Message in a Minute Collection

In an earlier Message in a Minute, I related the encounter with our
first blizzard of the season in southern Virginia deeming it to be such
a quirk of fate. However, the quirky weather continues as we drove
through heavy rains in Louisiana, ice storms in Texas and caught up
with the news covering the damaging storms in California (wiping out
the citrus crops) in Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and then overseas in
the UK—bringing the advent of global warming to mind.

The aftermath of Katrina was foremost in our minds as we were drawn to
the southern most reaches of Louisiana and New Orleans, still in the
throes of recovery. The tourist areas are functioning almost as if
nothing interrupted the flow. The residential communities are in a
variety of stages of recovery, repair and re-invention. The contrasts
were astonishing.

The French Quarter appears as good as new; at least it did on Jan.
15th, Martin Luther King Day, a very rainy night. The crowds were
thin, but all of the venues were open for business and looked fresh and
unscathed to the untrained eye. Our favorite restaurant, Oliviers was
busy. Perhaps we couldn't see the "Band-Aids" that still held the
Quarter together.

Beignets are again available daily in the market, open even on a very
rainy and cool evening and the SEAMY SIDE (in my mind) of New Orleans;
Bourbon Street has not changed. Business there was simply interrupted.
It still thrives on selling alcoholic drinks that could plow you under
with just their smell, garish clothing, miles of beads, strange
gadgets, cheap souvenirs and lurid attractions that, I feel, are aimed
at the young, impressionable and unwary. But commerce is commerce and
this is brings big money to the city.

We did not get to see much of the low-lying districts wiped out by the
flooding of the broken delta, but we did see the suburbs to the east
and west of town where blue roofs (repair tarps) predominated the view,
huge shopping plazas, schools, libraries and residential complexes were
closed and boarded up, deserted or fragmented as if they had been toy
villages picked up by little fingers and flung in all directions.

We left New Orleans and drove west along the bayous remembering our
stay three years ago in Morgan City and the like. There we observed a
continuum of trees and brush torn apart as well as homesteads, farms
and whole towns devastated by the storm. Trailers and mobile homes
were everywhere, in New Orleans and the towns and in the countryside,
nestled next to destroyed homes or in clusters with crude, handwritten
signs noting this as an RV park. Signs of warning were posted—"keep
away" or "keep out, private property," or the posting of the number of
an insurance policy covering this land.

Holly Beach lies further to the west along the Gulf shore. During our
stay there 3 years ago it was very wet, almost under water at that
time. The tiny town was extremely rustic with a small general store
and a "drive up" bar. Yes, you can drive up, order a drink and drive
down the road consuming your purchase.

As expected, arrived at Holly Beach to see nothing. Nothing but 5-6
trailers parked where the town had been. Perhaps someone will think it
worthy enough to rebuild this town, trying once again to beat the power
of Mother Nature. Our observation of the storm damage and devastation
continued well into eastern Texas slowly replaced by our encounter with
unexpected ice storms, snow and high winds. "What a year for weather,"
everyone we spoke to repeated.

During these travels, I gathered an "unintentional survey" about global
warming as people offered their opinion on the subject after commenting
to each other about the strange weather at hand. Alarmingly, a
majority of the people disavowed a belief in global warming. They
spoke of long-term weather cycles, reminisced about memories from their
childhood of vast winter storms, high snow drifts and other phenomenon.

This isn't global warming they declared, this is history repeating
itself over and over. "Our country has done so much to prevent
pollution, recycling, emission control of cars, and so on." The blame,
many said, lies with younger generations who are rude in their behavior
and crass and careless about our planet and they blame other countries
for doing nothing and show a great disregard for the earth. Phew, I
was taken aback by some of these folks but time did not allow delving
into deep conversations about responsibility of our powerful country or
denial of facts. I guess these attitudes are just another
"inconvenient truth." We have lots of work to do indeed.