I have visited New Orleans several times over the last 30 years as I have family there. Because of its location and unique architecture it is one of the most exotic cities in the country. I have traveled extensively and visiting New Orleans has always seemed as if it is another country. The people are another breed with a different sense of time and place. It gets under your skin and you learn to love it.\r\n\r\nMy nephew was living in New Orleans when the Katrina was heading towards the city and the family was glued to the television. We were getting email updates of his life. He went by car to Shreveport and so was not there when the levees broke.\r\n\r\n It wasn\'t just the levees that broke. It broke our hearts when we saw no help as the days went by. It broke our hearts when our government said no to help from other countries because of red tape. It broke our hearts when our president continued his vacation. I continues to break our hearts as we see the lackluster manner in which help arrives in direct contrast to the aftermath of 9/11.\r\n\r\nI saved a front page of the LA Times (September 3) which was one of the most honest coverage I read. It showed a photo of a black Guardsmen with sad eyes carrying a rifle fully loaded. It stated: \"But when they arrived, they did not find marauding mobs. They did not come under fire. They found people who had lost everything in a storm and since then, their dignity.\"\r\n\r\nWe hope someday all of the patchwork of people who made New Orleans and its music will again reunite in the space and time that makes New Orleans what it is.