"I used to live in Houston and even in normal heavy downpour many streets would flood. Such huge devastation was predictable and avoidable." - jdvnew, Bloomington, Indiana (from the NY Times).
There are so many shortsighted things we do everyday. From health stuff to wasting food to climate change to thinking about if this is really the right place (and right way) to build a house. It is human nature. There are choices. There are consequences. And yet...on our front yard in Colorado it was hot and boys were playing as our hearts went out to the people suffering in Houston. I used to work in Houston a lot back in the Compaq days. At first I didn’t understand it all, could not find it’s soul. Then I discovered the Menil Foundation - an astonishing art museum tucked away in a totally normal neighborhood. Discovered women running an amazing Mexican restaurant scraping fresh sorbet from sheets of frozen fruit. Met an amazing architecture and art community. Got massages that made my back very happy from a guy who used to work on the Russian weightlifting team - tiger balm covered by weighty hot compresses all buried in the basement of a chain hotel. A fruit salad that was a reason alone to visit Houston at the Hotel Derek when it opened. Went to see Laurie Anderson in a huge theater of people that hung on every note. Houston always seemed so tough with all that cement and ribbons of freeways. It was much more fragile than anyone imagined. I know they will rebuild and keep it going - but a good pause might be good before the hammers start pounding.
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