Madness

The preparations for Gustav have begun. Last night we went to the Kroger gas station to fill up and cars were lined up at every single pump ... and they were sold out of everything but premium gas.

And the hurricane's not supposed to hit us until Monday or Tuesday.

They said on the radio this morning that the hardware stores were already sold out of 5-gallon gas cans (remember the gas shortage after Katrina?? Even in Tupelo we couldn't get gas ... it was crazy), and you can't find a generator anywhere.

It's in the Caribbean right now. But after Katrina, we're all scared that it's going to do the same thing, and pick up speed and power in the hot soup of the Gulf. If it does become a severe storm, I hope and pray that it does not do damage on the level of Katrina. Even this far inland, we'd all be in trouble. If it looks like it's turning into that, I may pack up the family and head to Mama's!

No. 600

I'm really impressed with daughter's first grade teacher. We met her a few days before school started, but last night they had a back to school night for the first grade class. Nine or 10 of her classmates were there, and their parents.

Her teacher gave us her home number, cell number and personal e-mail address and said to call her anytime (before 10; she gets up early in the mornings), that's what she's there for. She broke down the schedule of when the kids did what activity, and invited us to come eat lunch with them sometime.

She told us about herself ... she's been a teacher for more than 20 years and she's a mom of teenagers. She was a math major in college so although the school puts a heavy, heavy emphasis on reading, she makes sure to go over fundamental math every day too.


Read to your children every day, she said.
Ask them questions about what they're hearing.
Get them to read to you, but make sure you read to them too.


But what really touched me about her was something that happened just yesterday in class. She had a migraine headache, and was doing all she could to keep working. The kids had been with another teacher, doing an activity, and had just come back into homeroom. She said they could tell she wasn't well, and they call came around her, hugging her and touching her, trying to make her feel better.

"I knew going in that these were good kids, but I could see their heart today," she said.

Daughter raves about her anyway, but now I'm convinced she's in good hands. We liked the setup of the classroom and we could tell the kids like and respect her. I think it's going to be a good year.

Atlantis

I'm three years behind the curve, but I finally watched An Inconvenient Truth last night. A significant portion of the movie was about natural disasters, and hurricanes in particular (with a focus on Katrina). Because of global warming, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are becoming more frequent, and more powerful. The movie showed charts outlining this, and other natural disasters (flooding, drought, lightening, tornadoes, etc.), on an alarming rise since the 1970s.

Some of the most compelling images from the storm were the flood pictures. When the levees broke, water rushed into the city and people were trapped on their roofs or in their attics. The city is below sea level, and relies on engineering to keep the water out. Doghouse don't kill me, but this seems like a recipe for disaster. And it took a disaster to call national attention to the frailty of the levee system.

But the levees are not the only factor contributing to New Orleans' tenuous position.

Its natural buffer zone has shrunk, too. When we went to Mobile, we watched an IMAX movie at the science museum called "Hurricane on the Bayou," about:

"the rapidly disappearing wetlands that are New Orleans’ first line of defense against deadly storms. Vanishing at an astonishing rate of one acre every 38 minutes according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the wealth, cultural vitality and very future of New Orleans depend on the preservation of these wetlands."

Without that buffer zone, New Orleans is vulnerable to major storms, of course, but even weaker hurricanes can cause major damage. It's a compelling (and scary!) movie. Here's another graph from the movie Web site:

"Scientific studies by the Army Corps of Engineers suggest that every 2.7 feet of wetlands can reduce deadly storm surges by a foot. Without wetlands restoration, recovery efforts in New Orleans may all be for naught because it is only a matter of time before another monster storm comes the city’s way."

Making it even worse, Al Gore's movie also touched on melting ice caps, and he showed slides of major cities around the world that would be partially or totally submerged. A good portion of the state of Florida would be underwater, so you can imagine how New Orleans looked on that map.

The poor city seems to be under attack, from a lot of different factors.

•••

*Disclaimer*

THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE. THIS IS NOT LIBERAL V. CONSERVATIVE OR REPUBLICAN V. DEMOCRAT.

But it is going to take political action to enact change. Our environment is something we should all be concerned about, regardless of party affiliation. The vast, vast majority of scientific study shows that if we don't cut our carbon emissions, the planet will continue getting hotter. Sea level will rise, national disasters and heat waves will get worse and more species will become extinct.

This isn't some abstract concept that we shouldn't concern ourselves with; I heard on the news this morning that a "major hurricane" could be in the Gulf this weekend. We are not ready for this!

Bro. Jim

I grew up Baptist. I'm certainly not Baptist anymore, but it is my childhood.

Mom called me today with the news. Bro. Jim Lindsay, the pastor of our church when I was a little girl, died today. He had a stroke. I have no idea how old he was. He was middle-aged when I was a little girl (20-something years ago), so he probably wasn't too young anymore. And by too young, I mean too young to have a stroke or other major health problem. He'd lived a full life.

He didn't baptize me. That was Bro. West I think. But I always thought the world of Bro. Jim. Mom tells the story of when I was probably 6 and I got in line to shake the pastor's hand after the service. He quickly let go, and asked me why my hand was wet.

"I dropped a quarter in the toilet," I said with a straight face.

(It was a joke. I'd heard my sister prank her teacher the same way and I wanted to do it too, of course)

Bro. Jim didn't think it was too funny, though, and mom said the look on his face was priceless.

I was sad to hear that he'd died even though I hadn't laid eyes on the man since I was a little girl. It's just weird to lose a part of your past that way. That church will always have a place in my heart ... it's where I grew up and all my family still go there, and all my cousins now have families of their own and they're all active in the youth group. My dad built the current sanctuary in 1989, and I still vaguely remember the old building. I was there when they paved the parking lot, and when they added the CAC. Bro. Jim was part of that too.

I wouldn't go back for anything in the world, but part of me will always miss that place.

Small tragedy

It was rainy nasty on Sunday, the roads were slick and visibility was horrible (I swear as I was coming into town yesterday the air after a certain point was solid white ... couldn't see the tops of the buildings).

Driving north on I-55, I had set my cruise on 65. I was coming up on a Nissan Altima going slower than I was, and I moved into the other lane to pass. All of a sudden she hydroplaned and spun around once or twice, and her car slammed into the concrete barrier, first hitting her rear bumper then the front. I couldn't tell if anyone was hurt, but I pulled over and called 911. As I was talking to the dispatcher, I saw that there were a couple of kids in the back. Everyone in the car was sitting up, alert and seemed to be OK.

Another car pulled over, and the driver got out and directed traffic around the wreck. He stopped all the cars once and let the wrecked car pull over to the shoulder, and at that point I drove away.

That's the second time in my life I've watched a wreck happen. The first was in college, when I was on my way back to campus with two friends after going out to eat. A Lexus ran a red light on Lakeland Drive and went straight into oncoming traffic, T-boning a truck with a camper on the back. The truck went airborne, and landed upside down on the side of the road.

No one was hurt in either wreck, but it's still jarring to watch something like that. You can't not be affected when you see that. Yes, after I drove away from the wreck yesterday I went a lot slower, and took the back roads to where I was going. This morning on the way to work, the roads were just as bad as they were yesterday (if not worse). Those SUVs were flying around me, going at least 80. I wished I could put up a message somewhere and tell them all to be careful, that there are other people on the road and to stop driving like a maniac in the rain.

Little reader

I know this sounds silly, but over the summer I really didn't realize how much my daughter was learning on her own. When I'd put her to bed at night, she'd ask me to give her a few books and leave the lamp on. We started with Dr. Seuss, but by the end of the summer she'd moved up to the Disney books (Bambi, Dumbo, Pocahontas, etc.).

And now that she's in school, she's bringing home these reading assignments where she's supposed to read sentences to me and I sign the paper. She just flies through it like the child's play that it is. Not a single word trips her up. I know this is the very beginning of the school year and it's going to get harder, but she's really sharp.

•••

I remember all those nights I would stay up reading when I was a kid. When I was in third, fourth, fifth grade I got sucked into all these wonderful books and could not put them down. It continued through junior high and high school and on into college when the great literature and the ancient classics came my way. I'm still just as hooked, though I don't have the time to read as much as I used to.

It's a good feeling to see her doing the same thing. I hope as she gets older I can throw certain books her way, to watch her fall in love with them too. :)

Book

I forgot how much I love this book, Possession, by A.S. Byatt. We read this month and will be discussing it tonight at the book club meeting.

Nicole put it best ... this is the English major's dream come true. It's a romance (in the classical style, not these paperback book-porn romances you get at the dollar store), and a mystery at the same time. It combines epic poetry, children's stories, love letters and the best of the best in novel writing: an intricately woven plot, individual character studies, such vivid setting descriptions that the places come alive.

God, I wish I could write like this.