The Soup Bowl

New Orleans is the new ground zero. 80% of New Orleans is Venice, Italy. There are looters in the streets taking from shops, why they are not shot I have no idea. Things are going really bad for us. The porch is lonely with sheets of water almost touching it. We have no idea where the porch ends and the water begins. I am not sure when New Orleans will be back to normal, if at all ever. All I know is that from these moments on time will be told by BK or AK, and when I am older, people will not be talking about Camille or Betsy anymore, just this one. And this was a big one at that. Schools are closed, no power, no electricity, martial law with people running around the streets watching for looters. It feels like Eastern Europe when the fall of the curtain happened.

The odd thing is that everyone saw it coming, but no one saw it hit. We did not know. New Orleans enjoyed a fairy tale, nearly god-like status. Much like cardiologists that smoke or psychiatrists that pop more pills than their patients. We watched storm after storm just clip us, and this one just clipped us too. But unfortunately it clipped the Lake too. Gee thanks to those original French brothers, Bienville and Iberville, for putting this city at the bottom of the bathtub.

But I have been on many forums, and the city is still alive. Aside from those accursed looters that I hear about, people are pulling together. There is a light at the end of this drain, though I cannot see it right now. The spirit of the posters is monstrous. You can see it at the forums of http://nola.com and http://wwltv.com. That fills me with some sort of hope. Our Rome is drowning, but long live Rome.

Yes, Rome is drowning and burning, and the picture above is one of those few Neros, bless him, that can find the time and energy to fiddle as the flames kick at our heals.