Katrina Kaos

Like most people, I have been rather consumed by the NPR reports on New Orleans after the levee broke. Za's (my significant other) brother, father, step-mother and step-sister all live in New Orleans and, thankfully, they have gotten to safety.

When I got home today, I was peppering Za with all sorts of questions about how his family is doing. I also was asking him the same questions yesterday, but he was still in shock. Anyway, his father, step-mother, and step-sister are in Franklin and taking in 14 homeless folks. His brother is in Baton Rouge with his mom and sister. Most likely all of their homes in New Orleans are destroyed. And, neither his brother or his father know of the whereabouts of many of their employees.

Za thinks it will be months before they can move back--if they even decide to--to New Orleans.

I can't help but be awed by how vulnerable human existence really is in the face of nature. We can spend all the time we want plotting to reform the world and nature in our own image, but, at the end of the day, Nature always kicks our ass.