Sunday, 5/29
Written by Rachel Latterich and Andrea Watson
Today was our second free day here in New Orleans. We started off the morning by attending a late service (since we always have trouble waking up in the morning) at a Catholic cathedral. Not all of us are Catholic, but nine of us still went into mass.
After mass, we walked next door to the the Louisiana State Museum, which featured a Hurricane Katrina exhibit, a Mardi Gras exhibit, and dozens of shocking hurricane images. The Katrina exhibits were particularly moving, as they gave voice to the people who fled and those who remained. The main exhibit was actually focused on hurricanes in the New Orleans area, and how they have magnified over the years due to the degradation of the wetlands to the south of the city. As the wetlands have decreased, there is nothing to slow the hurricanes or to absorb the huge tidal surge from the winds. There was a terrific video presentation that showed the pain and loss of the residents, and also their resiliency and pride in their community.
Next, we went to a restaurant to get take out and ate local food such as Gumbo and Po-boys. We ate our lunch while standing in line, waiting for Steamboat Natchez, which is an extremely old riverboat that takes you on a tour of the Mississippi River. We took a two hour ride on the Natchez, heading down stream and hearing about the importance and size of the Port of New Orleans. Some facts we were given:
· New Orleans is the largest port in the world, based on the volume of goods that flow through it.
· The main export is grain and scrap metal
· The main import is steel
· The deepest part of the entire Mississippi is in the port (over 240 feet deep) as the river does a sharp turn around the Point of Algiers (that turn is why the city is nicknamed “The Crescent City”
It was a long day; however, it certainly did not end there. Once we got back, some of us took power naps while others wrote in their journals. We got a surprise wake-up call when Mr. Bray came and told us that we would be seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 in honor of Kevin.
At 9:00 PM, after the movie, which is set in China, some of us were craving Chinese food so we ended up eating at a Chinese restaurant on Magazine Ave. In other news, the girls (Rachel, Alexa, Andrea) overthrew the boys and now have complete authority over the first row of the van, which grants them control over the stereo selections. This means that we are no longer listening to “bad 80’s music”! Yay!!
After working with hammers, nails, and other tools earlier in the week, Andrea jammed her finger – only not from working on site. Instead, she jammed her finger after tripping over a backpack while trying to turn on the AC in her room and ended up having to wear a finger splint. Great job, Andrea. [chaperon’s note: She seems to be improving – amputation has been postponed]
Pictures from the day:
Personal statement from the museum
One of the levees as we went down river. The river levees are regarded to be much stronger than the canals, as they are tested by flooding every year. The flood level is just below the amount that would go over the levees. Notice that the houses on the other side are 10-15 feet below the top of the levee - New Orleans averages 6 feet below sea level, with a lowest point of 14 feet below sea level. The highest point is only 3 feet above sea level.
Scrap metal being loaded onto a freighter going to Nairobi
All the old houses have some form of this writing on the outside. Before people could return to New Orleans, the city had to be checked for safety. They checked each building. Local and private organizations took part, and this writing gave information. Each quadrant of the X holds different information: 12 o'clock tells the date the house was checked; 3 o'clock told of anything that was living in the house (in this case, two cats); 6 o'clock told of any dead found in the house (in this case, a dog); and 9 o'clock told which organization did the inspection. These X's are all over the city. Every building that wasn't rebuilt or repainted has one.
As we entered the museum, this gives us a look at why the disaster occurred.
Our noble steed - the Natchez. It's the only true paddle steamboat in New Orleans.
Local artists sell their work attached to the fence surrounding Jackson Square (named for Andrew Jackson, whose likeness is on a very tall column in the middle of the square - they like their statuary in New Orleans)
The original filling station. There are a lot of horse-drawn carriages in the French Quarter, and they all line up to get the horses water after each ride.
St. Louis Cathedral
This boat was found by a New Orleans resident, who then used it to help others. He and the boat were commandeered by the National Guard and spent several weeks rescuing people and animals. They wrote on the side, "This boat helped rescue more than 400 people." They also rescued over 100 dogs. It was sad to see how honored the rescuers were when it's held in contrast with how Abdulrahman Zeitoun was treated for doing the same thing. Reading Zeitoun has had an impact on how I've viewed everything on this trip.- Mr. Bray
Monday, 5/30
Written by Katie Carmody and Alexa Causey
Landury- We woke up late in the morning and rolled out of bed to take our dirty work clothes to get cleaned. Some students chilled and watched Star Wars in the waiting room, while others napped at home.
Subway- In preparation for our 3-hour bus tour for the areas most hit by Katrina, we stopped by Subway to get our lunch and to get our muscles moving.
Tour- The bus tour took us to all different parts of New Orleans, and it showed us how and where the canal walls broke. The guide kept telling us how much parts of the city were underwater and that even after 6 years New Orleans still isn’t the same.
Tulane- After the tour we took a van ride to visit Tulane University, where we stopped by the Gym and had a small tour of the building. After walking through the pretty campus, with trees and grass everywhere, we headed to dinner.
Dinner- Not many of us were hungry, but none of the students could turn down food, especially if Mr. Bray was paying for it.
Streetcar home- After dinner, Mr. Bray ditched us to go to the store to get food for the week, and the rest of the group walked to the streetcar stop to take it home.
Reflection on the trip – Once we got back, we dug right down into reflection of what travel means to us and what we have learned so far. We concluded that New Orleans is a town full of faith, and the community does not give up in a time of need.
This morning was iffy; We were tired from the previous day’s adventures so a bit slow getting up, excited for another day out on the town, yet also reluctant to rise and shine knowing it was our last free day before back to work with hammers, paint brushes and heavy lifting in the 90-100 degree and humid Nawlins weather. We were all up and loaded with our plastic bags full of dirty work clothes by 9:30 for the trek to the “washeteria.” As we waited for the Tide to work its magic (which, unfortunately it really didn’t- PAINT DOESN’T COME OUT) many of us returned to the guest house to catch any last Zs or bask in the AC while others kept an eye on the wash and hung out with the local laundry doers. Once done with our laundry we all made our way down the street to subway where we ordered sandwiches in preparation for the 3 hour Katrina bus tour we embarked upon later that afternoon.
The bus tour was unique in that it focused on driving us through and teaching us about the wards of the city most devastated by 2005’s hurricane Katrina. It was eye opening to see and hear of all the desolation that still exists and affects every New Orleans resident and business today, five years after the disaster. We were told that the hardest hit areas of New Orleans were 14 feet under sea level and that the rest of the city resides around 6 feet below sea level. Each of us learned where and how every canal and flood wall burst and where and how every surge of water crashed contributing to the disaster. [note: it turns out that NONE of the levees failed – it was all canal walls or levees that were simply not tall enough. All the levees held] For all of us, the fact that really hit home was that as of this week New Orleans has only 50 % of the active Grocery stores it had before the disaster including large chains, street side markets and private shops. I don’t think any of us realized that even after 5 years, New Orleans still has so much rebuilding to do to return to its former glory, and that Katrina still has an impact on everyone’s life every day.
Following the bus tour, we headed out on our own tour of Tulane University. It was nice to see numerous expanses of green grass, the college commons, in contrast to all the clustered homes, fences, streets and alleys of the city districts. Tulane had a great campus, proud, smiling students who offered to give us campus tours and even a bunch of soccer players who a few of us were quite tempted to join. It was great to take a break from the typical touristy stuff for a bit and explore potential college campuses, not to mention we actually saw kids close to our age! Many of us have noticed there seems to be a lack of teens here in New Orleans, then we remind ourselves that they’re probably still in school…
[note: at this point, I made everyone go to bed, since tomorrow is going to be another long workday in the heat. Getting everyone to sleep is harder than it should be, since they’re all tired. They like talking to each other too much]
Pictures from the day:
Waiting for the streetcar
"Hey! Look what just showed up!"
A marauding group of zombies that shambled by us while we waited to be seated for dinner on Saturday night. Just to add a touch of surrealism to our trip...
A lot of the public art in post-Katrina New Orleans is heavily influenced by the disaster.
A new pump and gate system put into the 17th Street Canal to prevent flooding and collapse. It is an impressive structure. One of the problems that the engineering created was that the gates system closed to prevent flooding, and the gates all held. The problem was that other areas failed and the gates were closed which prevented water from exiting various areas.
The lighter colored cement is the area of the 17th Street Canal that failed. The pressure from the top due to the water weight, combined with the destabilization of the earth below caused a huge section to simply crumble. This breach was responsible for flooding in the Lakeview region, and was over 450 feet long.
The red x means that this house is condemned (I wonder why). The city won't tear it down until they contact the owner, who has not returned to New Orleans.
A sculpture in the 9th Ward (a Ward is simply a voting precinct). The blue posts represent the heights of the water in various areas. That tallest post is 14 feet tall.
One of the houses built by the Make it Right project, which is fronted by Brad Pitt and other celebrities. At the time Katrina hit, 70 percent of homes in New Orleans were owned outright. The goal of Make it Right is to give people back a home without having them go into debt to make it happen.
Another of the man-made waterways that caused the disaster. These channels allowed the tidal surge to reach far into the populated areas.
Tulane University, which looked super cool. They have a very interesting service program, and every student is required to do service for their first two years. Additionally, they have two days each year when the entire school does service projects (just like our Middle School!)
Tulane's neighborhood
