why.

When people hear that I'm still going to New Orleans, they often ask why...

Especially when I tell them that I'd made these arrangements prior to Katrina.

Here it is:

1. Of course, I'm still going to visit the Homans. Staying with them will be such fun--getting to catch up with Michael, surprise Kalypso, and finally meet Therese and Gil.

2. I will get to participate in what will probably be one of the most important Mardi Gras celebrations that the town has seen. It will be a much-needed sign of vitality and economy in a town so desperately in need of both.

3. I will get to actually see what news clips, photographs, and articles can only attempt to convey. In talking to several people from the area (and friends of mine who have already been down to help in other regions of the Gulf Coast), it seems that the devastation is grossly underplayed. I don't know that this is necessarily the fault of any person or group--it's just impossible to visualize something while remaining so distant from it. This is, of course, true for anything. Tel Zeitah as an example--after all, I took oh-so-many pictures to show people, and yet I know that they still don't understand the exact nature of it. It feels, to me, as if most people have sort of just forgotten about everything that has happened.

So maybe that's just it--maybe that is why I'm (still) going to New Orleans this month(!):

I haven't forgotten.