b.rox

Isaac is gone, but his odor lingers on. Seriously. There’s a smell in the air, a certain peculiar smell I can’t describe. I’m not sensitive to smells. I often think if I was more tuned in to my sense of smell, I’d have a radically different way of being in the world, more animalistic perhaps [...]

Isaac cometh. Looks like he’s headed our way for sure. Forecasters say he won’t be superstrong, “only” a Category 1 hurricane when he makes landfall on the anniversary of Katrina. But then forecasters aren’t so adept at predicting hurricane strength. And it’s looking more like we’ll be on the wet side of this storm. To [...]

I got Iked on my bike this morning. I was partway to work, and I noticed the sky was getting dark — really dark. Hope I can make it there before… And then the heavens opened and the water poured down. By the time I got to campus, the rain had practically stopped. I guess [...]

Sometimes a phrase gets stuck in my head and just keeps repeating like a mantra. Last month it was a random remark by my mother-in-law: “It’s only going to get worse.” But for the last two days, the phrase echoing in my mind comes courtesy of GJ: Hurr.Ike is wearing a cowboy hat. Looks like [...]

Xy and I were getting lunch at Minnie’s Catfish Corner (highly recommended) when we heard the news about the hurricane in Myanmar. Apparently the geography there is very similar to Louisiana. The reports are at least 10,000 dead with thousands more missing. This reminded us of the worst predictions immediately after Hurricane Katrina and the [...]

I wasn’t going to make any mention of Hurricane Dean until such a time as New Orleans is in the National Hurricane Center’s five-day forecast cone — which I hope won’t happen. But now Dean is bearing down on the Lesser Antilles, and is already affecting the lives of some people I’ve come to know [...]

I’m not the praying type, but all the same I thought I’d pass on this prayer, written by Sr. Loretta McCarthy, SBS. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. You who hovered over the waters and brought all into being, grant us the grace to be people of peace and hope during this [...]

If Alberto avoids us If Beryl doesn’t break us If Chris doesn’t crush us If Debby doesn’t drown us If Ernesto doesn’t exile us If Florence doesn’t flood us If Gordon doesn’t gank us If Helene doesn’t hammer us If Isaac doesn’t ice us If Joyce jogs away at the eleventh hour If Kirk doesn’t [...]

We made it out of New Orleans with our three cats and not much else. We’re now safely ensconced with the in-laws in Bloomington, Indiana. We got up at 3AM on Sunday morning, packed a few things, choked down some hash browns, checked the weather reports, and hit the road by 5AM. Five hours later [...]

We’ve never evacuated for a hurricane before. But we’re evacuating for this one. Katrina looks like she’s headed straight toward New Orleans, and she’s now a Category Four. Worst case scenario: Lake Ponchartrain floods the city, and our neighborhood is under many feet of water for many weeks to come. We wouldn’t want to be [...]

I don’t like the looks of this.

I’d originally put in for last Monday as a vacation day. But I came back from our trip a few days early, and was ready to go in to work — only the University was closed because of Hurricane Dennis. My first thought was, “They’re going to screw me. I deserve to get that vacation [...]

Life is pretty much back to normal in New Orleans, now that the threat of Hurricane Dennis has passed. We had some gusty winds yesterday and a sprinkling of rain. Today is beautiful and cloudless. All schools are back in session today — except Xavier and Dillard. That means I’ve got an extra day of [...]

We got home last night. This was the longest vacation Xy and I have been on together, ever. Days away: 16 Miles travelled: 2,506 Gas burned: Maybe $150 worth, but I kinda lost track. Money spent: No idea. Beds slept: 7 People visited: About 20? Flags burned: 1 (on International Flag Burning Day, of course) [...]

The Green Party had a media training workshop; since it was at Xavier I had to be there for the duration. Attendance was not so good; in fact it was pathetic. Blame it on Ivan, or the fact that it was an election day, or both. Besides myself and Debbie (the organizer) and Scott (the [...]

There was some confusion as to whether Xavier was open today or not, so around 8 a.m. I called campus info and learned that campus was “open for staff” but that school would not be in session until Monday. So I took my time. Xy and I went to City Park and tried to play [...]

“Hurricane editions” of the Times-Picayune for Wednesday and Thursday have appeared on my porch. THRONGS FLEE IVAN, declares one. IVAN ROARS INLAND, says the other. No sign of today’s paper yet.

I went for a jog around the bayou this morning. It’s a very pleasant day. Kind of breezy, which is nice. There’s a little debris here and there that got blown about last night, but no damage that I could see. The grass was not wet, because we didn’t really get any rain. 34,000 people [...]

I took a bike ride. The I-10 was just about empty. At Xavier they were putting some newspaper dispensers on the back of a truck. Homan came by with some hurricane mix. We made a few drinks and, with Xy, took a walk to the Bayou St. John to see what we could see before [...]

We’re now outside the projected cone of possibility. That’s nice, but it hardly means we’re safe. Hundreds of thousands of wiser people have left, but hundreds of thousands of fools remain. Fools, and of course the poor, people who have no way to get out. Xy and I moved all the potted plants in front [...]