nablopomo

In an effort to keep up the blogging efforts I started last night, I figured November would be good a month as any to participate in National Blog Posting Month. The FAQ is quite detailed, but I’m excited to try and live up to the challenge! With all of the dissertation writing I still need to do, blogging is bound to get my juices flowing, right?

With that said, I recently read an amazing Katrina-related book that I know I will include on a syllabus in the very near future. [In fact, I just wrote about “place writing” for the Katrina Media blog, so I know this book would be a great companion to the Rose text.]

piazza

It’s fiction, but it is the most authentic representation of New Orleanians, both transplants and locals from the Lower Nine, that I’ve ever read. I love the Ricky and G-Man books by Poppy Z Brite, but Tom Piazza’s City of Refuge is set right before, during, and after the storm. Having that focus offered him the chance to explain, through his characters’ voices, why some people stayed, where so many people ended up, and why still so many are desperate to return to New Orleans.

I know of several people who still doubt my reasons and passion for the place I call home, but perhaps after reading this very well-written fictional account they’ll be more willing to empathize.