Parts of the state have been suffering for quite some time. In the southern third of Louisiana, the dry spell goes back to the beginnings of 2005, and even sections of northern Louisiana have been dealing with dry weather over the past 12 to 15 months.

Without the hurricanes, it could have been 14 consecutive months of below-normal rainfall. This past March was one of the driest - if not the driest - Marches on record for a large portion of South Louisiana, and this extremely dry spring weather has persisted through the first half of April, as well.

Normal rainfall is not what we need. We need a wet spell.

If you were to go in there and take out the three hurricanes - Cindy, Katrina and Rita - then you're talking about an exceptionally dry 15 to 16 months.

We need to recognize that while the most obvious part of the drought has been established over the last six to eight weeks, this dryness is a pattern that began in 2005.

Suffering makes you live time in detail, moment after moment. Which is to say that it exists for you: over the others, the ones who don't suffer, time flows, so that they don't live in time, in fact they never have.