Should I stay or should I go now

While talking with others about their future plans, I have seen folks splitting into two different camps depending on if they want to stay and rebuild or relocate to alternate locations. Mostly, the line of truth falls between those who own and those who rent. I don't think it's restricted to generation, either.

A few of my friends own their homes. They're staying. No matter if they got a few feet in the house, water to the eaves, or just bad leaks in the roof, they are returning to New Orleans to pick up the pieces. Almost all of the folks I know who rent are now elsewhere. Seattle, Fort Lauderdale, Blacksburg, Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, somewhere in Wisconsin, the West Bank,... Austin.

I love New Orleans. I miss her.

Today, driving around Austin between a Big Lots and a Wal-mart on the quest for more bookshelves, I looked around at all the strip malls and SUVs and asked Cat, in dead seriousness, "Is the rest of America really like this?"