Today may not seem that special for the vast majority of Americans.  Another dull return to the hum-drum of our work week.  But for the terrible fate of more than 14,000 people three years ago, this week is a horrendous anniversary.  Three years ago, this week belonged to Hurricane Katrina.  It didn't have to be that way.  The warnings had been sounded.  But on August 29, 2005, Katrina became part of a man-made "Perfect Storm".

Breaching four levees, wreaking death, destruction, violence and untold human and animal suffering in her wake, she gave the entire world an awful lesson.  A crash course in the price that can be payed when those at the highest levels fail to do their jobs.  A sharp reminder of the cost of hubris and the strange belief that we can build our houses in the wet-lands because we will somehow be able to control Nature.  A smack in the face reality check that here in the land of the free and home of the brave, that race and money, or rather the lack of it, can be the difference between life and death.  At least 1,836 Americans lost their lives, trapped by the floods and shot at if they tried to leave.

We don't hear so much about the Big Easy today.  Of course, everyone sat up a bit in December of 2007, when The Make it Right Project teamed up with actor Brad Pitt. Their goal?  To rebuild 150 sustainable houses in the hardest hit area, that of the Lower 9th. Ward.  Home of Fats Domino, rapper musician Magic and the author/poet Kalamu ya Salaam, to name a few, this population was overwhelmingly poor,  the majority of the inhabitants African-American.

But this post is not about the past, so much as it is about the future.  You see, while we've been a little busy with the War in Iraq, the War on Terror, the War on Drugs and any other distraction that Bush and his people can dream up, New Orleans has been busy too.  There has been a groundswell of action, activism and altruisism welling up and it's looking like a force to be reconned with.

One of my personal favourites is the Lower 9th. Ward Village.  In the process of reclaiming an old sugar cane factory to create a meeting space for all of the community groups, it promises to offer some great services. Along with providing meals for the swollen homeless population, as well as the elderly, there will be job and computer training and a program set up to mentor young people.

All this does not come from the government.  It does not come from the rich.  It comes from the community's desire to try to fill the void:  to build, heal and grow.  While they struggle to raise funds through seafood boils and donations, they have faith in their vision of a sustainable, equitable future for the entire Lower 9th.

They are far from the only group involved in such projects.  Artists, lawyers, students and many more are coming together to remake this place that they, at least, consider worthwhile.  For information on 100 other movements in the works, click HERE.  You'll be amazed!