the eye of the storm
today my lj friend ketzl posted this entry.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ketzl/150399.html?nc=6
in her replies to one comment she stated:
The way I see it, no one in power really understood what would happen when New Orleans flooded.
i replied to her comment with this:
from a june 20, 2005 entry in my journal:
new orleans in the summer saps all energy from you. aside from the heat, it rains almost every afternoon and the humidity is just a killer. there are also, of course, the city's well-known political corruption and financial problems as well as horrid crime. still, there's something about new orleans that makes it really hard for people who are from here to pull up and leave. it just gets under your skin. nicholas cage just bought a house in my neighborhood (anne rice's last residence) and sarah jessica parker is renting a place just a couple of blocks from my place. the thing about new orleans is that all these mansions and huge victorian homes are intermingled in neighborhoods where everyday people live. i really love my neighborhood. you never know who you'll run into at the coffeeshop on the corner or at the dog park. and it's got all these really neat old charming houses. i live in a place that was built in the 1880's with hardwood floors and like 10 foot ceilings, and i love it, except for the huge utility bills.
of course, it could all be wiped away in a flash considering we're below sea level, surrounded by water, and always worrying about the next big hurricane. oh well, laissez les bon temps roulez.
don't think that we in new orleans didn't know that the city would not survive a direct hit from a major hurricane. it's been written about and talked about for years here. but politics always seemed to prevent anything much from being done. i am one of the lucky ones who got out. i have a dry place, food, and water. and today i even have power. my apartment is four blocks from the much in the news convention center. i'm sure i've lost everything there. but still i feel so exceedingly lucky and grateful for what i have. i have no idea how many friends i may have lost. for days just outside of the city here we've been spared the images and national news stories because we had no power. now i'm flooded with them and just trying to wrap my head around some things. at first i was feeling this sort of shame for my city over many of the opinions re the looting and lawlessness. now i feel mostly indignation and anger re the botched relief.
but don't think we didn't know that the aftermath of such a hurricane would be apocalyptic. we knew. we just lived in a sort of denial, hoping it wouldn't happen in our lifetimes. sort of the same way a lot of this country lives in denial regarding how vulnerable we all are as long as we have the "leadership" we do.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ketzl/150399.html?nc=6
in her replies to one comment she stated:
The way I see it, no one in power really understood what would happen when New Orleans flooded.
i replied to her comment with this:
from a june 20, 2005 entry in my journal:
new orleans in the summer saps all energy from you. aside from the heat, it rains almost every afternoon and the humidity is just a killer. there are also, of course, the city's well-known political corruption and financial problems as well as horrid crime. still, there's something about new orleans that makes it really hard for people who are from here to pull up and leave. it just gets under your skin. nicholas cage just bought a house in my neighborhood (anne rice's last residence) and sarah jessica parker is renting a place just a couple of blocks from my place. the thing about new orleans is that all these mansions and huge victorian homes are intermingled in neighborhoods where everyday people live. i really love my neighborhood. you never know who you'll run into at the coffeeshop on the corner or at the dog park. and it's got all these really neat old charming houses. i live in a place that was built in the 1880's with hardwood floors and like 10 foot ceilings, and i love it, except for the huge utility bills.
of course, it could all be wiped away in a flash considering we're below sea level, surrounded by water, and always worrying about the next big hurricane. oh well, laissez les bon temps roulez.
don't think that we in new orleans didn't know that the city would not survive a direct hit from a major hurricane. it's been written about and talked about for years here. but politics always seemed to prevent anything much from being done. i am one of the lucky ones who got out. i have a dry place, food, and water. and today i even have power. my apartment is four blocks from the much in the news convention center. i'm sure i've lost everything there. but still i feel so exceedingly lucky and grateful for what i have. i have no idea how many friends i may have lost. for days just outside of the city here we've been spared the images and national news stories because we had no power. now i'm flooded with them and just trying to wrap my head around some things. at first i was feeling this sort of shame for my city over many of the opinions re the looting and lawlessness. now i feel mostly indignation and anger re the botched relief.
but don't think we didn't know that the aftermath of such a hurricane would be apocalyptic. we knew. we just lived in a sort of denial, hoping it wouldn't happen in our lifetimes. sort of the same way a lot of this country lives in denial regarding how vulnerable we all are as long as we have the "leadership" we do.