New Orleans

Part I:

A passage from Tom Piazza’s Why New Orleans Matters that particularly took my interest was the introduction. I know that I’m a “soft” person it was very sad. I know a lot of people say that it was very redundant and that everything there was to say about hurricane Katrina has already been said but,  reading it was different. Of course seeing all of the horrible images of the aftermath on the news was one thing and living here now and still being able to see the damage is another thing but, reading it had a different effect. It stirred up something more. It gave a different view. Some of the things he wrote about, yes i’d seen them on clips of what was going on in New Orleans at the time but, I couldn’t believe. To hear about read about the desperation, the death, was very moving. It truly hurt my heart to hear of the father naked in front of his sons. To think about how something like that will be remembered, forever ingrained in the minds of those that suffered so terribly. How will those boys see their father as a man again? How will their father be able to look them in the face and tell them to be strong when he knows that they have seen him at his weakest moment? That is sad to think about. A lot of people only talk about those who didn’t survive but, what about those who did? What kind of struggles are they still facing? What about New Orleans? The city survived but… the d amage… the recovery. Tom Piazza makes you think about these things.

Part II:

I did attend Dr. Harris’s lecture and I was very frustrated by it. My frustration really did not have anything to do with Dr. Harris himself. He was great. i even stayed afterwards to speak with him. I had good things to say. It did seem as though he was a bit repetative about some things, things we’ve been hearing forever. Other than that, he was very inspiring. He is a successful man, someone that each and everyone of us can learn something from.

I was frustrated because I had to fight to hear to what he was saying and he had to fight to say it. This was really emmbarrasing because, last time I checked, we were all adults. One of the most important lessons I can remember is “there is a time and a place for everything” and that was neithere the time nor the place. It was childish and rude. So what if you didn’t want to be there. So what if it was movie night. I didn’t want to be there either. I had to study. I was tired. Even still, I was not rude. I really can’t say how this event could have been made better simply because I’ve found that a lot of students just aren’t appreciative of these events. They simply don’t want to go. It seems as though no matter how you change the event, students will find one reason or another to not like it.