Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Do You Know What It Means, to Miss New Orleans?

It's kind of hard to think about TV when a city I love as much as New Orleans is sitting under water. But seeing all the horrible images and hearing all the stories does keep reminding me of an episode of Nova I saw not too long ago about hurricanes. They focused on New Orleans and its "soup bowl" structure, and how the city is protected, albeit precariously, by levees and pumps. You can watch the entire segment here..

I also really like this story from the New York times called "Where Living at Nature's Mercy Had Always Seemed Worth the Risk" (you need to register to read it) that discusses the city's spirit and just why it is loved by so many. I think there's some similarity to San Francisco in that anyone who lives here or there knows that one day, by earthquake or hurricane (or flood), all that we know and love about the city we live in, could be gone in an instant.

4 comments:

Jeff H. said...

I agree. I'm finding the whole thing very sobering.

Telling myself "I should have visited New Orleans when it existed!"

Rain said...
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Rain said...

Indeed. I certainly hope to get down there next year to give the city some of my tourist dollars. And I encourage everyone to do the same. At least!

Rain said...

Thankfully, my family is in Baton Rouge and they are, comparatively, fine. There are some family friends that have yet to be heard from, though.

The bigget tourist attraction of the city is the French Quarter, and it looks like that area has been spared the worst of the flooding. As long is it's standing, I think the City will eventually be able to get back their biggest industry dollar: tourists. Without that, I don't think they could ever hope to bounce back...