In my biased opinion, this piece on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was very, very good. It’s easy to forget New Orleans if you’re not actually in it, right? I’m not going to give you any platitudes about poverty and disaster, you can say them in your head already. Just, you know, let’s all pause for a minute and take off our various head garments, to commemorate the beauty and terror of that city, and lives lost, and lives that are trying to keep on keeping on, with our without adequate federal help.
P.S. The New Orleans Bingo! Show – for your pleasure.
Natalia A. 
I had the privilege to visit New Orleans in the 19990’s, prior to Hurricane Katrina. It was so sad to see the devastation when the hurricane blew through. Ever more saddening is the lack of rebuilding in some areas. I understand prioritizing tourist areas to bring people/money back into the city because you cannot rebuild the city all at once. But it is shocking to me how many areas have not even received any help after all these years.
I love New Orleans. It feels like home to me. There really is no way to explain it. And I watched the levees break and saw NO washing away and people drowning and begging and I just. . .being here, right here when the devistation hit, it’s more real than for other people. I was working at the newspaper when Katrina hit and it was my job, all day long, to update our website with photographs of the damage. It was just. . .other people got to look away from it. They got to get on the phones and make calls and create some distance for themselves. But I was looking. The whole time. I was watching and I was posting photos and trying not to cry and trying to get people to hear, to see, to help and they just didn’t come. For days, they just didn’t come.