Katrina Update #15

September 03, 2005; 1:48 AM

Today was mostly a day of promise, as most of the rest of the people in the Superdome were evacuated and the military finally came into New Orleans to reclaim the city.

I have added more pages to the Galleries, thanks to the hard work over the past two days of my son Cary. I have also added a "People" page where you can read about the people we know - most with pictures of them in happier times.

Yesterday, Cary and I were interviewed by the Racine Journal Times newspaper. The story made the front page! You can read the story here. I wanted to tell a story that made sure people here knew this was a local story as well, and that the pictures of the crime and looting do not represent the New Orleans we love so much.

More fires today, as open gas mains and possible arson destroy more buildings, including one very close to Mother's restaurant on Poydras. If they don't get either some pumping equipment in their soon, or get the water main fixed to restore the pressure, they could face a significant portion of the buildings becoming destroyed by fire as well as water.

I have been hearing from many people. I'd like to share some of their emails with you. From Coop's cook Matt Gone (one of the world's most tattooed men). The subject was "NOLA is dead:"

our time is over but I am now out of here in a new life so if you want to drop it all and start fresh, here is the shit.

It is true. All over. Flooded. Violence. Hell. Roving gangs. No water, not a godamned thing but pain, hell and poverty.
I lost 99% of everything and had 20 min to pack my bag and give my beautiful hemmingway which I loved more than anything to a friend to hopefully give to a good home. Today, I saw my landlord being put on a helicopter on CNN, my house had holes in the roof, exposed electric, no power, phone, no water, total evacuation and my work after 11 years without even a vacation was closing.

I went to Coop's Coopsplace.net - and me, the owner, my coworker of 11 years all threw the food away and 3 other workers camped out guarding his SUV til 4am and left town thursday at 5am. We were dropped off with him giving us 50 bucks for a 40 dollar room and food and then giving me 250 in cash for my last pay. I have only 450??? and my tattoo equiptment, my old laptop, 3 pairs of shorts, 2 shirts, 3 pants and a sheet. That is my total worth now. I called my friend Dave Bastard of Big Kahuna tattoo-look it up to call me, I will be his houseguest until october when I go get my face tattooed by Xed LeHead in London. Xedtattoo.com. I am doing a hurricaine tattoo at my coworkers family farm in Louisville Kentucky and going to florida by air because a friend donated his flyer miles for a plane ticket. Dave will be tattooing me a bit too and I have a fund set up -see Needled.com for paypal info.

I have about nothing. I am jobless, homeless, catless(that hurts so much, I loved my cat more than anything!) , have just about nothing all over again but I am not friendless and they are helping me out so life could be worse. It sucks for me, I liked my life and everything I have is destroyed. My job of 11 years, my friends, all lost it all in 2 days time. I am leaving a city in total ruin. It cannot possibly be rebuilt. The houses are wet cardboard now. My house was covered with mold, I was having trouble breathing, I was starving, it was time to leave.

Today I saw my house covered in smoke from a chemical fire a few bliocks away. My home for the last 11 years- today was my freaking 11 year anniverary at Coop's as a chef! is gone. Life is dead. It will never be the same. It is physically impossible. My water was giving me a rash and then was out and that was it. I'm lucky to be alive and have a friend to crash with as well as finally have a time to get my palms and face tattooed. I stayed last nite in Layfayette,Louisiana, tonite I will be in St. Charles, and then Kentucky, then to Boyton Beach, Florida, then to London England and then maybe to Portland or somewhere. I do not know. I am not much in contact so try and be patient.

He signed it "Matt is Gone" instead of just "Matt Gone." Those of you who know Matt know he can be prone to a bit of excessive drama, but it is heartbreaking, nonetheless.

Here's another, more upbeat note from Laura Roe, who left with Coop yesterday morning:

Kat, Zac and Angelique - your house is good, front window out on moms side roof looks good
Lia- house fine neibor fine
the bywater is dry from burgundy to the levee and at least as far in as bartholomew
my house is dry inside it was still a knee deep wade in wen, but the water was gone from the back yard,

I've got many other things that are more appropriate for the web site than an update, and I hope to get them up there in the next few days. I also want to do "our story so far" which is more our story than everyone else's, and a blog where I can share opinions (I have tried to keep opinions out of these updates, and focus on information).

I may be offline for the next couple of days. We leave for Janis' uncle's funeral at 7:30 AM tomorrow, and then will be staying with her brother Bernie for a couple of days. Not sure if there is anywhere near his house where I can get on line or not. The soonest I may be online again may be Monday night or Tuesday.

But despite the unfortunate circumstances, we will finally have our family completely together by tomorrow night: Adam and Megan are flying into O'Hare at 8PM.

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