Excerpts from the Journal of a Refugee
Haha, sorry, had to play with my refugee status.
Well, I thought it was about time I give an update. Right now the city I have come to love even before I began attending school there is in chaos. People lie dead in the streets, and there is an overwhelming need for aid. Sadly in addition to the assistance needed to recover from the hurricane, an inordinate National Guard presence is required to keep the peace. They are unable to continue to provide airlift rescues and fly in needed supplies because people find the need to shoot at military aircraft, for whatever reasons they have. There are beatings, rapes, and murders in the chaos that has come due to the hurricane. After only a few days in the aftermath of Katrina, Martial Law has been declared in New Orleans.
Other than the suffering due to stupid people, a whole people need help. New Orleans is strongly tied to Memphis; there are more refugees here than in Houston. The Mississippi River cities are sister cities, and they help each other when they're in need. I know people housing over twenty people misplaced by the hurricane. My church and many churches and other organizations are giving aid. I don't know much more I could tell you guys, y'all probably know as much as me. I'm trying to find out as much as I can.
There's the general status of New Orleans, here's my personal situation.
As I was packing to go to school, I was listening to reports of a hurricane forming. Having already developed the New Orleans' attitude toward hurricanes, I listened with disinterest. However, it quickly intensified, and not having been a native Louisianian, I quickly shed my overconfidence. The night before I was to leave, I got a call from a fellow Midshipman from my unit, advising me to standby on the situation. The next morning she called again, and said the unit said not to come, and standby for more information. Of course we left anyway. We were already packed and we were going to need the Expedition soon, and we needed to clear the stuff out of it. And unpacking the car and packing it again a few days later would be troublesome. The dorms were closing at 5:30 that day, and we wanted to drop my stuff off, so that would be taken care of and I could fly there when things settled down. After part of the drive we were talking to my roommate; we made plans to pick him up there and take him to my house, we'd take him back so he didn't have to go all the way from Indiana. We arrived in New Orleans at 4:00, and we were 10 minutes away from campus. I called my RA and they were closing off the campus right then. We didn't want to haul my stuff all the way back to New Orleans, and now we needed the space to pick up my roommate. So we quickly found a storage place, picked up Tony, found a hotel, and headed for Memphis the next morning.
After we realized school wasn't starting soon Tony left for Indiana. For the past week we've been waiting for word from Tulane. (Nothing else to report from this week) Soon the President of Tulane will be making an announcement on the status of school for the semester. Though since the Mayor of New Orleans said that the city will be closed for 2 to 4 weeks, I think it's safe to say school's not opening anytime soon.
Right up until today I was planning on attending the U of M for the semester. My first thought was, "Oh no! I'd be in the same school as Diana again!" Just kidding Diana. Actually, my first thought was that I might be going to school with people form LSU. Wow, college rivalries run deep, and you pick them up fast. I was running in the park this summer, and I was wearing a green tulane shirt. In the distance I saw a purple and gold LSU shirt. Never seen the guy in my life, we cross paths and our only exchange was something akin to a snarl. ANY-WHO...Today I finally got some word from my unit. They're still waiting for the decision on Tulane, but they're making plans to transfer our whole unit to Vanderbilt.
And that's about everything going on with me right now. Anything good come of this? Well, we were gonna look for a storage place for my stuff anyway, so we don't have to haul all my stuff every year. So, I guess that's one less thing to worry about. And what the hell, the girl who works at the storage place is pretty cute, maybe I'll get to see her every year :)
Anyway, that's all I got for you right now. I'll see about letting you know about anything new.
Well, I thought it was about time I give an update. Right now the city I have come to love even before I began attending school there is in chaos. People lie dead in the streets, and there is an overwhelming need for aid. Sadly in addition to the assistance needed to recover from the hurricane, an inordinate National Guard presence is required to keep the peace. They are unable to continue to provide airlift rescues and fly in needed supplies because people find the need to shoot at military aircraft, for whatever reasons they have. There are beatings, rapes, and murders in the chaos that has come due to the hurricane. After only a few days in the aftermath of Katrina, Martial Law has been declared in New Orleans.
Other than the suffering due to stupid people, a whole people need help. New Orleans is strongly tied to Memphis; there are more refugees here than in Houston. The Mississippi River cities are sister cities, and they help each other when they're in need. I know people housing over twenty people misplaced by the hurricane. My church and many churches and other organizations are giving aid. I don't know much more I could tell you guys, y'all probably know as much as me. I'm trying to find out as much as I can.
There's the general status of New Orleans, here's my personal situation.
As I was packing to go to school, I was listening to reports of a hurricane forming. Having already developed the New Orleans' attitude toward hurricanes, I listened with disinterest. However, it quickly intensified, and not having been a native Louisianian, I quickly shed my overconfidence. The night before I was to leave, I got a call from a fellow Midshipman from my unit, advising me to standby on the situation. The next morning she called again, and said the unit said not to come, and standby for more information. Of course we left anyway. We were already packed and we were going to need the Expedition soon, and we needed to clear the stuff out of it. And unpacking the car and packing it again a few days later would be troublesome. The dorms were closing at 5:30 that day, and we wanted to drop my stuff off, so that would be taken care of and I could fly there when things settled down. After part of the drive we were talking to my roommate; we made plans to pick him up there and take him to my house, we'd take him back so he didn't have to go all the way from Indiana. We arrived in New Orleans at 4:00, and we were 10 minutes away from campus. I called my RA and they were closing off the campus right then. We didn't want to haul my stuff all the way back to New Orleans, and now we needed the space to pick up my roommate. So we quickly found a storage place, picked up Tony, found a hotel, and headed for Memphis the next morning.
After we realized school wasn't starting soon Tony left for Indiana. For the past week we've been waiting for word from Tulane. (Nothing else to report from this week) Soon the President of Tulane will be making an announcement on the status of school for the semester. Though since the Mayor of New Orleans said that the city will be closed for 2 to 4 weeks, I think it's safe to say school's not opening anytime soon.
Right up until today I was planning on attending the U of M for the semester. My first thought was, "Oh no! I'd be in the same school as Diana again!" Just kidding Diana. Actually, my first thought was that I might be going to school with people form LSU. Wow, college rivalries run deep, and you pick them up fast. I was running in the park this summer, and I was wearing a green tulane shirt. In the distance I saw a purple and gold LSU shirt. Never seen the guy in my life, we cross paths and our only exchange was something akin to a snarl. ANY-WHO...Today I finally got some word from my unit. They're still waiting for the decision on Tulane, but they're making plans to transfer our whole unit to Vanderbilt.
And that's about everything going on with me right now. Anything good come of this? Well, we were gonna look for a storage place for my stuff anyway, so we don't have to haul all my stuff every year. So, I guess that's one less thing to worry about. And what the hell, the girl who works at the storage place is pretty cute, maybe I'll get to see her every year :)
Anyway, that's all I got for you right now. I'll see about letting you know about anything new.