New Orleans: What the hell happened to my city

This is an email from family in New Orleans. It is quite astonishing. I expect to hear some incredible storytelling over the holidays. What a fuck up of leadership.

You wouldn't believe it here. You have to live here to understand what it means to live through disaster and try to keep a smile. People have changed here from easy going to scattered and anxious. I drive to work each day in a flood zone with water lines to my neck. Debris is everywhere and has yet to be cleaned up. Stores hours are compromised and many are still closed. Restaurants are serving limited items advertised on paper menus. Our family is for the most part confined to Jefferson parish because Orleans parish is not yet functioning to full capacity. Some people are still not drinking the water in Orleans because of health issues. A leak in a water pipe was found yesterday. That means that the debris of hell may have entered one of the water lines. There is an overall smell of disaster and disappointment.

If I sound bad to you it is because it really is bad. I am scared about our future here and scared about losing my home to the next hurricane. The natural land barriers to the state of Louisiana have all but disappeared and there is no indication that the barriers will be rebuilt. The levee system may or may not be upgraded depending on how the rich views the poor. The bottom line to all of this is that the poor are not valued like the rich. They should be though because they are really the only ones left with spirit and soul. Why? Because that’s all they have and all they ever had to keep them going. I wish we could take the spiked heels out of the backs of the poor and place them into the backs of the Republicans.

I won't be this negative at Christmas. I promise. Aunt Anne