At the moment--and after a long absence from this site...sorry--I'm watching a live Internet feed at my work from WWL, a CBS affiliate in New Orleans. The damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina has been nothing short of catastrophic for Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Images of oil rigs and cargo ships run aground or against bridges, people being lifted from rooftops by U.S. Coast Guard helicopters, and a flooded New Orleans scattered with submerged houses or buildings on fire from broken gas lines is all I can think about right now. Not too long ago, I read a clipping with the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, that perhaps maybe thousands are dead. Looking at the pictures and videos, I wouldn't be surprised.
I think what has happened is a disaster that the U.S. hasn't seen in decades, maybe even in a century. The last perhaps being Galveston, Texas being leveled in 1900 by a hurricane, or San Francisco six years later by an earthquake and subsequent fire.
Hurricanes aren't a rare occurrence in this part of the world. At least one or two hurricanes will hit the Gulf of Mexico or the American East Coast each storm season. But what separates it from the others whose names have since come and gone was the intensity, the (ever-rising) death toll, and the very fact that it nearly scored a direct hit on New Orleans. This wasn't Davenport, Owensboro, Virginia Beach, or Jacksonville. This was New Orleans. The New Orleans we all know; even if we haven't been there, we have a large cultural concept of what New Orleans is. Not only for us Americans, but for people around the world.
I'm reminded of a famous song written in the early part of the last century. Like the city itself, the song is a bit vague, even a bit mysterious, but vivid nevertheless. No one knows exactly when it was written or who wrote it, and its precise setting in the city is still being researched, even by archaeologists. Since its conception, it's been covered countless times by a variety of musicians that span genres and languages.
If you don't know what song I'm talking about--don't worry. In fact, you probably already know it. All you have to do is look up the Animals, an English rock band from the 1960s. They perhaps have the best-known cover of "The House of the Rising Sun."
The original lyrics go like this:
- There is a house in New Orleans
- They call the Rising Sun.
- It's been the ruin of many a poor girl,
- And me, O God, for one.
- If I had listened what Mamma said,
- I'd 'a' been at home today.
- Being so young and foolish, poor boy,
- Let a rambler lead me astray.
- Go tell my baby sister
- Never do like I have done
- To shun that house in New Orleans
- They call the Rising Sun.
- My mother she's a tailor;
- She sold those new blue jeans.
- My sweetheart, he's a drunkard, Lord, Lord,
- Drinks down in New Orleans.
- The only thing a drunkard needs
- Is a suitcase and a trunk.
- The only time he's satisfied
- Is when he's on a drunk.
- Fills his glasses to the brim,
- Passes them around
- Only pleasure he gets out of life
- Is hoboin' from town to town.
- One foot is on the platform
- And the other one on the train.
- I'm going back to New Orleans
- To wear that ball and chain.
- Going back to New Orleans,
- My race is almost run.
- Going back to spend the rest of my days
- Beneath that Rising Sun.
If you wish to help, you can contact the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and countless of others.