I was invited to write another article for EP Lab Digest, and while I got my copies of the print version a few weeks ago, the online version just came out. I apologize in advance for the trite bit at the end, but I was under time pressure and had a hard time figuring out how to wrap it up.
Category Archives: Katrina
Homeward Bound to NOLA
Tonight I’m flying back home to New Orleans. Before I sleep I’ll have my feet back on southern soil and be breathing that southern air. Technically Maryland is “the South” but it sure ain’t the Deep South.
K-Day
Not to be dramatic, but it has been 365 days since all of this (and so much more) happened:
The whole set of photos is here.
Many positive things have actually come of the Katrinacane, but one stands out and affects every aspect of my life: I have learned in the most visceral way that everything really is impermanent. Attachment to the apparent permanence of things brings suffering. Katrina helped everyone become a little less attached to their things, their way of life.
Friday odds and ends
- I took the oral portion of my qualifying exam yesterday. I think I passed, but I won’t know until Monday.
- I’m playing “phone hookey” today — I forgot my cell phone at home.
- In the Friday round of “Does our building have water pressure today?”, we win — there’s water pressure. This means we can do fun things like using the restrooms on the fourth floor rather than the first, and using the sink in lab, for instance, to wash dishes.
Demolition of flooded homes in New Orleans has begun
A lot of those homes, including my former apartment, might be turned into parks since they’re not in a good place should another hurricane hit.
City starts to raze homes hit by Katrina – Americas – International Herald Tribune
It was a moment of fearful anticipation for New Orleans, the first demolitions of flooded homes in the six months since Hurricane Katrina. Three were razed Monday in a process that was long delayed by legal challenges, physical obstacles, and the difficulty in getting money to search for bodies that almost certainly remain in some of the houses.
Army Corps of Engineers officials estimate millions of cubic yards of debris from demolished houses will have been removed in Orleans Parish when the process ends, roughly a year from now, representing perhaps as many as 25,000 houses. About 120 houses, nearly all in the Lower 9th Ward, are set for immediate demolition.