Roman's Observations of the Gulf Coast 11/18-11/20/05

Along the Blvd of Broken dreams we saw some had spray painted messages on plywood, among them “Katrina 1, Gulfport 0, but it’s only halftime,” “Gone to the Virgin Islands,” and only three “You Loot, we Shoot” signs. Many had erected impromptu flagpoles and flew the Stars and Bars. Some flew their Mississippi flags as well. We parked and walked amongst the houses, poking around, feeling like thieves (though we had no stealing intentions – I took only a ziplock bag full of sand from the beach for my collection). It was very sad to see where owners had made small piles of whatever they could salvage. Broken china plates, vases, baby spoons, an ash tray. A small pile in the corner of the foundation, the only remaining possessions in what was surely a beautiful home along one of the nicest beaches on our side of the Gulf. We could see where the kitchen had been by the linoleum, the hallways by the hardwood floors, and tiles on porches amongst the stumps of columns that once rose in front as grand entrances. Bulldozers and excavators rumbled in nearby lots behind the trees like dirty yellow dinosaurs. Many of the fallen trees, great live oaks, had been spray painted with day-glow pink. A line around the circumference of the trunk or a large branch indicated CUT HERE, an X meant to haul away, and SAVE had been written on the larger unbroken portions, the purpose being to sell the wood to make into planks. I was happy to see this resource salvaged wisely.

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