Hurricanes and Other Powerful Forces

The other day I ran into my friend Azmo, a cool dude who works with my roommate. Azmo is from New Orleans, and his parents and most of the rest of his family still live there. They lost their business in the hurricane, but their houses remained relatively in tact, and no one came to major harm, praise god. Still, they are citizens of New Orleans, and Azmo is an ex-pat, and while the rest of the country has turned attention to other, more recent tragedies and scandals, they are still in mourning for their beautiful, fallen city. Azmo just visited there to help his family rebuild, and he took some pretty amazing photos. I pressured him into setting up a flickr account, which he did, and you should check it out here. There are only a few up right now, but he showed me tons that made me want to lie down on the floor, and he said that none of them really captured the enormity of the devastation. I have no idea how to process loss on this scale, it just sort of sits in me, all crammed against tsunamis and earthquakes and environmental protection legislation repeals, and arrogant corruption and, and and… And it all lives in just that place that makes it sort of hard to breathe sometimes, like I have to gasp for air. And other times it just feels heavy, and then other times I almost forget, which is a relief, but then I feel guilty and then it’s heaviness and gasping all over again!
All of this is just a way of saying I love Azmo, and I wish I could do more for him and his family and neighbors than just blog about them and get all emo.