Dinner With A Hurricane Katrina Survivor

A week ago, as Hurricane Katrina was strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico, I spent some time on the phone with my friend’s 86 year old mom. I tried… I guess I did convince her to leave her New Orleans home.

Before dawn Sunday morning she got into her car and drove to the Louisiana Superdome. This was before all the tumult and grief there. Before long they had her on a bus headed to Alexandria. She never got there. The bus drove 10 hours to Baton Rouge (a one hour trip under normal circumstances) and dropped her off at LSU.

Though we’ve all see the horrific images from New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts, Ruth was treated well at LSU. They fed her and there was air conditioning, while the power was on.

We all assume Ruth’s house and all her possessions are gone. The area it’s in was one of the hardest hit, under ten or more feet of water! Her car, in the Superdome parking lot is probably a total loss as well.

A few days ago, my friend bought tickets to bring his mom to Connecticut&#185. She will stay with her daughter who lives here in the Naugatuck Valley.

When I heard Ruth was coming to Connecticut, I told the station’s assignment desk and we sent Darren Duarte to do a story. Ruth is telegenic and articulate. The story was very emotional – as you might imagine.

Astoundingly, and much to her delight, Ruth has become a ‘TV star’. First it was the UPS man, delivering a package, asking if she was the woman from television? Then at Macy’s in the Trumbull Mall.

Last night, Ruth and family invited me to dinner at Tony & Lucille’s on Wooster Street in New Haven. Dinner was exceptional. Even Ruth, a lifelong New Orleans resident… a city known for it’s astounding cuisine… was blown away.

More interesting were Ruth’s stories and her amazing attitude. I don’t know about you, but if I had lost everything, I don’t think I could have maintained her composure and positive attitude.

Everything is gone – photos, letters, memorabilia. Furniture and cars, even houses can be replaced (and, thankfully, she has the insurance to do that). But how do you replace a lifetime of possessions with special meaning? There is no insurance for that.

Ruth has no imminent plans to return to New Orleans. She will probably take up living with her daughter and, if all goes well, just stay.

This is part of what will change New Orleans. At the dinner table we discussed whether New Orleans would ever come back?

Can tourists and conventions ever look past the images of gun toting thugs walking down the street or the misery of the people trapped in the Convention Center, Superdome and even on highway overpasses?

Will those with means, like Ruth I suppose, flee the city? It could turn from a primarily poor and black city to a totally poor and black city. An analogy was made to Newark, NJ.

That would be a shame. Though it’s an overused term, New Orleans really was a one of a kind city. It would be nice to see it return to that stature.

&#185 – When my friend, whose name I have kept from these entries, called his travel agent to tell his mother’s story and get tickets, the agent said the trip was on her company. Some stories from this tragedy are good. Most of us do operate the way you’d like under difficult circumstances.

Lost In Translation

Steffie had plans tonight and needed to be in Trumbull. With the thought that roads might not be in great shape later in the evening, Helaine and I decided to drive her (instead of her driving herself) and spend the evening out.

We had dinner at Bennigans at the Trumbull Mall (French Dip and Chicken Noodle Soup, it’s an exciting life!) and then went to Fairfield to see Lost in Translation.

Neither Helaine or I know our way through Bridgeport, but I assumed going down Main Street would lead us to I-95. At some point, we became lost. Luckily, there was an electric company crew working on some project. I asked for directions, and one worker gave them.

“Go over that bridge that looks like it’s closed.” It was closed! Thanks.

I have not read anything but raves about this movie and so I wanted to see it. I could not have been more disappointed.

Though beautifully shot and well acted, the movie never got off the ground. I’m still not sure what it was about.

I find Bill Murray much more likable than I did when he first broke out on Saturday Night Live. Though the part he played wasn’t based on him, the character he acted sure seemed it. That’s not bad. As I said, he’s likable.

Scarlett Johansson, as a woman questioning her two year old marriage, was fine. Good acting in a dark role.

She is more attractive than she is beautiful. I’m not sure if that sentence makes total sense other than to say, I find physical beauty only one part of being attractive.

When all was said and done, Helaine complained that the movie had been very slow (though she enjoyed it more than I did). I concur.

There is one thing this movie left me with. I would love to go to Japan. In fact, I’d like to visit Asia in general. I don’t think Helaine wants to go, so this will be something that will only happen if there is another reason for going, and seeing Japan is secondary.

Interestingly enough, this was another movie with an all adult audience. At age 53, I was much younger than the median.

Watch by candlelight

At my desk at work, in the studio… suddenly the lights began to change color. I guess that’s what happens with flourescent studio lights. They don’t dim, they shift their color as the voltage withers and then

-GONE-

We were without power for only a few seconds, enough to bring down every computer under my control in the Weather Center. Most started to reboot on their own. Others were a little more recalictrant. One computer, the one that controls our Doppler radar, is totally dead. Luckily, it’s sunny and will be again tomorrow.

It looks like something in Southern Ontario took down most of the Northeast power grid (though they’re blaming Niagara Mohawk Power in NY).

Helaine just called from home. She and Steffie had been at Trumbull Mall when the power went out. It looks like the power never blinked at home.