Journal, Savored With Wine, Candlelight

On the day of the mandatory evacuation notice for Hurricane Rita, I actually went to my office to retrieve some back issues of the Journal and a bit of work, thinking we’d have a nice, long four-day weekend after the storm. OK, I realize that I’m not so good at storm prediction.

After arriving back in town to my residence—cleverly dodging the roadblocks that prevented access to the city—only a few hours after the storm passed, the hard work began in cleaning up the mess and MacGyver-ing solutions until more permanent repairs could be made. This process was greatly exacerbated by the lack of utilities and the record-setting temperatures with the heat index in the 105 range!

I tried to give a bit of order to the day by continuing some “routine” activities. One was reading the Journal, which was shifted to evening, since nightfall at 7 p.m. leaves few activities that can be accomplished by candlelight or flashlight. Reading the Journal by candlelight, along with a glass of red wine, one evening left me with the realization that perhaps I should do this more often. Despite the brutal heat, reaching 91.5 degrees indoors that evening, it was one of the few sublime moments in the entire post-Rita ordeal.

On the ninth day without utilities, I drank the last single serving of coffee in an innovative self-heating can and finished the Journal copies. I perkily turned to my spouse and said: “Well, the two things that have helped me get through this tropical nightmare are gone, so it means that the power is going to come back on!” He, of course, scoffed. I know enough from my statistics and experimental design courses to realize that there is no correlation, but within hours, the power did return. Like Virginia and Santa Claus, I want to believe (and the extended exposure to heat does leave one in a surreal hazy state that makes it all the more seemingly possible).

When my issues resume—the university is closed for repairs to various structures—I plan to try my new method of reading the Journal. Hurricane Rita did cause some serious destruction, but perhaps she also changed a few habits for the better.

Lisa D. McNary, Ph.D., Management Faculty
College of Business, Lamar University
Beaumont, Texas

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