NOLA:Slow and Tedious

February 27, 2014

            My work continues on the document organization for the NOLA project. I have already confused myself 4 different times and did extra work because I forgot to mark down two organizations that I had already reviewed. What I believed might just be busy work and would be a breeze to get through has turned into a challenging task. While I’m about half way through the organizations listed (yes only half!) it has become clear that this project will take me longer than I anticipated because within every organization listed there are sub-sections and then more sub-sections. Do not get me wrong I am enjoying this work because as I go through the documentation I pause to listen to some of the interviews and attempt to understand what these people have been suffering through for years.

            I am working on an oral history of some of the survivors of Katrina and this is still history even though it happened less than a decade ago. Therefore, I have to try and see what happened through the eyes of others in order to let others know what happened 8 years ago as well as what is still happening today. As with any history you have to pull yourself out of your comfort zone and some of the judgmental beliefs you may have harbored. This is my journey into my attempt to be a historian and trying to understand the situation as it has been presented. This is not the news media sensationalizing a tragic event or pointing fingers and playing the blame game. These are real people who are enlightening me with every document and recording I see and hear.   

NOLA: Reviewing and Learning

February 23, 2014

I finally finished reviewing the nineteen different organizations that Dr. Manning is attempting to get in order. Some of these organizations are Bayou Rebirth, Black Men United, Gulf Restoration Network, Habitat for Humanity, Hands On, One Brick, Project Homecoming and Safe Streets: Strong Communities just to name a few. My job began here; I needed to go through each organization and check to see if all the paperwork was attached to all the interviews. When I say paperwork I mean in particular the Deed of Gift which grants Dr. Manning as well as Loyola University Chicago permission to use the information obtained from the interviewee.  

This is very time consuming but it is not all just paper checking. I am expected to organize all this information in some form of coherent and easy to follow guide which is also easily accessed. As I previously stated I have reviewed the different organizations but have not yet gone into depth into checking for the required documents. However, I have listened to a few interviews which is probably why I originally got sidetracked on the whole document thing. I have listened to just a handful of the interviews and regardless of what I stated in my last blog about having experience listening and dealing with trauma this is different. These people feel abandoned and left to figure things out for themselves. I would have to say that my experience with the tragedies and disappointments of the people I have helped are very different than what the people of New Orleans had to deal with. It is definitely an apples and oranges comparison; lesson learned on my part; never assume that you have seen or heard it all because someone’s story in New Orleans after Katrina has definitely trumped anything I have experienced thus far.        

NOLA:Concerns

Hello again,                                                                                                                   Feb. 20, 2014

I know it has been a long time since I posted a blog but that was due to some very hectic schedules for Dr. Manning and me. Once I met with Dr. Manning he laid out his expectations for the NOLA project I will be working on. The project consists of interviews with Hurricane Katrina survivors as well as people helping those survivors. Dr. Manning advised me that some of the interviews I would be transcribing would be graphic and he expressed his concerns about my possible reaction to what I heard or read.

I spoke frankly with Dr. Manning and relayed to him that I was sturdier than I looked. I have worked in law enforcement in one capacity or another for over twenty years and felt that I was fairly well equipped for my assignment. I would have to say that I am pretty well versed when it comes to tragedy, despair, malicious acts and the deprivation of humanity. This is a depressing statement yet it echoes what so many people experienced in New Orleans in the days leading to the landfall of Katrina as well as its immediate aftermath. It is fair to say that even eight years after the catastrophic event the people of New Orleans are still attempting to recover emotionally as well as financially. In all fairness not everything happens in the French Quarter and it appears the people in the rural areas surrounding New Orleans’ famed French Quarter are still suffering the effects of local as well as federal agencies that have done little to help in their recovery.