Adventures in Louisiana and beyond

So, it's basically shameful how I've neglected this blog.

To the faithful few who pay attention to it -- hey Jamile -- I figured I'd provide an update on some of the stuff I've been working on. I recently returned from an amazing trip to New Orleans to work on a story about the homeless population there. The number of homeless people has basically doubled since Hurricane Katrina, rising from 6,000 people to about 12,000 -- or about one out of every 25 New Orleans residents. Many people had drug and alcohol problems or mental illness issues and received treatment at the former Charity Hospital, which has been shut down since the 2005 hurricane.

I'm still in the process of finalizing the story, but you can learn about the process by checking out the blog of my professor, Diane Winston. I also have some photos posted.

I also wrote a story/blog about the Arab American vote for the Huffington Post.

Things have been fairly busy with school, church, life, etc. So much has been going on -- football games, plays, concerts, the election, etc. I'll definitely have more information up soon, but hopefully this will suffice for now.

Blessings from La-la land!