New Orleans: our generation's great cause

By Francesca McKenzie, Betsey Purner and Beth Tellman

It's been three and half years, since Hurricane Katrina and parts of New Orleans still look like a war zone.

Jocelyn Sideco '99, founder of the New Orleans-based ministry Contemplatives in Action, recalled an Iraqi doctor she guided in a tour through the city pulling her aside and saying there were distinct differences between New Orleans and a war zone.

In a war zone, casualties are interspersed throughout the city -- an elementary school here, a neighborhood there -- but in New Orleans, the casualties are visible everywhere you go.

We agree that Obama was the spark that catalyzed this seemingly-random travel splurge. The hope his campaign and now presidency infused in our generation ignited a desire to better identify with the country we call home, and maybe feel the soil beneath our feet instead of hoping for something more on other latitudes.

This desire is shared with droves of other members of our generation, each of them searching for personal revelation and a new sense of community. For example, Obama's administration has increased Americorps volunteer positions from 75,000 to 250,000, of which over 500 are stationed in New Orleans.

We purchased tickets to New Orleans on a whim, expecting a great adventure and some good karma, but we had no idea the experience would rock our perceptions of what it means to be an engaged citizen of the United States. In the end, the trip transformed our ideas about the sense of responsibility our generation has to reshape a country we can be proud of.

During the week we spent in New Orleans, we worked on a house that had been poorly rebuilt by a contractor hoping to exploit a family's desire to return to their home as soon as possible.

We primarily did simple things like painting a door and properly installing bathroom faucets, yet these seemingly small details were significant in rebuilding the lives of countless New Orleanians. As Pat Semansky '06, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press, explained to us, "The city is no longer on its knees, but it is definitely not on its feet."

Because public transportation in New Orleans has only been restored to 22 percent of its pre-Katrina level (though 56 percent of the city's residents depend on it daily), we had to drive to our service placement in the city every day. On the drive, we saw thousands of houses that had been abandoned and boarded up with "Not for Sale" and "Dog Inside," proclaimed on them in bold graffiti.

We were drawn to New Orleans partly for the usual tourist attractions: the most delicious food you will taste in this country, music that gets under your skin and leaves you dancing for weeks, the alluring architecture and the southern hospitality. But, we all agreed that there was a pull to see for ourselves what is happening post-Katrina beyond tourist pleasures.

Having friends that had moved down to the city after college gave us a great opportunity for free board, free food and access to the New Orleans that you can't find in Jackson Square. It is friends like this that led us to the top of an abandoned factory one night. There was no tour guide and no entrance fee, but it was the best view of the city and the site of one of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever witnessed.

Waiting for a ride late at night helped us learn about the homeless situation in post-Katrina New Orleans, like a man who cannot afford to stay at any homeless shelter because the Salvation Army costs $6 a night, while Mission Charity is $11. Because of this, he squats in abandoned houses all over Mid-City.

An advocacy meeting to reopen Charity Hospital and stories of medical neglect taught us the importance of public health care in a city that no longer has a public hospital. Though Charity was ready to reopen just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, it has since been overlooked because of a development project for a new private hospital that will displace 250 homes and small businesses.

We also learned about the exploitation displaced residents, like Linda, a woman who has waited three and half years and dealt with three contractors to finally come back and rebuild a place she can call home.

Every day we encountered countless other citizens of our generation, everywhere from the po'boy sandwich stand to the blue grass bars on Frenchmen Street, who felt the same pull that led us to the Big Easy.

Each was on his or her own exploration of the boundaries of race, class and gender and were engaged in the reconstruction of not only homes, but of a whole community and culture.

Long-term volunteers told us that though they felt a strong calling to be in the city, they simultaneously found themselves asking themselves, "What are we rebuilding on this sinking ship?"

There are no clear answers, but no one is willing to abandon it all just yet.

In a city where all public housing has been demolished and 12,000 people are homeless, failed recovery could easily be a breeding ground for despair. Instead, the destruction wrought on the city since Katrina has fostered a sense of resilience.

No one lives passively in New Orleans. David, our freshly-graduated friend and a new addition to the city, reflected, "You can't drift in New Orleans. This place is too demanding, too irresistible. To be a part of the movement and energy of the city, like viewing the sunset here, you have to stare directly into the blinding darkness of our society's most beautiful and atrocious realities."

What was San Francisco and New York to the Hippie Generation is now New Orleans for our own. Instead of psychedelic drugs and a sexual revolution, we are migrating in pursuit of self-actualization through service and advocacy.

If you don't understand a word you've just read, you should take a trip to Louisiana, or try to live with a New Orleanian attitude wherever it is you settle down.

Francesca McKenzie is a senior environmental studies and theater arts double major. Betsey Purner is a junior environmental studies and religious studies double major. Beth Tellman is a senior environmental studies and sustainable globalization double major.