One week into the trip already! This morning we checked out of the casino, where I managed to avoid the temptation to play the slots. We had one last interview to conduct at the library, this one with our hostess, Prima Plauche. She told her story eloquently and the 5 students who participated in the interview were all affected by the power of what she told them.

Before we could leave Bay St. Louis, a laundromat stop was in order. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve frequented one of them, but it was an enjoyable experience (beyond my pleasure of having clean underwear again) as we got a chance to meet more Bay St. Louis folks and talk with them. One lady turned out to be Patrick’s wife - he was one of our interviewees for the oral histories.

Jill and Margaret do their laundry

After the laundromat, we stopped for another fast food lunch and visited KMart to buy some dvd+r’s to back up the oral histories. I’d hate to lose them, so I want to burn them to disc and give to Lynn so they all aren’t solely in my possession.

The hour ride to New Orleans was used to have class discussion about their experiences of the past few days. As usual, upon reaching our destination we descended upon the poor hotel clerk (at the Royal St. Charles Hotel), hauled our stuff to the room, to find extremely tiny accommodations, to say the least. I’m not sure how the students, who are 3 or 4 to a room can even manuever. But, who stays in a hotel room when in New Orleans and the French Quarter?

We all got the afternoon and evening off and I’d bet everyone strolled to the French Quarter to take in the tourist view of New Orleans. I know Lynn and I did. We found a nice restaurant where we could eat on a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street - the best way to view the sights IMHO.

Today was very interesting. We spent the day at the Bay St. Louis branch of The Hancock Library System. We rotated through a range of task.

My group started out researching post cards. This task was very interesting; noting that we were able to research a historic building, the Reed Hotel. We found out the linage of owners as well as the name changes. This task or project will allow the library to maintain an archival record of historical buildings in case one building were to be destroyed or demolished.

We then rotated to my favorite station, the oral history station. At this station we were able to listen to the stories of library employees who survived the storm. These experiences were priceless, because they allowed us to gain perspective through the eyes of various people.

The one thing that I learned was the need to realize that there is a multitude of voices that still need to be heard in order to fully understand the breath of devastation that occurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Tomorrow, the plan is to leave early for the library to finish up our task. Then, we will do laundry before leaving Bay St. Louis, MS for New Orleans, LA.

To be continued …….

Today was my “big day” on the trip. Would all the equipment I planned on setting up for the oral histories work right? Even though you test everything several times before hand, there is always the great fear that technology will fail at the most important time. So, I didn’t start to relax until after the first batch of oral histories were completed. But the equipment worked great and our student cameramen/women did a stellar job of capturing what I understand were some very powerful interviews. I think I can leave discussion of them to the ones who experienced them.

So, I want to provide a bit of information on the bronze sculptures that have been one of the topics of discussion over the past day. I sensed that some of our group was a bit astounded that the library would secure a $28,000 grant to restore the 6 bronze sculptures that were damaged in the storm. Why spend that money on art when so many people needed so much for basic survival?

Inner Music by Richmond Barthe

I understand the grant came from NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities). “NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities” (from the NEH website). So the money given the library system came from an organization who gives money for preservation. It didn’t take available money away from any other purpose.

The importance of restoring the sculptures was explained to Lynn by a staff member today. The sculptor was Richmond Barthe, an African American artist who was important for being one of the first to “focus thematically on the lives of blacks” (Answers.com). But more importantly to the Hancock County Public Library, he was a native of Bay St. Louis AND was the first African American to get a library card in the Hancock County library system. So it is easy to understand why returning his works to their original condition was a priority to an organization whose mission includes the collection and preservation of significant artifacts of local people and history.

My computer has been a moody little something back at the hotel so I am going to make sure I do my blog now in the Hancock Co. Library. I spent the morning with my team (Antonio and Teresa) sorting through the library’s news articles (dating back to the 1970’s) and then filing them. Here and there I would stop and read through some of the articles. I saw where many of the smiling faces of the Hancock Co. library were featured in numerous articles and spotlighting for all of their hard and excellent workd. They even got honored at the White House! I saw an article about rising gas prices in the late 90’s (if we only knew $2.50 a gallon would ever be considered cheap) pictures recounting 9/11 and of course, pictures recounting and still recounting Katrina. I found an article from the late 90’s detailing what a Hurricane was and how it is formed and going through some of the strongest ones from Camille to Andrew. These names all sound like cousins or nieces or brothers in our family, but they carry such a greater connotation when the word “Hurricane” is put in front.

Right now, I am preparing to do my groups 2nd oral history interview for the day. The generosity of the people here at Hancock Co. Library to not only open their facilities (and provide breakfast and lunch and snacks) to us but also their stories is amazing. If you ever want to see strength personified, come down to Bay St. Louis to meet these people. And you can also check some of these people and their diaries. As one of the employees said today, don’t forgot about them.

Today was the first day we spent in Mississippi, and it was very different from all the other days of our trip. We woke up rather early to head over to the Hancock County Library in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a number of library officials and even some city officials. The people who worked at the library then began to tell their stories about hurricane Katrina, and they had so much to tell that this portion of the meeting lasted for nearly three hours. I feel as though it is absolutely impossible for people who have not lived through it to understand what the devastation was like, but these peoples’ stories really helped to provide some insight. The most incredible part of this morning for me was a presentation given by Prima, the main librarian. This presentation entailed many before and after picture of the libraries, along with a before and after of her house. The before picture showed her beautiful house and pool on the water, and the after picture showed all that was left of the house: an oven and a dishwasher. I can’t even describe the goose bumps I had when listening to this presentation. We heard a variety of stories about the devastation the library staff faced, and how the community really came together to overcome such tragedy.

After spending the morning at the library and having lunch, we went on a tour of the area given by our friends at the Hancock county libraries. The things we saw on the bus tour of the town and of surrounding towns were absolutely incredible. I know that I am one of the many people guilty of thinking that the recovery process in Mississippi was mostly over, and the sights we saw on our tour absolutely confirmed the opposite. There were countless numbers of foundations where houses used to be, and so many houses still had a huge amount of damage. The rubble from the disaster was everywhere, and it was very hard to think that this occurred nearly two years ago. One typically thinks of two years as being a sufficiently long time to recover, but parts of this community look as if they were hit by the storm yesterday. It is just so chilling to see the images we saw on the bus today and realize how little progress has been made in some of these areas in almost two years. It just goes to show how much dire need of help this community was in; because half of the town is still completely ruined after what I had thought was a long time. It is obvious that the devastation from this storm is much deeper than I had ever imagined, even after looking at countless images of the terror Katrina brought. It was so moving to hear all the stories, and I am now really looking forward to interviewing some people tomorrow and recording their oral histories. It should be really interesting and moving to hear more stories in-depth, I just hope I don’t cry!

After spending some more time at the library in preparation of our interviews tomorrow, we headed back to the hotel for our group reflection. We were on our own for dinner, so Ronnie took a bunch of us down the street where we had a little bit of a choice of what to eat, and then went back to the hotel for the night. Last night I had a good time losing money on the slot machines, so tonight I’m planning on winning it all back. This time I’m going for roulette though, as I learned my lesson about slot machines last night.

Sociologists have been studying disasters (natural and “man” made), but without much fanfare. In fact, back in 1972 one of the worst disasters took place in a small coal mining town. Here is a description:

The Buffalo Creek Flood was an accident that occurred on February 26, 1972 when a coal slurry impoundment dam built on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia by the Pittston Coal Company burst. The resulting flood unleashed approximately 132 million gallons (500,000,000 L) of black waste water upon the residents of 16 coal mining communities in Buffalo Creek Hollow. Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 people were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. The incident completely leveled the town of Saunders, W.V. (the current town of Saunders is not the same one that once was located in Buffalo Creek).

Sociologist Kai Erickson wrote a book about it that is still worth reading. His work, an analysis of the effects of the disaster on the Buffalo Creek community entitled Everything In Its Path. The book later went on to win the Sorokin Award, an accolade handed out by the American Sociological Association for “outstanding contribution to the progress of sociology.”
Similarly, sociologist Adeline G. Levine wrote a book (LOVE CANAL) about another disaster that took place in the upstate New York community known as Love Canal. It is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. Unlike the Buffalo Creek disaster, Love Canal was the result of deliberate chemical dumping in the Niagara River by the corporate chemical company Hooker Chemical and Plastics. The human damage was horrific. Birth deaths and cancer were discovered to be the outcome of the toxic dumping.

I mention these two examples from the sociological literature because I wonder who will write the definitive study of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Can someone write this study?

From what we heard and saw yesterday, I doubt it. The destruction from Katrina in Bay St. Louis and Waveland Mississippi is incomprehensible. The death. The destruction of homes, schools, businesses, libraries and bridges can not be imagined. These forms of destruction can not even become movies.

Listening to the Hancock Library staff introduce us to our Service Learning Project not only brought many questions from the class but also tears. The bus tour of Bay St. Louis and Waveland was quiet. Other than our tour guide no one spoke. You could hear gasps only; all of us were stunned.

Hence, our first day in Bay St. Louis was a tough one. This morning we will conduct several service learning projects. We will build scrap books, scan documents and take oral histories. All of these projects were suggested to us via Dr. Lynn Sutton our Director of Z. Smith Reynolds Library. Her international work on the board of a major consortium of libraries brought this possibility to my attention early 2007. The students are “pumped” about the projects as are the staff traveling with us.

The students participating in the oral history project took Institutional Review Board (IRB) training in the spring to obtain certification necessary for working with human subjects (most groaned about the task)!

Later today I will report on how we did this morning.
Have a great day.
Earl Smith

Today we spent all afternoon hearing about the small town of Bay St. Louis and the changes in the town since Hurricane Katrina. Change
is not a strong enough word to describe the devastation that the surrounding community has experienced in the last two years, as this town barely exists anymore. We got a tour of many neighborhoods in Hancock County and most houses had been completely demolished by the storm. We drove around and basically only saw the foundations of the homes… at one point we saw a couple steps that led to the previously existing house and an oven that the hurricane had left behind. We drove around the small town for over an hour but I feel like we saw nothing; probably because there was nothing to see. It looked like there never was civilization in some areas, I could barely believe a natural disaster could be so destructive. Having no control over such a major change in one’s life must be incredibly discomforting and traumatizing. Tomorrow we are going to record the oral histories of several members of this community, so hopefully all of this will feel more real after that.

I think that the motto of today should be “we shall overcome”. Yes, that classic phrase used by many Black Americans that marched and led the Civil Rights Movement. But, today took a different spin on those powerful words of, “we shall overcome”. The community of Hancock community really respresent a strong group of people that have endured so much because of a natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina. It is so hard for me and many of my peers to imagine what it is like to live through such a devastating storm. I am grateful to meet the strong people that continue to live, work and put so much of their heart into thier community. Listening to the stories of the citizens from Hancock County, Waveland, and Bay St. Louis, MS gave me the opportunity to think about how I would react in the same situation and if I would be able to possess such strength. The public library system is a powerful example of a branch of society that can pull resources together to help people within the community with important tools like telephones, computers and even clean restrooms. I am pleased that Dr. Sutton is spearheading this part of the class because there is a lot we can learn and hopefully, when I come back to the area I can do hands on things such as helping to rebuild because that would be a great experience as well.

A major part of the class that I can’t leave out was when we went on the bus and toured the library’s surrounding area of Waveland and Bay St. Louis. Many of the beautiful beach front homes were destroyed and some are being rebuilt. An important part of the city that was just opened was the new bridge. The opening of the bridge makes life in Hancock County a little simpler because of less traveling. Commerce is such an important aspect to keep a city running and after Katrina, many of the city’s businesses were destroyed. It’s interesting how many of the major franchises like Burger King come back into the community and rebuild quickly. Money truly is a major part of why cities like Hancock County can rebuild and it was a good thing to hear that money and other resources have been used in this community. I see great things for the future of this community and that is a blessing. On another level, I would add that it doesn’t seem like Hurricane Katrina has completely ruined the spirits of those in this community. The gracious and kind attitude that the administrators of the library had toward us says a lot about the community itself and that it seems like the value togetherness. Also, just being in one of the local restuarants today, I noticed a lot of families that are probably locals that seem very cheerful especially youth of the community. Even though, almost two years ago, this area was completely flooded and lives were completely changed because of Hurricane Katrina.

Today was very interesting. We had the opportunity to meet a few local government officials along with the library staff of the Hancock County Library System. It was interesting to hear them talk about how quickly they received help (3 days). They told us how they have a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” mentality; and how that philosophy has allowed them to stay focused on the road to recovery. They told us how they spent time applying for a $25,000 grant to restore 5 pieces of artwork. They also spent a lot of time telling us about how energy is being used to plant new trees in areas that had many trees uprooted. We also learned that the bridge connecting Bay Saint Louis to the rest of the Gulf Coast was just recently opened.

Nevertheless, the sociological concept that I pondered while I listened was the Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm; which essentially says that we construct our own social reality based on several environmental factors.

The ironic thing about today is that two years ago I was in this county volunteering in Pearlington, MS. I did not realize that I was actually returning to the same area that I had previously volunteered four months after Katrina devastated the coast. (BTW: In fact, I found out that the building I stayed in during my mission trip was the Pearlington Branch of the Hancock Library System; which was connected to a school) And, it was very very very interesting to listen to the speakers talk today and compare and contrast those comments with those of people from the same county only two years ago. And, I must end by saying that the other sociological term that I pondered heavily today was conceptualization. This really came to the forefront of my mind as I listened to various speaker speak about community.

Tomorrow, we will be getting up bright and early to conduct oral histories, do strap-booking, scanning, and fulfill any other tasks that we can to help the Hancock County Library System.

To be Continued …………..

Today was one of the longest seeming days yet.  I expected that our time in the library would be a lot more information about the library in general, but was pleasantly surprised that much of our time was spent discussing Hurricane Katrina at large, as well as on a personal level.  The people at the library and from different organizations throughout the city couldn’t have been more welcoming to us in their wanting to come and speak to us, and to provide us with all sorts of tokens to show their appreciation for our time we were giving to them.  I was surprised with how much information I really didn’t know about Hurricane Katrina, and the massive amounts of devestation it caused to people significantly far from the actual coast.  I’ve had a hard time imagining what such a place like Bay St. Louis looks like at the current time, hearing conflicting reports that the cities were up and running as normal in some places, yet still seeing pictures of nothing but rubble and house foundations where ornate neighborhoods used to stand.

The irony I felt when you could drive down a street and have a perfect pristine mansion surrounded on either side by fallen trees, metal scraps, and remaining items from houses that used to exist was kind of overpowering for me.  How do you cope in a situation like this?  When is it proper to move on and try to get yourself and your life and property back to normal without seeming to be ridiculous to the people who are still having to live in FEMA trailers and tents more than two years later?  I really am struck with how to deal with this.  It is of utmost importance at times like this to unite and help others as a means of survival physically and mentally.  Yet, when is it proper to draw the line with the time and money commitment to others, and start repairing your life to the level that you used to consider normal?  All of this has to do with what level people are starting from, and reflects the continued focus we have had on how social stratification manifests itself in many different situations.  This town, like every place we have seen so far, as well as most places in America, is not exempt from the role that socioeconomics plays in life in general, and how citizens are able to cope and recover in a situation such as this.

I am excited for tomorrow to get to interview individuals who actually lived through this, yet hope I can be strong enough to deal with whatever impossible stories these people will have to tell.  I feel much more comfortable going into this with other people so we can all work together to do a well rounded interview for ourselves and for the individuals we will be talking with.