Seize the Day!

Remember when I thought 55°F was cold? Well, today I think that temperature is absolutely balmy. As soon as my classes and training workshop were over, I came home and painted my toenails cherry red. Decorated feet shod in comfortable sandals, I walked all the way to the solemn Maeser Building to pay for that required conference and all the way around to the bell tower. The grass was warm beneath my toes as I lay back on the lawn to expose my face and calves to some glorious ultraviolet radiation. On another note, what surprised me most about New Orleans was not the hurricane, it was what I learned later about how people there lived before the hurricane. Out in the free-spirited West it is hard to imagine voluntary segregation or arbitrary poverty like that still exists anywhere. Forget about the FEMA reaction months ago and focus on what they are doing (or not doing) now. The problem is, a government agency distributing rent checks and trailers cannot solve the deep-rooted problems that have overshadowed New Orleans since its founding. That takes the people of New Orleans making a conscious decision to change their society.