Cold Spaghetti

We are still in St. Simon’s Island, GA. Will is asleep with Aunt Gwen. Paul and I came to the King and Prince for email and to check on images of our house.

I particularly liked Violet’s post about the hurricane. I think it summed things up well. As far as other political news, I’m all about Ray Nagin for President.

We’ve had very little news over the past two days, which has been a good thing and lessened our anxiety a bit. It is very difficult to handle the news and not feel completely at a loss. What can be done? To me, I feel like this is what happens during a disaster within a seriously socially segregated society. New Orleans embodies our country’s culture and heritage: the grandeur and wealth, the art and music, and the classism and racism. Those factors play prominent roles in any dealings with the city, events of disaster included.

On another note, we’ve spoken with two more of our neighbors: they are well and safe. No specific news about our house, but the picture makes us feel good (no huge pieces of roof missing.) Also, we got third hand that the media is really playing up the tragedy of the city and not showing any positives (which was felt were a lot). This source also felt that rebuilding Uptown would not be as dire as portrayed on the news.

Paul still has a job; I do not. It was announced this morning that Tulane is closed for the fall term. As a PhD student done with classes, that doesn’t leave me many options to continue my program as planned. I was preparing to sit my comprehensive exams in October and have been truly working hard for this date. (So much for all that work all summer!!!) I have no idea what will happen next. The conferences I was suppose to present at are now both up in the air (one, the big American Public Health Association conference was going to be in New Orleans… the other, in Chicago, I needed funding from Tulane to attend). So, the professional outlets I’d be lining up for the past year are suddenly shut. I’m not ready to begin a disseration and not sure of what my doctoral program timeline will look like anymore. The thought of going overseas and working for awhile is the most tempting on our plates. What, how, and where is very uncertain. There is a possibility of a job in India (which would be wonderful) but we’d have some logistics to work out. The bottom line is that we’re just not sure. Although it sounds like a contradiction, so much uncertainity can really feel stifling.