Livid

I'm not the only one.

There is so much I want to say, but my thoughts are jumbled and chaotic. Watching CNN is like watching the trailers from 28 Days Later.

I'm angry. I'm angry at our government, angry at ourselves for being so slow to respond. I feel guilty for having a roof, dry land, clean running water and electricity while others have so little. I already felt ashamed of our government and its actions in Iraq. Now, I'm livid, upon learning engineers and hurricane experts had been asking for better levees in New Orleans, but budget cuts had not allowed for them. And that a class 4 hurricane in New Orleans was one of the three (earthquake in San Francisco and terrorist attack upon Manhattan were the other two) major disasters that FEMA predicted. And after 9/11, the FEMA began focus to focus on one. I don't think I need to say which.

There is a very faint glimmer of hope. I remember 9/11, and thinking that the world was going to become a different place, and not for the better. Both thoughts have held true. Here is another moment where the world will change. Perhaps we'll learn for the better. This tragedy has highlighted the disparities between race and class that our government likes to pretend doesn't exist, but do. Maybe there'll be a sea change, a true paradigm shift. Maybe instead looking to outside threats, we can focus on healing societal fissures domestically.

On a random note, I picked up Kanye West's new album not long ago. Upon the first listen, it blew me away. Meticulously produced, it is everything it's hyped up to be, and more. I predict it'll be rocking the cPod through the rest of the year. But first, I'm gonna load some Satchmo and put the Ken Burns documentery on.