Thanksgiving

Photogallery After The Jump

I'm home in Louisiana for Thanksgiving. For the last couple of years, going home has been an emotionally charged experience. Luckily, each trip has been better than the one previous to it, as life has slowly returned to normal, or at least what passes for it. This holiday season, I am thankful for my family more so than ever, and am filled with gratitude for all the good things in my life.


This will be the first time that I am able to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family and extended family in my parent's home since it was severly damaged in Hurricane Rita, and I'm eagerly looking forward to it. However, I will break bread with them knowing that so many South Louisiana residents, over 2 years later, are not so lucky. It saddens me that the nation has moved on, and nobody wants to discuss Louisiana. The news channels don't mention the levees, the government corruption, the scores of displaced families, the skyrocketing rates of mental illness, the despair and hopelessness rotting what's left of the neighborhoods, or the real possibility of death for a unique culture. President Bush won't even mention her in the State of the Union, and other than flying down every 6 months for a photo-op, has provided next to nothing in regards to real leadership in the area.

My neice is mentally challenged, and she lives in a special group home in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, one of the worst hit areas of the city. Her home is one of the few that were spared from destruction. Monday night she called to tell me about her latest dreams of becoming a fashion designer. I can sense her frustration as she tells me about her many designs and how no one wants to look at her drawings. She speaks of the future with such conviction, but my mouth feels frozen because I don't know how to respond. I'm torn between my desire to encourage her and my understanding of her obvious limitations, which she has no ability to see or understand. She tells me of her neighborhood and the thousands of homeless people on the street, many living in destroyed, polluted houses. She wants to get her own place in the 9th Ward so she can clean the clothes of homeless people so that they won't be dirty, and can feel better about themselves. I tell her "that's a great idea", and I allow myself to entertain a brief daydream of this delightfully ridiculous scenario.

So many people down here need to be dreamers just to keep moving forward, but unlike my neice they know their limitations all too well. Many won't be with their families for Thanksgiving, and many more won't be in their own homes for it. Please take a moment to look at these pictures and remember that over 2 years later and in spite of the media moving on and the government being virtually silent, an apocalyptic event happened down here in the dirty brown and its not over yet. Please remember.


HELP AT HAND: Nita LaGarde, 105, leaves New Orleans’ convention center with her nurse’s granddaughter Tanisha Blevin, 5. Before coming to the shelter, they huddled in an attic and on an interstate island. Helicopters evacuated the elderly, infirm and infants. About 1,000 people remain. [Los Angeles Times dated September 4]