So Long, Summer


It's been an eventful week. The political bathroom sex sting, Wall Street hopping up and down, a commemoration of a devastating hurricane (from which recovery is moving much slower than I personally would like), kids returning to school in many areas, and family plans for the unofficial end of summer. (Officially, there's still about three more weeks.)

I've already commented on Senator Craig's self-induced troubles. I just pray that the bottom doesn't fall out of the housing market.

As for Hurricane Katrina, I will never forget those images two years ago, of people on the roofs of their homes pleading for rescue, of a woman beside her newly deceased husband on a bridge (a sufferer of a respiratory ailment, he expired when his oxygen ran out), and the water everywhere, flowing like rivers through the streets. I was disappointed to see that the worst-hit areas (anybody want to guess who lives there?) don't look much better two years later, with many of the residents who are eager to rebuild held up by bureaucracy and red tape, still living in trailers.

Has it ever taken two years and counting to restore other disaster-stricken areas of this country? Hurricane Andrew? Hurricane Hugo? Hell, what about Hurricane Camille 40-some years ago? Will people whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the recent Midwest floods still be living in trailers two years from now? (FEMA officials arrived there right away, incidentally.)

The TV cameras have left New Orleans to move on to the next story, the 10-year anniversary of the death of Princess Diana's death. But the images of streets with overgrown weeds covering foundations of abandoned houses, people living in trailers on their property or under bridges, and nuclear families forced to live in different cities will linger in my mind. Here's hoping the third anniversary will show families reunited and living in new housing and cleaned-up lots.
I wish you all a fun Labor Day holiday. The pictures above, by the way, were taken at our Family Reunion at the end of July. My husband and I, pictured on top, were both on the committee and I'm happy to say that a good time was had by all. The other shot is of me and one of my husband's cousins. You readers may know her by her pen name, Eboni Snoe.

Have a great weekend!





5 comments:

Donna D said...

You know they are never going to get it right in New Orleans. As long as Bush is in office and time keeps passing, it'll just be a blip on the radar for the media. Most people who watched in horror will soon forget and move on. For me, just like 9/11, I don't think I'll ever forget.

Have a lovely, lovely weekend!

Gwyneth Bolton said...

The family reunion looks fun. Everytime I see one I think of that song and start singing it... was that the Ojays?

I had no idea you were related to Eboni Snoe. I loved her novels. She had this sort of paranormal trilogy about a woman who had to return these precious gems/stones to the earth that I just adored.

I'm with you on the New Orleans and Katrina lack of effort on our governments part. I'm stunned that we all saw that happen and that there hasn't been more of a wide scale outcry about the way it has been cast aside...

Gwyneth

bettye griffin said...

Ah, yes, Family Reunion. Funny, but now that you mention that song, I think we forgot to play it. And we did have a deejay!

Yes, I remember Eboni's trilogy: The Passion Ruby, Emerald's Fire, and A Diamond's Allure. It was great to see her. Just to clarify; we are in-laws, related by marriage.

Thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to seeing you, at the Slam Jam if we both make it there.

Bettye

PatriciaW said...

The (lack of) recovery from Hurricane Katrina is a national disgrace. The next time there's a disaster in some other part of the world, and the US puffs out its chest and offers a fat check, the government officials of said country should say, "Thanks but no thanks. You need this more than we do. Send it to New Orleans and the Gulf!"

bettye griffin said...

Great idea, and that disaster is coming sooner than you think in the form of Hurricane Felix. Pray for the people of Honduras, many of whom already have so little . . . .