When Hurricane Katrina moved northwest through the Gulf of Mexico, hitting the Gulf Coast of the US in late August of 2005 I had only the briefest of connections to the city: my parents had attended a convention there in the late 60s, a friend I had grown up with lived there with his wife right after graduating from the seminary, and a former co-worker had grown up there. Otherwise, I knew it only as "The City Below Sea Level", the home of Mardi Gras and cajun/creole cooking. And Dixieland Jazz. After the levees had...