When hurricaine Katrina came three years ago I was packing for a trip to Venice. The storm hit and it seemed all was going to be okay...but then the levees broke and the city was flooded.
The morning the levees broke I was at DFW airport. The baggage guy commented to me that if I wanted to go to a city surrounded by water I could save money and go to New Orleans instead.
Flash forward and here I am packing to return to Venice. I leave on Tuesday, eerily enough.
I was still an intern when I did therapeutic art outreach with kids who evacuated and found themselves homeless in our city.
They drew houses, hurricaine water, animals caught in the winds. They told stories of sitting in buses on highways waiting t find a place to stay. They were turned away fro
m cities who had no more room. Finally they found themselves in Dallas. Bitter, angry and afraid they waited.
Oh please don't let this happen again.
The following year I went to New Orleans for the AATA conference. I presented on a panel sharing my experience with the aftermath of the storm. The city was still very much in a shambles. Mold in the air activated my allergies. I met wonderful survivors who shared stories of evacuation and returned because of their love of the city. The artists were returning slowly. With out the artists New Orleans would lose it's heartbeat.
The atmosphere was melancholic and heavy. Our hotel was next door to the FEMA headquarters and a block from the Superdome. A statue of George Washington in his Masonic regalia greeted me each day as I began my walk to the conference site. I knew that everything was going to be different now. New Orleans property was being purchased by Donald Trump, Nicholas Cage and others.
Now here we are on the verge of another tragedy. I hope no one tries to ride this one out...go now to safety!
