The day of our reading we took an afternoon trip into the Lower Ninth Ward. Even after all of the news stories and photographs, I don't think any of us were really prepared for what we saw. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic but the level of destruction was truly astounding. And in so much as a photograph frames things, so does the window of a car. I remember stepping out to take a photograph and really feeling the resonance of all the losses.

Instead of restating what others have stated time and time again, I'll simply direct you to a couple of crude videos I took that probably echo our stunned silence better than any set of photographs.

Lower Ninth Video 1
Lower Ninth Video 2

Check out Craig's photos of our party at the Saturn Bar in the Ninth Ward. For an article on the reading, go to Chin Music's other blog, Adventures in Publishing.