Let's get busy building the New Orleans diaspora.

Ok, folks. Let's get busy. Let's do what needs to be done. Let's get to work building the New Orleans Diaspora. Even if it's just virtual at first. Something needs to be done about this situation, and fast.

We need to work together to create some semblance of what New Orleans once was, and give Katrina's refugees something to cling to in the days ahead. Something we all can cling to in the days ahead.

Nothing is more demoralizing and frustrating than homelessness. And we all know, by now, what frustration can do to even the best of people. Having no home is not just a matter of physical comfort. Home is a culture. Home is identity. Home is self-esteem. Sure, the Internet offers at best a poor substitute for the real thing. But the real thing is gone.

Governor Blanco was quite understandably furious at suggestions that New Orleans should not be rebuilt. But the reality is that for the time being, New Orleans has gone away. We need to come to terms with this, and get really, really creative and cooperative about solutions to this problem. This is huge, but it's something we can do. I know it's something we can do.

If you want to help, just start publishing your ideas, stories, or photos and tag your posts building the New Orleans diaspora.

It's easy to get depressed at a time like this but I know that there are countless miracles in store for us as a nation. Let's be ready for them.

tags: Hurricane Katrina, Interdictor, building the New Orleans diaspora