Across the corner from South Derbingny in

New Orleans

Okay, It's been four days and now I'm home from Nawlins. But it has left a mark on my life. I can't get certain conversations out of my head.

One was my conversation with a man named Keith, pictured above and you guessed it, I am having a conversation with him on the porch posted in the picture above. In fact, I think most of my conversations were with people sitting on porches.

So here I am at the end of the day sitting with Keith, and he was telling me about the house that we were gutting. He told me that he attended a wake for his grandmother in the house. It was kind of a weird way to start a conversation, but I found myself beginning to ask him questions. Like how old was he when that happened. Then amazingly it began, I asked him the question, I've been asking everyone I bumped into. Were you here during the huricane? Were you scared? What now, since then.

For Keith it has been a long struggle trying to deal with the train wreck on his life, but he told me about being in his house during the huricane and the roof and house shaking so badly that he didn't know if he would see the next day. I don't think I have ever been that scared. He told me for the last couple of years it's been about rebuilding and living. But I can only imagine what it would be like to be in his predicament.

By the end of the conversation we exchanged names, I gave him a water and went to hop in my car and go across the causeway with a bunch of Teens. Once again slightly taken back from the pain that Huricane Katrina caused. Not numb at all but incredibly feeling everything he said to me and remembering.