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Seems like much more than a year has passed since I sat in my New Orleans' home last August, longing for a winning Saints season. Turns out I didn’t get to watch a game. Thanks, Katrina.
I was born and raised in New Orleans — lived in the same house my entire life. Then Katrina hit. My family was lucky to get out. We stayed until the bitter end, even going so far as to buy enough food, water and flashlight batteries to last the better part of a week. When we decided to leave, traffic was already stalled to the north and west. Our only option was to go east, into the storm’s projected path. With three days worth of clothes, my parents and I took backroads that would all be destroyed just hours later.
My home now sits empty with a “For Sale” sign in front, like so many houses in New Orleans these days. Despite my family’s good fortune in the months following the hurricane, I felt utterly lost at the beginning of this summer. The realization that everything I knew and believed in had literally been washed away was sometimes too painful to bear.
When I walked into the Nightly newsroom, I expected a corporate machine that would toss me around and spit me out. Instead, I found a group of people so close they reminded me of friends from home that I hadn’t seen for months. I remember bumbling as I introduced myself to Brian, only to have him interrupt me before I could get my name out: “Yes, Jed, I know who you are.” In the newsroom, I sit across from Senior Producer Tracey Lyons, a hilarious and wonderful woman with a son close to my age... who gives me advice about how to be a better son.
Nightly has also taught me something that I forgot in the months following the storm, something that has helped me already and will help me in the future, both personally and journalistically: perspective. Mired in my post-Katrina struggle as well as that of New Orleans, I forgot that we are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves. And that is why the news is so important.
As we approach the first anniversary of Katrina, the newsroom focus has shifted towards our coverage in New Orleans in the coming weeks. Some people have asked me if it hurts to work on these stories. Sometimes it does, but more often than not it’s cathartic. NBC has also allowed me to follow Brian and the team down to New Orleans for our coverage, and with the help and encouragement of Nightly, I think I’ll be able to look at Katrina, New Orleans and my own experience in a new light. I imagine there will be moments when it will be hard emotionally, but I’m feeling more confident knowing that my Nightly peers will be there to support me and give me perspective a year later... perspective I hope we can also give to you.
And with a new coach and some new faces, even the Saints have high hopes this year, in a town that needs all the hope it can get.
Read more from Summer 2006 interns
A whole new way to make us fear
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Jed,
I have watched you grow up and am not surprised that you have achieved such success, so young, and with such an appreciation of the road that has sprung up before you. I'll be in Bristol while you are in New Orleans. I know your input to the news team will be helpful. I'm really in awe of all you've done and all you are.
caroline helwick, new orleans, louisiana (Sent Aug 12, 2006 10:36:26 AM)
I’m glad to know that the news team had a New Orleanian on board to help share the local perspective and sentiment on matters being covered in the news. Thank you for sharing your experiences and for your work in the coverage of New Orleans along with the rest of the NBC Nightly News staff. I’m sure your personal involvement has had an impact in the powerful messages sent through the Nightly broadcasts, and you should take pride in your accomplishments this summer. Again-thanks for sharing.
Liz, New Orleans, LA (Sent Aug 10, 2006 4:20:59 PM)
Powerful stuff, Jed. Congratulations to you, your proud partents, and everyone else you know who rose above Katrina's wrath. It's been a year of unexpected opportunity and personal growth for all of us. Hope to see you during your storm coverage on Nightly this month.
Victor Cook, Jr., New Orleans, Louisiana (Sent Aug 10, 2006 9:27:16 AM)
Thanks for such an interesting and thought-provoking post. I was sorry to read about your family's having to put the home in which you'd lived all your life up for sale and about your feeling "lost" at the beginning of the summer, but am glad to hear your family found good fortune in the months after the storm.
And that's wonderful news--about Brian allowing you to go back home for Katrina anniversary coverage in the coming weeks. I hope sometime sooner or later you'll have the opportunity to move back to New Orleans permanently.
In closing, I'd just like to say, Good luck to you and the Saints, too!
Olivia Elizabeth Burdon, Peoria, Ill. (Sent Aug 10, 2006 8:47:48 AM)
Jed,
Yes, New Orleans needs hope. This entire year has been like the greek tale of the man pushing the rock up the mountain, exept the weight of our rock increses the higher we push it. New Orleans will never be the same as it once was, and this is a loss only those with New Orleans in their heart can comprehend. We are coming to the end of our year of mourning and it is time to start thinking what our new New Orleans will be. The main problems for the re-growth of the population are the same as they were almost a year ago. 1.) Safety- the levees are still not adequate to protect the city. 2.)Housing- there is no where for people to live and the housing that remains has increased in cost so much it is pricing many locals out of the city. 3.)Infrastructure - broken and unreliable. Again increases are pricing people out. Social infrastucture also broken -city services, judicial services, healthcare services 4.) Lack of governmental leadership on the national, state and local level. A total failure of government. Because of this all has been left up to the locals. Here is a great article that tells the story. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/21/8383661/
America has happily moved on. They will watch the stories of the one year anniversity and think for a moment "That is really a shame." And then the Gulf Coast of this country will be a non-story forever. But New Orleans WILL remain and New Orleanians will continue to push, push, PUSH that rock ever higher.
doctorj, Hammond, LA (Sent Aug 10, 2006 8:40:14 AM)
One of the ironies of our experience has been our new appreciation for what good fortune is. One of the discoveries we have made is how blessed we are with friends both old and new.
So it is a particular joy to see that you perceive how being forced to take the long way around has made this a year of growth beyond anything it could have been otherwise.
See you soon.
Ed Strong, Bristol, Rhode Island (Sent Aug 10, 2006 7:11:52 AM)
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