my two cents

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the Hurricane Katrina “experience” being that it was so much more than a natural disaster. Beyond the widespread physical destruction that the storm caused lies a community still, almost two years later, emotionally grappled by the effects of the storm. In a very tangible way, the residents of New Orleans and its surrounding parishes effuse pain, indignation, and helplessness, the last being the most evident. Every resident with whom I have spoken has eagerly shared his or her personal story, one being more tragic than the other, and I finally feel that I am getting a real sense of the magnitude of this disaster. It is very easy to be apathetic toward a situation in which one has nothing invested, but even having only been in New Orleans for one week, I have an entirely different perception of what actually occurred in the city. I could never understand what it meant for a city to be destroyed without having come here and seen the damage myself. Media coverage only tells a small chapter of a very tragic event, whose repercussions will not stop haunting this community.

I get the impression that most residents of New Orleans feel that they have been abandoned, not only by their state government, but by the national government as well. They are given hope for relief, but time after time are let down. The only way I can characterize the current mood of New Orleans is that of anticipation, manifested in speaking with the residents, by reading about legislation in the city, and by having a general feel for the city’s prevailing climate. I arrived in New Orleans with many questions, mainly pertaining to what degree of damage the city suffered, what portion of the city had successfully rebounded, and how extensively the government had provided assistance to the New Orleans population. However, what I have come to discover in my very short time here is that in answering these questions, I have only found there to be even more pressing and uncomforting ones for which I have yet to find answers. Much like the residents of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, I am appalled by the government’s sluggish legislation, the inequitable distributions of aid, and just the general unresponsiveness to the very real needs of its citizens. In the government’s defense, however, nothing could have prepared it for such a widespread crisis, so the fact that there is dissatisfaction in the community does not surprise me. This is just as much a learning experience for the government as it is for its people. I hope by the end of this internship to have a more thorough understanding of the government/citizen relationship, as well as to have contributed on a very personal level to the needs of New Orleans.

-Joseph Lanser