New Orleans Filmmaker Palfi Kills Himself (Katrina Depression)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/12/28/entertainment/e073021S71.DTL&type=movies

Filmmaker Stevenson J. Palfi, whose documentary "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" chronicled the lives of three New Orleans jazzmen, shot himself to death, his family said. He had been severely depressed after Hurricane Katrina damaged most of his property and possessions, they said.

Palfi, 53, shot himself Dec. 14 at his home, relatives family told The Times-Picayune.

He had been living with his former wife and co-producer, Polly Waring, whose home was one of the few still habitable in the Mid-City area where both lived.

Palfi grew up in Chicago, where he graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory School. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

The 1982 documentary for which he was best known features three generations of New Orleans pianists: Isidore "Tuts" Washington, Henry Roeland "Professor Longhair" Byrd and Allen Toussaint, composer of such hits as "Workin' in a Coal Mine,""Mother-in-Law" and "Southern Nights." The film is still in distribution.

since Katrina -- they just are not reported as Katrina related.

:cry:

Only in George Bush's Amerika

I've know a couple of people (both also artistic types) who have killed themselves just after Christmas. When I read that article, it really sounded like long term depression was compounding his post traumatic stress to me. Apparently he'd been working on one documentary for the last 15 years and it was in the "final stages of production" when he died. It's very sad.

He's doing a lot better, but I tend to think suicide is related to biochemical depression, though of course the trauma of New Orleans and the loss it involved could surely have contributed to his pain.

Long term stress such as PTSD inhibits the production of seratonin, the brain chemical primarily responsible for feeling good.

Low seratonin = depression.

The lower the seratonin, the more depressed the person can be. Lack of seratonin also causes suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Having been there myself due to perimenopause (low estrogen = low seratonin), I can tell you it is terrifying.

:cry:

that life in that zone is bleak indeed and can lead to major depression.

I don't think people outside New Orleans can grasp the devastation by looking at photos on tv. Being here, living it, is a true test of ones' will because moving forward is one hurdle and road block after another.

Here's my post from earlier

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5701700&mesg_id=5701700

Remember me from the Jazz Funeral for Democracy? Thinking of you all every day, and wishing I could help somehow. I don't doubt you at all when you say we can't imagine how bad it is down there. I definitely still cannot grasp it...no matter how many photos I see.

but don't know how to get n touch with anyone? I'm so sorry about NO it makes me sick

Find your estimated flood level here:

http://mapper.cctechnol.com/floodmap.php

Clicking on that corner yields a level of only 1.7 ft., which compares favorably to the 3.2 ft. on my old block on Carrollton near Claiborne -- but areas just north and west (above and lakeside) of there had from five to eight feet (on Dillard's campus, for instance). Apparently Gentilly, like Esplanade, Metairie Rd., etc., was built along a ridge.

As for getting in touch with people, phones on that side of town are still not great:

http://bellsouth.com/community/hurricane/pdfs/matrix.pdf

I have had some success with email, which people can pick up at work or an Internet cafe or in Atlanta or wherever.

edit: caps

High water lines there (like a bathtub ring). This area still seems pretty dead compared to other areas where more progress is happening. I mostly just see clean up crews there. Still boats lying around everywhere and some homes you can tell where people were cut out of their attics. If you go to www.cityofno.com then click on the Damage assessment wizard, you can see what the city estimates the damage is on a particular property in %. If the number is above 50% and the home is below the base flood elevation, it'll have to be raised higher or demolished.

:(