Home Maintenence

I've made a bunch of really good friends on the net in the past decade. One of them is a woman who's preferred webname is Harvestmoon. Her home is in New Orleans. Of course, that's not where her house is. She grew up in New Orleans. She lived in several places around the country, but her home, her true home, has always been New Orleans. For the past few years, however, her house- where she lived, where she worked- was in New Orleans. She lived in a house that was built before there were power lines, that had a large tree in front, a garden out back, and she cared for a feral cat colony back there.

It's gone. Her home is broken, her heart is broken. Breaks my heart, too. When a place is home, it's not the buildings, it's not the location.. it's the people, it's the history, it's the relationships that thrive there.

Her home... looks like a bombed out city. While our government is busy passing legislation to restrict the Constitution (hey, it's just a piece of paper, right?) they are busy NOT passing legislation to fix up one of the greatest cities in our nation. New Orleans has a history that dates back to well before Jefferson even bought the land from France. I live in Ohio, and it's because of New Orleans that my city, Cleveland, became part of the U.S.

Two years ago, husbandguy and I bought an old house. It takes a lot of cash to maintain it, 'cause it's .. old. Even if we had bought a relatively new house, we would still have to spend the dough to maintain it.

People in New Orelans? don't really have that option. They were doing fine before the disaster hit, but after? Short attention span on the part of the rest of the nation has kicked in. It's been 7 months, and there are people who have STILL not gotten nearly enough cash to try and maintain- read demolish or completely renovate- their homes. Many of them have simply given up hope, left their hearts and homes, started over somewhere else. Harvest.. went back home. She tried TWICE to maintain a home where her heart was. The cats? gone. The garden? gone, of course. all gone. Her family, her history are there, but most people can only live without clean water, electricity, a working sanitation and sewer system and a decent roof over their heads for so long. I don't know why it should shock me that a once thriving part of our nation looks like a war zone. We're really not that special. I just expect better in my own country, I guess.

A friend of mine, who also lives in New Orleans, but had the good fortune to live up on the bluff where the devastation wasn't so horrific, sent me this video link. My Gods. People really don't care anymore. People are bitching about a stupid cowboy movie as if their kids will catch 'teh ghey' by walking past a theater showing it, but they can't give a damn about this. Think about it this way... if a disater struck your city, do you expect to get a return from all the federal dollars you've been sending the governemnt all your working life? Think about that when you do your taxes.. are we really getting our money's worth?

yeah, this post is all over the map.