Beyond Katrina

Three Years After Hurricane Katrina, Homelessness Looms

"That's President Bush hugging me. See how tightly he's hugging me?" It was the chilly end of 2006 in Baker, Louisiana, when Lena Beard asked me this, proudly waving a newspaper clipping my direction as we talked in her still-temporary home. The fading photo, taken the same day the mother of two took refuge on a mattress in a church after Hurricane Katrina, had served as proof after the levees burst that she was going to be okay. "I'm a veteran who has served my country and put my life on the line. I believed my country would take care of me and my family," she said. Continue at Mother Jones>>>

Jewish New Orleans undergoing dramatic transformation

Three years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the face of Jewish New Orleans is undergoing a dramatic transformation. The traditional Southern community that was nearly destroyed by the hurricane on Aug. 29, 2005 has been energized by an influx of young newcomers and has a new pioneering spirit, community leaders say. Continue>>>

Interfaith Prayer Walk and Reflection @ Labyrinth for 3rd Anniversary of Katrina: Th 8/28/08 7 P - 8 P

Photo courtesy Michele Fry

 

On the Eve of and In Commemoration of the 3rd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Thursday, August 28, 2008, 7 PM - 8 PM

To be held at the LABYRINTH located behind the Baton Rouge Gallery at City Park

Coordinated by Prayer Care
Facilitated by the Baton Rouge Labyrinth Project (BRLP)

For more info: 225-715-3870, khorcasitas@yahoo.com

The general public is invited to this simple gathering in remembrance of all affected by Hurricane Katrina, and we will give thanks to God for all Blessings and ask for continued protection from storms.  Participants will quietly pray and reflect as they walk on the beautiful Baton Rouge Labyrinth, which provides a common ground for all walks of faith.  We want as many people who can benefit from this to be aware and possibly come to this.  The Labyrinth can even accommodate individuals using wheelchairs.  If desired, participants may make donations at the event for hurricane victims affected this season - this will  given to the Baton Rouge Chapter of the American Red Cross (ARC); special thanks to Victor Howell, CEO, ARC, for his assistance with this endeavor.  And special thanks to Maida Owens, Margaret Saizan, and Daria Woodside, BRLP Founders.  - Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, MHA, Prayer Care

Coping and Caregiving with Displacement

As we are approaching the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, a vast assortment of emotions, thoughts and soul-wrenching feelings are being experienced by most of us. All of us have been
touched in one way or another by that devastating storm.

On a personal basis, both of my parents, who were displaced from New Orleans on the Saturday before Katrina and never made it back there, died in 2006; Mom on June 1 and Dad on October 20. As a professional social worker with an emphasis in gerontology (study of aging), I certainly was blessed to truly learn the reality of caregiving for loved ones during that time - something I'd long preached to my own patients and clients.

And I was able to experience, in a direct and dramatic way, coping with caregiving per my involvement with my parents' home care, hospice and nursing home placement for my dad, funeral arrangements
for them and after care. Thanks especially to the extended care and support of family, friends and especially the hospice staff, we have  had someone to be there for us.

Howard, one of my best friends who is back in New Orleans now and was with Saul - his widowed father - is also a professional social worker who has been a great support to us. He's had a unique caregiving
diplacement experience with actually 4 storms.

After Katrina, when Howard and Saul's Metairie home was damaged, they were displaced for a while to Iowa, Louisiana - near Lake Charles. Not long after that in late September, they were displaced by Rita to Miami, Florida. Well, lo and behold, they were displaced again not much later in late October by Wilma to Pensacola for awhile, where his other family had been displaced the year before by Ivan!
Unfortunately, Mr. Saul died recently. As a humble Conservative Jewish Congregational member, Howard has simply noted Job's famous quote: "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; Blessed be the
Name of the Lord!" (Job 1: 20 - 21).

Following my father's death, I was able to work with people who have been displaced by Katrina and who are trying to make it back to New Orleans. Everyone's story is significant and needs to be told and
heard. Sometimes, the main thing that FEMA nor any recovery agency can provide that we all need is for someone to listen to us and for us to know that someone cares. While we try to do our best per the
limited, bureaucratic means that our programs may offer, may we always strive to "Reach out and touch somebody's hand, make this world a better place If you can," as Diana Ross has noted.

We're all wounded and displaced in one way or another and need each other and God to help cope and find hope. For people of all walks of faith, please join me and others in an quiet interfaith prayer walk
and reflection on Thursday, August 28, 7 PM - 8 PM, on the eve of and in commemoration of the 3rd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, at the City Park Labyrinth, located next to the Baton Rouge Gallery.

Thanks
and God bless.

Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, MHA, khorcasitas@yahoo.com, August
15, 2008.

If it Wasn't for the Churches, We'd Have Been Forgotten

Interesting perspectives from a blogger who just returned from  Biloxi, Mississippi to help Habitat for Humanity rebuild houses there. See the post here.

Insurance: The Hidden Story of Post-Katrina

By Paul Greenberg

It should come as no surprise that the two states with the highest incidence of mortgage delinquency are Mississippi and Louisiana. In the former, according to a new report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, 10.6 percent of all mortgage loans were in delinquency in the fourth quarter of 2006. That compares to 9.1 per cent in Louisiana.The story of post-Katrina S.E. United States is one of fiscal disarray. Displacement and unemployment are, of course, the most obvious reasons for these unprecedented figures of loan delinquency. But just as critical right now is the current state of the insurance industry.

Tracy Rouyer could be considered a post-Katrina ground zero person in this post hurricane catch-22. Rouyer owned a home in Harrison County, MS before the storm. These days, you can take the same drive to get to Rouyer’s home, but instead of the beautiful brick structure that had new crown molding installed in 2005, along with recently added tile flooring, patio cover, brick paved walkways, etc., today you’ll end your trip at a FEMA trailer.

Rouyer, who still fights tears as she remembers the results of nine feet of water filling her home, is part of the 2005 hurricane phenomenon that left average Americans with nothing. “I lost everything,” she says. “Clothes, shoes, pictures, art, furniture. It isn’t just the material things, though. I no longer have the bulk of my friends. I can’t just pickup the phone and run over to show a new outfit or go eat. My doctor is gone, and the ladies that did my hair and nails are gone. My stores, gone. All my records, gone. My bank, gone. And I lost my job.”

Could it get any worse? Well, yes. Rouyer would like to rebuild her home, and she probably could swing it financially. But she cannot do so, simply because if she did, she would be unable to afford the insurance on her house. “In Mississippi, that would cost me about $500 per month,” she says. “So add that to the monthly loan repayment and the cost of living and it makes me unable to pursue this option.”

And, it gets even worse. Rouyer cannot qualify for money from Mississippi grants because this was not her primary residence before the storm. “The Road Home money takes 40 percent off the top, if relocating, and any insurance money received. It saddens me, because I always worked, paid taxes, paid insurance and can’t seem to get help because I was responsible.”

Rouyer’s dilemma is one of the many untold stories of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. This time, the essential story has everything to do with insurance. How many of us could pay $500/month for insurance? In case you did not know this, insurance companies are not subject to the same anti-trust laws as other American businesses. Anti-trust laws were enacted to make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both, or generally to violate standards of ethical behavior. American anti-trust laws date back to the end of the 19th century.

Now, Mississippi Republican Senator Trent Lott (who also lost his home in the storm), has introduced new legislation that would bring the insurance industry under the umbrella of the anti-trust law, and prevent insurers from unfair business practices, such as price-fixing. Lott’s bill, The Insurance Industry Competition Act of 2007, comes in response to insurers questionable business practices after Hurricane Katrina. Lott’s personal stake in this issue drives him onward. Identical legislation, H.R. 920, will be introduced in the House of Representatives by Mississippi Democratic Representative Gene Taylor. Under this bill, citizens would have access to “multiple perils” coverage for wind and water damage. To accomplish this, the bill would amend the 1968 National Floor Insurance Act.

Predictably, the insurance industry has come out swinging against this proposed legislation. It would appear the insurance industry has been flying under the public radar for a long, long time. Most of us who are private citizens probably never knew insurers were not subject to the same governmental scrutiny as other industries. But now, after Katrina has left so many of us in dire straits, comes the news that the insurance companies are in the proverbial driver’s seat, and if they really want to, they could collectively and extremely raise rates permanently. They also have the power to decide who gets insurance and who does not. Witness State Farm’s announcement that it would no longer write new policies in storm-ravaged Mississippi.

To compound the problem, now insurance companies are claiming that environmental factors, some of which they attribute to global warming, make insuring certain areas too high risk. So, some providers are joining State Farm and completely pulling out of some high risk areas. Allstate has quietly and slowly stopped writing policies in Louisiana and Florida, as well a coastal Florida and Texas. As always, you can use your voice, by communicating directly with your senators and representatives. Do it now, while the topic is hot in the Senate and about to heat up in the House. Email your senators and representatives now, since the House is still holding hearings about whether insurance companies properly paid claims after Katrina.

Meanwhile, Tracy Rouyer sleeps in her cramped FEMA trailer and works out of a shed. In that shed she contacts anyone who will listen and help her spread the word about the insurance debacle. Oprah, Ellen, CNN – even me. The plea is substantial enough, in my estimation for you and I to take ten minutes to contact elected officials who can affect change.

Will change happen? Is anybody still hearing us 19 months after the hurricanes? Will Tracy Rouyer ever have a decent roof over her head? Our plight has reached saga status, and sagas sometimes take a long time to reach their conclusion. Stay tuned, and stay involved.

The Work Teleconference Wrap-Up

I had a great experience co-hosting  The Work of Byron Katie: A  Way out of Suffering for Those Impacted by Hurricanes with Maggie Carter. We  had some new people join us on the teleclass this week, along with some of the folks who attended the first night.  Among those who identified themselves there was a young,  lifelong,  native New Orleanian (who is now trying to build a new life for herself in Washington state), a woman who is living in NOLA on the wet side of the 17th street canal, and some folks who work in relief and the healing arts in Baton Rouge.

There were others on the call who chose to just listen in.  And this is really okay. The Work is a new concept for many and Maggie and I  knew some people might want to observe initially rather than participate. Our goal at the outset was just to introduce The Work and provide opportunities for those who wanted to  experience it to do so.  So for those of you who couldn't be there, here is a recap of last night's teleconference:

The first participant chose to take her thought "I have no money" through the process of inquiry. She was very frightened about her financial situation and so very emotional when starting the process of inquiry, but by  the end of it she seemed  much lighter. It was very moving to be able to experience her shift from fear around having no money to being able to see the new possibilities that already existed for her. And interestingly  when it was time to give feedback one of the Baton Rouge  participants  shared that she has an "issue"  that she wants to help and nobody has ever asked her to help them. So this woman offered  to help  this gal  who  initially expressed having no money and no support. This was The Work in action for me -  It's the idea that self reflection is a powerful way to open up  new possibilities for ourselves. I might also add this young lady was very courageous in being willing to step forward and do this process in front of  a group of people she didn't really know. It is amazing what we're often willing to do to move out of suffering. 

The second participant focused on a relationship issue. Her significant other has moved away from NOLA because his job opportunities post-Katrina are out of town. She was struggling with repetitive mind chatter about wanting to be reunited with him and since it's just not possible right now it was causing her stress and suffering. Instead of "I need my significant other to come home to me" the turn around was "I need to come home to myself" - and then "I am coming home to myself". 

After the teleclass I received an email from a Baton Rouge woman who wrote:

I LOVE that you are doing these teleconferences.

 

I wanted to listen in on the call because I was involved with relief work in Baton Rouge the first week after Katrina.  I have to say though that as I listened, I realized I have a good bit of Work to do myself as a result of my experiences.  Even though I wasn't a "survivor", I still was dramatically impacted by Katrina.  I actually have not done any relief work since Katrina.  I think I know why now.  These are some of thoughts that I identified from listening in on the call:

We weren't able to help.

No one knew what to do.

No one knew what was going on.

We were helpless.

It was ovewhelming.

We had to send them away.

The right hand doesn't know what the left hand was doing.

They shouldn't move them again.

No one is in charge.

There's no way out.

I can't get away from it.

I have nothing to offer.

There's no one else to help.

I shouldn't leave.

I have to find their family.

They're making it worse.

They have no one.

It will never end.

I have to get out of here.

I can't do any more.

I have to do something.

So even though I'm not technically a "survivor" of Katrina, I was dramatically impacted by the aftermath and realize that I have a good bit of Work to do on these beliefs. 

 

All that to say, perhaps a teleconference call for relief works might be a good idea. 

 

Thanks for what you are doing.

Oh boy. As a citizen of Baton Rouge, a host city for the many New Orleanians that took refuge here during the flood, I can relate to every one of the thoughts this gal had on her list. I don't think many from outside this  community understand how traumatizing the Katrina disaster  was in the moment for those who supported  -i.e. first responders, volunteers, relief workers, etc.  I assured this woman that the teleclasses are open to anyone who has been impacted by the hurricanes in any capacity.  And I invite anyone else who wants to share their own laundry list to send it to me at msaizan at hotmail dot com.

Since the telelcasses have been well received and the experiences so positive,  Maggie Carter and I are discussing options for moving forward with another free The Work event. More details are forthcoming so stay tuned! And if you want personal notice of future events sign up for our Transitions ezine - at the left sidebar of the blog, or via this link.

For more information about The Work:

www.thework.com - The official  website for The Work of Byron Katie
www.byronkatie.com - Byron Katie's blog
www.maggiecarter.com - Facilitator Maggie Carter's website.

Margaret Saizan

Katrina deaths an enigma

By: Matthew White

St. Nicholas of Myra Church, Chef Menteur Pass
(Copyright, Matthew White)

After Hurricane Katrina, countless images appeared on television and on the internet, showing the damage, the flood, the Superdome, the Convention Center, and the suffering humanity. Of these, none were as shocking as the images of the people who died as a result of the storm -- corpses, a strange majority of them mysteriously floating upside-down, spread-eagled; the bodies left on Interstate-10 on ramps; elderly citizens left to die in their wheelchairs. People will admit to looking at these pictures and being shocked and/or disgusted by them. Some have wondered if it was disrespectful to publish them. But there appears to be a high demand for them.

A Google search for Katrina bodies will turn up dozens of quick images, and even an eight-minute movie which shows a montage of floating corpses, edited together utilizing dramatic dissolves, while a somber tune plays on the soundtrack. There clearly is a popular-yet-closeted fascination with people who died during Katrina.

Looking at the available photos myself, and the reasons for this fascination become clear; dead bodies floated or came to rest in places that I saw nearly every day. The Franklin St. on ramp to I-10, which I used daily returning home, held quite a few covered bodies in the days after the storm. There is a rather popular image of a body floating on Claiborne with the Circle Food store in the background. It's impossible for me to drive past Circle Food without thinking of that body.

Digging deeper, my fascination tends to become more personally involved with the corpses. I wonder exactly how they died. Did they drown in their living room and float out through a window, or did they slip off their roof, injure themselves and drown? Or were they wandering around in the storm, only to be hit by flying debris? Why did they stay? Were they trying to be tough, or did they have no way out of town? Did they have family? Did their family see the picture of the body?

There are no answers to all of those questions, but even knowing this doesn't stop me from trying to fill in the blanks, perhaps in an effort to give some explanation to the deaths or force them to somehow make sense. It never works. Things are made worse when I wonder if the dead person in the picture slipped away quietly or if there was a terrible struggle. In every case, no one will ever really know.

There is simply no way to reconstruct the last hours of everyone who died in the storm, but just examining the available pieces of one person's death can be a shattering experience.

In the island community of Lake Catherine, in easternmost Orleans Parish, Pastor Arthur Ginart, better known as "Father Red," made a choice to ride out Katrina in his church, St. Nicholas of Myra, which sits by US-90 just beyond Chef Menteur Pass. Father Red loved people, and his parishioners loved him. He was known for saying a 20-minute mini-Mass that was over quick enough so he could spend more time talking to people afterward. When he finished his Mass on August 28th, 2005, they begged him to leave, as Katrina was less than 24-hours away, and the mandatory evacuation had already been ordered that morning. He laughed and shrugged off all requests; he'd stayed for every storm for the past forty years, he loved Lake Catherine, and he was staying put.

The Fort Pike Fire Chief was apparently the last to see Father Red alive, when he went door to door on the island at about 10 PM that night, as the winds really began to pick up, to give any stragglers a final warning to leave Lake Catherine immediately. In what was to be his last chance, Ginart refused to leave. "God will be my shepherd," were allegedly his last words to the Fire Chief. Then he was left alone in his church.

A relative spoke to him around 4 AM, and Ginart said that water was starting to come up the church steps, and that animals were trying to stay above the water by climbing the steps. Ginart lied to his nephew, saying he was riding it out with a group of friends, and that everything was fine. But he was alone, and no one would ever see or speak to him again.

Ginart's body was never found. Probably around 9 or 10 on the morning of August 29th, the worst of Katrina hit Lake Catherine. The winds gusted at around 150 mph, and water rose high enough and packed enough force to break down the church's brick walls, eventually filling the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling with water. The force of the water was strong enough to rip the church toilet off of the floor. The church was completely gutted, with only the metal frame remaining with the roof strangely intact. Ginart probably drowned inside and was eventually washed out to sea with the retreating storm surge.

It's here at the final moment where I get stuck -- Ginart, a man of the cloth, loved by family, friends, and parishioners, dying alone in the storm. I wonder what he felt when he knew he was going to die. Did he go stoically, resigned to his fate and God's plan? Or did he suddenly panic and feel abandoned, losing his faith in those last moments? Those who knew him best would probably swear that he would have known that his time had come, and that he faced it bravely. But then I think, Father Red did not plan to die, and must have not felt there was much risk regarding the power of the storm. I'd bet he never would have guessed that Lake Catherine was going to end up taking Katrina's western eye wall.

I don't doubt that Arthur Ginart was a man of immense faith, and that he truly believed God would save him from the storm. But here, finally, I wonder if it was God who sent Father Red the Fire Chief at 10 PM on the night of August 28th.

For other essays by Matthew White go here.

Katrina documentary focuses on animals

Director Screens Film at LSU

Now here's some news that I find interesting because it focuses on topics I am passionate about ---Katrina, grassroots media, a good story, and (as the Native Americans call them), "the four leggeds".  Folks may not realize that Katrina created  the nation's largest pet evacuation  with over  50,000 animals abandoned. The pet saga was one of the most horrific aspects of the katrina disaster for me personally--- It definitely contributed to my own feelings of shock, helplessness, and consternation as I witnessed its unfolding in those dark, chaotic days when NOLA was submerged.

At any rate long tail** filmmaker and photo-journalist  Mike Shiley  was at LSU  yesterday   to screen his film "Dark Water Rising: Survival Stories of Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescues," a documentary about animal rescues during those early harrowing days after the storm. The story behind the story is quite interesting and it definitely validates the rise of personal, independent media - a movement I am also deeply passionate about. 

Armed with a homemade press pass Shiley left his home in Portland Oregon three weeks post-Katrina and headed to NOLA in search of a good story--and he found it. Five years earlier  Shiley left cubicle nation (Corporate America)  to pursue his passion: "voluntarily placing his life in danger in order to tell the story". Now this to me describes a true visionary and a person after my own heart.  Not only because folks like me  and Shiley seem to be configured in some strange way to gravitate toward disaster, but because  in my view the epitome of a well lived life is to pursue one's vision with passion and conviction ---where there is no vision the people perish.

BTW,  Shiley has traveled to 38 countries, creating documentaries for the past five years.The Daily Reveille reports here.   I would like to add, however,  that I  do not agree with Shiley's assertion  that the   "the mainstream media has failed us." In my humble opinion mainstream  media stepped up to the plate bigger than ever before during Katrina ---Reporters showed their humanity in the face of the crisis  and I found it very comforting.  A "we're-all-in-this-thing-together mood" seemed to prevail in journalism at least for this time and it helped get me through. And I feel that the most  intriguing aspect of our times  is precisely the convergence of  mainstream media and grass roots, independent media---what might be birthed out of this intersection is something that I feel will transcend but include them both.  Differences in opinions aside, Shiley's story is quite amazing.

**Often presented as a phenomenon of interest primarily to mass market retailers and web-based businesses, the Long Tail also has implications for the producers of content, especially those whose products could not - for economic reasons - find a place in pre-Internet information distribution channels controlled by book publishers, record companies, movie studios, and television networks. Looked at from the producers' side, the Long Tail has made possible a flowering of creativity across all fields of human endeavour. (Source Wikipedia)

A.D. New Orleans: After the Deluge

When the levees broke, nothing was the same for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is about surviving Hurricane Katrina — and what happened next in the lives of a cross-section of Crescent City residents. Told in webcomic form, Josh Neufeld’s A.D. is presented by SMITH magazine.

Adopt this St. Bernard Parish Family

Post Santa, http://www.postsanta.com is looking for compassionate folks to adopt hurricane impacted families for Christmas. Adopt Cathy's family and other families  at http://www.postsanta.com