I woke up at 4:30 a.m., fell asleep in the shower and somehow managed to throw clothes on my body by 5:07 a.m.

As oil reaches the coastline, frustration grows among the residents of Venice, Louisiana. Now the town, which was just putting itself back together after Katrina, is forced to do it all over again. Except this time its residents are dealing with the frustration of having to replenish something much larger than their homes — the ocean.

The only road in Venice, La., winds around grassy marshes and sprouts off into gravel driveways where trailers sit in semi-circles, some on 20-foot stilts. At its end are the three marinas that support the local economy’s lifeline: shrimping.