The Best of A.M. in the Morning! August 13-17

by Ana Maria

Katrina-Land: A Lesson in Crossing the Political Divide 8.13.07
Katrina Town Hall Reflected Selflessness of Gulf Coast 8.14.07
FEMA, how would you like your eggs? 8.15.07
Young Mother in FEMA Trailer Yearns for Home 8.16.07
Growing Up After Camille, Reflections on Katrina 8.17.07


Broadening Katrina’s Lens: A Five-Part Series
Part 1: Broadening Katrina's Lens
Part 2: Recovery’s Two Major Impediments: $$$ and the "F" word
Part 3: The "F" Word: FEMA
Part 4: Katrina’s Bigger Picture
Part 5: Katrina’s Karmic Payback: Insurance Reform

Growing Up After Camille, Reflections on Katrina
8.17.07

Thirty-eight years ago today Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I was but a child of ten. Our family home had been built on the highest land in Hancock County. We slept in the hall. One of the families in the neighborhood stayed with us bringing their grandkids with them. Great! More people to play with my younger brother and me.

I remember the eye of Hurricane Camille when the storm got deadly silent, truly the calm before the hurricane kicked up all over again but from the opposite direction. Someone opened the door and one of my older brothers had a rope around his waist as he ventured outside to check on the family dog in the shed. Peering out the door, all I could see were trees that Camille had knocked down making the outside appear as though we were inside Sherwood Forest. Read More......

Young Mother in FEMA Trailer Yearns for Home
8.16.07

Through stinging, burning eyes I listened as WLOX-TV 13 filmed a conversation between a young single mother of two living in a FEMA trailer and John Eaves, Mississippi’s Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee. Rare is the interview with FEMA residents. Read More . . . .


FEMA, how would you like your eggs?
8.15.07

Clearly the first meaning for the initials A.M. in my blog’s name, A.M. in the meaning is my own name—Ana Maria. However, the other meaning of AM is Adult Maturity.

"What being an adult means is knowing what you have to do and doing it, even though you may not feel like doing it."

Robert T. Kiyosaki
Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant

Since publishing my first blog entry on May 1st of this year—Like Walking Through Glue—I have learned that Katrina was a great equalizer bringing out the real character in plenty of folks, bringing out shared core values, and waking up people—myself included—in new ways. Read More . . . .

Katrina Town Hall Reflected Selflessness of Gulf Coast
8.14.07

With standing room only in the large parish hall on top of a massive bluff overlooking the Bay which feeds into the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) hosted the second town hall meeting with a delegation of plenty of congressional leadership from across the country.

From as far west as California to the northeast of New Hampshire, Democratic Congressional representatives gave up time with their families and their constituents to revisit the Katrina-ravaged area. We were honored to have the high-ranking leadership of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Democratic Majority Whip Jim Clyburn from South Carolina. Read More . . . .


Katrina-Land: A Lesson in Crossing the Political Divide
8.13.07

Today is the day I’ve been looking forward to for quite sometime. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) leads a delegation to New Orleans and over to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to see the state of post-Katrina living. Last year I was living in San Jose, Calif., which is about an hour’s south of San Francisco—the district that Pelosi represents. I wasn’t here for Katrina, though plenty of my family members were. I remember when I read that Pelosi had led a delegation of Democrats to this area last year. I was thrilled! Read More . . . .

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