I want to thank Jenn Miller Sarnato for the good work in redesigning and producing a redesigned website (https://tulanetraumatologyinstitute.com/). Thanks for selecting the home page photo of the skyline of New Orleans with those expressive clouds. This beautiful photo is used at the Institute home page through the kindness and courtesy of John McCusker. Thank you John.

Why this is such a great selection to represent a place like New Orleans when introducing the Institute? The clouds.

If you look it up, you will find that clouds are among the most powerful metaphors. In a beautiful article by Rebecca Rosen (2011) in the Atlantic, she noted how “cloud” has taken on new meaning (e.g., Amazon and Apple’s cloud-based storage. But clouds have been a fascination to us all and have inspired artists and engineers alike.

But clouds have always been the focus of poets and great quotes.

Paul F. Davis wrote “the sun always shines above the clouds"

Rabindranath Tagore wrote “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” That’s the quote that resonates with the website. The Institute has reported on lots of traumatic things, but have always witnessed grit, determination, inspiration, and as President Obama always said about falling down: “Dusting yourself off and do it all over again.”

When I saw John’s picture in Jenn’s new homepage, I recalled the scene of pointing out the clouds to my daughters, Jessica and Laura, as I drove them to school some days. Both continue to like clouds but did not tell me at the time. Now I see them pointing out clouds with their own children. Makes me smile.