New Orleans
'The whole damn city is under water'
I'm fighting a terrible summer cold, so all I've done since Sunday is watch Katrina coverage, non-stop. Being sick has added an nonordinary state of reality to this nonordinary hurricane event and the subsequent media freak-out that is going on. It's not good to watch so much of that. You need a psyche break from massive destruction every now and then. It is depressing, and being sick while watching all this has completely sapped my will to write lately. I hate to see people suffering from something totally out of their control--and this Katrina situation certainly is out of control on so many levels it is mind-boggling.
I used to wonder why the Southern states seemed so beat down and third-world. Now I understand. They have wrestled with HUGE demons since the area was first settled--giant storms that, in the old days, would take decades of recovery, if any recovery was even possible. Now I get it.
I was talking to my husband not two weeks ago about going to N.O. this winter; my mother-in-law bought a condo there last year. I couldn't wait to see it because it was in an old mansion somewhere on St. Charles. My sister is moving to Florida next month, and I was telling her that we could meet in N.O. this winter and hang out since we have a place to stay. Now I'm kind of bummed...looks like N.O. will be a big NO while the clean-up is going on. My MIL will be going down when she can to assess the damage. She was resigned. "That's what insurance is for..." Who knows if the building is even still standing. It's probably standing in water, at the very least, today.
Then last night, my husband looks and me says, "You still want to go to N.O. this winter?"
I said yes. Of course I do. What an adventure that would be--a weird, historic, probably extremely surreal kind of adventure. This kind of trip would be up our adventure-addict alley, to be sure.
"Maybe we'll stay a couple of weeks," he added.
I can only hope. We'll see what the winter months bring for us, and for New Orleans.
I'm fighting a terrible summer cold, so all I've done since Sunday is watch Katrina coverage, non-stop. Being sick has added an nonordinary state of reality to this nonordinary hurricane event and the subsequent media freak-out that is going on. It's not good to watch so much of that. You need a psyche break from massive destruction every now and then. It is depressing, and being sick while watching all this has completely sapped my will to write lately. I hate to see people suffering from something totally out of their control--and this Katrina situation certainly is out of control on so many levels it is mind-boggling.
I used to wonder why the Southern states seemed so beat down and third-world. Now I understand. They have wrestled with HUGE demons since the area was first settled--giant storms that, in the old days, would take decades of recovery, if any recovery was even possible. Now I get it.
I was talking to my husband not two weeks ago about going to N.O. this winter; my mother-in-law bought a condo there last year. I couldn't wait to see it because it was in an old mansion somewhere on St. Charles. My sister is moving to Florida next month, and I was telling her that we could meet in N.O. this winter and hang out since we have a place to stay. Now I'm kind of bummed...looks like N.O. will be a big NO while the clean-up is going on. My MIL will be going down when she can to assess the damage. She was resigned. "That's what insurance is for..." Who knows if the building is even still standing. It's probably standing in water, at the very least, today.
Then last night, my husband looks and me says, "You still want to go to N.O. this winter?"
I said yes. Of course I do. What an adventure that would be--a weird, historic, probably extremely surreal kind of adventure. This kind of trip would be up our adventure-addict alley, to be sure.
"Maybe we'll stay a couple of weeks," he added.
I can only hope. We'll see what the winter months bring for us, and for New Orleans.
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