Help Houston

August 28, 2017

What’s going on, y’all. Been a bit since I’ve posted.

I’ll get into that in the next post. For now, I’ve something else to say.

For those who don’t know, I’m from Texas. Though I was born in Grapevine, TX, and first lived in Hurst, TX, and went to college in the aptly named College Station, TX, I’ve spent most of my life in Houston. Until a little over a year ago, Houston was my home.

Houston is drowning.

If you missed the news, Houston is being hammered by Hurricane Harvey, a monster storm that decided to squat over the city and reenact the biblical floods. As I write this, it’s floating back out into the Gulf to power up and return, which is too cute by half. I prefer my natural disasters to not act like super saiyans, and I don’t think that’s just me.

It feels strange, to be absent from a city I’ve lived in for so long as it turns into a lake. Places I’ve been, even places I’ve spent a lot of time, are underwater. The roads are rivers. The water is marching into the homes of people I know, friends and family—including my parents.

Everyone I know is doing fine so far, but this thing is going to hammer the city for days, so that might not last. And even if it does, it won’t for others. Houston needs help.

Here’s an article that lists places you can donate. I’ve already donated to several: Hurricane Harvey: where you can donate to help with disaster relief and recovery.

And here’s a tweet thread that provides a few more:

If you have extra money to give, please do. A metropolitan area of nearly 7 million people—more than the entire state in which I now live—is under water. Even if the water stays out of my friend’s second story apartment, which it may not, or the lake stays out of a friend’s father’s house, which it’s increasingly looking like it won’t—even if my parents stay safe, which so far they thankfully are—other people are suffering, and the nation’s 4th largest city will be recovering for years. Doing what we can to make sure as many people as possible survive is the least those of us who are high and dry can do.

Thank you.