On Mon 02 Jan 2006 08:17:03p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Bob
Terwilliger?

> Wayne wrote about New Orleans:
>
>> It must be bad enough to have to go through the rebuilding process even
>> if it is covered by insurance, not to mention those who literally lost
>> everything. I don't think I could go back.
>
> A dear friend of mine lost almost everything she had. My friend is a
> participant in the Goth subculture, and every year there's a gathering
> of Goths called "Convergence." The city changes from year to year, with
> online voting determining which city gets to host Convergence for that
> particular year.
>
> New Orleans won the vote for the 2006 Convergence. Then Hurricane
> Katrina hit, and the town was devastated. Rising from the rubble, the
> Convergence organizers declared that Convergence would continue as
> scheduled. It will take place in April 2006. The hotel wasn't too
> badly damaged, so it will still host the gathering, but a second venue
> where nightly musical performances were supposed to take place fell by
> the wayside. (http://www.convergencexii.com/)
>
> My friend has attended Convergence with me for the last four years, but
> she won't be coming to this one: It's not that she LOST so much, but she
> had to come back to her shambles of an apartment and sort through things
> which had been precious to her but which were now utterly ruined. And
> on a grander scale, she had to see so many of her favorite places
> irrecoverably damaged. She doesn't want to see them again, at least not
> until she's had plenty of time to grieve for the loss, both her loss and
> the loss to the world. She's living in Seattle now.
>
> (I'm helping her rebuild: When I asked her what she felt worst about
> losing, she said that she was moved to tears by the loss of her game
> collection, her Disney videos, and her Christmas ornaments. I'm
> replacing the games and the videos, and I shared my own Christmas
> ornaments with her so that she would have SOME ornaments this
> Christmas.)

You're doing a good thing. You're a good friend, Bob.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
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And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.