deluge

Houston's tropical weather has kept a massive storm right on top of the city, with rain pouring straight down for the past two days. We tried to keep the windows open to let some of the air in (thinking rain = cool air), but finally the humidity was too much, leaving every surface slightly damp, so we shut the windows and turned on the A/C. All day yesterday, into the evening, the darkest hours of the night, the twilight of dawn under cloud, the rain just kept on coming. A real deluge.

When I woke up this morning at 6am, I had a feeling the university would be closed since its location (right where two major bayous meet before they head out to the Gulf) makes it succeptible to flooding. Sure enough, the web page had a sign telling us to stay home and, soon after, the chair of the department kindly called with a message to stay put. For sure, tomorrow there will be at least a dozen long and pointless phone messages from students on their cell-phones who want to thrill me with stories about how they got into their cars, got on the highway, got stuck in traffic, cannot see, want to turn around and go home, and how I have to call them back as soon as I get this message. Hm, sure, I'll make it my top priority . . .

Meanwhile, I actually drifted back to sleep while listening to weather reports and the latest from NPR. I got up and listened to Democracy Now! and heard Amy Goodman's interview with the civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, which left me feeling so sad and anxious to hear how the judge will rule. (see full story here: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/143257).

The rest of the day will be a chance to play catch-up with grading and preparing for classes, reading the blogs of friends and total strangers. My seniors finish Go Tell It on the Mountain this week and start with Giovanni's Room, so I should have something smart to say about the two, together.