Comments on: Dispatches two years out: leaving and coming home. http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/ notes from the crossroads of mother and father Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:16:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: RaJen http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36340 RaJen Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:03:42 +0000 http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36340 Thank you for the rememberence of Katrina. We get so desensitized by the constant travesty that such once heavy losses become muted background noise. But it's still there - the pain, the destruction, the rebirth. I lived in New Orleans for 4 years, 2 years of grad school, and 2 years thereafter. Many friends lost everything. SEveral left and never came back. Several have stayed and are moving on with their lives. All, including those survivors whom I had the blessing of tending to at the Convention center in Houston as a volunteer post-evacuation, are "family" to me, held close to my heart. Thank you for the rememberence of Katrina. We get so desensitized by the constant travesty that such once heavy losses become muted background noise. But it’s still there - the pain, the destruction, the rebirth. I lived in New Orleans for 4 years, 2 years of grad school, and 2 years thereafter. Many friends lost everything. SEveral left and never came back. Several have stayed and are moving on with their lives. All, including those survivors whom I had the blessing of tending to at the Convention center in Houston as a volunteer post-evacuation, are “family” to me, held close to my heart.

]]> By: LesbianDad http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36332 LesbianDad Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:31:19 +0000 http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36332 Thank you, Vikki. I hadn't. Just posted it for today as an <a href="http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/30/apb-sign-the-gulf-coast-recovery-bill-of-2007/" rel="nofollow">All Points Bulletin</a>. After I signed the petition. Thank you, Vikki. I hadn’t. Just posted it for today as an All Points Bulletin. After I signed the petition.

]]> By: Vikki http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36327 Vikki Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:08:43 +0000 http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36327 This morning, I was sent the link to this video: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/60990/ I'm sure you have probably seen it but it is a powerful little piece. A powerful little piece to add to your powerful little piece here... This morning, I was sent the link to this video:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/60990/

I’m sure you have probably seen it but it is a powerful little piece. A powerful little piece to add to your powerful little piece here…

]]> By: LesbianDad http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36325 LesbianDad Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:10:39 +0000 http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36325 Vaya con dios, Alicia. My sister's family's battle (or the first chapter of it) took place so far away from the Mississippi Delta, and was just closing as Katrina made landfall. But I've tried many times to imagine what it would feel like, to extend the feeling of our family's trauma and loss outward across an entire city and geographical region, and couple it with widespread physical devastation and a sense of betrayal by the government. I can't imagine. Vaya con dios, Alicia. My sister’s family’s battle (or the first chapter of it) took place so far away from the Mississippi Delta, and was just closing as Katrina made landfall. But I’ve tried many times to imagine what it would feel like, to extend the feeling of our family’s trauma and loss outward across an entire city and geographical region, and couple it with widespread physical devastation and a sense of betrayal by the government. I can’t imagine.

]]> By: Alicia http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36316 Alicia Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:49:11 +0000 http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36316 Thank you for the picture, links and stories. I'm heading home to New Orleans tomorrow, 9 months after the last trip back. Many places are looking good again, but that only serves to make the punch in the gut even more severe when you round *that* corner and see that nothing has changed, or search for *that* favorite haunt that is long gone, or hear the about fighting that people still have to do, just to get by. Worse than that? Hearing that same fight go out of their tone and seeing the flicker go out of their eyes. Needing to catch our breath, indeed. Thank you for the picture, links and stories. I’m heading home to New Orleans tomorrow, 9 months after the last trip back. Many places are looking good again, but that only serves to make the punch in the gut even more severe when you round *that* corner and see that nothing has changed, or search for *that* favorite haunt that is long gone, or hear the about fighting that people still have to do, just to get by. Worse than that? Hearing that same fight go out of their tone and seeing the flicker go out of their eyes. Needing to catch our breath, indeed.

]]> By: LesbianDad http://www.lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36270 LesbianDad Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:15:21 +0000 http://lesbiandad.net/2007/08/29/dispatches-two-years-out-leaving-and-coming-home/#comment-36270 Some further reading, about Katrina at two. • Ari Kelman, in AlterNet: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/katrina/61003/?page=1'" rel="nofollow">Hurricane Katrina: Who's to Blame for this Unnatural Disaster</a> (book reviews). • Walter Mosley, in The Nation: <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070910/mosley" rel="nofollow">Shouting Underwater</a> (heartfelt commentary). • <a href="http://blog.nola.com/twoyearslater/">Katrina: Two Years Later</a>, coverage by the Pulitzer Prizewinning New Orleans Times-Picayune. <font color=#999999>[added the next day]</font> Some further reading, about Katrina at two.

• Ari Kelman, in AlterNet: Hurricane Katrina: Who’s to Blame for this Unnatural Disaster (book reviews).

• Walter Mosley, in The Nation: Shouting Underwater (heartfelt commentary).

• Katrina: Two Years Later, coverage by the Pulitzer Prizewinning New Orleans Times-Picayune. [added the next day]

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