639. Lori Peek, Part 2

 639. Part 2 of our interview with Lori Peek about her book, The Continuing Storm, which she wrote with Kai Erikson. More than fifteen years later, Hurricane Katrina maintains a strong grip on the American imagination. The reason is not simply that Katrina was an event of enormous scale. But, quite apart from its lethality and destructiveness, Katrina retains a place in living memory because it is one of the most telling disasters in our recent national experience, revealing important truths about our society and ourselves. The Continuing Storm reflects upon what we have learned about Katrina and about America.

Kai Erikson and Lori Peek expand our view of the disaster by assessing its ongoing impact on individual lives and across the wide-ranging geographies where displaced New Orleanians landed after the storm. Such an expanded view, the authors argue, is critical for understanding the human costs of catastrophe across time and space. Concluding with a broader examination of disasters in the years since Katrina—including COVID-19— The Continuing Storm is a sobering meditation on the duration of a catastrophe that continues to exact steep costs in human suffering.

1. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in the Louisiana Anthology. "The Hurricane" by William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. Born in Massachusetts, in 1825, Bryant relocated to New York City, where he became an editor of two major newspapers. He also emerged as one of the most significant poets in early literary America and has been grouped among the fireside poets for his accessible and popular poetry.
   "Lord of the winds! I feel thee nigh,
       I know thy breath in the burning sky!
       And I wait, with a thrill in every vein,
       For the coming of the hurricane!
   
   And lo! on the wing of the heavy gales,
       Through the boundless arch of heaven he sails;
       Silent and slow, and terribly strong,
       The mighty shadow is borne along,
       Like the dark eternity to come;"
3. This week in Louisiana history. August 16, 1831. A storm called the "Great Barbados Hurricane" hit just west of Baton Rouge wiping out sugar cane crops from BR to south of N.O. and killing 1,500 people.
4. This week in New Orleans history. Mayor Mitchell Joseph "Mitch" Landrieu born August 16, 1960 is the former Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, and a member of the Landrieu family. Landrieu is a member of the Democratic Party. He is the son of former New Orleans mayor and later a mayor himself, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development under Joe Biden.
   
5. This week in Louisiana.
   Louisiana Rural Economic Development (LaRuE) Summit 2025
   Sunday, August 24, 2025
   12:00 pm - 11:59 pm
   Website
   Paragon Casino Resort
   711 Paragon Place
   Marksville, LA 70351
       The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana invites you to learn more about how rural communities and businesses can benefit from building relationships and creating strategic partnerships with local, state, and national leaders, federal agencies, corporate America, and Native American Tribes.
       Topics include workforce development, agriculture, internet access and 5G expansion, healthcare, grant navigation, and more.
   
6. Postcards from Louisiana. Crescent City Brewhouse.

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