Inside the Bowl

The next wave of hurricane related deaths is beginning to appear. These deaths are due not to the actual hurricane but rather to its aftermath. How do you cope with a life destroyed in a flash? Where do you find peace in the chaos? To many people here thoughts of suicide are not uncommon. Our lives are emotional roller coasters, constantly swinging between highs and lows. Unfortunately some people aren’t experiencing the highs; they are caught in an emotional free fall.

Suicide is a very private thing and rumors of these deaths have been making the rounds. We have had no way to substantiate them. A few weeks ago this changed with the public announcement that Stevenson Palfi a local documentary filmmaker took his own life.

I didn’t know him well, as he was a customer of mine rather than a friend. I haven’t seen him in a few years, but I can remember him for his smile and the handshake that he gave me every time he came into the shop. He was well known as the maker of the film “Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together,” and other documentaries. His home and office located in Mid-city were completely destroyed by Katrina. His life’s work was gone. I guess he saw no way to stop the free fall. I was very sad when I heard the news.

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Not even Katrina could stop the teddy bear Christmas display that the guys down the street put on every year for the enjoyment of the neighbors.

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Today is day 115.

They finally got the tree off of my neighbor’s roof. How long will it be before they haul it away?

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It all started a few days after the hurricane in New Iberia, LA. A few displaced parents met with a displaced teacher to talk about putting a school together. It would be a school that was like their public school back home in New Orleans. I just sort of sat on the periphery of the discussions. I was librarian at that school for 12 years but had recently moved to a high school library. I did not know the families who wanted to form this school in exile very well, but we shared a basic philosophy about education.

Two weeks after the hurricane Sugarcane Academy opened its doors to a handful of students with one volunteer teacher and a very part time librarian/storyteller. I would walk down E. Main Street to the public library every day to get books to read to the students. The Iberia Parish librarians would only let me have two books at a time. I would beg for a third, and they usually gave in after I promised never to do it again. The next day I would be there and again I’d be begging for three books. This went on for two weeks. Then Hurricane Rita blew in, and we fled New Iberia. The school continued with more volunteer teachers and more students but without me.

Finally, New Orleans opened its doors to the residents. The teachers, students and parents of Sugarcane wanted to go home, but there were no public schools open. So this temporary school was moved. A new home was found on the campus of Loyola University. Eleven teachers joined the ranks. Now that I was home, I could rejoin the faculty. Sixty-one students “registered” for the five week session. I was to work two half days a week reading stories and sharing my love of literature with the kids.

It was fun. There weren’t a whole lot of rules. Everyone shared. There wasn’t much in the way of administration, but that was okay. We had a routine. The students were learning. We had begun in our own small way to rebuild New Orleans.

This week I return to the high school where I use to work. I won’t be seeing the elementary age students, won’t be reading picture books anymore, won’t be singing silly songs anymore, and won’t get to revel in the fact that we made a school happen. I think that I will miss it.

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There’s a rumor being reported by Offbeat Magazine that the first big name band has been signed for this year’s Jazz Fest. That band is U2. I guess it’ll pack them in, but I think I’ll miss that day. I was hoping for a much more low key Fest this year. Maybe it would be a return to it’s roots, one stage in Congo Square and a $5.00 admission. In attendance would be just us locals and a few friends who really appreciate what the Fest is all about. But my wish will not be granted, rather it looks like it will be a “Super Bowl Halftime extravaganza Jazz Fest,” hopefully without the fireworks.

No matter what happens we’ll be there some of the time, hanging at the Lagniappe stage (if it’s still there) and trying to stay out of the way.

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There was a strange story in the paper this morning. Gray Line a New Orleans bus tour company will be starting a new city tour January 4th. They are calling it “Hurricane Katrina, America’s Worst Catastrophe.”

“Just board the bus and see the power of nature at its worst folks. No need to push young man, there’s more then enough destruction for everyone.”

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We buried our friend Fred yesterday. The funeral was at Hebrew Rest cemetery out in Gentilly. The cemetery is on a natural ridge and did not flood. The grass was green and the tombstones were untouched. The surrounding neighborhood was hard hit by the flooding and it was totally deserted. The only signs of life in that section of the city were in the cemetery.

It’s hard to say what was sadder the funeral or the miles of devastation we passed on the way to it. I think it might be a toss up.

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The Orleans Parish School Board finally opened one school. That school, Benjamin Franklin Elementary, opened this week 3 months after the storm. There is only one other Board supervised school slated to open this year, McMain Secondary School. It should open Jan 9, 2006. The district faces multiple problems. Many of the schools were damaged, some beyond repair. The chaos and money trouble that plagued the district pre-Katrina has not gone away. Many children are in school out of town, in other parishes nearby or private schools. The problems go on and on.

There will be other “public” schools opening in the city this year, but they will be charter schools. These schools are independent operators that function with public money. There is both good and bad to the concept. Presently they are the rage among educators and legislators. It’s an unproven theory. It has worked in small numbers, but is it a replacement to the traditional public school system? We will soon find out.

Yesterday, Elizabeth got the call; she’ll be back as the librarian at McMain when it opens. She is one of the lucky few who will be employed in public education in New Orleans this year. There are thousands of unemployed teachers and the prospects for getting teaching jobs are very dim.

The school will be very different from the way it was last year. McMain was a college-prep 4 star school made up of students from all over the city. Many of the students lived in hard hit New Orleans East. Some of these same students will be back, but no one knows how many. The teachers were dedicated and hard-working, some of them will not return. The exact configuration of the school has not been worked out, but it will be grades 7-12 and hopefully there will be teaching going on. The building flooded, and though there is talk of repair before students arrive in January nothing has yet been done. There is also talk that the school will relocate for the year if the electrical problems cannot be fixed. How the library will move is anyone’s guess. Without knowledge of the student population, there is no way to know what will be most needed. Elizabeth imagines that an ear to listen and a friendly face will probably be most appreciated by students and teachers alike.

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