Signs Of The Times

How bad is it in New Orleans in May 2006 as we are nearing at about the eight and one half month mark since the biggest hurricane in history destroyed my city? It's so bad that in addition to not even having working traffic lights in many sections of the city there aren't even street or traffic signs there.
It's so bad that the neighborhood groups have formed in frustration at the city's inability to replace those signs ands are hand painting on what material they have, the names of streets and even "STOP" and "Yield" signs so contractors and workers in the area will know where they are to go to do repairs. Even though requests were made long ago for new traffic signs street signs and working electronic signals, they are no where in sight.
For now, homemade signs are the identity and safety regulations of those demolished sections of the city.. They may look like a child's "LEMONADE" stand sign one sees on a summer day, but they do work well enough for both the practical and symbolic level, symbolic because they show the determination of residents to one day have their neighborhoods back alive.
They say that weddings can be dangerous. Oh, not the marriage itself, just the ceremony. Sometimes too much alcohol at a wedding can bring out latent resentments or anger in the guests. Well, at one wedding in Springfield, Massachusetts it wasn't a wedding gone wild, but a baby shower. In fact, according to police there, an argument at a baby shower escalated into a brawl in which one man was shot (what was a man doing at a baby shower?) and the pregnant guest of honor was beaten with a stick. Three of the guests were arrested in what police said was "a baby shower gone wild".
Hehe The argument starting between the shooting victim and a man who was dating the pregnant woman as to whether the pregnant woman let her 5 year old daughter drink beer (based on what those idiots did at the shower I'll take a wild guess and say the kid drinks beer regularly). One of the guests grabbed a stick and started hitting the pregnant woman, and several others started a brawl (I hope they didn't knock over all the beer on the tables!). Someone pulled a gun and fired into the guests, hitting one of them in the stomach. After police arrived they arrested the three who used the stick, fired the gun and stared the fight initiating all of it. Of course, all three have pleaded innocent on the many charges filed against them.
I would offer a toast to all of that crowd, but I think they have had too much beer and too little brains to make it worthwhile.