Why am I starting this blog?

It's now 4 months since Katrina hit New Orleans and I've been living with my wonderful Mom in Baker, Louisiana. I'm one of the lucky ones...since I was a renter and didn't have a lot of important possessions, my losses are not worth mentioning when compared to so many other people's. But for these months I've compared what I've seen first hand in this area with what the media portrays, and I want to try to give people who aren't close to this area a better idea of what has really happened here. I know that unless you see this area in person, there's no way to really grasp what has happened here. That's expected. But I hope that if you're interested in reading this blog and seeing the photos that I'll be posting over the next days and weeks, maybe you'll get a sense of how this has impacted our lives here.

I hear so many people saying "things are getting back to normal."

Nothing could be farther from the truth. It will never be the same. What I hope to do here is give you a sense of what's really happened, and perhaps help make some sense out of all of this.

It's up to each of us individually to find the joy in the sadness and the lessons that can be learned from the losses. Many people have been hurt very badly, and their suffering is sad for us all. But I hope that eventually we can all move forward and live better lives because of what we learn here.

I'm an optimist, and I believe in the human spirit. There are some people who don't believe that...some people who many never find the good in this. All I can say is that I hope it's not true for those of you who wish to read this. And I hope that all of us can help each other through this and any other difficult times.

My subsequent posts will be varied in topic, and probably not particularly chronological. I will start this blog with the ability of readers to add comments. I reserve the right to remove any posts that don't help me achieve what I'm trying to do here...which is to present a realistic, intelligent viewpoint of what's happened here.

It's Christmas Day, and I send my love and blessings to everyone out there.