This is our Tsunami.

The images from the Tsunami seemed horrific yet so foreign and distant to me because it happened literally half a world away. Now these images coming out of New Orleans are eerily familar. The roof of the SuperDome damaged as thousands are using the facility as the modern version of Noah's Ark, the French Quarter in ruins, most of New Orleans under water, reports of many, many bodies floating in the flood waters, millions are now homeless, flood water are rising instead of receding. As a former Tulane undergraduate, these images and stories hits home hard.

I survived Andrew, and while the devastation to Miami was horrific, we weren't below sea level and didn't experience floods. Katrina has dealt a devastating blow to New Orleans. I'm wondering if Tulane will reopen this semester or ever? If I will be able to ride the Trolley on St. Charles once again? See Tulane play in the SuperDome? Have a Hurricane at Pat O'Briens? Mardi Gras? Take a stroll at RiverWalk? Eat cajun food and have gumbo? Will New Orleans survive and can it ever be the same again? I hope so.

Often life passes me by and rarely do I stop to appreciate the simple things. Like having a/c, having a home to come back to from work, functioning street lights. I thought Katrina hit us unexpectly hard here in Miami, but she spared us for what she dealt to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.