unhappy trails

Wednesday’s All Things Considered featured a longish story by Alix Spiegel about the residents of Scenic Trails, a trailer park in the middle of nowhere that has been used for the better part of two years to warehouse some poor folks that lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. It was one of the most disturbing and depressing radio pieces I have heard in some time; if you didn’t catch it yesterday, I suggest you gird yourself, clear some time, and then go have a listen.

A couple of days ago, I had started to write a piece reflecting on the response to last week’s bridge collapse in Minnesota and how it compared to what has happened some miles down river in the two years since the levees broke. I got distracted by work, and never polished that piece up for publication. After hearing Spiegel’s segment yesterday, I was compelled to finish the essay, and I’ve posted it over on capitoilette.

It’s not as good as the ATC piece, but it’s depressing in its own way. Reading it, though, should take less time and less girding, so why not take a look. . . .