Good Bye Bay St. Louis, Hello New Orleans
It is always good, about this time in the course, to head to New Orleans. As my co-instructor Dr. Angela Hattery and I say “New Orleans comes at the right time.” Since this is the 3rd iteration of the Deep South summer course, nothing has changed this time around.
After two intense days in Hancock County (working at the library there), all of us need the break. Our assignments — after listening to staff and county officials tell us (in general) about the impact of Katrina-brought us closer to the aftermath of the hurricane. The students in the class got the chance to do oral histories with several library staff and one journalist (the journalist Mr. Al Showers taped interviews with our students).
The intensity of the interviews and stress of the library staff (many who lost all they owned, including homes, valuables, family members etc) came to a head in a series of back and forth commentaries between the class and library staff. We feel this is a good thing as both, staff & students developed a deeper understanding of loss and a better understanding of sociological analysis. Please read the blogs and comments.
We arrived in New Orleans around 3pm. When the bus stopped at the hotel (Royal St. Charles) we parked in the same spot as last time and the same problem ensued: the trolley car could not get pass the bus!
Students have assignments -from examining biographies of famous people in the Deep South to demographic research on counties in the state of Mississippi (specifically the Gulf coast and the Delta region).
My early morning walk in New Orleans took in the usual: night lifers struggling to their hotels (I did not spot our students) to seeing an accident where a SUV was on its roof to helping two young women opening the SUBWAY parallel park their car and, finally, seeing an old Wake colleague Dr. Tony Marsh (Health and Exercise Sciences) at MOTHERS restaurant.
We are off to ACORN for a lecture (an NGO that works on housing and voter registration) and then we tour the 9th ward.
Have a great day.
Earl Smith