Powerless

In a piece about sticking it out in New Orleans ("Choosing to Ride out the Storm," NYT, byline Mimi Read), the author mentions that most people, in this age of air-conditioning, have removed their window screens, if they ever had any at all, which means that insects are free to come and go if the windows are ever opened. She writes about being without electric power. I remember doing without electricity. It's refrigeration that's a wonderful thing, especially if you have no place to fish and you're living a long way from where you can shop for perishables. I remember iceboxes and also kerosene-powered fridges. It's the fridge and its contents that I worry about most when power goes out there. We do have window screens and we do have battery-powered fans, a wind-up radio, and lots of flashlights, and we try not to be overstocked with items that are frozen or that need to be kept cool. One of the things that I keep reading about the absence of electric power is that children are difficult to keep entertained. This, I don't understand.