Remembering on the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina


Four years later, and so much still undone. Some damage from the Loma Prieta Quake of '89 took almost 10 years to repair. Will NOLA be repaired and rejuvenated within a decade?

Today one of BlogHer's contributing editors, Nordette, writes about New Orleans, four years later. Nordette, a native of NOLA, but wasn't living there during Katrina. She moved back there in 2007, and continues to struggle to give full voice to the experience of watching this city try to rebuild. The post has both powerful personal anecdotes, but also a treasure trove of links to more information and helpful resources.

Please also check out Megan Jordan's post on Velveteen Mind about living in Mississippi, lest we forget the Gulf Coast suffered enormously too.

As I've been doing on 9/11 for several years now, today I went back and reviewed my own blog archives form this time.You can see so clearly that the Hurricane and its impact seemed bad, but manageable...at first. The Hurricane hit on August 29th, and while i did have a post about donation options in those last few days of August, it wasn't until three days later, on September 1st, that I can see the trajectory of the tragedy unfold.

On September 1, 2005:
Please Help If You Can, the Stories Are Horrifying - A post where I provide links to some of the hellish stories starting to emerge, including form the Superdome. And where we stat to hear of families being made to abandon their pets or not be evacuated at all.

September 1st was also the day I simply published the lyrics to U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name", because they seemed so eerily appropriate.

On September 2, 2005
I pretty much lose my shit in Priorities: Eradicating Looters? Nah. Eradicating Family Pets? You Betcha! I find it interesting that I used to phrases in this post that became common phrases on the 2008 campaign trail. One is "You Betcha", of course, but within the post itself I say "Si se puede". (Yes we can.)

By mid-afternoon on the 2nd, after watching hours, I'm sure, of coverage, my shit is still completely lost in In Case You're Not Upset Enough: Must-read Links on Katrina - Lots and lots of links. Remember Anderson Cooper losing *his* shit on air?

September 4, 2005:
I guess someone was giving me shit about my rage, or I just got tired of reading some zen-filled posts, because I wrote this missive: Rage Can Be Helpful, Shock and Shame Can Be Helpful...They Catalyze Change -

I still believe that.
I still believe you have to know who to blame to know how to fix.
I still believe you can't always *just* be the change you want to see...sometimes you have to angrily insist that others change.
I still believe anger can be healthy. Outrage can be effective.

What do you remember about Hurricane Katrina?

Posted: Sun - August 30, 2009 at 09:13 AM       EmailFeedback

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