All over the Map

The map here is a little small, so what you may not notice is that the levees in my neighborhood do not require any work. They are, as they say, ship shape. Or...already under construction. Or...too expensive to think about right now. Who knows? Who trusts? Not me on either count. The real gist of this map is that pretty much all the levees are just too short. It seems like such a fool's errand, in a way, just making higher and higher walls every year. The walls grow, and the river responds in kind. The first levees in Louisiana were 2 feet tall; on my block today, they are twenty five. That's what it takes now to keep the water out, so we keep going higher. We could go on like this forever, all the way to heaven. Or more likely, someplace less fancy pants.