Presbytere

Outer Journey

Today was a very interesting and eventful day. I was interested in everything we have done because we learned about a more serious event. We got the low down and all the information about Hurricane Katrina and how people lived and made it through such a horrific time. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the glass bottles and glass hands hanging from the ceiling. The glass bottles symbolized all the people they were told died in this awful occurrence. The bottles also contained a slip of paper that held the peoples name. The hand symbolized all the lives they knew of that waited a long time on their rough tops to be saved. There was also a piano directly in the middle of the wall as you look into the entrance door. The piano belonged to Antoine “Fats” Domino. It was found in his home completely ruined by hurricane Katrina. Everything of his was ruined. The first room held information about New Orleans port and why it what important and what it imported and exported. The port system is a top U.S. port and has exported everything from petroleum products, minerals, and grain, and New Orleans is also a top U.S. port for importing steel, coffee, and natural rubber, so you could obviously tell that water plays a big role in Louisiana. There was information about Louisiana and its relationship with water and talked about how it has has suffered from floods from the river or sea. The next room had a timeline from August 27^th- August 28^th.  On Saturday the 27^th at 4:00 am Hurricane Katrina started off as a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds and it showed the storm directly over New Orleans. The citizens were all told to evacuate but there were tons of traffic and some just did not want to leave their homes. On Sunday the 28^th, Katrina became a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph at 1:00 am. By 7:00 am Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5, with 160 mph winds. At this time the superdome is being opened up from people to take shelter only as a last resort. This is the first ever mandatory evacuation the city has ever had. Like I said before, some people couldn’t leave because they didn’t have a vehicle or anywhere else to go. There is one male that comes to mind. The city officials forced him to evacuate the apartment he had occupied during Katrina. He then moved into an abandoned apartment during Hurricane Katrina and he wrote on the wall keeping a journal of what has done during his time in the apartment. This exhibit was the most interesting one I have ever seen. I also got to listen to a woman talk about her story through a black telephone. She explained how her and her daughter were trying to leave their house because it was flooding and her daughter asked what they were going to do about food. She saw a loaf of bread floating so she grabbed it and and it was all they had. They couldn’t get out very easily. She made a hole big enough for her daughter to get out and the daughter would not leave without her. She then found an ax and made the hole big enough for both of them to get out and get out safely.

Glass bottle/glass hands

Inner Journey

All of the information I heard today in the Hurricane Katrina was very intense. I knew before I even walked in I was going to have a hard time making it through without getting emotional. I was definitely hoping I wouldn’t get emotion going through it but I did. As soon as I saw videos of the hurricane just demolishing everything everyone owned I lost it. I did contain my composure but I got a bit choked up because when I was younger I would have these dreams where my house got flooded or burnt down and I lost everything my family and I owned. Every time I had those dreams I woke up crying and felt so empty and sad, so my emotions of what was just a dream were awful and I couldn’t imagine what the people of New Orleans felt when they lost everything they owned in reality. Seeing just their belongings and personal thing get ruined made me sick. I wish I was old enough at that time because I would have loved to come down here to do relieve work. Helping everyone after this disaster would have been mind opening and would have helped so many people, even if it was just bringing water to those in need. After being sad through some of the exhibit I started to feel happier. Seeing the entire city unite as one, to help one another is just mind blowing. How amazing is it that people from all over the world came to help rebuild the wonderful city of New Orleans? Because of this incident the people of the city grew stronger and closer. Not even a hurricane can ruin this city’s bond and it will continue to grow stronger and stronger each and every day. I hope that others will continue to visit this museum because it has really helped me appreciate everything I have and not to take life for granted. After this experience I definitely appreciate my life and where I live because I have never had to gone through any of those dreadful times. I think that everyone should visit that museum to get a feel for what the people of New Orleans had to go through. People should live by their example because becoming close because of the disaster has made them better and I think it’s important to unite as a city.

Child's lost teddy bear

Man telling his story