Trash in Biloxi

You don't notice until you need one, but all the trash cans are gone. I don't even see them in the debris piles. I suppose they float, and must have ended up further inland than I've gone. I haven't seen regular trash pickups other than dumpster dumping, and it took this long to figure it out....there's no cans left to dump at the homes around here. One more occupation that's left folks unemployed.

Monday is when you see the biggest changes. Over the weekend, hundreds of volunteers come down here to help gut homes, pile yards-worth of debris on the sidewalk and remove the horizontal part of the snapped trees. Without a stump grinder or back hoe, the 6 or 8 foot trunk remains, a testament to what has already gone to the burn site. There's a column of smoke non-stop from a few miles north of town, where the vegetation is being put to fire rather than landfill. The other side of the weekend is the vulture tourist. I have always felt queasy about snapping photos of other folks' misery, and come home with few, if any, pictures. I've already emailed a few back home, but have taken less than two dozen in my two months here. But on Sundays, it's dangerous to drive with all the folks stopped along the road to create that Kodak memory. They jump out of the car without hardly a glance at who might be coming, as if the tableau was going to run off into the distance before their auto-focus can react. Hey, it's been here two months, it's not going to disappear in the next 5 seconds, all right?

It's Halloween, and I wouldn't want my kids wandering these neighborhoods either. But I've been intrigued by the solution, it's called 'Trunk or Treat'. That's right, come to the parking lot and decorate your car trunk or pickup bed. And be sure to bring that bowl of candy for the little ones who will make the parking lot circuit a few times before going back home. And of course, there's a prize for the best decorated trunk. But there's no street lights to speak of, and most of the neighbors arent' here anymore, so this is an idea whose time has come.

Florida is already past 'Response' and into 'Recovery', another word for 'repair'. Wilma was only Cat 3, so they'll clean up, fix a few roofs and carry on. I think in one more week, after the power is all back on, Florida will already be ahead of the Gulf Coast on the road to normal. You here about Florida's recovery efforts, but in Mississippi the proper term is rebuilding. And here's why: You've seen pictures of the aftermath of tornados, I'm sure. Lots of concrete slabs and kindling that used to be homes and barns. Picture a tornado that sets down on the Alameda in San Jose where it turns into the El Camino Real, and then follows ECR all the way to it's end in South San Francisco. Now picture that same tornadic destruction, for 6 blocks on either side of ECR. And for another 12 blocks on each side, destroy one in three buildings. And for another 20 blocks, take the roof off every fifth house. That's the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. That's rebuilding, not recovery. And that doesn't mention Florida, Alabama, Louisiana or Texas, some worse some not.

This morning on the way to work, seven tractor trailer rigs were turning into the military checkpoint where I was trying to leave to go to work. Following the National Guardsman's instructions, I waited for all to pull through. My gaze fell on a man, a thin man, not more than 5' 6" or so. He stood next to the waist-high chain link fence at the only section that still stands straight up. The nature of the yard on the other side is unclear, so much kindling you can't tell if it's grass or driveway or garden. Someone's roof gable caps it all like a crown. The house he's staring at has a roof, a front wall and most of the rear wall. Unbelieveably, the roof is still upright in spite of the fact the front wall is on the sidewalk and there are neither side nor interior walls left. He stares into the home. Just as I get the ok to drive on. he colllapses to his knees and sobs.