Ray in New Orleans

I'm sorry, Ray. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry too. To be honest, I've never been a resident of New Orleans. I visit often, have great friends there, love the city dearly and had hoped to move there soon. That said, I have been feeling the same way. I'm dazed by this almost to the point of not knowing what to do. People at work (here in Northern California) are going about their business as if the hurricane were a cursory event. A mild curiosity. It's a fucking disaster of the worst magnitude. Fuck. I just want it to stop getting worse. I know it won't and that it'll take a long time to get even close to better. Just stop it with the worsening.

One more thing, if I hear anyone say "they were asking for it for living there" I am going to make them carry their teeth home in a bag. That's like blaming earthquake victims in California or tornado victims in Oklahoma. Sorry, had to vent.

I'm sorry too..I've checked your blog at least 10 times today because you're the only blogger who seems to get it. All day I've had to draw my verbal sword against those who are annoyed at the tsunami comparison or who've said, thats what they get for living there. I lived through 9/11 in NYC, lost 7 friends that day and no one would dare say we had "asked for it" for living so close to a possible target or that my friends deaths werent tragic since they were "just doing their jobs." Yet, there has been so much judgement against those in NO who did not evacuate. As if they are to blame for their poverty which limits options considerably.

Yes and to top it all off Bush get's on Tv today and talks about WW2 and Iraq what about Louisiana,Mississippi, and Alabama? ....come one folks!!!!
What the hell is going on here? Is this America?
I hate to say this but this will not hit the hearts and minds of some people until it's all over and thousands of bodies are recovered.

i thought i was ok.

i was living with the illusion that this was all happening so far away and that it, on top of my strange feeling of being out of place, not being in the desert at this time of year, would all be ok in a few days.

and then today i was trying to explain to these people on the other side of the planet what had happened. i had gone to wwl's site and was showing them the gallery pictures... and then it hit me and i had to stand in front of a group of people who don't know or care anything about nola, and not cry. i nearly failed. the pictures were too much and i had to bail out of the room. i've never felt so alone in my life.

Houston cares, Ray. It's all the news that's happening here. Houstonians have opened their homes, hearts, and wallets to the refugees. All 55,000 hotel rooms are full. Boarding kennels and animal shelters have taken in the pets. The schools have offered to take in the displaced students. Businesses are pitching in too. And at least one Chronicle blogger has spent the past few days on nothing but the plight of your city.

After TS Allison dumped 35 inches of rain on us in two days in 2001, we have a little bit more empathy than the rest of the country. The 20 feet of water in the freeway, 10 feet of water in people's houses seemed awful at the time, but it's nothing in comparison to what happened to New Orleans. We know it could be us someday staring at a giant lake from our rooftops.

And just this morning I heard that the Superdome refugees are being evacuated to the Astrodome in Houston.

Horrified and saddened here.

Thanks, Susan. That blog link contains some awesome flickr links that explain the levee breach. I'll try to post some inline shots when I get a free minute.

I'm hearing much love from Houston. I've been listening to 740am whenever I'm in the car because they're more focused on Katrina than the local Austin stations.

(By the way, don't I know you? Didn't you used to be involved with KTRU in the 80's, or do I have you mixed up with somebody else?)

The news I'm reading just gets worse and worse. The bright spot is I read the word "receding" this afternoon.

(Kinda/sorta -- not even a KTRU groupie, more like a groupie's groupie or something. Hanszen '86. I know we both know Kristi I., although I haven't talked to her in years. I found your blog a few months ago when googling names of people from college. 20 years will do that to you. A belated congrats on your recovery, BTW. "I remember you when.")