#katrinaversary

Usually, this time of year I write an uplifting post about the spirit of love and the resilience of my beloved NOLA and her unbreakable spirit. I talk about the deeply meaningful life lessons I learned from one of the most challenging experiences I and my loved ones will ever live through. I talk about the community we built for ourselves and the power of laughter and the joy of helping others and finding silver linings in the aftermath of chaos.

But today I woke up for the third time this week to terrifyingly familiar newscasts and bleak weather forecasts from down in Texas and all I'm able to feel is an impotent sense of helplessness in the face of Mother Nature, a sinking feeling of gut-wrenching dread when I think about how little faith I have in the current presidential administration to actually get down there and help, and a homesickness for New Orleans that's making it hard for me to stop crying.

So today on the twelfth anniversary of Katrina, as Harvey continues to wreak havoc in Houston and across the western side of the Gulf, I'm not looking to the past to how far New Orleans has come and how much I learned. I'm looking to the future, and asking "what can I do to help?”

Here are just a few of the relief efforts and charities that my friends and loved ones are supporting right now. I’m sharing here in case any of my followers are looking for ways to help, also: - LGBTQ Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund (run by the Montrose Center) - Feeding Texas (a network of food banks within the state) - Covenant House Texas  - Coalition for the Homeless - The Texas Diaper Bank  

Katrina taught me about the power of the individual. It taught me that when governments fail, ordinary people step up. The kindness and decency of other people is what got me through 2005 with enough laughter to balance out the tears. We pulled through, we rebuilt, and we persisted. And so now it’s my time to pay it forward.

Ah, thank you. I was just a little younger than you during Andrew -- I think it was the first big one I can actively remember!

Between my Katrina PTSD (I really hate the word 'triggered' because I feel like it gets overused to the point of being almost meaningless... but... yeah...), worry for my friends and loved ones who still live down there (everyone is okay, except for some property damage), and the freaking flooding + tornado warnings that the remnants of Ida caused up here in NYC last night.... my nerves are a bit shot this week.