3+ months after Katrina ...

These are pictures my friend Tami in New Orleans just took. JUST took.

Could somebody explain to me how, 3+ months after Hurricane Katrina, this city is still in shambles?

I understand that not everything will be all fixed up and rebuilt by now - but why is there still garbage and debris everywhere?

And why are basic services - like hospitals - not being helped out? Her husband Ahmed lost his job as a lab tech in the hospital (where he was trapped for 8 days after the hurricane) because the hospital closed and didn't reopen. (We met in Jordan - where he's from - where they took a break before returning to New Orleans. No, actually, we met in Egypt but we were all coming from Jordan and then hung out in Jordan when I returned.)

Does our federal government REALLY not have the resources to help with New Orleans?

Hm ... we have thus far spent $227 BILLION dollars on invading a sovereign nation (and killed 30,000 - 100,000 CIVILIANS there) destroying its infrastructure and creating terrorism movements ... but we can't pay unemployed people in New Orleans to clean up their city??

On a much lighter note - there are perks to living behind Stater Bros. parking lot. I see the Oroweat woman is here, so I can go over and get my favorite - their 100% whole wheat.

Vacation is suiting me well, though last night I dreamt about my students and woke up with a seating chart in mind. I hurt my back on Saturday and have been hobbling about ever since - hopefully it heals up soon.

The book count, well, I have 30 books to read over vacation and I've read the beginning of about 6. Having a hard time finishing anything, especially since I can't sit in a comfortable position. Especially good? Wolcott's study of a Kwakiutl Village and Mark Huband's The Liberian Civil War. Those at least I will finish today - and continue on with Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors We Live By and Bellah et al's Habits of the Heart (a dense, long book - though interesting except I don't care all that much about American culture).

What's really distracting me? Dayton is in Liberia. And this is good, because this is what he needs to do, but I am beyond worried and scared for him. It doesn't help to see sites like this about the Liberian civil war. And in his last email to me, before he left, he brought to my attention that George Weah - the soccer star who almost won the election - is calling on the youth to protest the president (Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf). There was violent rioting in the capital, Monrovia, last week.

So as much as all these books and websites say the conflict is over, I have my doubts. So do the Liberian refugees, who are in no hurry to return home. About 10% of the population was killed - and not just killed. Tortured, raped, disemboweled, decapitated, and organs eaten. It has been a horrific war in so many ways. I don't know how a people moves past that.