I’ve been back online but have had little time to write. I will be rectifying that soon I hope.

As you know, a while back my computer was fried in an electrical storm. It went from laptop to toast in seconds flat. My computer was my primary source of income, and its loss had a dire effect on my already tenuous finances. As a Katrina evacuee I’m still eligible for emergency housing fund from FEMA, but unfortunately they’ve changed the rules. They are now asking for all manner of pre-disaster documentation.

Who has that? Who has anything left. If I had shit left from before Katrina, I probably wouldn’t need FEMA.

I’ve been researching alternative forms of emergency assistance to help me with my finances while I build my income back up from the loss. But during this time I’ve been served with an eviction notice.

The anxiety over potentially losing another home so soon after losing everything in Katrina has been nearly debilitating, but I have determination and am trying to maintain a positive outlook.

There is now a petition online asking my Apartment Building not to evict Katrina evacuees. I encourage you to please sign. This effects me personally, but I also know that many evacuees live in this complex, and are subject to the same treatment I’ve received.

In the beginning, this complex was welcoming and kind to evacuees. But that was the beginning. I think the entire country is forgetting, or wanting to forget, that this disaster has had long-term effects on the lives of many. That the people effected by Katrina are individuals, each of whom are going to react and be effected in individual ways. The impact was not just financial, but emotional and psychological as well.

How do you put a monetary value on some of the things lost to this devastation. You can’t. The grief and the mourning and the loss are going to be carried by many for a long time.

Please sign the petition encouraging University Gardens to act with compassion and not greed. Tell them to work with Katrina victims, not to evict.

Sign here

Thank you!