Remember Hurricane Katrina? Like some of you, New Orleans and the disaster thereof has been off my radar for a while too. There may have been a few news articles here and there recounting the national tragedy in the past few years, but for the most part Katrina has seemed to disappear from usual conversation. You would assume that the lack of attention given to the southern city would indicate that it has survived and is once again hospitable. This, however, is hardly the case.
Last week I decided to attend an "alternative spring break" program to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans with the CU Democrats to participate in the Katrina relief effort. When I reached the Lower Ninth I was absolutely astounded by the amount of devastation still present five years after Katrina reached the shores. According to the organization we were working for, 60 percent of the homes in the neighborhood are still currently vacant. Some of the scariest images in New Orleans that one stumbles upon are giant X's on each house’s door accompanied by three numbers: 1) the date that the house was inspected, 2) the number of pets found dead in the house, and 3) the number of human deaths inside. Again, five years after the fact, very few of these X’s have been painted over and stand as daily reminders of the hurricane-shattered, abandoned community.
