Full of Grace

More than enough has been said about how the response to Hurricane Katrina exposes the blistering sclerosis that has infected the American fabric of life- the race issue, class tensions, the irony and shame that a first-world country falters in the face of diasaster other dispossessed nations confront on a daily basis. But hopefully the time for healing is upon us as the water recedes and people are moved to safer, drier ground.

Michigan is not only one of the states to which refugees from the Gulf Coast have been transported, the Graduate School here at U of M is also one of the universities accepting students displaced from their own who are now eager to restart their graduate studies. I guess it's gestures like these- mandated or otherwise- that remind us that while catastrophes are ripe circumstances for transgression, they also provide opportunities for revelations of grace.

Speaking of displacement and education, here's an article from today's New York Times which quotes my advisor, Prof. Jeffrey Mirel, on the resettling of children in other school districts for the new term.

If you want to send care packages to the people in the Astrodome, they now have their own address:
"Donated Goods"
Astrodome
Houston TX 77230