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Hurricane Katrina a Year Later: An Epilogue\r\n\r\nThe first couple of paragraphs are included below. The full essay is available in the accompanying file.\r\n\r\nOn August 29, the first year anniversary of Katrina, I called my original phone number pre-hurricane and heard the comforting tape, \"The number you have dialed, 822---- has been changed. The new number is 866----. Please make a note of it.\" Because the 866 number had also changed, I dialed that number and got a similar message directing callers to my third and current out-of-town phone number. There was relief in knowing I was still accessible by phone but also deep sadness in realizing that this trail of numbers represented the transience of the past year and the finality that I and so many others no longer call New Orleans home, not by choice but by circumstance.\r\n\r\n The year since Katrina we have felt like sleepwalkers. Nothing is as it appears to be, our lives have been turned inside out, and there is no direction as to what will come. \r\n\r\n