Saturday, September 03, 2005

The hurricane post

It seems like everybody is blogging about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I've read frightening stories of personal experience, thoughtful words of encouragement, engaging discourse about how things are being handled, and inspiring calls to action. But I don't feel like I have any words to contribute, myself.

I've been saturated with hurricane news over the past few days. When something huge like this happens, I have to put aside my usual entertainment production duties and focus on the bigger picture. But it goes beyond just me putting in overtime and helping with news production. The staff of NOLA.com (one of al.com's sister sites) is displaced from their city. They're scattered in different places around the country and can't return home — at a time when their site's traffic is going insane with people trying to get information. So we've been helping them where we can.

Anyway, I'm getting 8-12 hours a day of Katrina. That's not a complaint — I'm happy to do it. This isn't one of those sensational but inconsequential stories that you get sick of hearing about — it's just exhausting. There are so many things I'm thinking, but I'm counting on others to put the words out there. After everything I've seen and read, I don't feel like adding something more to the pile.

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