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| Broken Jesus |
Some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet are folks from
Louisiana and some of the nicest, most memorable you’ll meet are from New Orleans. Quick with a hello, how y’all doin’? and a sassy story with a healthy dose of
poetic license and twist of sardonic wit.
Always willing to lend a hand and a smile.
Somehow, this seems even truer now then ever. After all they’ve been through and over the
course of this illustrious city’s wild and tumultuous history, folks here just
seem to understand more so than most – we are all in this together.
I met a lovely young woman today, Trudy - a raven-haired
beauty with an accent and manner of cadence I could listen to all damn day. Born and raised in Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, literally,
“straight outta the bayou.” Trudy is Cajun
and Spanish with a little Chocktaw Indian thrown in for spice. For generations the men her family have all been
shrimpers and fishermen. To people in
the bayou who make their living off the land, hurricanes are just part of natural
life. Hurricanes “make sense” to folks like
Trudy (who’s never had to pay for a single fish, shrimp or crab in her life – imagine!)
Trudy went on to tell me that her family had never really
known hardship and fear until the BP oil spill.
That is a disaster they are still coping with today. As you hopefully recall, over 200 million
gallons of oil was leaked into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. It went on for 87 gut-wrenching days, making
it the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
The spill forced Trudy’s uncle to retire early and broke her father’s
heart and spirit.
“They (BP) threw a lot of money at that problem hoping
people of the Gulf would move on and forget, “ Trudy said, “but the damage was
done.” She went on to give me a very
detailed and somewhat complicated explanation of the damage done to the
regional ecosystem that I am, unfortunately, too dense to relay back with any
kind of accuracy.
When we started to talk about Katrina and the 10-year
anniversary, Trudy got quiet. Since we’ve been here, whenever Mary and I tell
locals our little piece of the Katrina story a look of horror and total understanding
passes over them.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” said Trudy, almost in
tears, and I knew she meant it.
It is of great comfort to me to talk about our Katrina story
without having to explain it. I believe that’s part of the reason why I’m
here. Another reason: some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet
are folks from Louisiana and some of the nicest, most memorable you’ll meet are from
New Orleans.
I grew up on the gulf in the state formerly known as 'Sunshine', but the GOP government there has decimated the budding solar industry [as well as denying anything at all about climate]. This is not the right direction going forward. We all now know that hurricanes and sunspots and el nino come in great sweeping long cycles, but something feels different. Too many century storms hitting an already disappearing coastline. Our political system cannot cope whether due to the scale of our exposure or as in 2005, the will to respond. It is very alarming that most of one political party now feels the administration performed adequately in the hours and days after the big K over topped the levies. Growin' up Gulf meant I learned the historic biggies as a kid, Galveston, Miami, Providence, Camille, Andrew, Sandy, But besides giving storms a person name instead of the landfall designation, the NOAA now records in 25 year chunks down from 50 year segments. 1900~1949 there were 108 that hit the state, in the next three 25 year segments averaged 90 landfalls with damage. In only 15 years since 2000, there have been 63...This is VERY alarming. Folks arguing over this being caused by human activity or not is moot. For the government to do so is a dereliction of duty to the people.
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