CenLamar

Alexandria has been named as one of the official evacuation cities, which means that things are a little hectic around here. I flew in this afternoon with a few Red Cross volunteers and a crew from Mercy Air. It’s good to know that Americans are responding preemptively this time, and it’s heartwarming to see people from all across the country fly into Louisiana to volunteer for disaster recovery.

We can only hope that Gustav calms down before he makes landfall.

The models they’re projecting right now don’t look good for us; even those of us in the so-called “Safe Zone” in Alexandria are likely to get our fair share of the storm.

But we’re prepared.

Some of my good friends are on their way up from New Orleans and Lafayette. We’ll be braving the storm here at my house. I feel like we JUST went through this.

It’s somewhat deflating to have returned from the DNC, which was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, only to be confronted with the nightmarish spectacle of another hurricane looming beneath our coastline. Yesterday in Denver, most of the folks from Louisiana spent their entire day making plans and getting mentally prepared for another excruciating evacuation.

I gotta say this too: A few people– obviously people not from Louisiana or the Gulf Coast– have been (almost gleefully) speculating on the impact this could have on the Republican National Convention.
I know what Ashley Morris would have said to them (Link to the acronym dictionary, which totally bungles the acronym), and frankly, we all feel the same way. (I anticipate Ryan at the Daily Kingfish may have some more to say about this).