Blogathon for Pearlington

CNN on Pearlington

2006-08-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

CNN has new video on Pearlington from this morning's broadcast. Like the previous Pearlington reports, this one focuses on Denise Swanson and her children.

Keep the Story Alive

2006-08-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

One year ago today so many things changed in my life and in the lives of the people around me and in the very landscape of my state that it is impossible to name them all. I wish I had something worthy to say now. As if to highlight the fact that life simply must go on, I've been so busy today that I've had almost no time to sit and reflect, and now that I am finally home and able to say something, I'm too tired to think what it is I'd like to say if it were even possible to come up with the words.

Today is the end of the blogging I promised to do for Pearlington, but it is not the end of this blog, and it is not the end of my efforts to help my neighbors on the coast. I leave you this evening with only one thought, and that is to keep talking about Pearlington and keep talking about Katrina in whatever way you can. The rebuilding efforts have only just begun, but it would only be human for many to now lose interest in "last year's news." Don't let that happen. Whatever your own part in this may be, do what you can to keep the story alive.

And thank you. Thank you , America. Thank you for your help, for your love and for your prayers and for your time. Thank you for everything you've done.

God bless you. And God bless Pearlington.

The Unknown Victims

2006-08-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Among the other events set to mark the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina tomorrow is the burial of the unidentified storm victims in Gulfport. This is such a poignant way to observe the passing of time and the passing of hope for answers. We can only wish now that we were truly ready to bury the Katrina casualties and move on. Too much is still torn apart with no real idea of when or how it can be put back together, though. We are recognizing the fact that the days have kept passing for one full year tomorrow, but we are not by any means telling the end of the story. Katrina's wake will live on for many years to come.

On a Clip and a Prayer

2006-08-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Pearlington site and watched the CNN clips taken at various times in the past year. Two particular moments stood out to me:

When nurse Angela Cole was asked how the media depictions compared to being there, she said that it was far more devastating and further reaching than the media was able to show, and that viewers were spared the effects on all of the senses, that is, we didn't have to smell the stench of sewage or fight off bugs and mosquitoes.
Her honesty and dedication is humbling: her persistence is admirable.

The second moment came during a piece on Mardi Gras. The town had had a parade, and there were shots of children in their multicolored necklaces having a good time. One of the residents said that she was afraid that viewers outside the area would take this to mean that residents were back on their feet--which they were far, far, from being. Pearlington's restoration is still a work in progress and they need volunteers to continue to come down and help out.

What I admire about the volunteers depicted in the CNN clips is that they keep arriving to help, and they do so without needing external validation. Church groups, med students, fire fighters and others travel to Pearlington to do what must be done.

In a video created by the UBC, Daniel Vestal, pastor, posed this question to his congregation: "What will you do with the pain of people affected by the hurricane?"
And I am reminded of writer Karen Armstrong, who, in researching acts of prayer, describes it as including selflessly doing something for others. The hard work being done in Pearlington by residents and volunteers can be seen, then, as one large, interdenominational prayer.

What to Read?

2006-08-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Sharon has asked me to pinch hit for her this weekend, and I'm glad to be here. Though I haven't been writing, I have been reading Sharon's posts, and, as the school year begins, I can't help but to think of all of the students in Pearlington who are heading back to school. I wonder what they have in the way of recreational reading--in fact, I wonder what the whole town has in that regard. My guess is, not much.

Because reading anything in your down time is good for you and sets a good example for your kids, I'd like to find ways to get books to Pearlington--to either augment an existing library space or to give each person a gift book. What I don't want to do is to open the town up to a flood of very used books that are too worn out to read. And yet, having spent the last two weeks packing and sorting my books, I do know that I've sent some decent books to Goodwill that could just have easily gone to Pearlington.

So, here's what I'd like to propose-how about a "Buy a Book For Pearlington" drive this Fall? We could canvas those of you who live in Pearlington about what books you'd like to have, and then set up a wish list on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, so that contributors would be able to send a book directly. Hmmmmm. The only problem with that is what happens when you're the one person on the wishlist who doesn't get anything? What can we do about that?

This is an idea that is worth pursuing, and I'd like feedback from everyone, Pearlington residents and blog readers alike.

Race, Poverty, Tragedy

2006-08-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Hattiesburg American has a good editorial today about the slow recovery of the disadvantaged from Hurricane Katrina. We've all heard the complaints of racism in the relief responses, and I've been wanting to say something about this, but I haven't been quite sure what to say.

Katrina was no racist. Everyone in her path took the same beating. The resulting deaths and losses are not about race; they're about human beings. Yet we all know that when everyone is hurting a pecking order emerges, and some get help faster than others. My neighborhood is close to a main road, but it was a week later getting power back than my sister's more affluent neighborhood. These things happen. When there are so many needs, it is impossible to get to everyone at once. Someone has to come first, and someone has to come last.

Were priorities set in the Katrina recovery based on race? I don't know. Fortunately for me perhaps, I didn't see any of the TV coverage that has evidently infuriated the rest of the country. I was spared the feelings of helplessness in watching tragedies unfold that I could do nothing about because I was cut off from the outside world by that same storm. In the first few days after the storm, we heard very little news. Even radio towers had been knocked down. We were just busy cleaning up and figuring out how to get by. We didn't know what other people were doing.

Perhaps because of that I don't have the same sense of outrage at the government response that others have expressed. The first time I knew of any FEMA supplies coming to my town was on Thursday, three days after the storm. If I understand correctly, that's about when they really started getting people out of New Orleans as well. At the time, it all made sense to me. I don't think they could have gotten to us any faster. The roads were blocked with so many thousands of trees that I still see it as a miracle that they got to us when they did. New Orleans would have had the added difficulty of bridges being destroyed. In the best of times, there are only so many ways in and out of that city. With bridges out and roads blocked, the obstacles to getting help through to New Orleans were beyond measure.

Of course we all hope that the government has enough resources to save its own people in the wake of disaster. It seems like something could have and should have been done faster and better than it was. How much of that is about race or poverty and how much of that is about lack of preparation and lack of fortitude to make quick and forceful decisions, I just can't answer.

Regardless of all of that, though, the poor have less to draw on to help themselves recover. The poor have fewer resources to lobby for their own causes. Thus, government answers to rebuilding concerns have been slower to reach them.

What we need from the government now is not just help with housing but help with economic recovery. In many cases, like in Pearlington, Mississippi, the infrastructure to provide jobs so that the poor and the under-prepared can even begin to start helping themselves is just not there. Failure to address that now will only mean that problems created by Katrina, as blind to issues of race and class as she may have been, will continue to grow rather than to diminish as more and more time passes.

Salvaged Art

2006-08-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

Shown above is a Walter Anderson watercolor, "Reddy Red Head." It's just one example of Mississippi's great works of art that have been salvaged from ruined galleries and museums on the coast.

From the Clarion Ledger...

A new exhibition at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel is a Who's Who of
the state's artists and a reminder of the hurricane that almost washed it out to
sea.
Saved from the Storm: The Sarah Gillespie Collection at William Carey
University, Friday through Nov. 12, features works that survived the storm
intact and several works that have been conserved.
"It is a terrific overview
of Mississippi art. The collector did a tremendous job making sure artists were
represented, and goes into great depth in terms of particular artists," Lauren
Rogers museum director George Bassi said.
"It's the Who's Who of visual
artists," featuring big names both historical and contemporary, such as Karl
Wolfe, Walter Anderson, Theora Hamblett and more.
It's considered the most
complete collection of art produced by Mississippians during the 20th century,
collection curator Iris Easterling has said.

No discussion of relief efforts in Pearlington would be complete without mentioning Iris Easterling of University Baptist Church who worked tirelessly all through the year to make sure families had their FEMA starter kits so that they could qualify for trailers and to make sure children had Christmas presents and many other needs were met. And no discussion of Iris Easterling would be complete without mentioning her other tireless endeavor of moving the Sarah Gillespie Collection from the ruins of the coast to a new, safer home in Hattiesburg.

To read more about the Gillespie Collection, visit the William Carey web site.

And if you are in the area, don't miss the Gillespie exhibit at the Lauren Rogers Museum this fall.

Eyes on Debby

2006-08-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

Debby is way out there, and it really doesn't look like she's going to become a problem for us, but any storm activity this time of year (as we approach the Katrina anniversary) bears watching.

Pearlington Project

2006-08-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out CNN's American Morning next Tuesday, August 29th (the anniversary of Katrina). Angela Cole of Project Pearlington will be featured telling about some of the work she has done in Pearlington.

For earlier CNN reports on Pearlington, go to the Project Pearlington blog and click on Media Coverage. It is well worth your time, and it will certainly give you a better understanding of what the folks in Pearlington have been through this year.

Poll Results In

2006-08-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

Here is some information from the latest Gallup poll of Katrina victims.

Of the Katrina survivors who owned a home before Katrina hit, 80% indicate that this home is currently livable, including 31% who say their home is completely repaired, and another 49% who say it is livable even though it still needs repairs. That represents a small improvement from the 2005 poll, when 72% of those who owned a home said it was livable.

This is encouraging. It does show progress. I'm not sure how much it really tells us, though. I'd be very curious to see a break down of these numbers by county. Katrina had such a wipe scope that if answers given by people in Jackson, Mississippi are being averaged in with answers given by people in Waveland, Mississippi, the results are certainly being skewed. Like I said, I'd love to see a break down. I don't think recovery numbers in Pearlington come anywhere close to 80% of houses currently livable. I know other coastal communities as well as parts of New Orleans are also very far from matching these percentages.

Still, it's nice to hear that progress is being made. Somewhere.

Glen and Karen Bazor

2006-08-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is helping Glen and Karen rebuild. Glen is pictured here at the saw, and Karen is watching. They are delightful people to work with, and they work as hard as anyone who comes along to help.

Glen is attempting to rebuild his landscaping business. This is not such an easy proposition considering that many of his former customers have been unable to return to the area since the hurricane.

The Bazors have three children, and an assortment of dogs, cats, and baby raccoons--all living in one FEMA trailer. Consummate animal lovers, Glen and Karen are also feeding strays that have wandered up and adopted them in the past year. It's very likely that these strays belonged to families that were unable to return. Luckily for them, they have found someone who really cares.

God bless the Katrina strays human and animal alike, and God bless people like Glen and Karen who are making a difference even in the midst of their own struggles.

50 in 50

2006-08-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

From The Sun Herald...

JACKSON, Miss. - In response to the devastation Hurricane Katrina did to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Vicksburg native Samuel Thompson ran - not from the problems, but for them.

Thompson, 25, of Vicksburg plans to complete his journey Saturday of running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days, all to raise awareness of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's continuing recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

I can't tell you how impressed I am. I'm finding it a strain at times just to keep up the blogging efforts for hurricane relief. This guy has made a true commitment.

Check out his web site, and note that in addition to running for the cause, he is also blogging.

Where Ya'll From

2006-08-18T04:43:00.000-07:00

Canada Jon has been keeping track of where the volunteers have come from to come to Pearlington. You can see more maps like this one on his blog.

Pearlington is such a small town that most people in Mississippi had never heard of it before Katrina. It's very heartening to see how far and wide the love and concern for our little coastal towns has spread.

Thanks, ya'll.

At Least Some Are Recovering

2006-08-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Grand Casino in Biloxi reopens tonight. It was washed across the highway by Katrina and was demolished over a period of months. The Beau Rivage is scheduled to reopen on August 29, exactly one year after the storm.

The returning casinos are something of a bittersweet sight. It's sad that these are the main businesses that can afford to come back. It's sad that they will be there to tempt and draw in people who have almost nothing to spend and everything to lose. Yet they represent much needed job opportunities and a critical tax base to the area if there is to be any recovery at all.

Welcome back, I say. Welcome back, monstrosities. Welcome back corporate tourist traps. We might not always love you, but we do need you.

Before and After

2006-08-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Sun Herald's Before and After series features Pearlington today. Be sure to read the article about the house pictured above. It's a fascinating story.

Insurance Companies 1, Flood Victims 0

2006-08-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

From Reuters....

Paul and Julie Leonard were awarded $1,228 to cover wind damage but lost their argument that their Nationwide Mutual Insurance policy covered flood damage associated with the storm, which they said cost them more than $130,000.

The case has been closely watched by thousands of homeowners who believe damage from floods swept in by Katrina along the U.S. Gulf coast should be covered under policies generally meant to cover hurricane damage.

Of course, this is not by any means the end of the story. There will be more court decisions to come. It is, however, a stark disappointment to those who have been holding out hope that the insurance companies would eventually be forced to pay out for some of the Katrina flood damage in areas where flood insurance was not required.

Stay tuned for further developments...

Update on FEMA Campers

2006-08-14T04:50:00.000-07:00

FEMA is going to do its own testing for formaldehyde in its trailers. I had somehow missed that before. This comes after the Sierra Club issued a report of finding unacceptable levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers tested in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. It also comes after dozens of complaints from the residents themselves.

In the previous article that I linked to, there was a story about a couple that bought their own camper rather than continue to live in a FEMA camper after their pet bird became ill:

“We got up one morning and the cockatiel was lethargic, wouldn’t move, was losing its balance,” said Paul, a police officer in neighboring Waveland. “… (Later), the vet told us unequivocally, ‘Look, you either get the bird out of that environment or he’s going to die.’”

I've heard other stories of pets suffering respiratory problems in Pearlington. Those could either be cause by the toxins in the soil or in the trailers--or both. Everyone I've met in Pearlington has pets, and they all love their pets as part of the family. When you talk to someone about who they lost in the storm, they never fail to mention pets. I lost a brother, a nephew, and a dog, they'll say. The dogs always make the list of hardest losses.

Now many of those families are reunited with their pets, but the pets can't take the toxic environments of the FEMA trailers for long. Neither can the children. What we really have to be concerned about here are the potential life-long health problems the Katrina children are developing.

If anyone has any ideas about what to do to help, please share them.

Colleges Still Recovering

2006-08-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

This picture is from the Pearl River Community College website. You can see more PRCC Katrina photos here. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College also has storm damage photos posted online. USM's Katrina photos may be viewed here. And before and after photos of William Carey College's administration building are available here.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from Jones County Junior College, my own campus, nor do I have any real information. The Hattiesburg American reports today that PRCC is now tearing down its coliseum. The article also mentions how long it is taking for even colleges to get processed through insurance claims.

I probably should know more about what's going on with storm repairs at my own school, but I don't. The buildings that were the most heavily damaged were not part of my normal stomping grounds. It was such a hectic year that I really didn't venture out exploring much. I do know that we never used the Home Health Auditorium again all year, and since it is our normal location for faculty meetings, I've just assumed it isn't repaired yet. But you know what they say about assuming. I'm making no claims. I just know that an enormous amount of work went into making it possible for us to even have school this year, let alone be back in the classroom only two weeks after the storm.

For more information about damage to Mississippi colleges, refer back to this September Chronicle article.

Toxic Trailers?

2006-08-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

As if worries about mold in everything left behind by Katrina's flood waters and high arsenic levels in the soil due to industrial waste being dumped from the Gulf back onto land are not enough, hurricane victims are also suffering from the effects of formaldehyde in their FEMA campers.

Formaldehyde is commonly used in the particle board and wood panels of the small campers, and, for whatever reason, there seems to be a pattern emerging of real health problems caused by breathing in too much formaldehyde in the FEMA campers.

According to this recent MSNBC article,

The Department of Housing and Urban Development limits the use of formaldehyde-emitting products in manufactured homes -- setting a standard of 0.2 parts per million for plywood and 0.3 parts per million for particleboard materials. But the agency does not regulate travel trailers or motor homes, probably because it was never anticipated that people would spend long periods of time living in them, said the Sierra Club’s Gillette.

These trailers were a way to get out of a tent, and nothing more. They are not acceptable housing on a long term basis, and now it appears they could be creating health problems that will last far beyond the current crisis.

We've got to remain committed to helping these families get back on their feet in safe, healthy, secure environments. Interest in coming to the Gulf Coast to help appears to waning as we approach the one-year mark, but needs are escalating every bit as fast as they are being resolved. If there is anything you can do to help get a family out of FEMA trailer, please don't forget how much your help is needed. People are being embalmed alive in those things--literally.

Hurricane Cycles

2006-08-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

There's no doubt that 2005 was an unusually active hurricane season. How often, after all, do we use up the whole alphabet and beyond on hurricane names? We're now 18 days away from the one year anniversary of Katrina, and we've only gotten as far as a Chris--only three named storms so far, which wouldn't seem like a reprieve at all if we hadn't been at Harvey by this time last year.

That terrible and terribly active 2005 season sparked lots of reports that we had entered a cycle of increased hurricane activity that could last another twenty years or so. It also brought up the question of whether global warming might be responsible.

Word from the National Hurricane Center is that there is "no consensus" on the issue of global warming's contribution to increased hurricane activity and/or intensity. On the other hand, Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor, told NPR that after studying global hurricane patterns, he does see a clear correlation between warming ocean temperature and hurricane intensity.

I'm not scientist, nor do I pretend to be one on the Internet, but anyone who watches The Weather Channel can tell you that hurricanes get stronger in warmer waters. I don't know whether global warming is our culprit. I do know, however, that if Katrina was part of a pattern rather than an anomaly, we are far from prepared for future disasters. If nothing else, as a recent Pew study indicated, population growth alone in coastal areas will assure increases in damage caused by hurricanes.

We need to help storm victims recover, but we need to do more than that too. We need better plans for evacuations and for storm shelters. We need better building codes. We need to be proactive in repairing potential problems (like inadequate levees) before "the big one" hits. We need better communication and cooperation among all the various entities involved in storm preparation and recovery. In short, we need to learn our lessons from Katrina. We can't afford to be caught again and again by "the one we never thought would happen."

Water, Water

2006-08-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

Coastal residents can definitely relate to Coleridge on these lines from "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." Flood waters destroyed virtually everything south of I-10, and in doing so created a drinking water emergency. In Pearlington, there was no city water system. Everyone used well water, and Katrina destroyed the pumps for those wells. The first step to normalcy (or the new normal) was to start replacing those pumps. FEMA was parking trailers by the hundreds in that field in Purvis while families by the hundreds still lived in tents because they had no basic services. FEMA required access to water and electricity before those families could get a trailer. University Baptist and CBF worked hard through the fall to help people get new pumps and get set up in their FEMA campers. We still have so far to go, but thanks to all of those efforts, the water crisis that has vastly improved in the past year.

Click here to read an account by John Earle of some of the work that went into establishing safe water supplies in Pearlington.

Ada and Sunnie Palode

2006-08-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

Two of the most loving people I've met in Pearlington are Ada and Sunnie Palode. Pictured to the left is Ada with Charles Holmes of CBF. Below is Sunnie with two of their eight children and Bruce Greer, a volunteer from Denver.

Ada and Sunnie spent some time living in tents last fall before getting their FEMA campers. Obviously, ten people could not live in one camper, so Ada lived in one with the girls, and Sunnie lived in the other with the boys.

Ever considerate, Ada is a woman who understands the way to the hearts of tired, overheated teenage volunteers. One afternoon I saw her demonstrate this as she dragged out a box of freezer pops for a group that was positively drooping under what little shade there was to find at the site of Ada's new house. Faces lit up, and bodies perked up, ready to get back to work.

Ada is also the first to tell anyone who comes along that God is taking care of Pearlington, and God is taking care of her family. She's also the first to pass out smiles and hugs even in the midst of her own devastation.

Giving

2006-08-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

You only have what you give. It's by spending yourself that you become rich.

It is in giving that I connect with others, with the world and with the divine.

~Isabel Allende

These are two of my favorite quotes about giving, and they both come from the same short essay by Isabel Allende shared with us via NPR's this i believe series. Allende comes to these conclusions as part of the process of accepting the death of her daughter. I love them because they are so close to my own beliefs, because they could have only come from a person who has learned her priorities in life the hard way, and because they exude such a spirit of redemptive hope in the face of great grief.

This is the kind of giving I've seen this year in the wake of Katrina. People continuously set aside their own overwhelming problems in order to help others. This is the kind of stuff that makes you believe in humanity. This is the kind of stuff that gives you a clear connection to the world around you and to the divine.

Pearl's Cafe

2006-08-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

This is where volunteers gather in Pearlington for the evening meal. Now that the Red Cross and AmeriCorps have left, feeding the masses is a real cooperative effort. Groups of volunteers sign up to take turns cooking. Often, it’s burgers and beans, but sometimes the meals get quite elaborate. Various churches have sponsored fish fries, crawfish boils, spaghetti dinners, and all sorts of treats in the now infamous tent known as Pearl’s Café.

Recently, the tent has been air conditioned, making it one of the most desirable locals in Pearlington. I’m not sure who is responsible, but I have no doubt the air conditioning was contributed by some people who’d gotten their fill of working up a sweat by swatting flies and mosquitoes away from their food.

We Made It!

2006-08-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

It’s now 5:00 a.m. on Sunday in Mississippi, and we’ve been blogging for 24 continuous hours. Whew! We made it after all.

This is the end of this particular blogathon, but not the end of this blog. I’ve decided to keep this up by posting at least one new item a day to this blog from now up until the Katrina anniversary on August 29.

I know a lot of people are on their last summer vacations before the new academic year starts up again right now. Keep spreading the word. There is still a chance for them to contribute when they get back to their desks and back to their blogs.

And once again, thank you. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this blogathon. Thank you to everyone who has given time, talent, and treasure to the hurricane recovery efforts. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

The above picture is from West Hancock Fire and Rescue.