30 August 2005:
Boy, I don't even know what to say about Hurricane Katrina. We've all seen the horrific damage to Biloxi and Mobile and the small towns on the Gulf Shores, but I just keep having thoughts of New Orleans over and over and over again. Maybe it's because I've been there a few times; maybe it's because I've always loved the mystique and uniqueness to its culture; maybe it's because it's what they keep showing on the news. I don't know.

Like most people, when I saw that the hurricane had veered east at the last second, I thought New Orleans had been spared. And then the levee broke, and then the looting began, and then normal weather came back with 91 degrees and humidity while the people were without drinking water or ways to boil it, and the water kept rising and the stories of death and damage kept coming. The man who lost his wife in his arms in their own house; the family swimming through the oily waters; the flood, the flood, the flood. I realize there are rescues happening around the clock, but it's all just so gut-wrenching. Not unlike the images drilled into our heads on 9/11/01, these images are sticking in my head like I'm there. It's a thick sadness.

And what happens now? People are still being told to evacuate. When can they come home? When people come home, will there be alligators and water moccasins and fire ants there? When will New Orleans be dry again? What will the Saints do this football season? (Probably play at LSU's in Baton Rouge and donate a whole lot of money to relief, I'm sure.) Will those damaged highrises be salvageable? What about the above ground cemeteries? Would a couple donated cruise ships help? I heard there's a prison riot or something?
God, I really don't know. Everyone down there always feared it, always kinda sorta knew it was going to happen . . . Pat O'Brien's most popular drink is synonymous with Bourbon Street, the hurricane . . . and all of this is still so heartbreaking.

I guess now it's a matter of thinking positive thoughts and/or praying if you're a person who prays. Or donating to the Red Cross relief fund or Habitat for Humanity or United Way or SOME charity. Sorry for the downer post.

–B Love

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