I guess the NYC post will never be finished - almost a month has past since then! The trip to Arizona was great... and we all had a wonderful time. BUT, the Wednesday we were there a black cloud enveloped me and it was very strange. First, there were people who knew me whom I have no recollection of. It took me a week to realize it might be from posts on the yahoo list or even here, that they "know" me... but I guess that I am suffering more from PTSS than I realized.
Then I became very angry. It accumulated over the course of a few days, but I was hurt and upset and angry. Maybe because it was my Mom's birthday, the Katrina "Anniversary" and just basic frustration with how slowly every thing is going. I'm SO OVER IT ALL.
The mind is a bizarre little contraption... Katrina, my Mom, and where our life is now. In Lakeview, most of our past population is gone. I'm sure y'all have read here that we are getting a lot of 30 somethings - newly weds or new parents. That's GREAT! But what happened to our old people? So I guess my mind hooked my Mom (ancient!) with Katrina, and the media coverage, which of course still sucks. I realized that in all of the coverage no one EVER addressed the question/problem of the loss of these people. At least HALF of Lakeview was populated by elderly people. Ones that have lived in those homes since the 50s and early 60s. Most of these people had no flood insurance, because they had no mortgages.
Where did they go? What has happened to them? Those of the WWII generation? The people next door just left. Moved to Boston to be near their daughter. Never came back. Never retrieved anything. It was like the Twilight Zone over there. A HUGE part of our oral local history left with these people too. All of the coverage NOLA has had on nation wide tv - and this has never been addressed.
And I'm SO tired of this (katrina) being pushed into a racial thing. I don't know what happened to Ray Nagin, but I have more important things to think about. We would really just like to be left alone (hello Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton... and you were living in New Orleans WHERE when Katrina hit????) to work together as a community. YES, there are problems here, are there not in your community? We're all a little bit racist... just think about it. And we in the community here are trying to have serious dialogs about this.
I'M SO TIRED of people making this into more than just a people trying to make a new life for themselves.
The next day I was "Ok" so I guess I worked it out in my sleep... I really hate any kind of negative energy. It's such a waste of time.
Oh and yet really"wonderful" news. They decided that the Road Home GRANTS are now considered income and taxed at up to 35%. Crap! That's ridiculous! It would have been cheaper for us to get a loan. This all just gets better and better.
Tomorrow is another day... and maybe I'll have a brighter day.
{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Renee. I had fun sitting and talking with you in AZ. Don't get me started on Al Sharpton I have a horrid opinion of the man. I hope things work out for you and it gets easier
Posted by: Chiara | September 18, 2007 at 07:10 PM
omg,so you were "lucky" enough to get your Road Home grant before they went bankrupt, and now you need to pay taxes on it. that's something that doesn't make it to the chicago news. you know, there was all of the talk right after katrina hit about whether or not NOLA should be rebuilt. do you ever think that someone's decided, no we shouldn't rebuild but let's not tell anyone? you know i feel for you and your neighbors that remain in NOLA. you talk about the neighborhood, but did you have a lot of girlfriends that moved away? take care of yourself:) (((hugs))) Keely
Posted by: Keely | September 24, 2007 at 09:54 AM