2 of the 5 Colleges in the PV Valley, MA

Two of the Five Colleges in the Pioneer Valley in MA are accepting displaced students.

Smith College

UMass Amherst

I currently live in the Northampton/Amherst area and while it isn't New Orleans, it's not a bad place. Pretty good for college students (the food isn't as good though). I'll warn you that it can get pretty damn cold though.

But if some of y'all do come up this way, please contact me.

Help, helplessness, and concerts

I've been feeling so helpless lately.

Of course I gave to the Red Cross and I've been coming up with a million and twelve crazy ideas to try to help people. Then I think that none of them are going to work or someone else more qualified is already doing it. Well, I have one idea that may work, but i'm not sure yet.

However, I was able to help in a small way. As most of you know, I work for a Credit Union up here in MA. Although most of our members are from up here, we do have some that are scattered everywhere. So I did a search for members who lived in areas affected by Katrina and her aftermath. I actualy found around 10. We then checked to see if any of these people had loans (as loans are due on the first of the month). We actually had someone who had an auto loan with us and had lost his vehichal in all of this. I'm not sure exactly what we're doing for him (I work in Marketing, not opperations), but I know that he was very thankful that we were aware of his situation and concerned about him. It makes me happy to know that I was able to help someone. Really help them. One to one.

Watched the concert on NBC. When Aaron Neville sang "Louisiana 1927" tears just started streaming down my face. That song has been in my head all week. Earlier today I wondered if he would sing it. When I heared the opening notes...that man has such an amazing voice. And his "Amazing Grace."

There just aren't words for the grief in my heart.

( Louisiana 1927 )

p.s. If you're not reading it already, interdictor is in New Orleans and is giving a really amazing account of what's really happening in the city.