Four years ago today, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans

And many of my friends who lived there (some of them on my LJ friends list) were sitting in hotel rooms across the country, feeling the world had turned upside down on them and wondering if they would ever see their homes again...or what they would find if and when they did. And days later, the floods broke the levees and much of my beloved home city sat under nine feet of contaminated water for weeks on end, ruining homes, possessions and businesses...and even taking some lives. At least one couple I know in the Lakeview district lost everything and had to sit in one of those goddam FEMA trailers for months. And I was sitting here in Atlanta, weeping at the sight of devastation aired nightly on TV news programs...and then worrying as my Songbird volunteered to go there for several weeks with a CDC team to help the city's health department get back up and running.

Today, progress in rebuilding the City that Care Forgot Suddenly Remembered is mixed at best, as federal money finally begins to trickle in from the stimulus package and long-delayed relief allocations. And as the anniversary hits, much news media reportage is being devoted to said progress...and in some areas, the lack thereof. NPR's All Things Considered reports here on the additional problem of crime and corruption affecting the rebuilding, which has even hit the poorest of the city's laborers.

Many celebrities have pitched in with real, ongoing help, most notably singer (and local favorite son) Harry Connick Jr. and actor Brad Pitt, whose home-building in the now-infamous Lower 9th Ward has sparked wild speculation about his running for Mayor. (I'd vote for him in a hot second, were I still living there and eligible.) And around two-thirds of the city's pre-Katrina population has returned. Reconstruction along the rest of the Gulf Coast that was hit by Katrina and her weaker sister Rita also proceeds apace, if slowly.

There is much cause for frustration, anger and sadness...but there is also much cause for hope—especially given the comparatively light hurricane season we are experiencing this year. New Orleans is still convalescent...but rising again. And a great deal of thanks to mshollie for reminding me of the sad occasion.

The 2008 Pegasus Award ballot is online—vote early, vote often :-)

Courtesy of about half my f-list: The Ohio Valley Filk Fest has posted this year's final nominations for its coveted annual Pegasus Awards. The online ballot is here, so if you aren't planning to attend OVFF this year (the last at their current hotel) or just want to save a tree if you are, you can use this to cast your vote. Online ballots must be submitted by 19 October, midnight Eastern.

The slate of candidates is a great one this year, and in recent years has been much improved by the advent of online balloting. The geographic spread of nominees is much wider than in pre-online years as more people who may never even have been to the convention are able to vote. Congratulations to all on the list from a former four-time nominee, and good luck to all...but especially to batyatoon, bedlamhouse, happyfunpaul, bardiclug, hsifyppah, madfilkentist, kbeader, markiv1111, talis_kimberley, tfabris, vixyish. katyhh and mysticfig.