(no subject)
Today I arrived in Mississippi to visit my family. We actually landed in New Orleans and drove aboout 2 hours to Ocean Springs (near Biloxi). Driving through I finally realized what happened when Katrina stormed through and left her mark. Last week at Leadership camp I didn't realize how sensitive Ms. Hall was about it. She was from De La Salle High School in New Orleans. I personally felt that if I was affected by the hurricane, I wouldn't want to be felt sorry for or treated with sympathy all the time, especially a year later. I still in a way feel the same, but I have a whole new perspective because I drove through it. This is what I wrote down.
Passing through New Orleans today, I realized what Ms. Hall meant when she said "Ya'll want us to be remembered for traveling the farthest? Aren't there bigger issues than that?" I look around and see buildings stripped of their cement like clothing, just their skeletons sitting deserted on the empty lot. The famous Superdome. Piles of trash side outside of Wal Marts and Office Depots, their interiors exposed. An amusement park sits beside the highway, deserted, Six Flags New Orleans, which never reopened after the hurricane. Wal Mart bags and inflatable rafts stuck 20 feet high in trees. Homes lining the cross streets of the highway halfway destroyed, with wooden boards still up on or near the windows. A house looks as if something has stepped on it, like it's kneeling or crouching close to the ground, as if pleading guilty or asking for mercy from the storm.
Abandoned homes. Empty airport. Almost one year later, we are still affected.
Passing through New Orleans today, I realized what Ms. Hall meant when she said "Ya'll want us to be remembered for traveling the farthest? Aren't there bigger issues than that?" I look around and see buildings stripped of their cement like clothing, just their skeletons sitting deserted on the empty lot. The famous Superdome. Piles of trash side outside of Wal Marts and Office Depots, their interiors exposed. An amusement park sits beside the highway, deserted, Six Flags New Orleans, which never reopened after the hurricane. Wal Mart bags and inflatable rafts stuck 20 feet high in trees. Homes lining the cross streets of the highway halfway destroyed, with wooden boards still up on or near the windows. A house looks as if something has stepped on it, like it's kneeling or crouching close to the ground, as if pleading guilty or asking for mercy from the storm.
Abandoned homes. Empty airport. Almost one year later, we are still affected.