Friday, September 02, 2005

Life in Baton Rouge

With so much focus on the negative, it is hard to find all the good stories about people helping people. I have seen these in Mississippi and Alabama but they are few and far between in Louisiana. As usual, the few bad people make all the news. Let me give some reporter a great story about the human spirit that no one is writing about.

Go around to just about any neighborhood in Baton Rouge. Stop and ask someone walking around if they have anyone staying at their house. What you will find is that most of the cars on the street and in the driveways are not normally there. What started out as a family or two staying 1 or 2 nights to get away from the storm has turned into a semi-permanent community. I went to many neighborhoods yesterday and found this to be the case. There are less people in the neighborhoods still without power but I expect that to change once they get it.

These people aren't looting or getting angry about waiting in line for food or gas. They are planning their meals together, they are figuring out where to get their kids into school and they are contemplating where their job or home will be. Kids are playing together with people they have never seen or known. Life will be different for some time. One interesting note - many kids/parents are sleeping in the same room. It isn't 100% but I think both kids and parents find this comforting.

Kids - these human beings have an amazing strength. They know something is up but they don't let it bother them. It is fun being out of school for a day but they realize this is different. Our children are playing with cousins and friends of the family they have either never met or only seen at Christmas or Thanksgiving. The older ones are starting to realize that life may be different for longer than they expected. Kids somehow know how to let go of the things you can not control.

Schools - The Baton Rouge area (Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Livingston) has be overwhelmed with people trying to enroll their children in school. All schools in the BR area are not in session indefinitely. This is due to power not being restored 100% in all areas. I suspect things will start back up on Tuesday but it is only a guess. Schools in the Greater New Orleans area are not expected to be in session for a minimum of 2 months. In Baton Rouge many people school their children at a private or parochial school. These schools have also had record numbers of applications. One private school is considering running 2 complete sessions a day. The Catholic schools are getting together today to make a decision on how to admit out of area students. Some form of priority list based on whether they were already enrolled in a Catholic school is being discussed. Not of the public or private schools in this area had an empty desk problem. After food/clothing/shelter, I think this is a big issue.

Jobs - many people are calling offices wondering what the employment situation will be. It seems like most companies just don't have a clue yet. Some are securing offices around the state but few have let their employees know what the future holds.

Mail - mail service has been suspended for Greater New Orleans. No idea how this will be handled. Postal employees have no idea where their job will be or where they will be doing it.

Refugees vs. Evacuees - these people are refugees and will always be referred to by that name on this site. Evacuees would imply there was a organized plan that was executed. There was no plan. Look around. Remember when CNN refused to call the 9-11 hijackers terrorists and referred to them as "alleged terrorists"? These people are refugees, don't let the media white wash this. You get the point.

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