One year after Katrina, and I won’t be doing a big round up post as I had hoped. But the reasons why are indicative of what this year has been like. We returned home from Dallas about two weeks after Katrina and began working on the damage to our home, my mother’s home, and helping friends. We were on the “Katrina diet.”
We’ve been working almost non-stop at our regular jobs, because of the labor shortage around here. My business has prospered, and the Man Of The House has more overtime than he can handle. We’ve had a couple of sick days, but since Katrina we’ve only taken three vacation days. We’ve worked at least one day, and usually two, for almost every weekend since Katrina. Church is now on Saturday, because our church building was destroyed and we’re sharing facilities with another church. A lot of churches around here have closed, when people need spiritual support and comfort more than ever. So Saturday is the new Sunday (when we work only half a day) and Sunday is a regular work day more often than not.
In spite of all the coverage of Nagin’s unfortunate “chocolate city” remarks (song is here), we are not nearly as “chocolate” as we used to be. We are far more “flan” colored. We have a massive influx of illegal aliens. Day labor centers abound, and they don’t just provide roofers. Emergency rooms overflow. The Daughter Of The House was rear-ended by a DUI non-English speaker on Friday night. I have no way of knowing whether he was here legally, of course. Perhaps, because he was either drunk or under the influence, he just reverted to Spanish, but on other occasions can speak English just fine. Perhaps he just forgot his license at home. I’m just relieved that he was taken to jail. He won’t stay there of course. Even if he is here illegally, he’ll be released. Aside from “catch and release,” we just don’t have the jail space to keep anyone but the most hardened criminals. His car was totaled, so at least he will be hindered from driving. For a while. Hope springs eternal, and all that jazz.
The music that is such a big part of our culture is coming back. As are the neighborhoods, slowly, but it is happening. No thanks to the federal funds we’ve been promised, which have been held up by our local leadership, NOT by any lack of action by Congress or the President. The progress we’ve made has been led by churches and civic organizations, which is as it should be. The initial payment of $6 billion was approved last December and held up by locals who wanted to wait for the other $4 billion.
Leading up to the planned one year anniversary post, we had quite a little panic about Ernesto. Everyone kicked it into high gear and started getting ready to bug out if necessary. The old complacent “ride it out” mentality has suffered, and that’s a good thing. And as it turns out, the timing of the 17th St. Canal break which destroyed my church and tens of thousands of businesses and homes may have saved thousands of lives. Paul explains in “The Katrina Video Congress Didn’t Want You To See.”
It’s been a year of confusion, hard work, stress, emotional outbreaks, growth as a family, growth in our faith, and finding blessings where the world couldn’t possibly imagine they might be found. A good year. A blessed year.
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OTA – Why I believe in re-incarnation
A friend emailed me this photo proof of a reincarnated Mother Theresa seen here ministering to a patient.
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Earthquake detector
In 1967 my brother and I visited the most beautiful country in the world: Croatia, although at the time it was called Yugoslavia.
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Putting God in a Shoebox
An old saying (perhaps too-often cited in e-mail from well-meaning friends and family members who don’t realize that even “God Mail” can qualify as spam) reminds people “not to tell your God how big your storm is,” but to …
As if the horror of the Katrina disaster wasn’t bad enough, a wave scam artists, large and small, have engaged in a wide range of frauds to steal FEMA monies, thereby diverting the monies from the people who really need it. People should know that if they are aware of someone defrauding FEMA, they can personally file a claim to recover triple the amount defrauded, and they will typically get to keep up to 30% of the money recovered by the government, as a reward. To learn how, anyone can go to http://www.federalfraud.com. If you simply want to report FEMA fraud, you can call the FEMA fraud hotline, which can be found posted on the internet.
Good luck to all who are continuing in their efforts to rebuild their lives.
Very truly yours
A Campanelli
Nice spam.
I bet you’re busy today posting that all over. But I’ll leave it because it’s probably the most efficient way to get fraud reported.
Caveat emptor, to readers – “up to” 30% of the money “recovered” – and the lawyers need to get paid too – in other words unless you know some dirt about Shaw or some big player like that, don’t get your hopes up for any kind of big payout.