One Year Ago: Journalers Blogging About Katrina

So here we are a year after Katrina, surrounded by "one year later" headlines, with plenty of photos to remind us of the physical and human devastation that was wrought (in case we'd allowed ourselves to forget).

How much has changed? The rebuilding efforts continue, though there's still plenty of blame and finger-pointing to go around, not to mention a fresh new hurricane season to worry about.

It's important that we not forget what happened; Journals Editor Jeff highlights a bunch of different blogs that help tell the stories of survivors and evacuees. Over in New Orleans: Rebuilding a City, Craig and Paul have been documenting the reconstruction efforts since October. And at The Second Line, Deborah returned to New Orleans to see how the community was rebuilding. [Update: Over at Blogging New Orleans, Mike is doing a posting marathon, blogging 24 New Orleans posts in 24 hours, each talking about a different aspect of the city post-Katrina.]

What I'd like to do here is take a look at what some Journalers were blogging about a year ago, to try to capture the humanity that regular folks, some in the path of Katrina, others not, showed during the hurricane and its aftermath.

I went back to my blog entries from August 26 and August 29 to take a look at a sampling of regular bloggers who were writing about Katrina's path.

Last year, Lamare, over at Happiness: Yep, STILL a choice, was posting an update from Louisiana during the storm. (See his subsequent posts, as well.)

This year, he posts an entry looking back, where he remembers his uncle lost during the devastation, and also asks that we not forget the other areas that were affected.

Last year, Erica at Southern Comfort was posting about getting ready to ride things out in Biloxi. A few days later, she blogged the aftermath: about how her house was damaged (but still standing), how entire neighborhoods were flattened, and how she came to realize that the smell in the air was death.

Dawn, over at Dear Diary was one of the many Floridians who had to head to higher ground; she managed to get missed, though this year finds her going "Oh, no, not again!" at Ernesto.

Coy, over at Dancing in the Rain was similarly missed in South Florida, though with a father in New Orleans, was sweating things for a few days. She's also getting ready for Ernesto.

One thing that stands out about the blog entries by the Floridians (including Bill at My Journey, and Berta over at Bert's World) is relief at missing the brunt of the storm, tempered by the deep and prophetic concern they expressed for the people of New Orleans.

Up the Gulf Coast, Steven, over at The Tension was blogging from Mobile; undamaged save for a blackout, he then focused on blogging about the aftermath, news coverage and relief and rescue operations.

Steven's now in DC, blogging primarily military topics over at The Tension (new version).

Jen of Jen's Journal was another Floridian blogging on battery power -- on subsequent days, she and her family packed up food, generators, fuel and more supplies, and headed down to help Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a town that was devastated by Katrina.

All these are just a sampling of what Journalers and bloggers were writing about last year -- regular folks, telling their stories. It's important that we not lose sight of that, and it's one of the reasons why blogs are such a powerful tool.

If you have your own story to share from Katrina, or thoughts about the intervening year, please let us know in the comments.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: katrina, aol journals