Back Into The Sunset

I got an email from a friend yesterday that made the comment, "I can't even imagine what you are up to but whatever it is I bet you have a smile on your face." It's a nice sentiment and not entirely wrong. I appreciate the thought (and the evident reputation of being a basically cheerful person)... BUT... While I tend to have a smile on my face much of the time, it comes from the effort of living with an openess and a hopefulness in the midst of what is a truly terrible situation.

Harry Shearer, in his fabulous Le Show, this week discusses the fact that news dealing with New Orleans as a hurricane disaster is really not true. The hurricane damage is here and there's plenty of it... But the fact is, the flooding that actually destroyed the city and the continuing ineffectual response to the disaster (now nearly 4 months ago) is NOT a hurricane story it's a GOVERNMENT story. It's a story about the failings of the Army Corp of Engineers and the completely inadequate level of preparedness on the part of FEMA as reconstituted by Bush.

It's also a story about people - poor, rich, middle class, employed and unemployed, exiled and trying to make it back home - who are being forgotten as the weeks and months roll on and little to nothing actually happens.

The streets are still covered in trash. The houses, from the lower 9th to the fancy lakeside houses out by the lake, are still broken, trashed and unlivable. Even in areas of town that are back to habitability, the power, gas and water are inconsistent at best.

On Thursday I head back to California for Christmas and (probably) most of January. As I leave this city, my heart stays here, and I hope that somehow I can communicate the needs of this broken crescent to the people I meet along the way.

New Orleans needs to be remembered. New Orleans needs your help.

The next disaster may be in YOUR city... and we need to all remember that we're theoretically in this together.

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You can find links to ways to help New Orleans at the Mercury Public Media website.