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Southern dedication: Behind the scenes (Rita Cosby)
I’m writing this now after coming back from an amazing weekend in Mississippi and witnessing southern dedication first-hand. As many of you may know, I was part of an event on Saturday, October 1 in Oxford, Mississippi which was called “Mississippi Rising” — a three-hour telethon designed to raise money and awareness for the victims for Hurricane Katrina in that battered state. For those of you who watched the show over the weekend on MSNBC, you probably saw an amazing show with terrific performers, but that was only the tip of the iceberg.
What you didn’t see was the real dedication and spirit of selflessness that organizers, stars, and the hundreds of volunteers showed me behind the scenes. I have always been proud to say I “grew up in the South” since I went to college at the University of South Carolina. But this past weekend, I really witnessed Southern hospitality.
I arrived at the airport in Memphis where Ginger Carpenter, a mother of three, picked me up for a one-and-a-half hour drive from Memphis to Oxford. She told me she was keeping the next 48 hours free to drive me anywhere, anytime while I was in town. When I arrived at the C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum at Ole Miss, there were hundreds of students and local residents working out all the last minute details as they volunteered to help pull this enormous project together. One of the first who greeted me was a smiling Sam Haskell, the former head of William Morris Talent and Literary Agency, who along with DC Attorney Lanny Griffith pulled “Mississippi Rising” together in just 19 days.
Within a few minutes of arrival, the stars started piling in, and it was an impressive line-up. Actor Morgan Freeman and actress Sela Ward told me how honored they were to be back in their home state and give to those who lost so much. Country star Faith Hill talked about how anyone from Mississippi would give you the shirt off his or her back. Jason Alexander, from "Seinfeld", and Ray Romano, from "Everybody Loves Raymond", told me how touched they were by the devastation they saw on television and hoped they could give these people a break, a moment of laughter from the pain.
I was so touched when folks like "Taxi’s" Marilu Henner, N'Sync’s Lance Bass and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley recounted some of the images and emotional interviews they saw on our show, "Live & Direct". All of these stars — and many more — were thrilled to answer calls at the phone bank to take down people’s donations and never once complained. They were all true class acts both on and off cameras.
After the event I spent the night with a local couple who generously “adopted” me for the evening as other couples did with other stars. The next day I was able to see a little bit of Oxford, which looked like a scene from the movie “Back To The Future” with an enormous clock tower and a truly picture-perfect, small town feel. One of the last people I met, was a survivor of Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans who had just moved to Ole Miss to be closer to her daughter, and because she had nowhere else to go. She thanked me profusely for the hard work I had done and I reminded her it was nothing compared to what she endured.
So far, "Mississippi Rising" has pulled in $15 million and the donations keep coming. What this past weekend reminded me of is that there is no better feeling than giving to others, and that the spirit of America is alive and well, especially in Oxford, Mississippi.
To donate to “Mississippi Rising” go to
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Bracing for the worst (Rita Cosby)
GALVESTON, Texas — Hurricane Rita is just a few hours from landfall. Residents in Galveston, Texas know they could get hit hard and are preparing for a worst-case scenario. Already, the rain is coming down hard and the wind is whipping. Once tepid waves are now powerful walls of water crashing along the shoreline. Mother Nature’s fury is already apparent.
City officials in Galveston believe they will be spared the worst as it looks like the main part of the storm will slam to the east. But they also know this tiny island could still be pummeled and are making key steps, just in case. Virtually every home is deserted and boarded up. A curfew is in effect from dusk until dawn and city officials are hunkering down in what they believe is the safest building on the island, the San Luis Hotel.
In a sign that they are preparing for a New Orleans type nightmare, the mayor and the mayor Pro Tem will be in two different locations when the hurricane hits. That’s designed to make sure that the government here still operates should something happen to the mayor who is riding the storm out with us. The mayor Pro Tem will be in a much more secure location about 20 miles north.
After positioning our live truck behind a large building for shelter, we are now preparing for a long and wet night ahead. Even 70-80 mph winds can snap trees and power lines and cause significant damage, that is the best-case scenario in Galveston at this hour.
The calm before the storm (Rita Cosby)
GALVESTON, Texas — We are preparing for the worst here in Galveston, Texas — a tiny barrier island, which will soon take a beating from Mother Nature. Although Hurricane Rita has diminished slightly in strength, Galveston is still clearly in the crosshairs. Galveston typically has a population of 60,000, but right now only several thousand remain and the city is truly a ghost town. We’ve only seen a few surfers taking advantage of the big waves and a few adamant residents who say they won’t leave no matter what.
We are staying at the San Luis Hotel, one of the only hotels still open. Many news crews are sleeping on conference rooms floors in sleeping bags or air mattresses, others are loading all of their gear in closets or bathrooms knowing the windows will surely blow out at even a Category 3 storm. We just finished lunch at the hotel, which many believe will be our last real meal for the next few days. So I guess we are going back to our mainstay meal during Hurricane Katrina: granola bars.
We also just gassed up our SUV finding the last gas station on the island that was open. It closed minutes after we pulled out. Everyone here is, understandably, extraordinarily nervous. They remember the hurricane that leveled this city in September 1900, and after Hurricane Katrina, no one here wants to take any chances. Nerves and tension are running high as most residents race out of town.
As a journalist who has covered dozens of hurricanes, I will remain in town with my fellow colleagues and many emergency workers. I know this Friday night in Galveston will be a very long and rough one as this monster storm is fast approaching.
I will give you more updates at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC. Stay tuned.
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Driving into my namesake hurricane (Rita Cosby)
GALVESTON, Texas — I am writing this as we are approaching Galveston, Texas covering yet another massive hurricane. So far on the drive from Houston, the traffic has been backed up for miles heading the opposite direction — getting out of Galveston. My SUV with my two colleagues and myself is one of the few vehicles heading into what may be the bulls-eye of the next big storm.
Already we have seen numerous military tanks as well as vans and buses evacuating the sick and elderly — a sign that residents and the federal government are at least taking this one more seriously after Hurricane Katrina.
As we pull into what we thought would be our hotel on Galveston’s coastline, we see the owner closing up shop, leaving us again without a roof over our head as we try to cover this story.
I am praying “my namesake hurricane” won’t carry the disastrous consequences of Katrina, which I covered for three weeks throughout the Gulf region. I cannot imagine a storm as horrific as Katrina. The things that I saw first-hand as a journalist will stay with me forever: the bodies floating around the zodiac craft I was on with the Navy, the horrible smell of death that consumed the flood waters that engulfed New Orleans and the countless people who lost everything they owned and, more importantly, some of their loved ones. To see people suffer so much and see such a poor and delayed response by our government was heart wrenching and infuriating.
However, I will always be inspired by also seeing some of the best of humanity: A New Orleans cop who lost everything but was working around the clock to save others, an Army colonel working 18 hours a day in the scorching heat praying after a week to still find someone alive and a doctor from New York who volunteered her time to help others in New Orleans.
I am also encouraged to see at first glance in Galveston, Texas, that people are heeding evacuation orders, boarding up businesses and taking Mother Nature seriously. I will continue to keep you posted on what the other Rita is doing as our hurricane weary residents brace for another big one.
Watch me later tonight on 'Live and Direct' at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC. I'll have live reports on the approaching hurricane and tell you how the government is preparing for the storm.
