Post-Katrina photos taken in the past 9 months

[cmpentecost]

Since I'm going on the Biloxi trip, I started wondering what the area will look like two years post-Katrina.  I did some "googling", and found this amazing website of photographs, taken from November 2006 to May 2007.  I was floored at the amount of damage that remains.  This photojournalist has captured some very touching images, and what is interesting is the number of damaged photographs he has found, still in the damaged homes.  The images from the abandoned nursing home are quite moving.  These images will be shown at Tulane University in 2008.

Here's the website:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157594362393848/

Christine

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Wow it makes you just stop and watch, so many homes and belongings ruined. It's like areas have just been abandoned forever, left as a reminder. So many photos still there too. It makes you want to rush in and collect them all before its too late.

[sanbie]

Wow I agree Tess...so much to still endure..

Sanbie

[Hannie]

The photo's are amazing and no words are needed any more.  There is an article in the European version of Time Magazine called "Why New Orleans Still Isn't Safe".  After reading it I'm not surprised why things still look the way they do, very disturbing. 

Hannie

[glennab]

Chris, this is one of the most moving series of photos I've seen.  It's painful to realize this is actually part of our country, so mistreated and neglected. I honor the folks who have the wherewithall to still fly our flag when they've been deserted by our government.  The fact that people had to leave without any of their personal belongings and can't come back is horrific.  And I wanted to grab up all those photos left behind and bring them back to make whole again.  I would so like to know why that city's been deserted by the people in power who could give the citizens of that historic place the incentive to return and bring back the spirit of what was such a vibrant part of our culture.  It makes me cry!

Glenna

[klassylady25]

You know what else is hard to visualize Glenna, that I lived in Chalmette at one time.   I was a new wife less than a year, when my husband and I moved there.  My husbands parents were in Arabi and my brother-in-laws were in New Orleans.  What's that old phrase, "There but for the grace of God go I."  Yes, that suits it.

Candice

[glennab]

Candy, was any of your family there when Katrina hit?  I pray not!

I was so upset when I found out that Aaron Neville had moved from New Orleans.  I don't know if his brothers are still there, but that family is (or was) one of the best gifts to come out of N.O.  I have a cat named Aaron Neville, because he's black, beautiful, and (I swear it's true) he sings.  When he was a kitten he'd even do a warbly yodel comparable to the one the guy who's named after him does.

Glenna

[klassylady25]

Glenna... Jim Roy and Tom Roy - my husbands brothers.  Jimmy lived in Arabi.  It took almost a week to find out if his wife was still alive.  She refused to leave the dogs and didn't think it would be that bad, so she decided to take a bath and then the waters hit!  When the waters hit all she could do was hang on for dear life.  A rescue skiff picked her up after hours of hanging onto the eaves of her home butt naked!!

Separated and without knowing, Tom and Jim drove here.  My husband's mother lives here.  Jim received a call and found out after time that Anita was alive and had been shipped to Camp Gruber, which is Oklahoma.  The boys drove to get her and all is well. 

Jim and Anita are back in New Orleans.  Tom stayed here.

Now you've got to show us Aaron!  LOL  How funny!

Hugz,
C

[glennab]

Candy, I'm heartbroken that your family had to go through that.  Not knowing whether your loved one is alive -- unfathomable. Your hubby must have a guardian angel!

And I totally relate to your sister-in-law's not wanting to leave her companions.  I'd never desert the cats.

I'll try to find a photo of Aaron.  Everyone gets such a kick out of his name, but it's perfect for him.  And I usually call him by his full name or some foolish person-to-cat version of it.  He's my love bunny.  Always with me.  He curls up under my desk lamp every night when I'm on the computer.

I finally found one.  This is Aaron Neville behind Sara, my miracle cat who survived deliberate antifreeze poisoning.



Hugz back at ya'

Glenna

[klassylady25]

OPR seems to be having problems tonight... Or at least from this end... grrrr.

Glenna, they are great looking cats!! 

[Tess (Tassie D)]

They are gorgeous cats Glenna. Deliberate antifreeze poisoning? I know what I'd like to do to the person responsible for that.

[sanbie]

What gorgeous cats you have no wonder you wouldn't think of leaving them behind...I know what I would do to the beast that tried to poison such a beautiful animal!!

Sanbie

[Hannie]

Magnificats!
This should be an interesting sound: Aaron neville and Sara Vaughan!

Hannie

[glennab]

Hi gang,

Thanks for the compliments on two of my beloved 12.  Aaron Neville and Sara Vaughan, Hannie?  Now there's a combination!  Sara doesn't sing, though.  I'm just happy she's alive.

Aaron's mom wasn't so lucky.  We lost her.  I found her acting really sick one morning, and because she was feral, she wouldn't let me pick her up to take her to the vet.  I chased her for over an hour, and finally got help from a neighbor when she went under a house.  The neighbor corralled her out and I grabbed her.  Unfortunately, because she was dying and scared, she bit my little finger, as I wouldn't let go of her.  I almost lost the finger, and I did lose Kelly.  Aaron even went under the house to try to get his Mom out.  (It was sad but comical that the neighbor under whose house Kelly had taken refuge asked me if I couldn't just send one of the other cats in to get her.  I snorted, trying not to laugh, when Aaron dove through the hole and started talking to his momma trying to get her out.  You'll never convince me that they're not MUCH smarter than we're willing to admit!)

The next day Sara showed up just as ill. Fortunately, she let me get her into a carrier and to the vet.  Because of the love and attention she gets from my huge cat Sniffles (and Aaron and her daughter Aurora), she's thriving.  They're the love birds.  One of the sweetest pairs you can imagine.  They cuddle, groom each other, walk down the hallway shoulder-to-shoulder with tails entwined.  Too dear for words.  I have several adorable photos of the two of them "spooned" with Sniffles' arm around Sara.

Our neighborhood was a disaster for several months.  One of our neighbors had come to our house and threatened to harm the cats not long before the poisonings.  There was a petition against us because we were RESCUING the cats and trying to get them adopted.  Pregnant cats kept appearing in our neighborhood, and we'd round up the kittens, socialize them, and Save Our Strays would have them spayed and neutered and try to find homes for them.

My own cats have always been rendered sterile as soon as I get them, so the increase in cat population was not of our making.  At any rate, some "dear" soul began poisoning them.  Kelly and Sara were the first victims, but four cats disappeared, and I don't know what happened to them.  I kept getting called to Animal Control to "identify" any cat picked up in our neighborhood, but none were mine.  Going through that place about killed me.  I wanted to bring them all home.

Even though there was an investigation, the antifreeze monster was never apprehended.

Lon and the cats and I have had an interesting life.  My 12 are either unadoptable, because they're feral, or (like Aaron Neville and two of his cousins) cats we fell in love with and couldn't give away.  At one point I had nearly 30 cats in the house while I was trying to take care of the momma cats and their litters.  That was a riot, literally.  When the kittens were old enough to get into the zip-flash stage, I'd look into the family room and see airborne furry bodies everywhere.  I called them the "Flying Burrito Cats!"

Oh, well, I do go on.  This really belongs in our "animals" thread, but since we digressed in this one, here we are.  While I was searching for a photo of Aaron I found some delightful shots of the rest of them.  I need to make an album!

At any rate, going back to your sister-in-law, Candy, I can so relate.  I've already warned Lon that I don't care what kind of weather is bearing down on us, I WILL NOT leave my precious pride.  I'd rather die with them than desert them to the elements!

I wove my kitties!

Bless!

Glenna

[John]

Amazing shots.  I recently heard a story about a woman in the New Orleans area who was determined to return to her neighborhood.  She was paying her mortgage in addition to renting an apartment while her home was rebuilt.   Her house was almost finished when vandals broke in and tore out all of her copper pipes to sell on the black market setting her back another $7000.  Not to get political, but It's really frustrating to see trillions of dollars being poured into Iraq and to then see these pictures.  How about spending a week of war money on the Gulf Region?  I think a lot could be cleaned up rather quickly.