Making Sense Out of Nonsense

I'm in the process of having my Katrina chairs reupholsetered. You might think that over a year after Katrina that it would be a new point, a great cleansing time, or a way to feel good about movving on. I am not sure that we do move on. We don't have a choice, so we pick ourselves up and get back to living. At the same time, we know there is a void, that our very innocence about our safety has been struck to the quick. When yours and the neighborhoods of nearly a million other people have been permantely altered, it's not pleasant and you don't feel resilient. You don't feel lucky, you do feel the pit where your emotions used to be. You wonder why people care deeply about those in Iraq while your life has been completely devastated. You wonder why you are so insignificant while one square mile in NYC still makes an entire country weep. Meanwhile, multiple zipcodes in southern Louisisana, yes, Louisiana is in the United States, are as devasted as either scenario. I...

I wrote the following days after Hurricane Katrina hit our lives. I think it's still important enough to republish. Sadly, I was more optimistic then than I am today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Greetings, This is a relatively quick note to let you know that we are fine. My 86 year old mother, my dog, and I evacuated from the New Orleans area on Sunday morning. We left at 5 am and wound up in Chicago at 8:30 at night. The biggest irony was that this is my week of vacation and we were going to spend it in Pass Christian, MS, just about where Katrina hit landfall. The area was underwater for awhile and I can only assume that we would not have survived had we gone there. Initially, we were going to wait out the storm in Oxford, MS, about 2 hours south of Memphis. At a Sunday 10:30 am press conference, the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, told citizens to mandatory evacuate and not to return for five days. That was enough for us; we called a good friend in Chicago and found out ...

Just read the review of the Spike Lee version of Katrina. He said telling the story of 67% of the people is good enough. Evidently, he forgot that the area deluged by the Katrina Saga is more than just the city itself. There were at least five parishes and 1.1 million people in Louisiana that felt the impact, both residually and directly. That means that he is telling the story of 350,000 or a little less than a third. A third is still an important number, but like any statistics, it's not as meaningful as the majority. Add Mississippi and the numbers continue to decrease. We should not be surprised. Like any good Hollywood director, Spike Lee tells the story he wants. Please keep in mind, however, his version is a story.

Greetings. Just came back from another Whirlwind post-Katrina trip. I went down again to NOLA with a very good friend to pick up the remainder of my stuff. Lucky for me it was from my office on the twentith floor of the World trade Center (yes, there is more than one WTC). FYI NOLA's WTC was the first one built! In any event, there was progress, if that's what you want to call it. In other words, about 80% of the debris was actually out of the street. This is not to say it's gone, it's been conveniently moved. The people down there are trying to feel better about themselves. they are not completely the walking wounded or Zombies that I saw when I was last down there in February. I feel so sorry for everyone. Regardless of your own situation down there, you are living and driving through Hell daily. It's more than a drag; more than an inconvenience: no one in America deserves to live like that. It's like being in the Middle East. And like the Middle East, no one ...

"They don't get the uniqueness of New Orleans, they don't really get what really happened during Katrina — all they saw was those awful images." MAYOR C. RAY NAGIN, of New Orleans, asked what he would say to those who were surprised at his re-election on Saturday.

the truth about New Orleans I know you come to this column to read about football, sports and otherthings. I'll get to the regular Tuesday fare, your e-mails, in a fewparagraphs. First, there's something a little more significant to discuss. I sense that we in this country have Katrina fatigue. The New York Times reported as much recently, saying that people in some of the areas thatwelcomed Katrina evacuees last September are sick of hearing about thehurricane, the flooding and the aftermath.Well, my wife and I were in a car last Wednesday that toured the hardest-hitarea of New Orleans, the Lower Ninth Ward. We worked a day at a nearbyHabitat for Humanity site on Thursday, and we toured theBiloxi/Gulfport/Long Beach/Pass Christian gulf shore area last Friday. Andlet me just say this: I can absolutely guarantee you that if you'd been inthe car with us, no matter how much you'd been hit over the head with theeffects of this disaster, you would not have Katrina fatigue.Wh...

February 1, 2006 Dr. Simkowski: Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I value thecorrespondence I get from people back home in Wisconsin, and Iwould like to take this opportunity to address your concernsregarding the rebuilding process in the Gulf Coast. As you know, when Hurricane Katrina came ashore onSunday, August 28th, its high winds and heavy rains devastatedareas along the Gulf Coast in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.In its wake, Katrina has displaced thousands of Americans,destroyed homes and businesses and left entire towns literallyunderwater. In the wake of the Hurricane, I, like many Americans, wasdisappointed with the scope and effectiveness of the FederalEmergency Relief Administration's (FEMA)'s immediateresponse. The potential for the destruction of the complex levysystem, and especially the need to protect New Orleans, wasknown on all levels of local, state, and federal government. Failureto adequately prepare for a disaster on the level ...

This is a quick note while I am in New Orleans. The weather is great, but everything else is still a struggle. We went to Biloxi yesterday to see what we could. If you weren't familiar with it, you'd assume it was just a remote, uninhabited place. Everything is gone. There is so much that needs to be done down here and I"m not sure that these people can help themselves. There are still so many of the walking wounded. I visited a friend's flooded home yesterday. They have sort of emotionally and mentally "shut down" have not done dealt with renovations yet. It's so overwhelming that I'm sure that they don't know where to start. I'm staying in Algiers Point with another friend. I've never really explored that neighborhood and didn't realize how lovely it is. The houses are sooooo pretty. I wish I could transplant this place to somewhere safe.

Hey y'all, Well, we've been back in Wisconsin for--what?--five months now. Really? Well, it'll be five at the end of the month. We are so pleased to be in one place. Can you imagine that we've been in five places in about the same amount of months. If it wasn't for those of you that have helped us, I just don't know... We've moved back into our commercial building in Stevens Point. Why didn't we do that right away you ask? It wasn't suitable for a residence so we found a contractor to make it one. 8-) NOW when we have to run away from something we at least have a place to do it! I'm sure it's hard to understand why this took this so long. Consider combining the five stages of grief with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: I was in denial that we were at the survival stage (snare drum please!). Finally, I think we both feel safe. I doubt that I said this out loud before, but I was very afraid what the stress of such catastrophic event would do t...

Dear Friends, It certainly has been a daunting road to recovery for the City of New Orleans, our member institutions, and NOETC, Inc. Faculty and staff have been displaced, learning has been disrupted, lives lost, and buildings and equipment have been ruined. At the World Trade Center, our office took very little damage. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina eliminated most of our external equipment, satellite dishes, transmitters and towers. As to the satellite dish, and various EBS antennas, damage was significant. While site surveys have shown all of the transmit antennas, located at the various university campuses, are still in tact, there has been varying degrees of damage which will need to be repaired. This damage ranges from radio boxes inundated with water, to broken waveguides. Antennas at the NOETC facility (WTC rooftop) did not fare well. All receive antennas at that location sustained significant damage, with the exception of Tulane University’s antenna. The steerable receive a...