Worthwhile Reading

Two pieces ran in today's Times-Picayune that I think are very worthwhile reading. Both capture vantage points and realities that help convey where New Orleans is 23 months after Katrina.

The first is an opinion piece by David Sarasohn of The Oregonian (interesting to see something like this written by someone who works for a newspaper clear across the country).


Katrina is still a killer two years later

Monday, July 30, 2007

David Sarasohn

As a politician, Rep. Charlie Melancon reads local papers closely, and he's found a frequent cause of death.

"So-and-so died," he reads, "as a result of Hurricane Katrina."

On the calendar, Katrina is coming up on its second anniversary next month. In Louisiana, and in the state's mortality charts, it seems it never ended.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Katrina is still killing our residents," Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Frank Minyard told The Associated Press last month. "People with pre-existing conditions that are made worse by the stress of living here after the storm. Old people who are just giving up. People who are killing themselves because they feel they can't go on."

....to read the rest of Sarasohn's piece, use the link below:

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-0/118577882198390.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

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The second is a piece on the state of churches in and around New Orleans, and their recovery, called Houses of Worship. Here's an excerpt:

In the hardest-hit parishes of Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard, 43 percent of pre-Katrina congregations have not returned, according to Day's research.

That represents slow improvement in the eight months since Day's previous benchmark, the one-year anniversary of Katrina. At that time Day estimated that only 47 percent of congregations in those hard-hit parishes were meeting; now it's 57 percent.

Moreover, it appears across the board that surviving congregations have lost significant fractions of their members. Day said it was not uncommon to see surviving congregations functioning at two-thirds of their former strength.

...for the full story, go to:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1185775264295930.xml&coll=1