don't close your eyes.

we're fortunate enough to not be in new orleans, to not have to buy gas, and to not have to travel far. but that doesn't mean you're allowed to forget about what's going on. YOU CANNOT PRETEND THIS NIGHTMARE DOESN'T EXIST.

imagine: you're poor. you live in a shitty run-down area of town. you hear on the tv news that a hurricane is coming and that you should leave if you can. but you can't. so somehow you get your four kids and your mom, who has alzheimers and diabetes, into the superdome. the hurricane hits and rips off parts of the roof, and water starts leaking in on you and the other 10,000 people living there. your house is totally destroyed, not that you can go check it out because it's under 6 feet of water. the power at the superdome goes out, leaving you with minimal lighting and no air conditioning. it's 90 degrees and very humid. there's no water. there's litte food. you can't leave because you're surrounded by a toxic cesspool of standing water, which besides being incredibly disgusting is rapidly breeding mosquitoes. the backup generator at the superdome goes down. you now have no light. and still no water. and no food. your mom's blood sugar is out of control but you have no insulin because you can't keep it cold, and you can't get to an emergency room, and even if you could, they'd have no power either. in fact, doctors at the hospitals are being held up by looters and forced to give up their painkillers. your kids have no idea what to do with themselves, having not brought any toys from home. you have no savings to speak of, and everything you own is currently in your arms. you rent, so you don't have any insurance relief coming. after three days, they finally start bussing people out of the superdome. this whole time, you haven't had access to a toilet. and you are one of the lucky ones.

i can't even begin to quote everything so i'll just send you to slate. this is absolutely horrific.