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5130 Cameron Boulevard in New Orleans, the 1000th home gutted by volunteers working for Catholic Charities. Photo by Steve Majors.
It's just another sad house on a street of sad houses in a sad post-Katrina neighborhood. But this house was supposed to be remarkable. After all, it was the 1000th flood-damaged home to be gutted by volunteers from a local agency. I'd been to many "milestones" like this before -- all indeed important, but also manufactured by well-meaning groups who wanted the news media to notice their efforts.
After almost six months in New Orleans, I understand the danger of Katrina fatigue. I mean, I've stood in so many mud-caked homes, partially gutted buildings, cramped FEMA trailers and newly-framed homes, that I can't count them all. So you can see why this one seemed like all the rest.
And it's not just the locations that have a sameness about them -- the stories of those who lived there can sound the same, too. After a while, you even begin to ask the same five questions just to get a quick sense of their circumstances: "How ya doin' today... How much water you get? You and your family evacuate? You have insurance? Think you're going to stay, sell or just abandon it?"
But you always find something incredibly memorable about the person or their circumstances. For instance, two days ago there was a very stoic 75-year-old man patiently painting the front door of a rehabbed home: Eight to 10 feet of water; his 95-year-old mother and sister were evacuated; the insurance paid out and now he was rebuilding.
Sometimes you have to ask a thousand more questions. Sometimes just one more: "Where's your mother living now?" Without missing a beat or a paint stroke, he explained she wasn't. She'd been evacuated from the house by helicopter. She died a short time later. He wouldn't dream of abandoning this house now.
I tell you that because of what happened Wednesday at 5130 Cameron Blvd. We didn't come to the home to do a story about its homeowner or even the fact that it was the 1000th home gutted by this particular charity. We merely came to collect a few minutes of videotape for a different story on the end of hurricane season. But the wonderful and efficient public relations representative pressed me: Would you like to speak to our volunteers? They came all the way from Dubuque, Iowa. How about the homeowner, did you know he's a well-known R&B writer/producer responsible for some hit songs in the 70s? He also came all the way from Atlanta for today's event. I thanked her, but explained that was not the intent of our overall story.
So, I stood on the sidewalk as the photographer went about his work. And I watched the volunteers, who didn't care if they were on camera or not -- they were there to gut a home and pile the remnants into a massive pile on the sidewalk.
But as I stared at that pile growing higher and higher, I noticed something different. On top of this pile at 5130 Cameron Blvd. was a woman's red hat. A fancy hat. The kind many women would recognize as a "going to Sunday meeting" hat. I started to wonder about the woman who'd worn it and her relation to the homeowner. Did she sing in the choir? Had she made it out alive? Had she been a famous R&B singer in the 70s? Did she have a son who was stoic, but perhaps memorable in his own way? There was a story there in that hat, I was sure of it. I looked at it, proud, red and jaunty -- sitting amid a pile of gray.
And then, I couldn't help but think of the Holocaust epic "Schindler's List," shot in black and white and told in shades of gray. All except for the little girl in the red coat -- a symbol of humanity, hope, individuality -- her image, unmistakable and unforgettable in the middle of an overwhelming number of terrible images.
If I'm being melodramatic here, forgive me. But I'm struck by the fact that long after my assignment here ends, this is the lesson I'll carry with me. And I hope to share it with those of you who sometimes feel you've already heard the story of New Orleans a thousand times.
If you listen hard enough or look close enough, you'll realize that everyone's story here is different, poignant, and important. I'll never get to tell you each one of those stories, and on this particular day, I didn't even get the chance to tell the story at 5130 Cameron Blvd. But as the photographer packed up his camera and we nodded goodbye to the volunteers and the PR people, I did want to tell one person that this story was important. So I walked over to another figure who was standing on the sidewalk staring at the debris pile -- the homeowner. I shook his hand, thanked him, and wished him good luck.
Read more from After the Storm: The Long Road Back, Steve Majors
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Early Nightly is up
I know that the people in New Orleans and other states suffered from Katrina, but did you stop to think of the people in Port Charlotte, Fl, that were hit dead on with a hurricane of 140 mph winds named Charley? We are still recovering also we lost schools, homes, businesses all that they lost with Katrina. You always say things about not getting aid quick enough in Katrina well at least they recieved a credit card of 2000.oo we got NOTHING,but we did not expect anything we went one year almost in a house we had to redo, but we all went on in our lives.
Our son's senior year of high school was spent in another school,because his school was so damaged, and to this day there still is no high school they are in portables. Yes I do know what Katrina victims feel like but, I get tired of hearing about them when we had it just as bad on Aug.14,2004.
Kelly Whidden,PortCharlotte,fl (Sent Jan 29, 2007 7:10:21 PM)
It's just a sad fact ! The US Government / Fema / Corps all failed miserably. It's a shame that so many millions are spent to destroy a enemy nation and even more to rebuild it once the bombings stop. Yet our leaders let so many of thier own suffer after this disaster. It's just more proof that the US Government does't know the meaning of the word " prioritize ". Put the US and our peoples needs first! The US can't continue to be " World Police".
I spent a year in Waveland and Bay St. Louis, MS and witnessed the Governments neglact first hand and it still pisses me off when I watch the national news. It's all about Iraq, Iran, Russia or some other country that wouldn't pee in our butts if our guts were on fire. Americans FIRST !!! All other take a f____ng number!! Bush! Get your head out the other countries a__es and take care of the US !
I would still be there but was forced to leave after all my equipment, tools, clothes, hell! even my shoes were stolen. I'm broke ! I had to file bankruptcy after 11 very sucessful years in business because the area was lawless. Meanwhile, the much needed military is off guarding camels. For what ?
My heart felt sympathy and prayers still go out to all of you that lost so much in the wake of Katrina. Compared to yours, my losses are petty.
To the thieves that stole everything my livley hood survived on : You'll burn in hell for what you've done to me and others! Believe it !!
Dwight Billingsley (Sent Nov 29, 2006 12:38:16 AM)
Steve,
What an amazing outlook on the fatigue. It does seem to go on and on and on, never ending here. It has been hard putting our lives together but we will continue to do so. It's hard to believe it has been over a year and yet so much is yet to be done. The statement of all of our stories being the same and all of the different (if you digged far enough) was such an outstanding statement and so very true. Thanks for your continued work in the area.
Michele, Slidell, LA (Sent Nov 17, 2006 2:08:59 PM)
My answers:
1. I doin fine, still working on my home.
2. I had 7.5 feet.
3. We evacuated to Natchitoches, LA and stayed with my Uncle for two and a half months.
4. I had both flood and homeowners insurance and settled with both near the end of October, 2005.
5. We returned to our Lakeview home at the end of July. I am still doing finishing touches on the house at night and on weekends. Currently we are the only family living in our home on our block.
D Terry, New Orleans, LA (Sent Nov 16, 2006 4:28:14 PM)
We in Naperville, Illinois have not forgotten. Our community group Maperville Responds today sent money to Pass Christian, Mississippi to rebuild two more homes. Through funds we have raised, we have completed three homes and a fourth is under construction. All of our homes are being constructed through the efforts of the Mennonites who have donated their time to the rebuilding effort. Naperville Responds plans to raise enough money to rebuild at least twenty homes in Pass Christian. Many members of our organization have visited the area and been deeply moved by the devastation, but also the determination to move forward. Naperville, Illinois refuses to forget.
Kevin Gallaher (Sent Nov 16, 2006 12:43:31 PM)
Thanks for such a gripping, poignant report! I guess to the casual observer the stories of people who've been through Katrina and lost their homes and everything else, perhaps having had to evacuate, can get to sound the same after a while and cause observers including the media to feel "Katrina fatigue"--hence the fact that for the most part news on the aftermath and the recovery effort isn't seen very often anymore.
However, anybody who thinks they've "Katrina fatigue" should remember--the only legitimate "Katrina fatigue" is that experienced by those who've actually been through the storm or New Orleans' flooding and now have to deal 24/7 with the remaining hardships and all the loose ends that need to be tied up--FEMA and insurance problems, waiting for homeowners' grants, etc., and are now struggling to rebuild their properties and their own lives, whether in New Orleans on or Mississippi's shattered Gulf Coast. Or perhaps New Orleans evacuees who long to return home but are unable to because of the lack of affordable housing. The people of the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and the rest of the storm zone still need a great deal of help.
I'm most intrigued and moved by your story of 5130 Cameron Blvd. And the woman's fancy red hat piqued my curiosity. It had me wondering if she could have been a member of one of those "Red Hat Clubs." There are several of those in my area--they're groups of women over 50 who meet once a month or so and go out for a girls' day out and have a good time. And they all wear fancy red hats of the sort one would wear to church. Which sounds like fun to me, but I'm too young. Here's hoping that New Orleans will soon be close enough to recovery that women there will be out partying in their red hats, having good times again.
Olivia Elizabeth Burdon, Peoria, Ill. (Sent Nov 16, 2006 12:14:08 PM)
As a student at Loyola University in New Orleans, I deal with Katrina fatigue everyday. I also deal with those five questions addressed toward my fellow students. I have come to discover that everyone has a story about their evacuation, their "hurricane semester" and the difference in their life post-Katrina. These stories always remind me of the human's ability to recover and continue. When the hurricane season draws to close, thousands of others and I will breathe a sigh of relief. The season may have ended safely but the stories will continue to be told all winter and beyond. Thank you for your post and your continued thoughts, New Orleans needs the interest to be kept on it. New Orleans will return with or without your news stories but it makes it easier (and faster) when people still remember what happened here.
Caitlin Dreger, New Orleans, Louisania (Sent Nov 16, 2006 11:52:24 AM)
I would feel so much better about my tax money going to New Orleans if I felt there was a serious ground-swell effort by the survivors (a picture of Nagin with rolled up sleeves, cutting up downed trees would be an excellent example). Trash bonfires throughout the city would be another excellent example.
What we hear and see are crime and victimization stories. These stories are not limited to just the NOLA area - they are from relocation areas too. I see what appears to be perfectly healthy people being evicted from hotel rooms. I ask myself why at least one family member is not working to support the rest. We hear of volunteers being robbed blind (to the detriment of their own business back home). I am still not sure how stolen heavy equipment is moved in and out of that city, without police knowledge.
Mostly I ask myself why Nagin has not stepped up and saved his town and his people. Then I remember he was instrumental in getting Bourbon Street reopened - certainly not to the benefit of any local citizen. I have a picture in my mind of Nagin, with his posse, sitting at a back table in a dimly lit bar on Bourbon Street, pretending it is still the good old days.
(Sent Nov 16, 2006 11:24:28 AM)
excellent!! We must never for get Katrina.
I thought the early nightly was a webcast? Have things changed? I haven't gon to the site for sometime, I enjoyed the short web blog.
Steven J. Oberman, MSW
P.S. I am disabled I need the webcasts!! Can you help!
(Sent Nov 16, 2006 10:38:38 AM)
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