Katrina despair story: "I call him Blue Eyes because of his eyes."

[Maddy McCall]

OCEAN SPRINGS — On creaking wooden steps the other day sat a woman whose blond hair frizzed up when the wind blew. Cigarette smoke curled from her fingers, and an air of defeat had settled about her.

She was slumped over, her elbows on her knees, her head between her legs. Sweat pooled on her skin. When she looked up, tears ran down her face.

A red-brown mongrel dog looked out with light blue eyes from under the trailer. He was panting.

"He digs too much," the woman said. "I call him Blue Eyes because of his eyes. He's not really mine. He just adopted me a couple weeks ago. I guess he's mine now."

She was crying because she'd just been told that animal control officers were going to take the dog away; he'd been bothering the neighbors, if you can call them that. He might go to a better place than this, a gravel slab of despair between the railroad tracks and the highway.

"It gets old," the woman.

Much more at: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/NEWS/708270340



Please remember Katrina victims this week, the second anniversary
of the day that their lives as they knew them ended.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Nice Post My Dear

I'm recalling our weekend of two years ago. Not much fun at all, but we were virtually free of damage except for the incredible loss of trees. And two years later the insurance companies and government bureaucracy both in Mississippi and Louisiana are screwing with our fellow citizens.

A story last week stated that more then 50% of people in the mental health care business in New Orleans were having mental health problems.

[Maddy McCall]

2. Thanks...

Please look at the OP again...I added photos of the women in the article. "Blue Eyes" is there, too.

:cry:

I had substantial damage to my roof, and I lost dozens of trees, too, BOSS. Just had to have another hickory cut last week, because Katrina had loosened its roots, and it was tilting perilously toward the house. Got another two to cut down by the creek that are targeting my house, should a swift wind blow...but, ya know, what I went through was NOTHING compared to what people in on the Gulf Coast and in NOLA went through. I can't imagine my future being nothing better than dwelling in a FEMA trailer for who knows how long.

This story made me cry for the woman who took in another of society's forgotten rejects, only to have him taken from her.

I'm kinda disgusted that threads about Katrina sink at DU now. Two years ago, people cared. But as time goes by, it seems that DU reflects the general American sentiment...it's "old news" and just doesn't matter anymore. I know that some of our friends at DU who still deal with Katrina's aftermath everyday are saddened that they seem to have lost DU's interest in their story.

Ok...I'll pull back on that theme now. I don't need to start a flamewar in this thread.

:hug:

[BOSSHOG]

3. Another recent news story

SUICIDE RATES UP IN FEMA TRAILOR PARKS. I would not subject my wife and I to a FEMA Trailor Park for two freaking years. We would be long gone if not fixed in our home. I'm heading for the Big Easy Friday to see another shipmate off to points beyond.

If anyone is interested, parts of the lower ninth ward looks as if the hurricane happened yesterday.

Yes the French Quarter is up and running and doing a pretty grand business but its neighbors down the road still aren't faring too well.

[Maddy McCall]

4. I have yet to drive through the Lower 9.

I might PM you soon to get some advice on which route to take to get there.

[BOSSHOG]

11. Please let me know

and I'd be happy to assist. I kinda know a kinda backways route that I think cuts out the big traffic. I'm sure you have confidence in that statement.

[Maddy McCall]

14. Indeed.

And some day, we're going to have to have lunch in the quarter. :hi:

[auburngrad82]

5. It's shameful that it's been two years and so many are still in FEMA trailers

It's really sad that this is the best our government can do.

[Maddy McCall]

6. Yes, it is.

:(

[Enrique]

7. well it wouldn't be because of his teeth

then you would call him Blue Teeth.

[zalinda]

8. It could have been that she named him after Sinatra

because of his "crooning".

zalinda

[AllieB]

9. This story breaks my heart.

:cry:

I watched 'When the Levees Broke' a few months ago, and I think this is required viewing for all Americans. We have forgotten about those who lives were altered forever by Katrina.

[Maddy McCall]

10. I haven't seen that yet.

I'm going to blockbuster tomorrow to pick it up, so that I can watch it with my kiddo.

:hi:

Yes, even at DU, no one really cares much about stories that remind us that our fellow Americans in Louisiana and Mississippi are still struggling two years later. :(

:hi:

[AllieB]

12. Kick for the Gulf Coast.

:kick:

[DarkTirade]

13. It's rather difficult to pull oneself up by the bootstraps...

when you can't even afford boots.

[uppityperson]

15. Kick for Katrina Survivors, and on and on and on it goes.