#katrinaversary

[winebrightruby]

It’s tomorrow, y’all. The deluge.

[elshalarossa]

8/29/2017: Today is the twelfth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And boy, oh boy, it’s shaping up to be a hard one.

Usually, this time of year I write an uplifting post about the spirit of love and the resilience of my beloved NOLA and her unbreakable spirit. I talk about the deeply meaningful life lessons I learned from one of the most challenging experiences I and my loved ones will ever live through. I talk about the community we built for ourselves and the power of laughter and the joy of helping others and finding silver linings in the aftermath of chaos.

But today I woke up for the third time this week to terrifyingly familiar newscasts and bleak weather forecasts from down in Texas and all I'm able to feel is an impotent sense of helplessness in the face of Mother Nature, a sinking feeling of gut-wrenching dread when I think about how little faith I have in the current presidential administration to actually get down there and help, and a homesickness for New Orleans that's making it hard for me to stop crying.

So today on the twelfth anniversary of Katrina, as Harvey continues to wreak havoc in Houston and across the western side of the Gulf, I'm not looking to the past to how far New Orleans has come and how much I learned. I'm looking to the future, and asking "what can I do to help?”

Here are just a few of the relief efforts and charities that my friends and loved ones are supporting right now. I’m sharing here in case any of my followers are looking for ways to help, also: - LGBTQ Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund (run by the Montrose Center) - Feeding Texas (a network of food banks within the state) - Covenant House Texas  - Coalition for the Homeless - The Texas Diaper Bank  

Katrina taught me about the power of the individual. It taught me that when governments fail, ordinary people step up. The kindness and decency of other people is what got me through 2005 with enough laughter to balance out the tears. We pulled through, we rebuilt, and we persisted. And so now it’s my time to pay it forward.

Please consider taking a moment today to do something kind for someone who needs it. It would mean a lot to me, and it might change their life.

[winebrightruby]

a litany

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, pray for us. Saint Expedite, pray for us. Maid of Orleans, pray for us. Saint Louis, King of France, pray for us. Mater Dolorosa, pray for us. Saint Katharine Drexel, pray for us. Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us. Mother Cabrini, pray for us. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us. Our Lady of Holy Cross, pray for us. Saint Patrick, pray for us. Pierre le Moyne d'Iberville, pray for us. Saint Augustine, pray for us. Jean Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville, pray for us. Saint Andrew, pray for us. Martin Luther King, Jr, pray for us. Simón Bolívar, pray for us. Oretha Castle Haley, pray for us. Orpheus, pray for us. Mahalia Jackson, pray for us. Calliope, pray for us. Satchmo, pray for us. Erato, pray for us. Dancers in Congo Square, pray for us. Polymnia, pray for us. Musicians in Faubourg Tremé, pray for us. Little Urania, pray for us. Tribes of Central City, pray for us. Clio, pray for us. Martyrs of fire and flood, pray for us. Euterpe, pray for us. Martyrs of racist indifference, pray for us. Terpsichore, pray for us. Martyrs of cultural theft, pray for us. Thalia, pray for us. Martyrs of white supremacist genocide, pray for us. Melpomene, pray for us. Pray for us. Pray for us. Pray for us.

[winebrightruby]

Katrinaversary: school is cancelled because the roads are flooded. It has been raining for several hours and is predicted to continue through tomorrow. My sister lives in Houston and is currently fine, but if that changes she has no way to get out. Because the roads are flooded. Harvey is the first hurricane to make landfall in the US as a category 3 or higher since Katrina. Sandy was a category 2 when it hit the Northeast. Harvey was a category 4. Louisiana started evacuations of certain areas today. I don't know what I'm trying to say or quite how I feel today. Coming off three days of very little sleep and a cross-country flight, I'm perhaps not at my most articulate. It's just...a lot.

[elshalarossa]

I’m sorry you’re dealing with the ptsd. I was 10 in the eye of Hurricane Andrew in homestead and I understand pretty well :/ was in Nola recently and it’s already so on the edge. Thinking of you ❤️‍🔥

Ah, thank you. I was just a little younger than you during Andrew -- I think it was the first big one I can actively remember!

Between my Katrina PTSD (I really hate the word 'triggered' because I feel like it gets overused to the point of being almost meaningless... but... yeah...), worry for my friends and loved ones who still live down there (everyone is okay, except for some property damage), and the freaking flooding + tornado warnings that the remnants of Ida caused up here in NYC last night.... my nerves are a bit shot this week.

I just want to sleep for a month. YEESH. <3

[b6421]

w/ everything else going on today & #hurricaneharvey lingering around, i nearly lost sight of it being the #katrinaversary. got my annual playing of this #tomwaits song in w/ only an hour to spare. #504forlife (at Austin, Texas)

[katrinabrees]

#PTSD #katrina10 #katrinaversary

[katrinabrees]

#PTSD #katrina10 #katrinaversary