Back of the Envelope

Well, I've finally submitted my story for the Faith-in-Fiction Conversion Story contest. As usual, the story wasn't so much finished as abandoned. I can always do another revision, and everytime I do I find something that absolutely must be changed. Despite the fact that I've had three different people read the third version and tell me that it looked good and they had no suggestions for improvement, I went through two additional revisions. There eventually comes a point when I have to say that's it, it's as done as it's going to get. Right now I'm just trying not to worry about it, since I know that if I do, I'll find yet another essential flaw in it.

At least now that I'm done I can start putting up real posts rather than cheap links to splattered birds and giant squids!

Okay, maybe not only in Boston, but I don't expect that too many churches have a writers' group. I've decided to get involved with the Soli Deo Gloria arts group at Park Street. They have a Writers' Group which meets on Monday nights for writers interested in getting published. It should be interesting, help to improve my writing, and give me a chance to discuss the theological issues which crop up when writing fiction. I'll let you know how it went.

As you no doubt notice, the ongoing debate has begun to appear on-line. It took Skeptic and me a couple of days to get things straightened out (and Skeptic needed to learn how to use the blogging software), but everything we've debated via e-mail so far has gone up in one burst. It'll take a while to get a real rhythm going, so I expect it to be kind of bursty at first. Long periods where there are no posts on the debate, then a great big burst of data.

We're coming up on another quiet period, actually. I need to get the First Anniversary Storyblogging Carnival ready for Monday (I got a decent number of entries, but I was kind of hoping it'd be more than ever. Ah, well.). Meanwhile, I've gotten advice back from the folks I asked to read my story for Faith*in*Fiction's contest, and I need to work that into the story as I do the second revision this week. For these reasons, it may be a while before I respond to Skeptic's latest post.

My mother works for the Family Service Center, a school-based health center in West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana. Yesterday, she sent me the following update:

Our school system has enrolled at least 300 evacuees and we will be adding an additional 15 in Head Start and Early Head Start. That is a lot of kids for our parish. The school system here has a population of 2200 so it is a big percentage for us. We have at least 5 shelters and there are many families that have taken evacuees into their homes. The evacuee population is probably about 1200 in our parish and that does not include the prisoners that have been evacuated to Angola.

The school system has set up a fund for donations and it can be designated for a particular school or purpose. The Family Service Center will be able to use any funds donated to us as we see fit. It will be nice to have a little flexibility since some of the needs are not being met by organizations. We were able to give a woman who has taken in 20 relatives $50.00 towards her gas bill and another woman $20 for gas to take her children to the doctor. She was lucky enough to have a car but her purse had been stolen and she only had one dollar.

Our Parish seems to be doing okay with food, medical care, school uniforms and medications. There is very little housing here and very few jobs so some families will be leaving as soon as they have somewhere else to go.

Baton Rouge has grown so much that you can not buy or rent a house or office. Businesses are relocating to BR and trying to keep people employed. People are desperate for places to live and if they have the means and have not lost their jobs they are buying houses.

We have seen all kinds of situations. Not all are poor and black like the media portrays. All types of people from all economic backgrounds are affected. We had a young lawyer bring her two girls in to see the doctor this morning. She had a small practice and her husband was a graphic artist. They are now without jobs and they lost all personal belongings. There are thousands of sad stories but also lots of good people working hard to help.

As I've said before, my family avoided the hurricane fine, but the aftermath is affecting everyone in the area as they try to cope with the massive exodus of people which has occurred as a result of the disaster.

As I have family in Louisiana, the devastation of Katrina hit close to home. Fortunately, my family escaped the worst of it, but others weren't so lucky. Glenn Reynolds has a complete listing of blogger-recommended charities where people can donate to help the victims of the hurricane. N.Z. Bear has a similar list.

I'd like to add two recommendations of my own. The first is the Salvation Army, which I've volunteered for before, and I have a lot of respect for them and what they do. I'd also recommend World Relief, which works through local churches, giving it the unique ability to make sure that people who know the community and its needs are the ones receiving the resources.

Update: I'm bumping this to Friday afternoon to keep it at the top. In addition, although I'm not the one to whom people are going when trying to decide to which charities they should contribute, I thought I'd offer a few others that I endorse:

American Red Cross — They're big, they're on the scene now, running the shelters, and they desperately need as much support as they can get.

Southern Baptist Relief Fund — One hundred percent of all gifts go to meet disaster needs.

Strengthen the Good — This blog-based charity is running a matching campaign, doubling your effectiveness for as long as they have the funds.

In fact, I'm willing to do some matching myself, albeit with more limited funds. If you donate to one of these charities, let me know, and I'll match your efforts and donate an equal amount to it. If you have another charity to which you'd like to donate, let me know that too. I'll check it out and, as long as it's legit, I'll add it to my list and match that as well.

I have a limited fund to draw on for this matching, after which I'm all tapped out for the time being.

As I had Bible study last night, I didn't have much time to prepare any posts for today. The main thing on my mind is still Katrina, and the devastation it's wrought. I have my previous post with a few charity suggestions, which I've expanded.

I had the chance to talk with both my sister and my mother last night about the situation, and it's pretty bad. They live in St. Francisville, which is well outside of the devastation zone, but with all the refugess it's getting crowded. The temperature is about 100 degrees right now, which on top of everything else is causing tempers to flair. That temperature is dangerous in the first place, and I can only imagine how it will hurt the situation in New Orleans, with a city full of polluted standing water floating with dead bodies. Most of the state is still without electricity, although St. Francisville has some, fortunately including my parents' place, but only including one of my sisters'.

The security situation has degraded even around Baton Rouge. My sister, who is a nurse who works for a home nursing company, and who generally visits several patients every working day, has been told that her company will only be giving emergency care for the time being because of the security situation. There are now police guarding the gas stations, as there had been riots and armed robberies. Refugees are everywhere, and many of them are desperate. They have no money and nowhere to go. The ATMs aren't working, so even those with money in the bank can't get to it. Restaurants are closed down, and there are short supplies in the grocery stores.

My mother works for the West Feliciana School Board, and she tells me they've taken on dozens of new students, displaced schoolkids from the affected areas. As I understand it, the law requires the schools to take on the homeless students, but it's straining their relatively small school system. When I saw Michele Catalano proposing to get school supplies to those kids in the area who need them, I offered to make the connection between her and West Feliciana. It's not much, but organizing things like this is something I have some ability in, and it's a way for me to help.

If you haven't already, consider giving. I have a couple of recommendations, which I've bumped to the top of my blog for today, and Glenn Reynolds and N.Z. Bear have many more.