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In a variety of ways, blogging can be a public service before, during, and after an event like Harvey. If used correctly, blogs don't just keep the reading public informed; they also can give them more positive feelings on which to return from disaster mode to routine. When we talk about "recovery" after a disaster, what we really mean is recovering or rebuilding the life we had before, perhaps not wholly but in large part—i.e., in the Texas idiom, getting back to bidness.

If we or our loved ones lose treasured objects or people, we lose part of that life-before. In essence, it is a partial death. For most of us, grieving is a healthy and necessary process, even if we are (in a sense) mourning for ourselves.

But I have not been blogging much lately. When opportunities have arisen, I have instead spent parts of two days helping friends empty their inundated homes, and parts of two other days involved in the Burners Without Borders Harvey Relief effort. The BWB group and others met at warehouse location in Houston's Near Northside to assemble packages of donated food, clothing, toiletries, and cleaning supplies for shelters and neighborhoods all over Southeast Texas. After a hot and busy Sunday afternoon, when I had time to breathe, it occurred to me that I had never been so proud to call myself a Burner: not for anything I had done that day, but for the way my friends made it all happen.

This wouldn't be the first time that Burning Man itself happened during a week of catastrophic weather elsewhere. A dozen years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast during the week before Labor Day, too. The Burners kept the party going anyway, but after the Burn, thousands of them sprang into action to help those affected. Harvey washed out this year's Playa Pity Party, the Labor Day weekend campout for Burners in our region who couldn't arrange a trip to Nevada. So instead of camping in the boonies, the organizers camped at the warehouse and did an amazing job of coordinating the effort.

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Here's the lefty blog post and news roundup.

As Trump prepares to end DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act), Dos Centavos believes that DREAM (the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) will continue to be a political football in the 2018—and possibly 2020—elections. 

As reported in the Houston Chronicle, 31-year-old DACA recipient Alonso Guillen of Lufkin drowned while rescuing others in Cypress Creek near Spring, Texas. Guillen's death brings the toll from Harvey to nearly 60.

The Space City's homeless population just shrugged off Harvey, noted Houston Matters.

After getting his 91-year-old mother out of the calamity that Harvey left behind in Beaumont, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs collected some observations about the looming environmental catastrophes threatening the Texas Gulf coast. 

SocraticGadfly, from up in North Texas, offers his take on both the politics behind Harvey and pseudoskeptics, including an alleged actual skeptic in Houston, and everything else behind the Arkema chemical plant explosions.

Southeast Texas soil, air, and water are awash in toxic chemicals thanks to deregulation by Trump and Abbott. Trump's gutting of the EPA ensures that the destruction and suffering will have the maximum effect. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wishes each of them could experience all of the suffering they are causing themselves.

"Harvey" translates easily in any language—Farsi, Arabic, Vietnamese. The Houston Press heard translators who arrived at Houston shelters to help the city's diverse population of evacuees cope with the flood.

The Lewisville Texan Journal saw the gas panic that hit the DFW area, and the Texas Standard observed that the rush to the pumps only exacerbated fuel shortages.

DBC Green Blog enjoyed clear skies at the end of last week, as well as the veritable deluge of Harvey think pieces. 

Neil at All People Have Value said you don't have to be "Houston Strong" regarding Hurricane Harvey if you don't want to be. Do what you need to do to move forward. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Be it climate change or nuclear annihilation or a rogue asteroid, Steve Rossignol at The Rag Blog would really like to know how close we are to doomsday. 

Harry Hamid posted a (grateful for having been uneventful) Hurricane Harvey story.

Off the Kuff celebrated the federal court ruling that halted enforcement of the "sanctuary cities" ban before it went into effect.

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub reminds us to fly the US flag today to honor those who lost their lives so that we could enjoy Labor Day.

And jobsanger says that all workers should be thankful for the contributions of labor unions.