This might be a strange comparison, but Hurricane Katrina and Lindsay Lohan actually have a lot in common.  
You probably have no idea what I’m talking about, so keep reading.
For starters, they each began as innocent as Justin Beiber. Hurricane Katrina wasn’t always a hurricane. She was just a baby thunderstorm at one time.
And Lohan wasn’t always a drug addict. She became famous after starring in “The Parent Trap.”
Then they both grew into something horrific. Lohan bleached her hair and became a frequent visitor of rehab facilities.
Hurricane Katrina gained speed, and at its strongest, was a Category 5 hurricane.
Both were destructive. Lohan destroyed her innocence — and a few of her cars — in a string of overindulgent escapades.
Katrina killed more than 1,800 people and caused billions in       property damage.
And lastly, just when we think we can’t take anymore of hearing about them, each are repeatedly brought back up in the media.
Lohan recently spent time in jail, which added to the random string of appearances she frequently made in the news.
And five years later, whenever some form of news about New Orleans is brought up, you’re bound to hear about the storm the city has tried to forget.
Before I go on, I’m not saying Hurricane Katrina should be forgotten — it can never be forgotten. But the constant reminders of the storm have to end.
Try watching the New Orleans Saints play a game on TV. The announcers will surely make a comment about how “the Saints were a team ravaged by Hurricane Katrina five years ago” or how “the Superdome was in chaos not long ago.”
And it appears in more than just real football. It has gone virtual.
Madden NFL 11’s announcers also make references to the destruction when you play as the Saints in the virtual representation of the Superdome.
Just Google search New Orleans. Six pictures on the first two pages are of a flooded city.
The reminders of the devastation need to stop. We aren’t devastated anymore — I know there are some parts that will never be rebuilt and some parts that are still coming back, but the city itself is back and has been for a while.
Contrary to popular belief, New Orleans is not flooded anymore. Numerous renovations have been done to the Superdome. The city has a world champion football team. Businesses have been rebuilt, and new ones have moved in.
The city is under a new political regime attempting to remove corruption, the French Quarter is thriving and most suburbs, except Chalmette, New Orleans East and parts of Lakeview, are back up and running better than before the storm.
We should focus on examples like these rather than the statements about destruction.
Unless you’re from New Orleans or its suburbs, you likely have no idea how annoying it is to see pictures of the city flooded or to be asked by someone from out of state if you moved back into your house yet — and again, I know there are some areas where people cannot go back.
We New Orleanians have tried to put the storm out of our minds. We don’t go around talking about how much it sucked when our houses flooded. The only reference we may make is referring to things in the past as “before the storm” or “after the storm, ” similar to B.C. and A.D.
So unless a family member was claimed by the storm or for some reason your house still hasn’t been rebuilt — or you haven’t moved into a new one — most of us from New Orleans have put Katrina in our past, and we focus on the future rather than dwell on it.
Hurricane Katrina and Lindsay Lohan have many similarities, though they do have one huge difference. Hurricane Katrina needs to be remembered annually, while the constant reminders need to stop.
In Lohan’s case, we can do without the reminders of how she’s gone off the deep end — we can just forget her completely.
 
Chris Grillot is a 19-year-old mass communication and English sophomore from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_cgrillot.
 
 
 
—
Contact Chris Grillot at [email protected]