Hurricane Isaac Puts a Damper on School

Hurricane Isaac downs a tree in my neighborhood in uptown New Orleans

School begins early in southern Louisiana. The teachers' first day was August 6th, and the students entered the building with their smiling faces on August 9th. After August 9th, I was in full-on school mode. In other words, I was incredibly busy. Teachers were scheduling classes, the high school book group was selecting the new ARCs to read, I was soliciting members for the middle school book group, and I needed to do a lot of cleaning and editing of all my electronic resources. Then we hit a snag when Isaac decided to pay a visit. When we left school on Friday the 24th, we had no clue that we would not return for a week. I think that I left my printer and speakers on, though I know that I turned off all the desktop computers. I had reading material at home, but I left a stack of books that I really wanted to read sitting on the circulation desk. The time off did give me a chance to finish the novel, The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck, that I selected for the first meeting of BRiMS, but BRiMS was supppose to meet on August 29th when we were still feeling the effects of the hurricane. When done with that, I picked up the third in a series that did not hold my attention. I couldn't concentrate very well, so Sherry Shahan's Purple Daze written mostly in verse was a quick read. It also has an intense message as the focus is the year of 1965 when Johnson sent more and more troops to Vietnam, Malcolm X was killed, and the Civil Rights Movement moved to a new level. 

Right now I have no power at home. As you can see by the photo below, there is no power at school either. I slept in the cool at my mother's house. She got power back on yesterday. She only lives about 6 blocks from me, but her Internet is still down, so hanging out at her house would not give me a chance to get any work done. My husband is the textbook manager at Tulane University Bookstore. Today they are open for business. School was suppose to start last week, but of course did not. Anyway, the food court is open, the AC is blasting, and there is free wifi for me to use. I am sitting just outside the doors to the bookstore. After a couple of hours here, the chair is getting hard, but you know I really can't complain. 

PFTSTA is located in the black circle and the red lines indicate power outages