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Tuesday, September 26, 2006
To those who came back
Today the crowds have been more crowded, the people happier, and there's been a sense of hope in the air. The Saints were playing back at the Superdome for the first time since it became an emergent shelter to the victims of Katrina. I don't pay much attention to football, but I hope the Saints win, because this town could use some cheer. I've only seen a few Atlanta Hawks around. This morning at Cafe du Monde, a guy playing his sax sang out, "Oh when the Saints, and those dirty birds, oh when those Saints beat those dirty birds, how I want to be in that number, when the Saints beat those dirty birds!" Everyone sang along and cheered. It was a good moment, and possibly the most cheerful moment since we've arrived.
Yesterday I worked a second day at the Children's Museum, while my mom cooled her heels at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She saw an exhibit of photos of Katrina through the eyes of those who lived it. She said it was full of eerie photos of floating bodies, people living on their roofs and in their attics, and someone had written ,"the water is rising, PLEASE HELP," in chalk on their roof. Many people had photographed shotgun shacks that had floated off their foundations, and cars that had floated over roofs and fences and had stuck there when the water came back down. Sadder still were photographs of kids toys, wet, dirty, moldy, but still had belonged to children and left during the panic of Katrina.
While I was at the Children's Museum I spoke to a few of the people who worked there. One woman, who was in her 60's, had to help evacuate her entire family, some 7 children, 12 grandchildren, and great grandchildren as well. More seriously she had to evacuate her 80 year old parents. They were driving along I-10 and asked a police officer if there were any hotels in the area, or shelters, and he said no, but instead took them to a church in Franklin who'd just completed construction on a million dollar gymnasium. For the next few weeks they lived there, her parents were given privacy by clearing out a storage room and putting some beds in it.
She told me how one of her daughters worked in a nursing home, and while most of the employees took off to save themselves, she stayed behind and took care of her patients. She told me how one of her grandsons couldn't sleep at night, especially when it would rain. At 23 years of age, he would get up and start pacing, worrying about the water and if the house would flood again. His younger brothers and sisters would get up with him, because they naturally followed his lead.
I spoke to Jody, a junior in high school, who grew up in New Orleans. His family evacuated, and while his father has been a roofer for over 20 years, they only just completed repairs on their own roof. His dad's been busy working on everyone else's roof, kind of reminded me of the saying that the shoemaker's kids go barefoot. He said that for the most part school had gone back to normal, he had all his usual classes and teachers. They had started construction on some new classrooms before Katrina, and they'd been put off for a while, but they were supposed to be done sometime after spring break.
I think a lot of the victims of Katrina want to tell their story, want to be able to share and to tell someone what they went through. They all echoed the same sentiment of moving forward and not looking back. Today was a glimmer of what New Orleans can become again.
Yesterday I worked a second day at the Children's Museum, while my mom cooled her heels at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She saw an exhibit of photos of Katrina through the eyes of those who lived it. She said it was full of eerie photos of floating bodies, people living on their roofs and in their attics, and someone had written ,"the water is rising, PLEASE HELP," in chalk on their roof. Many people had photographed shotgun shacks that had floated off their foundations, and cars that had floated over roofs and fences and had stuck there when the water came back down. Sadder still were photographs of kids toys, wet, dirty, moldy, but still had belonged to children and left during the panic of Katrina.
While I was at the Children's Museum I spoke to a few of the people who worked there. One woman, who was in her 60's, had to help evacuate her entire family, some 7 children, 12 grandchildren, and great grandchildren as well. More seriously she had to evacuate her 80 year old parents. They were driving along I-10 and asked a police officer if there were any hotels in the area, or shelters, and he said no, but instead took them to a church in Franklin who'd just completed construction on a million dollar gymnasium. For the next few weeks they lived there, her parents were given privacy by clearing out a storage room and putting some beds in it.
She told me how one of her daughters worked in a nursing home, and while most of the employees took off to save themselves, she stayed behind and took care of her patients. She told me how one of her grandsons couldn't sleep at night, especially when it would rain. At 23 years of age, he would get up and start pacing, worrying about the water and if the house would flood again. His younger brothers and sisters would get up with him, because they naturally followed his lead.
I spoke to Jody, a junior in high school, who grew up in New Orleans. His family evacuated, and while his father has been a roofer for over 20 years, they only just completed repairs on their own roof. His dad's been busy working on everyone else's roof, kind of reminded me of the saying that the shoemaker's kids go barefoot. He said that for the most part school had gone back to normal, he had all his usual classes and teachers. They had started construction on some new classrooms before Katrina, and they'd been put off for a while, but they were supposed to be done sometime after spring break.
I think a lot of the victims of Katrina want to tell their story, want to be able to share and to tell someone what they went through. They all echoed the same sentiment of moving forward and not looking back. Today was a glimmer of what New Orleans can become again.
