2:36 PM — "It's worse than they're showing on TV" My friend/co-worker S* sat in my office for a while relaying stories. A*, in her department, had family back in New Orleans. They are all safe, but they tell him that people are shooting at relief helicopters. The Superdome cannot be evacuated due to the ongoing violence (this one is on CNN.com). A whole city closer to the Gulf than NO was hasn't been reported on--why? Because there's no one left. Citizens were evacuated to the high school, and it was washed away along with everyone inside.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

--W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming"

A*'s family is pretty ingenious. They had three generators, but no gas, so they went to a gas station, which required electricity to run the pumps, and traded one of the generators for unlimited gas.

I'm going to start putting food in boxes and mailing it to "Astrodome, TX". I will not send it to the Superdome as it's likely to get stolen by looters. If you were thinking about going down to help, don't. September 11^th, 2001, brought out the best in people. August 29, 2005, brought out the worst.  ¶ permalink | 0 musings