Tuesday, Sep. 1 2009 @ 11:10AM
Ike's anniversary is coming up, an event which will be well-covered locally. We're doing out part with the September 10 issue; until then we'll be posting some Ike-related items to whet the appetite.In the 1950s the famous comedy team of Abbott and Costello developed what is probably their most popular routine, "Who's on First." The premise of the comedy routine is that Bud Abbott is identifying the players of a make believe baseball team for Lou Costello, but the team players names, for example "Who" is the name of the person playing first base and "What" is the name of the person playing second base, come off as non-responsive answers to Costello's questions.
The routine went something like this:
Costello: "Do you know the name of the first baseman?"
Abbott: "Who's on first."
Costello: "That's what I'm asking you, what is the name of the person who plays first base?
Abbott: "No, What's on second. Who's on first."
On September 13, 2008, my house, along with thousands of others, was heavily damaged when Hurricane Ike swept through the Gulf of Mexico with the surge of a category four storm and landed in Galveston Bay. I spent the better part of the following year working with FEMA and the Houston Housing Authority (HHA) while my home was being rebuilt.
During this period there were times when I felt as hopelessly lost in a bureaucratic system filled with a comedy of errors as Costello did in trying to interpret Abbott's explanation of the fictional team roster. In my attempts to navigate the process of acquiring transitional housing, more often than not, like Costello, I found myself back on first base.
I've used America's favorite past time as an analogy to describe the sequence of events that took place in my own version of "Who's on First." In an attempt to stay in character, and protect the innocent, I have replaced the given names of the HHA staff with those used by Abbott and Costello.
September 13 -- Hurricane Ike hits Galveston Bay.
The song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" plays in the background as the announcer takes the mic.
September 22 -- FEMA/HHA establish the Disaster Housing Assistance Program-Ike (DHAP-Ike) to help citizens displaced by Ike find temporary housing.
The players enter the field.