Apron, Saw, Hammers, More

Is it true (I was told this and for some reason I refuse to believe it) that "everyone in New Orleans was in denial" regarding the potential damage that could be brought about by Katrina? Moreover, is it true that this denial was such that "people were throwing ˜hurricane parties"?

Well I don't think it's ever good to make absolute statements (ie: "everyone" did this or that). And I would say that in this case no, it is not even remotely true that everyone in New Orleans was in denial about the potential damage of a storm like Katrina. It's hard for me to not get defensive about this kind of over-simplification; it feels insulting - I experience it as more stereotyping that people outside of the city rely on in order for them to stay in denial about everyone's culpability and inherent continued responsibility for what happened.

People outside of the Gulf forget that we have been dealing with hurricanes & tropical storms forever and we have a certain non-hysterical view of them, when it comes right down to the thing bearing down. (Unlike, say, Houston - which totally freaked out w/the mere thought of Rita hitting, the freeways became horrendous apocalyptic tableaus with folks dying and everythin' ... crazy).

Remember this fact: 80% of New Orleans successfully evacuated for Katrina. That's massive and impressive. And though of course the wreckage from the levee breaks was enormous, a lot of people, animals, valuables, art, businesses were saved because preparations were made and we took care of our business. We were not "in denial" - we were practical. There's a kindof tough, no-bullshit, let's just take this one day at a time attitude that we have to maintain here - we're not about to get stressed out if the hurricane is going to, say, click over to Pensacola, or just die in the Gulf. You watch, you get ready, you go to work, you talk about it, you time things so you're not giving yourself tons of extra work before you even know where the damn thing's headed.

There's lots of elbow grease hard work that goes into evacuating - it's like exercising, not glamorous, not fun, just hard. You're having to value judge your entire life (what's irreplacable? what goes in the car with you? what gets raised up? what goes into plastic bins? what gets let go of? at what point do you stop trying to capture the stray cats you've been feeding for a year? at what point do you actually leave the city?) - this is a process that non-locals have no comprehension of. It might seem like "denial" but it's really just pragmatism.

Beyond that, I think many of us were in denial about the level to which the local, state, and federal government were doing the jobs we hired them to do. We were living in a sort of dream, assuming that shit was getting taken care of, that people elected to take care of "us" would and were going to be good leaders when needed. We were naive, despite all proof to the contrary, we had faith. That's never going to happen again.

Now hurricane parties are an interesting phenomena and also really difficult for a non-local to comprehend. Sometimes it's about denial, about addiction, about people being idiots, endangering themselves and others by refusing to take the danger seriously. Whatever, that's everywhere - it's a democratic society, right? Got the good & the bad. But mostly hurricane parties are about squeezing the joy out of every last possible second that you can. They're generally a phenomena surrounding tropical storms & Cat 1 or 2 hurricanes - which are surely a mess and can wreak havoc but aren't worth having a nervous breakdown over. They're the equivalent of a big blizzard & have a tendency to change the vibe of a place to the extent that it sortof feels like a holiday. You know how a giant snow makes the landscape surreal & magical? It's the same for rain.

We cook a ton of food before the electricity goes out. We stock up on candles and water and batteries. We invite our friends over to share in the strange holiday like feeling. We eat and drink and batten down the hatches and even go to sleep, play games, talk. The day after the storm you get out & see what you can & pitch in where you can & generally enjoy a few messy days of not having to "be normal". Also another component of these "parties" is survival - lots of times folks will band together with all the food & drink they have, ice chests and flashlights, to be safe, to help eachother. People on the outside don't really understand this tradition because they don't live here. Doesn't mean it's self-destructive or more of the clichéd "Big Easy" razzmatazz Bourbon Street le bon temps roulet, cher, nonsense that it seems most of the country wants to reduce New Orleans to.

Beyond this, every single person I know took Katrina seriously whether or not they left town. It seems to me, again, that it's the government that failed to take it seriously. The people, well, we're an/other story.

By August 26, the possibility of unprecedented cataclysm was being considered because computer models had shifted the potential path of Katrina, putting New Orleans right in the center of their track probabilities. Furthermore, emergency management officials feared that the storm surge could go over the tops of levees protecting the city, causing major flooding. So, if people in the government knew this, is it too farfetched to establish that some people who had access to this information did leave New Orleans before August 29th?

Again: 80% of the city evacuated. That's HUGE. Most everyone who could leave did leave. We took that shit seriously. Too bad the government didn't.

It's important to remember that Katrina did not directly hit New Orleans, that the aftermath was the result of a federal failure on the government's part, failing us & our city, NOT "natural disaster". We did our part, they did not do theirs. The people caught in the crossfire (of whom I was one, having lost EVERYTHING as a result of levee failure) should not be judged for having trusted the system that failed them.

Lastly, I find myself resisting the notion that everything went on as usual in New Orleans until the levees broke on Sunday the 29th and that prior to that there were no concerns whatsoever because "New Orleans is so used to tropical storms and hurricanes."?

The levees broke on Tuesday the 29th.

If people weren't here they have no idea how much activity was going on to prepare for the storm. It's what we do. We do it because we're used to it - it's a compromise we make, it's a choice we make in exchange for living so fully, in the most amazing city in this country. It's a sacrifice. And it's hard work. People have no idea.

I spent all day Saturday evacuating my boss' negatives (Herman Leonard, the famous jazz photographer), archiving everything, hauling e'thing I could from the basement to the top floors, helping him pack, cleaning out the fridge, taping up windows etc etc. Then to my house to do the same. And to help my neighbors, call the landlord, get the car road ready, get the pets road ready, emotionally decide what to take & what to leave, figure out where to go, make sure all my friends are heading out, watching the news, etc. People have no idea.

It's a huge undertaking & we here in New Orleans are seasoned pros. Just because we didn't get all hysterical doesn't mean nothing was different about that week. You should be here for an evacuation - you'll get it instantly. The mood is so intense, so keen. You deal with folks who won't or can't leave and it's very emotional. But NOTHING is "normal". That's even kindof why we live here - it's an extraordinary mood & lifestyle.

Also it's very very important to remember that most of the people who didn't or couldn't leave did so because they couldn't evacuate with their pets. Generally these were lower-income people without the luxury of cars and credit cards who were told to go to the Superdome but that they couldn't bring their animals. They would not. This is not to be underplayed. Pets are family & imagine having to leave your most beloved animal alone to face god knows what. We like to think we can take care of our dependents. Many people died because they refused to consider for one minute that their pet was not an equal part of their family. This is intense & horrible because again, the government failed the people in this regard. There were evacuation plans w/PETA on the books w/the city for this very reason - and would have enabled a humane (for both pets & pet owners) system for coping with this. But the city's officials completely ignored the plan. It's horrific but it's true.

My style of answering your questions might seem a bit intense but I am very very serious about correcting misconceptions about my city and my life. I know you respect that, hence your asking in the first place, and I hope you know that you can ask me anything - anytime. What I would say is that the whole thing was very complicated - there are hundreds of thousands of valid perspectives, there are nuances I'm incapable of conveying, there are narratives I don't have the authority to relate. I think that to try to tell the story of what happened (and is still happening) requires real fluidity, gray areas allowed to remain gray, wet messiness examined for being that exactly, without judgement, without assumptions.

I regularly deal with people making all kinds of declarative statements about the trauma of Katrina, about the survivor's experience, about what people did or didn't do, about what people are or aren't doing, about how this "trauma" isn't a "trauma", about how one should be "better" or how one's way of being changed by the experience is somehow easy or even enviable, about how we should be healing or dealing or how we're not healing or dealing or what this story should mean - mostly from people who don't live here. My response to that: it's human to want to nail things down, find a center, feel like we can reconcile what happened in New Orleans (and is still happening) with a picture (or faith or idea) of what the world should be like. But I'm here to say it can't be done - and if you try to do it, well, you're going to piss a lot of people off. One thinks that by defining the experience one contains it or transcends it or even knows exactly what it's like - but I'm here to tell you: even if your definition of "it" is immense it is even more than that. So I appreciate it when someone from the outside asks with respect and listens without being defensive; I appreciate your willingness to put yourself objectively out there in order to hear what this story is like for those of us who are living it.

Comments

[ManInVan]

Never know what I'm going to find here but it is always good - especially your writing on New Orleans.

[JEM]

I can't believe someone out there is crass enough to say that people in New Orleans had 'no concerns whatsoever' about Katrina, much less to imply that all of you were so happy go lucky about the whole thing that you would dare to have a "party". But you did party, didn't you? Because that's just how you roll.

[Indy 500]

Per our agreement, you've got it

[drr]

very good!

[Marco]

You got it going on too.
Keep telling the story, it's never ending.
Like you said about nailing down and defining the experience, impossible. The failure, the failure. That's what was so despicable. Grace to your soul.

[Detroit Shite]

You rock the house.

[Marco]

I didn't know you worked for Herman Leonard. How did the negatives come through the flood?

[EAU]

Yep - was his office/archive manager for 4 years. Anyhow the negs: I got them all to an impenetrable safe downtown, so they are fine.
He's got a new book out on Scala - do you know? It's great!

[Marco]

That's cool about the negs. I just checked out his new book on Amazon.

[EAU]

Just doin' m'job. But it is good. The book is good too! I miss Herman.

[D.Shit]

I'll never understand all this - it's so Southern. Admirable and attractive but I don't understand.