Dear Reader -
I'm not really the religious-type, but even a paegan like myself will occassionally cross his hands and close his eyes and face Mecca when the situation presents itself. Tonight was one of those nights.
Katrina is heading toward New Orleans, and there doesn't seem much likelihood of the city evading her. Having lived there for three years, I've experienced several hurricane scares, but none of them severe enough for me to evacuate. I stayed in town and watched them take clockwise-turns to Alabama and the panhandle of Florida, drinking egregious amounts of beer and whiskey and dancing in the hard rain and moderate wind as the serious stuff was striking to the east. The parties were carefree and endless, lasting until nine, ten in the morning. During them, I frequently recited one of my favorite quotes from Woody Allen's "September" : "When God comes, I'll be ready. Pass me the vodka."Not that there wasn't damage. I saw my favorite tree on Perrier - an enormous, savage oak seemingly older than time, it's roots breaking and pushing up the concrete sidewalks built around it - fall onto the roof of a newly renovated house at the corner of State Street. My apartment - a lower level shithole with 6-1/2 foot ceilings and an incurable flea infestation - was mildy flooded after a hurricane-turned-tropical storm, and my bed (sans frame) and several personal items were ruined as a result. But the brunt of the storm hit our neighboring states, and the threat of total submersion was alleviated. So we drank and laughed and drank and laughed, enjoying our vacation days and loving our lives.
These kinds of parties will no doubt take place during Katrina, but I'm not so sure they are going to be so joyous. Instead, I have a feeling most eyes will be on The Weather Channel...until the power goes out. I've spent most of my evening on the phone with my loved ones in New Orleans, and most are currently driving along I-10 to get to Arkansas or Texas or Indianapolis or Lafayette, Louisiana. But a handful are staying there to see things out.
And for this, I cross my hands, and bow my head, and...
New Orleans - all Girls Gone Wild! and boob jokes aside - is a city of rich culture and limitless personality. It is one of the only major cities in the United States that has yet to become Starbucked and Applebeed to run-of-the-mill. It is also one of the poorest cities in the country, and if this hurricane strikes the way the meteorologists say it will, the damage will extend far beyond lost incomes and broken buildings. It has the capability to destroy an identity.
The city is the least-landlocked city in the country, sandwiched between the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, and the Gulf of Mexico. Category Four Hurricane? French Quarter and Central Business District are under 16-20 feet of water. Some of my friends will be drinking on the third-floor of a brick apartment complex when Katrina makes her entrance. Pass the vodka.
Posted by mcl at August 28, 2005 02:52 AM