because they are covering the flood situation. Here, we need to know which roads are still closed, about the water shortage, if anyone else is dead, when will the waters be receding and so on. We don't really have time to deal with someone's sex life today, or tomorrow. Perhaps, it'll be of some interest next week. Although, knowing the Nashville music scene and the more liberal politics of Nashville, I'm betting it's not that big of a deal. And to tell you the truth, I'm guessing that Chely Wright is as distressed as others who have lived here, about the flooding situation. I'm glad she came out. Good for her. Now, I hope she will participate in the recovery effort along with the rest of us. 

Please contribute to the Red Cross today if you can. And pay attention to your news coverage. Because it's becoming clearer and clearer to me that, unless you are white, rich, or it's just too big to contained, in which case be prepared for obsfucation and spin, the coverage just isn't going to be there. 

 I'll leave you with Johnny Cash. Thanks to MrsApril1024 for the video.