Hurricane Katrina!
alright...so my mom and i got this great idea to write a story for the B'ham news since my mom works with the media ALL day and writes and stuff...its a 15 year olds point of veiw on Hurricane Katrina...take some time to read this and tell me what you think...i wrote it and we are sending it in tommorrow....
Lauren Jung
Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana for 7 years of my life caused many of the greatest memories I have of my childhood. Spending Easter Sundays with my family and searching for the eggs that were layed around our back yard was one of the most memorable. When my sister and dad taught me how to ride a 2-wheel bike for the first time I was so excited. As a child you deal with many new experiences and feelings. As I was growing up I never felt pain or hurt in my heart except for when my older brother, John popped my inflatable baby pool when I was five years old and even that was not a great deal of pain for me. Growing up in New Orleans may be dangerous now but as I was growing up crime rate was low and nothing seemed to matter.
I started Kindergten at a Catholic school that was within walking distance from my house in New Orleans. Everyday from Monday to Friday my older sister, Katie and oldest of us three, John would walk to school everyday with our mom. I can remember walking to school on the paved roads with some cracks and having to cross a busy intersection and having to hold onto my mom’s hand. As I started to get older our uniforms changed from shorts or pants to skirts with a buttoned up white shirt for the girls. As I was growing up uniforms were a daily thing for me and did not matter. Next to our Catholic school was a public school one block down that had always seemed trashy to me. My father was a strong Catholic and wanted us to grow up strong in the Catholic beliefs.
New Orleans has always seemed like home to me since we moved to Alabama at the end of my first grade year. Over the years of growing up in Alabama things have changed for me. Going to a middle school and entering a high school have been the biggest challenges for me. Making new friends is not hard for me because I am a very outgoing person, but there has not been one day that I have forgotten where I was born. New Orleans has changed over the time and there is a part of me that is happy I move while I did but then there is also a part of me that misses the uniforms and walking to school and Easter Sundays with my family and spending time with my brother and sister.
On August 29, 2005 I had heared of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans. Since I was born there and had grown up there and had most of my memorable memories there it was like a ton of bricks falling on me. Being a fifteen year old and understanding why these things happen is hard. I thought about family, friends, and memories that could be lost after the hurricane. Knowing that the hurricane was going to cause destruction was hard for me but I never knew it would have been this bad. Since last summer I have heard of hurricanes but never really payed attention to the damage that was caused after and always thought that the meteorologist were over forecasting.
School was cancelled on Tuesday August 30 because we had lost power. As pictures started to show on the news of New Orleans’s damage I could do nothing but cry. As my mom and I sat on the floor crowded around the television watching closely of the victums of hurricane Katrina on Wednesday August 31, I felt greedy and broken hearted at the same time. I complained about losing power for a day and a half when people of New Orleans are left with nothing. Houses destroyed, family members lost or gone, no food or water, old and wet clothing, no place to go but sit on highways and wait for help, memories gone forever. Babies and toddlers struggling for water, burning in the heat of the New Orleans hot sun with no shade or place to go. It’s a war within our own country in New Orleans. It looks like a battlefield with familes scattered around waiting on help. Salvation Army can only feed a certain amount of people and there are too many people that need to be fed. People in New Orleans are left with no where to go. The Superdome has been rained on and the roof collapsed and rained on people. Average citizens of New Orleans are walking around with guns, people committing suicide because they can not take the pain of the aftermath, people stealing for wal-marts to get food and clothing and even Televisions when they do not have a house to put their belongings in. Parents, children, brothers, and sister’s dead bodies floating in the water. People blind from the chemicals in the water, some even dead. As I sat and wondered what it would be like if I still lived there I thought to myself how can I help these people? I am only fifteen and a sophomore in high school and it’s not easy to drive down to New Orleans and help people of New Orleans when bridges are ruined and government will not let you enter because of the destruction. As I payed close attention to the news to see what I could do to help I decided to send old clothes to the salvation army and find places where they are collecting canned foods and money for the people of New Orleans. This is not just a big deal to the people of New Orleans but also to tourist. New Orleans is dead city and the people there need our help.
be honest and tell me if its touching...
Lauren Jung
Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana for 7 years of my life caused many of the greatest memories I have of my childhood. Spending Easter Sundays with my family and searching for the eggs that were layed around our back yard was one of the most memorable. When my sister and dad taught me how to ride a 2-wheel bike for the first time I was so excited. As a child you deal with many new experiences and feelings. As I was growing up I never felt pain or hurt in my heart except for when my older brother, John popped my inflatable baby pool when I was five years old and even that was not a great deal of pain for me. Growing up in New Orleans may be dangerous now but as I was growing up crime rate was low and nothing seemed to matter.
I started Kindergten at a Catholic school that was within walking distance from my house in New Orleans. Everyday from Monday to Friday my older sister, Katie and oldest of us three, John would walk to school everyday with our mom. I can remember walking to school on the paved roads with some cracks and having to cross a busy intersection and having to hold onto my mom’s hand. As I started to get older our uniforms changed from shorts or pants to skirts with a buttoned up white shirt for the girls. As I was growing up uniforms were a daily thing for me and did not matter. Next to our Catholic school was a public school one block down that had always seemed trashy to me. My father was a strong Catholic and wanted us to grow up strong in the Catholic beliefs.
New Orleans has always seemed like home to me since we moved to Alabama at the end of my first grade year. Over the years of growing up in Alabama things have changed for me. Going to a middle school and entering a high school have been the biggest challenges for me. Making new friends is not hard for me because I am a very outgoing person, but there has not been one day that I have forgotten where I was born. New Orleans has changed over the time and there is a part of me that is happy I move while I did but then there is also a part of me that misses the uniforms and walking to school and Easter Sundays with my family and spending time with my brother and sister.
On August 29, 2005 I had heared of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans. Since I was born there and had grown up there and had most of my memorable memories there it was like a ton of bricks falling on me. Being a fifteen year old and understanding why these things happen is hard. I thought about family, friends, and memories that could be lost after the hurricane. Knowing that the hurricane was going to cause destruction was hard for me but I never knew it would have been this bad. Since last summer I have heard of hurricanes but never really payed attention to the damage that was caused after and always thought that the meteorologist were over forecasting.
School was cancelled on Tuesday August 30 because we had lost power. As pictures started to show on the news of New Orleans’s damage I could do nothing but cry. As my mom and I sat on the floor crowded around the television watching closely of the victums of hurricane Katrina on Wednesday August 31, I felt greedy and broken hearted at the same time. I complained about losing power for a day and a half when people of New Orleans are left with nothing. Houses destroyed, family members lost or gone, no food or water, old and wet clothing, no place to go but sit on highways and wait for help, memories gone forever. Babies and toddlers struggling for water, burning in the heat of the New Orleans hot sun with no shade or place to go. It’s a war within our own country in New Orleans. It looks like a battlefield with familes scattered around waiting on help. Salvation Army can only feed a certain amount of people and there are too many people that need to be fed. People in New Orleans are left with no where to go. The Superdome has been rained on and the roof collapsed and rained on people. Average citizens of New Orleans are walking around with guns, people committing suicide because they can not take the pain of the aftermath, people stealing for wal-marts to get food and clothing and even Televisions when they do not have a house to put their belongings in. Parents, children, brothers, and sister’s dead bodies floating in the water. People blind from the chemicals in the water, some even dead. As I sat and wondered what it would be like if I still lived there I thought to myself how can I help these people? I am only fifteen and a sophomore in high school and it’s not easy to drive down to New Orleans and help people of New Orleans when bridges are ruined and government will not let you enter because of the destruction. As I payed close attention to the news to see what I could do to help I decided to send old clothes to the salvation army and find places where they are collecting canned foods and money for the people of New Orleans. This is not just a big deal to the people of New Orleans but also to tourist. New Orleans is dead city and the people there need our help.
be honest and tell me if its touching...