Monday, August 29, 2005
Last day in St. Bernard Parish
I lived in a place called St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, a town just southeast of New Orleans. I say that I lived there, because I don't anymore. I don't live everywhere.
Friday we heard that a hurricane in the Gufl of Mexico might be coming our way. Not a big deal, I though.
Dad called from his work and suggested evacuating. Since Hurricane Ivan last year, he'd been fairly paranoid about hurricanes.
By Saturday morning, the hurricane's projected path showed New Orleans getting a direct hit. Dad doubled the efforts of his evacuation campaign.
By Saturday night, the decision hade been made: we had to leave. Hurricane Katrina was now a severe Cateory 4, and it was coming straight for the city. We needed to get out of the parish.
I filled a big plastic container with my clothes. I took my books off my shelves and stacked them high in my room so, just in case we did get water, they would be safe. I stacked everything atop my desk, bookshelf, and dresser, so it would all be safe. I looked at my pretty dress a lot that night. I was going to wear it to my senior prom this year. It was strapless, this beautiful shade of pastel pink. It was just hanging in my near-empty closet. I wanted to bring it so badly, but Mama said no. No room for dresses, only neccessities.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005, part 1
Fleeing Katrina
I grabbed the last of my things and turned off my light. Mom and I were in the car a minute later.
It took almost nine hours to get to the hotel in Bossier City. It didn't take any longer than it normally would, and we were lucky because there was very little traffic.
We spent the whole evening watching the news. Katrina's course had changed only slightly. The track led it to make landfall just east of New Orleans.
I looked at the projected path. The eye was going to pass over my parish. The storm was a Category 5 now, the highest possible.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005, part 2
First News From Home
We lost our home. The levees broke and water spilled into the streets.
Our home is gone. St. Bernard is completely under the water, and we have nothing now.
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Just Darkness And The Cry Of A Million Crickets
I want to go home. I miss so many things about my home. We don't even know how long it'll be before they'll let us back into the parish, to have what we can and realize all that we lost/
Friday, September 16, 2005
Guilt And Doubt
Now my family is in Ponchatoula, Louisiana.
We're living on a lot that used to belong to our friend'd grandmother. The three of us are living in the camper, and it is tight.
Here, I have some friends from my old school, and even though I was never really close with any of them, it's comforting looking around and seeing something familiar.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Going Home
I went home. But it wasn't home. Home isn't really there anymore.
Mud was caked everywhere on the ground. Things were brown and gray, not greem as they used to be. It was like I stepped into some other reality. This wasn't the St. Bernard I remember.
We turned into my neighborhood, and it was strange. Usually, I see green grass, green bushes, green shrubs, and trees. Now, the salt water had killed all of those thingsl. It was brown now, and old, dry brown.
Dad stopped the truck in the middle of the street, and we spilled out. When mom walk onto the porch and looked through the front room door, I knew she wasn't expecting what she saw. And the smell was horrible. Mold and rotten food and mud scents mixing together.
I walked to the hall. There was mold growing everywhere on the walls. It was as if we had put some demented circle pattern wallpaper for fun.
My bedroom door was open. Nothing was in its right place. My bed had flipped over. My bookshelf fallen over. Papers were on my floor.
I climbed over my bed to get to the closet where my dresses had been hanging. It was gasping for breath as I lifted a plastic bag and looked at my pink dress. It was fine, and I started yelling for my mom to come and see. My dress was fine! As me drove away, I though about walking around my house and seeing things that that I had once treasured.
I realized that it didn't really matter anymore, any of it. I lost papers and stories and clothes, but I'm fortunate that I didn't lose the people that matter to me.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
A Pink Dress At The Prom
Last night, my new school had its senior from. My best friends from my old school and L decided to go together as a group. So this prom was a reunion, which in some ways was so much better than any dance normal kids can have.
And I had the chance to wear my pretty, pastel pink dress. The one that survived the hurricane. We had it cleaned a few weeks before, and it came out great. The smell of mol was gone, and it looked immaculate and untouched.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
One Year Since Katrina
It's been a year now, one year since Hurricane Katrina destroyed people's lives, dreams, and homes.
I'm wiser than before. I have learned to adpat to whatever comes my way. And I've learned that if I work hard enough, I can make things better for the future.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author
Samantha Perez (1988- ) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a proud resident of St. Bernard Parish, just southeast of New Orleans, where she has returned to rebuild in the wake of Hurrinace Katrina. Her journalismfor ReadTheTatto.com brought attention to her hometown and won several awards, including the Schoolastic Press Forum's Professor Mel William Award for Writing Excellence and a resolution praising her from the Louisiana State Senate in 2006.
