Katrina and people we know

I don't have any close ties to New Orleans. I was lucky enough to have gone there once on vacation, not even two years before it was largely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. I read about all of the lives turned upside down, but among them there was no one I knew personally.

When I saw my graduate advisor earlier in the month (see my August 10 entry), he mentioned that he had recently been down to New Orleans. I was surprised; it doesn't seem like much of a tourist destination these days. He explained that his parents had lived there until last year. They were fortunate that they had the means to evacuate safely, but they won't be returning. My friend's father has Alzheimer's, and he was just getting to the point where he is no longer able to live at home. And now New Orleans is no place for the old man to move back to.

I wasn't able to get all the details of my friend's story straight. His family, I gather, was originally from Kansas, and that may be where his parents will end up. Just a couple of individuals in the diaspora of New Orleans spread across the country. I may not have close ties to New Orleans, but this story makes me wonder: How far removed is any of us from Katrina?