Note ot a Friend

[Blaise (imported)]

FEMA contracted with my deli to provide thousands of meals to displaced people also known as refugees). Refugees call themselves displace people.

Jason's is part of a Texas company with franchise and company owned restaurants. They pay their managers well but work them to death. The other employees receive poor wages. Many workers are Spanish speaking. The sandwiches are tasty and nutritious. I mention this because the contrast between what looks like third or fourth world squalor and our prosperous suburban world intrigues me. A scene in The Constant Gardner involves a pan from a golf course to a shanty town. Modifications of that image modulate what I see here. “Intrigues” is the wrong verb. The correct verb is “outrages.” A television piece describes how the actress Lucy Lawless escaped the storm. Another piece reports on the rescue of Fats Domino.

My little Ford Ranger urgently needs a tune-up. To avoid stalling during the criss, I take the opportunity to stay home. Then, about five this afternoon, I realized who could have tuned the vehilce earlier today. My usual mechanic was off and the other station I used is out of business. No mind, people are crowded into service stations. People are buying extra gasoline and storing it in plastic containers. The roads in Baton Rouge are heavy with extra traffic. Lack of gasoline might reduce some of our agitated activity. I believe that some people drove to use the air-conditioning, while power was down. I do not use air-conditioning in the truck. That would be too much like shopping at Wal-Mart.

The status of children troubles me. Young children who lived in the Superdome faced enormous dfficulty. If we let them simply feel what they feel, I think that many will do well.

Your comments ring within me. We did know that this would happen. I have know it for at least 27 years, maybe even longer. I do not hear much realistic discussion of the situation. Now had a good report about wetlands restoration. Unfortunately, it played here only during the middle of the night.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Thank you Ole Softee

to add to it would be to take it away.

River