Tribes

Interesting.  Groups of people in New Orleans are forming tribes to survive.

When Tryphonas showed up at Johnny White's [bar] with his left ear split in two, Joseph Bellomy - a customer pressed into service as a bartender - put a wooden spoon between Tryphonas' teeth and used a needle and thread to sew it up. Military medics who later looked at Bellomy's handiwork decided to simply bandage the ear. "That's my savior," Tryphonas said, raising his beer in salute to the former Air Force medical assistant.

A few blocks away, a dozen people in three houses got together and divided the labor. One group went to the Mississippi River to haul water, one cooked, one washed the dishes. "We're the tribe of 12," 76-year-old Carolyn Krack said as she sat on the sidewalk with a cup of coffee, a packet of cigarettes and a box of pralines.

This link courtesy of the Boing.

What a great time to post this link on tribes.  Thank Ethan Watters for this one, supposedly in his book, but I can't confirm this, only support his words..

This bond is clearest in times of trouble. After
earthquakes (or the recent terrorist strikes), my
no different from what I'd feel for my  family.
Once I identified this in my own life, I began to
see tribes everywhere I looked: a house of
ex-sorority women in Philadelphia, a team of
ultimate-frisbee players in Boston and groups of
musicians in Austin, Texas.  Cities, I've come to
believe, aren't emotional wastelands where
fragile individuals with arrested development
mope around self-indulgently searching for  true
love. There are rich landscapes filled with urban tribes.

 I personally am a member of a few tribes that saved my behind right after I split with the ex.  Thank you Deb, and thank you, guys.