Before August 29, I think most of us took our friends for granted. We knew where they were, we knew how to reach them. We called or emailed them when we needed them, left them alone when we didn't.
Katrina changed all that. In scattering us to the four winds (literally), the hurricane has forced us to communicate with one another in more, I dunno, substantial ways. There's all the I'm-so-glad-you're-okays and the Where-are-you-livings and the Are-you-going-backs. Like the phone company, we've had to completely rebuild our networks--no more of this taking friends for granted stuff. That's kinda cool, if you ask me. I would've prefered getting the message via an afterschool special on network television instead of being forced from my home for several months, but whatever.
The downside of that rebuilding, of course, is that my inbox is now a toxic gumbo of emails, each demanding a response. Every day, I have to let a few more sit, and they've really begun to pile up. So if you've written me in the past two weeks, rest assured, I haven't forgotten you. I'm just avoiding you. For a bit, anyway. You'll hear from me soon, I hope.
One other good thing to come out of all this: the name "New Orleans" has been on the lips of so many newscasters and pundits that maybe everyone in the world will finally understand that calling our city "New Or-LEENS" is just plain wrong. Unless you're singing, of course...
