8/29/07

I'd just about decided I'd imagined it, that Sunday afternoon of August 28th in 2005, that I'd imagined hearing Ray Nagin say what he said that day on the television. If anybody else has mentioned it, then I missed their mention, but I was so sure I heard him say it and it was such a shocking thing to hear, coming from the mayor of a major American city, that I couldn't imagine I imagined it. Joshua Clark heard it too though, and finally, when I read it in Heart Like Water, it was right there on page 14, and I knew I hadn't made it up:

"The Mayor told us to get an ax to chop our way out through the roof after the water traps us in the attic, in case we're still alive at that point."

I remember seeing him, whose name I couldn't get quite right still, while I was sitting in the living room flipping back and forth between the channels that were all focused on Katrina as she filled the Gulf, simultaneously and compulsively jumping back and forth between Wunderground.com and NOAA.com on the hot little silver Mac in my lap, hanging on every new discussion, but Nagin's words made me jump. An American mayor just told the citizens of his city to keep an ax handy in case they end up trapped in the attic by rising water.

It was about that time, Sister Bel whined, "How long are we going to have to watch this?" and I replied, "Until it's over," having no idea that two years later, we'd still be watching it. Now, there are new voices, though, to which we listen, and they're speaking out, with important remembrances and views into the future.

Cousin Pat at Hurricane Radio, in Two Years Passed, digs back into our blogs and links to what we wrote then. Reading Maitri's Day 0 gave me chills, after just having read her Day 730, in which she points us to an excellent Forbes article that says, "Don't ever get over New Orleans. It's your tragedy too". Oyster took pictures before leaving to document what it looked like "before". None of us could have ever predicted just how much it was all about to change. Scout at First Draft has, in this post, paired two short videos, shot from a car on a drive into the Lower 9, one last weekend and the other eighteen months ago. They're to be watched simultaneously. She's also posted her video of Tim Ruppert's presentation last Saturday detailing the state of the levees and the plan in place. MD Filter puts it in numbers ($$). There's more. Dangerblond has published Councilmember Shelley Midura's letter to the president. Michael Homan has written about the blessings that have come to his family in the wake of the flood. Here you can find assorted video Ride Hamilton shot with and of Joshua Clark as they explored the area after the storm and the flood, a story that's still unfolding, that he continued to shoot through last Saturday at Rising Tide. This 8/29, I will likely do what I did last year and head to Troy Gilbert's Gulfsails and read again his "Top 16" posts from the storm and the immediate aftermath.

President Bush sleeps in New Orleans after his special dinner at Dooky Chase's. They weren't open the day before and won't be open the day after (they say "in a few weeks" and we're hopeful for them), but they were open for Bush and his entourage and I hope he got an earful. I know his handlers make sure to keep him away from those who disagree, but I hope that at least once while he's there, he notices a flag flying upside down somewhere:

 Flag by Greg Peters, Suspect Device

Peace, out, y'all.