Monday, February 06, 2006

Xavier Students Write About Katrina Experiences

I ask my Intro to Biblical Studies students here at Xavier to post at least 1500 words per week to a blog. Most of their postings pertain to course material and a project they design and implement to improve the world. But after the recent tragedies that happened here in New Orleans, I asked them for the first week to blog about their hurricane stories. I found the following particularly amazing:

Kevin rode out the flooding for days in East New Orleans, one of the hardest hit areas in the city. Charnisha watched the hurricane and the flooding from her third story apartment window, and then went to the Superdome where she saw some pretty horrible things. Jassma "evacuated" to a downtown hotel where there was quite a bit of chaos, some of which involved mini-bars and kids. Diondra reports about events in Plaquemines Parish, down river from New Orleans, and Tina writes about events in St. Tammany Parish just north of Lake Ponchartrain. Nia Beachum, Erin, and Megan stayed on Xavier's campus through the hurricane and susequent flooding. After about five days, they evacuated by boats and buses. It doesn't seem that Jesse Jackson helped all that much. Finally Hieu rode out the storm with his parents and then ate some dirty rice.

There are many more amazing stories, and all of the students will tell you that the hurricane greatly impacted, and continues to impact, their lives. You can see all of their writings here (in the Week One category; note: only the postings in 2006 pertain to the hurricane.

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