I have been trying to put into words some of what I was thinking about the aftermath of Katrina, but so many have been much more eloquent than I. Then I found Kyra's post. She recently moved out of Louisiana and had hit the nail on the head with the 'The Whole Picture'.

From New Orleans, a couple of posts I found particularly eloquent:

Bobbysan writes of his days following the catastrophe (which was later picked up by the New York Press).

On the topic of casualty numbers, Sturtle puts it in perspective.

In the midst of the disaster, the tombs and caskets also were dislodged due to the high water table. From what I understand, people in N.O. are buried above ground because of it. It would be the same here too as my town doesn't have cemetaries for the same reason. Of course, our departed are usually buried in other towns or cremated.

This quote, I thought particularly fitting:

New Orleans right now is, to me, like that boyfriend who broke up with you. You don't want to leave, but you kind of have to. You still hang out with his friends (Baton Rouge, Huston, Florida, St.Francisville), but eventually, when you can't stand to hear people talk about him any more, you want to start hanging out with people who don't know him so well (New York, California, Europe).