Where Are You, Rick Duplantier?
Where Are You, Rick Duplantier?Much to my relief, one of my dear friends from New Orleans, MB, commu-nicated with me last evening, even as Hurricane Gustav comes barreling toward the southwest of the Big Easy as a Category Three storm. She reassured me that she was to board a flight to Atlanta today.
But I'm still waiting to hear from my college friend Rick Duplantier, who rebuilt after Katrina. Rick, if you're out there and read this, please let me know you're OK!
As noted above, MB sent me a quick e-mail, reassuring me:
After massive search and many calls, found two Sunday tickets to Atlanta on AirTran -- too much money, but it was that or drive or bail! With the traffic, it would have been 24 hours, I'm sure.I'm hoping her flight made it out as scheduled.
But our concerns about a trip are miniscule. I don't know how my many friends -- and thousands of others -- who lost everything last time are coping now. I'm emotionally fragile, and I can just imagine how they feel.
At least this time, people are getting out of town. Now.
Maybe it'll miss us. But then again, that means it's going to hit someone else. Then again, where is safe? Sacramento has the same levees we do; California has the earthquakes, midwest the storms, east coast the hurricanes.........
Too many musings, back to work, then to pack!
As I noted yesterday, while it may not be much, I donated to the American Red Cross in recognition that they're already hard at work in preparing for the eventual disaster relief they'll be providing in Gustav's aftermath. Additionally, as my friend Alicia reminded me , another key way to help is to donate blood.
I strongly encourage you to to what you can. To donate, simply click here.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Charitable Organizations, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Special Messages
posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Sunday, August 31, 2008
2 Comments:
Hey Steve,
I just made a donation. I was thinking about your friend Rick. I've seen his blog, with the pictures of his beautifully rebuilt house. It just seems like there ought to be a way to make the area safe, short of evacuating hundreds of thousands of people whenever a hurricane is about to hit. But I guess at this point, that's a discussion for another day. Right now, you just have to make sure everyone gets out safely. And I'm sure Rick is fine and he'll be in touch as soon as he can.
Thanks Esther. Rick Duplantier has been a good friend since we went to college together over 25 years ago. He's a great, accomplished guy, and very intelligent, too.
So while I'm anxious that I have not yet heard from him, I have no doubt that he's smart enough to have long since taken cover. But I still hope to hear from him soon, just to be sure.
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