SIX WEEKS AFTER KATRINA
Guest Blogger Becky (my lovely wife)

I’m still watching Katrina recovery from the sidelines.

The continuous news has mostly stopped, so now my observations are live and in person.

My formerly quiet, bland, six-story atrium office building feels more like a downtown Houston bank tower. Clear Channel Radio occupies the fifth floor, including the hallways. On all floors, people conduct meetings on the balconies, and dodge piles of boxes that apparently won’t fit into temporary quarters. An entire new batch of smokers breaks the recently-passed “25 feet away from the door” rule. I hear conversations on the now-exhausted elevators (broken three times in two weeks). They touch on living situations (two and three families in one house), commutes (two hours each way), and grief (“I hate this, I hate this whole situation.”) Locals grumble about traffic and lack of parking spaces.

The traffic is bad, but no worse than trying to penetrate the Houston Galleria, or negotiating Manhattan’s West Side Highway.

Stores are struggling to keep up with demand. Bread, fresh produce, soft drinks and cat litter are frequently depleted; although beer and wine are plentiful (this is Louisiana, after all.) I went to the dreaded mall last Thursday afternoon, and it felt like three days before Xmas.

Evacuees at the convention center here are SLOWLY moving into FEMA trailer lots (picture hundreds of small RV’s on a bed of dirt). Compared to a cot in a 1000-person campout, I suppose it’s an improvement, but I continue to be outraged at the indignity and difficulty so many still suffer at the hands of unprepared and overwhelmed governmental entities.

The bright side: Baton Rouge is definitely more interesting with a new population, just as Ron predicted early in this event. So long (for now) dual community of spoiled LSU students and prissy yupsters; the mélange of New Orleans people have added exactly the spice Baton Rouge was lacking (for the moment).

Another bright note: my friend Debbie flew into Baton Rouge today, and made an initial day-trip to her house in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood. She called to say it was better than expected, and her plans are still a “go” to return home Wednesday. She has electricity and water; her house survived, and has not been significantly harmed. A few neighbors are there, including one family with kids. And she has a hopeful attitude.

Imagine living in Pakistan. I still haven’t processed the latest disaster, and likely won’t.

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