This entry was posted on
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 at
1:36 pm and is filed
under Humanity.

No doubt you’re aware of KatrinaBlog.org, but I thought you might also be interested in some of the following weblogs, all of which are written by people who – until a week or so ago – used to live in or near New Orleans. I’ve highlighted a few key posts as well:

NO Bull: New Orleans Bulletin of Politics and Government
Highlighted post – Those Wedding Bells (Part 5 of what the author describes as ‘an extended road trip’)

Your Right Hand Thief
Highlighted post – Beautiful mind: My privileged family is in Florida right now, but we’re not going to stay. We will move back and rebuild in New Orleans. Like Blake says, “New Orleans 2.0“!

Blake Haney
Highlighted post – See above. Here, he also links to Eight Big Lies About Katrina

Hobson’s Choice (by James R MacLean)
Highlighted post – Reflections on Hurricane Katrina-3: I want to stay away from this high octane polemics because I think it’s contributed to the refusal of netizens to reject statements entirely on their immediate, transitory ideological implications. However, it’s been extremely difficult to avoid being drawn into this polemics because of the debate over FEMA’s response to Katrina has encompassed every domestic and foreign policy debate there is is.

(Note – James also features some incredibly detailed factual posts on the hurricane and the overall issue of poverty. AFAICT, James has yet to ponder publicly on his strangely prophetic choice of web host.)

Looka
Highlighted post – No permalinks, unfortunately, but the author links to this account of Gretna police holding hurricane survivors back at gunpoint and had this to say about his own situation on Wednesday August 31: I’m … numb. When I’m not numb I’m a sobbing wreck. Fortunately, everyone’s keeping me busy; my family, spread out between Lafayette, Shreveport and Birmingham, have difficulty contacting each other but seem to have a relatively easy time contacting me, so I’m a messaging hub and Internet looker-upper. It’s good to be busy, and I’ve taken leave from work until next week, ’cause I have to confess that I really couldn’t give a crap about a single thing going on there right now, and that’s not fair to them.

Harmony St. Charles
Highlighted post – New Beginning Or Next Chapter?: I’m trying to decide what to do with this blog and it isn’t easy. Memory lane is way too painful a place to visit right now. As we have no plans to return to New Orleans the chronicle of my life there has abruptly come to an end.

Black Sundae
Highlighted post – Three cheers for the “nanny state!”: When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, and innocent people were trapped under the wreckage, they were not left to claw their own way out in the name of some corruption of “self-reliance.” Government employees rescued them because that’s what governments are for. That is the very least one can expect from a government, and ours has just failed miserably at every single level.

unapologetic.com
Highlighted post – Sunday, September 04, 2005: nearly a week after I left new orleans, I’m realizing very quickly that although I knew this was going to be a cat. 4 storm, I didn’t pack for it. I guess I -like everyone else- didn’t realize what exactly that meant. That being said, I’m certainly not in need of anything – but I find myself with an interesting assortment of material posessions which at least until I can go back and do some salvage qualify as all I’ve got…. (list follows)… what a freak. how many people left new orleans with absolutely nothing – how many didn’t even get out – and i here i escaped with my japanese art films. *sigh*

Sporked.net
Highlighted post – Today, Let’s try not to cry.: And I really mean it this time. Crying only gets you so far, and there is so much work to be done. My parents come back today to start cleanup on their home. They will be staying with us for the duration. Tuesday supposedly we close on the house, but the evil developer is trying to sell it from under us, and I really think it’s going to get uglier before it gets better. There is this crazy post-Katrina real estate boom here in Hammond, and he knows he can sell it for much much more right now. And that is what he’s trying to do.

Sturtle.com
Highlighted post – Sunday, September 04, 2005: (Imagine) everyone – everyone – for as far as you can see, everyone you’d encounter in the course of a normal day. Imagine all of them gone. No one is where he or she would normally be. Each and every one of those lives disrupted, on hold, indefinitely. No one you know is living a normal life, at home, comfortable. See what I mean? Mind-blowing.

Home of the Green Baron
Highlighted post – I am alive

Babies are Fireproof
Highlighted post – Marksville: It’s Tuesday evening, and I wanted to post about one of the shelters here in Marksville, the one in Garan, Inc. This was a garment factory until a few years ago, when the work moved south to Mexico. On Friday, my friend Paige and I visited and talked to Roland Scallan, who’s running the place. It’s not a state-run shelter. As far as I can see, it’s a building owned by the Marksville sheriff, T-Bill, and Roland was supposed to be in charge of a new communications company T-Bill plans to set up there…. Roland is a retired banker. He has gray hair and a tan. The look in his eyes is kind of wild. He’s dressed in a polo shirt and khakis; his name tag gives his name but no job title, because he doesn’t have one. “I’m not Red Cross, I’m nothing. Not social services. I’m a civilian who’s become the person in charge here.”

They Have Their Own Thoughts
Highlighted post – bootstraps: Yesterday, or a week ago, time has so lost relevance, some woman in some line I was standing in, said she doesn’t feel sympathy for those people who ended up in the Superdome because there were buses evacuating people and they chose not to go and so they caused their own problem. That’s another one of those “if those people would just pull themselves up by the bootstraps” sentiments. At the moment I was too numb to react but as I think on it, I get sicker and sicker about it. I know she’s just ignorant. I know she doesn’t understand that these are not people who could be leading middle class lives if only they’d do a little something for themselves. Like it’s easy or something.

The Blog of GayGayBrad Zippernut
Highlighted post – Katrina: Chapter One: After checking on the condition of the livingroom, I discovered that my diningroom window was breathing like something out of a horror film. The glass was breaking and pieces of my window were flying away. I frantically grabbed another shower curtain, some large, heavy cardboard and a 2X4. I nailed the hell out of the materials cursing to God and crying as the wind and rain beat me in the face. I then grabbed my bedding and went into the bathroom where I had no windows. Somehow, I eventualy fell asleep but was awakened by the sound of light rain. It was calm and unlike the hurricane raging outside. I opened the bathroom door to my bedroom and found that the water was coming through my ceiling.

If you find any more, do let me know and I’ll add them to the list.