Outer:
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My
favorite museum today was the Presbytere museum which is a museum for hurricane
Katerina. As soon as we walked in, we were met by glass bottles and glass hands
hanging from the ceiling. They had the most beautiful blue glow. The sun was
shining off the bottles and it looked so pretty your eyes were automatically
drawn up to them. When you looked closer, you notice there is a piece of paper
in each bottle. Then, the reality sets in. Each bottle represents a life lost
in hurricane Katerina and each blue hand represented a person standing on their
rooftop reaching up for help. As soon as I let this sink in, it sunk in just
how devastating this storm was.
Turning
the corner to enter the exhibit you hear the sound of bells. The lights are
down low, and there are multiple pages of stories to read about how to prepare
for the storm. As you turn the corner for the next section, you begin to hear
the storm. Wind begins to whip, news casts are on the T.V talking about the
approaching storm, everything is dark because the lights are off. The only
thing giving off light is the glow of the T.V. This makes you feel like you are
in the storm. You hear nothing but wind whipping around, trees being uprooted,
and houses being ripped from their foundation. It was scary to be in there in
that moment, I can’t imagine what it would have felt like sitting in the actual
storm.
The
attic room was the next section. There is wood everywhere, making you feel like
you were actually in an attic. There was a phone that you could pick up and
hear a women talking. She described her experience with the storm. She was
trapped in there with her mom. Once the levee broke, the water came rushing
into her home. It was up to her neck within 45 minutes. She helped her elderly
mother get to the attic and then she grabbed food because she didn’t know how
long they would be in there. She was only able to grab 5 pieces of bread and 1
bottle of water for 2 people. I can’t even imagine what these two people went
through. I spend one day in my house and get stir crazy and have to leave.
Next,
we went through the rescue room. As soon as I walked in I heard the voice of a
first responder talking about her experience. There were rescue baskets hanging
from the ceiling, spotlights working their way around the room like they were
still looking for people to rescue, and ladders used to hold pictures. I couldn’t
help but begin to feel a little anxious because I wanted to rescue someone. I
felt helpless. This is probably how a lot of people felt at this time.
All
in all, I thought this museum was an awesome experience. If nothing else, you
should take away how much of an impact this storm had on New Orleans.
Inner:
What
I took away from this experience today was how resilient the people of New Orleans
are. It was really cool to actually see pictures and hear the voices of the victims
of this storm. After walking through, it really sunk in how much this storm
impacted the streets that I have been walking on for the past week. These are a
few quotes I either read or heard today:
“After
the storm and devastation, everyone just came back and went to work”
“There
is something in the air that fills the soul”
“This
city allows people to be in touch with their insanity and they are ok with it”
“We’re
here, and we’re not going anywhere”
I
was in high school when Katrina hit. The only thing I remember about the storm
is we bought white bracelets for $1 at school to raise money for a relief fund.
Even being here and talking to a few different people about the storm did not
make anything sink in like this museum did. I knew from walking through the
streets that the people here are nice, but now I realize how strong they are.
The storm came and went, and they didn’t complain, they just started rebuilding
their city. This shows courage and character. A lot of people would complain
and feel defeated, but here. I hope I can take a piece of this strong will home
with me. Nursing school has definitely been a challenging part of my life. I am
now able to look back on this trip and remember these people. If a hurricane
can come through and take away everything they own, I can make it through
whatever challenge I am facing at school.
Another
thing I took away from this experience was the urge to help people. In some of
the exhibits, they spoke about how much help they received form strangers from
all across the country. I was sad that so many people lost their lives. I left
asking myself, if there were more people here to rescue and help, would more
people have survived. Countless stories of neighbors helping neighbors was
inspiring to humanity. People in my neighborhood get mad if the garbage cans
get left on the street for longer than a day. I wish everyone could come to
this city and learn a little bit about humanity and take a piece home with
them. The world would be much better off if they did.
Also, the last
section of the exhibit shed light on the fact that although this was a natural
storm, the devastation and destruction that happened was all due to poor
engineering and design of the city and levee placement. I felt that this is
like a secrete the news media is keeping from the general public. They don’t want
people to know that this whole situation could have been avoided. If I feel
angry about this, I can’t imagine how the family of the victims feel.
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