It is hard right now for me to think of anything other than the Gulf Coast. Everything I read and see about it is so tragic and distressing. I don't think I can say much that anyone else hasn't already said.

I have a plane ticket to New Orleans for a month from tomorrow, for the Sweet Adelines International Convention. Obviously, the convention won't be happening there and I won't be going. Nobody will be going to New Orleans for a long, long time.

We are making donations to both the human aid effort and the Humane Society, which is trying to provide shelter for animals. Every time I read another article I feel like my heart breaks a little more for all those poor people who are stranded down there without help.

I am also shocked and horrified that apparently there was no effort or plan in place to evacuate the poor (who live in New Orleans largely without private transportation), the elderly, or the hospitalized. How is this possible? It seems that the entire evacuation plan hinged on people having their own transportation and the means to leave, which appears highly optimistic to me in one of the poorest cities in our nation.

But it is easy to point fingers from a distance. Right now I just hope all those people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are going to get the help and support they need, and soon. I can't stop thinking of them.