Life Goes On

Last weekend I was in Wisconsin. It was great. The weather was perfect, although clearly my time in an un-air conditioned house in New Orleans has changed my perspective on what that means. Flying back Wednesday morning, there were large dark masses lurking in the waters of Lake Ponchartrain and Lake Borgne. I figured, however, that they weren't oil since I hadn't heard reports of such large amounts of oil sneaking underwater all the way up to New Orleans. What I learned later that day, however, is that while those masses probably weren't oil, 1,000 pounds of tar balls had been pulled out of the lake in the preceding days.
So as this catastrophe continues and people start to really have anxiety about what will happen to them, life in New Orleans does go on. This evening I went to a fundraising benefit for The Mother-n-Law Lounge. The owner of the Lounge had announced that it was going to close several weeks ago, prompting an outcry from aficionados across the land. Indeed, friends of mine traveled from North Carolina to be at this event. OK. They do have ulterior motives: they are making an audio documentary about blues musicians in Southern Louisiana, and this piece will become a segment in that project.
In any case, the point is that, in spite of the ongoing train wreck that threatens everyone in the region, parts of life do continue as before. One woman even told me yesterday that since the situation is ongoing, she deals with all the issues facing her Native American tribe with less urgency now than she did two months ago. If you're in it for the long haul, you have to be able to survive the haul.
It is also hurricane season, and so, even as life goes on, people ask themselves very seriously whether they will be able to continue living here if, for example, there is a storm surge that raises water levels 10-20 feet and carries all the oil and crap from the Gulf to our roofs and front doors. Rebuilding a house that the wind has knocked around is one thing, rebuilding a house that has been soaked in oil AND knocked around is another.
Has anyone mentioned the "firecane" scenario to y'all? Y'know, where a spark during a hurricane lights all the oil in the Gulf and fire and sucks all the air out of the surrounding area while scorching it? New Orleanians definitely have an affinity for dark humor, but given the circumstances, it doesn't seem like such a bad coping mechanism.
Having spent months working on a story about the issues facing homeowners who applied for help from the Road Home program, I doubt that any real changes will be made to the way that emergencies are handled. The Road Home was a program created to help homeowners rebuild after hurricanes Katrina & Rita. It is a well-known disaster of its own. What I mean about doubting changes is that the state of Louisiana outsourced a lot of work to private companies who had a profit motive in their rebuilding assistance. I cringe at the thought of seeing a repeat, perhaps around different issues and not homeownership, with this spill.
Anyway, as all of this goes on, I'm actually doing well. There's a market for my journalism all of a sudden, and, twisted as it is, that means that I am getting to do work that I enjoy and hopefully sharing some important information.