6 months later, 100 days away

I returned from my trip to New Orleans on Tuesday night, reluctantly of course, I wish I could stay for Mardi Gras.

This will be my first of many entries on the trip and my observations in Nola and the Gulf Coast. Its a bit surreal being back to functioning street lights and solid buildings. I have yet to find the exact words for the experience of seeing the destruction, but "unbelievable" has been the foremost choice thus far.

6 months after Katrina, I stood where the levees broke in the 9th ward, where the cities of Biloxi and Gulfport where smashed, where the 17th St. Canal levee broke, and overall, it seems that not much has changed.

In the lower 9th, one can see the path of the water, strewn with debris where houses should be, only foundations and concrete slabs remaining, some houses in the middle of streets, on top of others, on top of cars, some in a million pieces scattered who knows where. My film will be back next week, so until then I only have digital images to offer, along with video if I can make it work on the site. As I stood in the midst of what is hard to describe, I realized that all the photos in the world may not adequately express what it is like. I encourage anyone to go visit New Orleans, enjoy the functioning parts of the city and pump money back in, and see the destruction and the awesome force of nature, see a landscape that we as a culture cannot relate to, with no reference points for the immense destruction.

This post has now been sitting through a few revisions, I'm losing a sense of what I'd like to say. Having now seen the destruction and realized the enormous impact it has on our country, it seems to me that it would be very clear to all involved that rebuilding needs to happen and quickly. Hurricane season is 100 or so days away. There is no excuse whatsoever not to have our best and brightest working every day from now until then to rebuild the levees (not just to a pre-Katrina strength, but stronger), to clean up what is destroyed, and to begin the process of getting people back to their home. Unfortunately, I imagine the forces we can mobilize, such as the Navy Seabees and Army Corp of Engineers, are pretty busy with Iraq, not to mention that large companies that can handle mass reconstruction are also stuck in that quagmire. I propose we stop at nothing to rebuild this major American city, it is our responsibility as part of the grand project we are citizens of. If this were any other major city, it seems that we would not be sitting in the mud 6 months later and things would have been in place, money allocated, etc. America needs to not forget what has happened and what needs to happen to bring our fellow citizens back to an acceptable standard of life.

Here are a few digital stills to give an impression of the devastation. I'll post more in the coming week, with more commentary as I sort through it all.