New Orleans is a small town, and it's even smaller when 99 percent of the town goes away. On Broadway near the Tulane campus, I run into a family friend who's just been salvaging some computers from his law office. A minute later we see Dr. Lance Hill, who gained local fame for organizing the grassroots campaign against David Duke in the early '90s. Hill, who's wearing an orange hat with "RELIEF WORKER" written on it in black magic marker, says his elderly neighbors won't leave their homes because they're afraid they'll be seen, rounded up, and forced to leave town. Hill sets out food, water, and mosquito repellant under an overturned above-ground pool nearby and then blows a whistle that he wears around his neck. "It's like feeding feral cats," he says. When some cops tried to get him to leave town by telling him he'd have to go to Houston to get a tetanus shot, Hill stood his ground. "I'd rather get lockjaw than live in Houston," he says...Technorati Tags: New Orleans, Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, Slate
I'm Dr. Joshua Schwimmer, a nephrologist and internal medicine physician in New York City. • Kidney Notes was the first active nephrology blog. (Trivia: Kidney Notes is so old that the National Library of Medicine still uses it as an example of how to formally cite blogs.) • Professionally, you can find me at Kidney.nyc. • Kidney Notes is for educational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult qualified health care professionals. See disclaimer.
Friday, September 9, 2005
Slate's Dispatch From New Orleans
From Slate: