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Where to Begin: Some Personal Impressions of Hurricane Katrina from Lafayette, LA
(09-14-05)
I don't quite know where to begin. I thought this month I would be writing about Festivals Acadians, and some great new bands that have been playing here recently (the best of which is Bonsoir Catin - an all woman group that debuted at the Blue Moon last month and featured Christine Balfa, Kristi Guillory, Anya Schoenegge and Yvette Landry and KICKED BUTT - this may be sexist but if you had your eyes closed you would have thought there were some young guys up there...but I digress...) I feel totally inadequate. The disaster that is Hurricane Katrina is so overwhelming, the government response is unconscionable, and the range of emotion reaction... from fear to outrage to helplessness to tears to gratitude to hopefulness is ever-changing. I will try to share some of my experiences and impressions, living here in Lafayette, Louisiana, about 120 miles northwest of New Orleans, for you. Posted (and updated as needed) on my website as sfbayou.com and at the end of this column is also information on ways to help in general and more specifically the Acadiana area and the musicians and artists who are gathering here in Lafayette. There's an interesting article published by the LA Times on that phenomena ("It's Not Bourbon Street But It'll Do") posted at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-artists_sep12,1,2609276.story
Lafayette luckily experienced only light rains and some gusts of wind during the storm If you didn't know there was a hurricane going on, you would have been out running errands on Monday. Due to the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, many NO folks slowly made there way here on jammed roads and the local hotels were filled up by Sunday night. The immediate aftermath everyone knows... the unimaginable (but not unpredictable) flooding, the unconscionable government response the environmental disaster for humans, animals, birds, wetlands, vegetation, the concern for your friends living in the affected area, the individual stories of horror and heroism. It is too much to get your mind around... often it felt like you would start thinking about one result of the storm.... start following that particular thread of thought and then the fabric of your mind would unravel as you keep thinking of the implications of one small aspect of the disaster.
After the storm, evacuees were everywhere but in particular the Cajun Dome (about a mile from my house) held over seven thousand people and Blackham Coliseum (about a half mile away) was turned into a pet shelter. I would drive out of my neighborhood and while waiting at the traffic light see dozens of people walking their dogs. The local newspaper had a section of where to bring donations and what was needed... bedding and towels at the Salvation Army, clothes, underwear, toiletries at Goodwill, school supplies and uniforms at one local church, bottled water at another, pet supplies at Blackham, small cooking appliances at a community center, etc... etc... You'd go through your house looking for things to donate, drop them off, and then go through everything again. Giving money doesn't seem enough so you go to the blood donation center. You drive through neighborhoods and see driveways overflowing with cars... the lucky ones who made it to safe haves. Many of us are beset by "survivor's guilt". I try to stay focused and feel useful in some small way by updating my website with news and information on how to help. Others did much more.
Everyone has a story:
For example, I met Mama Ledell who works at Louisiana Heritage and Gifts. She was called by a small church in the area, which had a building full of evacuees and was struggling to shelter them. Mama showed up, and with no prior experience, took charge and started organizing the place. She had folks create a food pantry and sort the donations so they could assess their supplies and needs, set up donated cots and mattresses into a sleeping area, set up a children's area, an eating area and then called the local authorities to find a refrigerator and freezer to store all the excess prepared food that local residents were bringing to the church so it would last longer. The next day, a church a few miles away asked her to do the same for them... and a few days later, she organized a third church shelter and then networked the three churches together so that they could share and exchange excess resources.. In addition, she called the local town authorities and helped them set up food and clothing donation sites.
On the other side of the coin, I've heard awful tales from personal acquaintances of those who were in New Orleans and witnessed the floods, the looting, and worse... Things that you might see in a battle zone, things they are now are seeking counseling for because they can't get the horrid images of savagery out of their heads. I never thought I was a Pollyanna, but I know I mentally dismissed certain reports of street behavior as media exaggeration until some recent conversations.
I invited a local volunteer supervisor for the Red Cross over for a home cooked meal earlier this week. He says that there are over 37,000 volunteers spread out over the Gulf Coast, all exhausted, and all coming up towards the end of their volunteer assignments. He is worried about who is going to replace them all when they need to go back home and where the training will come from. Even as the Cajun Dome is emptying out (from 7000 to about 2000 right now), there will be an on-going need to assist the evacuees until they can get re-established.
I can't tell you how many friends I've spoke to who think they lost everything because they lived in areas of New Orleans that were flooded, but had no way of knowing. Meantime, those that could searched satellite photos on the web and guessed about their homes and businesses. The uncertainly in their faces, the tears they were holding back when you asked them how they were doing...
I was driving to Baton Rouge from Lafayette with a 'left coast' friend over the weekend and we passed a convey of military vehicles and supply trucks heading west, filled with young men and women. One vehicle had a sign saying "Colorado cares - New Orleans or Bust". We gave them the thumbs up sign when we drove past them and they all honked back at us. Forty years of 'liberal' politics melted away and I was very grateful to see those folks heading out here to provide much needed assistance.
I read in the local paper Lafayette now has the one of the top ten fastest growing economy in the country and that Baton Rouge's population doubled literally overnight, from 200,000 to 400,000. Lafayette went from 112,000 to 142,000, although it is hard to tell how many people will stay. We now have traffic jams now and real estate and rental properties are in short supply. There are even reports of bidding wars on residental and commercial property...shades of the Bay Area. And yet... and yet... in Lafayette, you can't help but see some, and I don't know quite how to put this, "benefits" from this great Gulf Coast tragedy.
Lafayette, like much of Louisiana, is a tightly knit, family oriented area. People live near where they grew up and subsequently, prior to the hurricane, most of us who moved here from elsewhere, no matter how accepted and welcome we felt, were always the minority newcomers in a town built on generations. After the storm, it was a funny thing... all of a sudden we were the 'before' people, with established friends and routines, and the 40,000 evacuees became the 'new wave of emigrees' if you will, changing forever the demographics of this town
And there are hundreds of artists and musicians in town. The cultural community has come together to help provide them with immediate needs - shelter/healthcare, replacement of the tools of their trade (instruments, art supplies, workspace) and find them gigs or places to exhibit their work. On our monthly downtown Art Walk last weekend, there were New Orleans artists selling their works on the sidewalks and musicians on the street corners. Band Aid, the benefit held here last week featuring music by Sonny Landreth, Beausoleil, Roddy Romero, Lil Nathan and Zachary Richard ended with the audience singing along to "Louisiana 1927" followed by hundreds of people second-lining to "When The Saints Go Marching In". Meantime, Festivals Acadians is a go, with New Orleans artists to be exhibiting along with the local craftsman and New Orleans musicians are being booked into local clubs and restaurants. I attended an amazing Cajun twin-fiddles house concert/fundraiser last night for New Orleans musician and evacuee, Jonno Frishberg, accompanied by Mitch Reed (both of Charivari).
They are still playing exquisite music on these bittersweet evenings.
HOW TO HELP: The best way to help is donate money. You can donate to the Red Cross (redcross.org). Also the United Way of Acadiana (unitedwayofacadiana.org) has 2 funds.. one that stays in the area for Acadiana evacuees and one general Katrina response fund. These organizations would then be able to use donations to get what is most sorely needed.
Additionally, consider the new Lafayette Music Alliance set up to specifically help musicians and music business professionals which will be replacing Healthcare for Musicians (see below) and covering a broader area. For now you can direct your donations to Healthcare for Musicians which has an emergency fund account set up through SW LA Health Education Center, its sponsoring non-profit agency. The address is: Healthcare for Musicians 103 Independence Blvd. Lafayette, LA 70506.
Project HEAL was just created in Lafayette, LA to assist artists impacted by the hurricane. Project HEAL (Helping Employ Artists Locally) offers displaced artists, including those working in dance, design arts, folklife, literature, music, theatre, visual arts and media, employment opportunities in local communities. This program will quickly and directly assist those artists in immediate need of financial assistance. Project HEAL partners include Acadiana Arts Council, Louisiana Crossroads, Louisiana Folk Roots, Festival International de Louisiane, Performing Arts Society of Acadiana, Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission and Lafayette Economic Development Authority. To make a tax-deductible donation to Project HEAL, register as an artist or inquire about volunteer opportunities, please contact: Acadiana Arts Council, P.O. Box 53762 Lafayette, LA 70505 (337) 233-7060, (337) 233-7062 fax info@AcadianaArtsCouncil.org A 501(c)3 Non-profit organization EIN: 51-0138288 Visa, MasterCard and Discover accepted
If you are a Registered Nurse or other medical professional, the area hospitals and triage centers are actively looking for help. The governor has signed an executive order allowing medical professionals licensed in other states to work here. One phone number to call is the Lafayette Parish Medical Society at 337-232-2860.
I also learned from a Red Cross volunteer that volunteers usually get 2-3 assignments and then get sent home. There are over 37,000 volunteers in the Gulf Coast region right now, many of whom will be going home soon, and for which they will need replacements for a long time to come. If you can get away for a few weeks and want to help here, contact your local Red Cross office.
