Honestly, I do not think that I could pick my favorite
exhibit out of what we visited today. I fell in love with the Hurricane Katrina
museum but each tour we did today was extremely beneficial and I am glad that I
was here for all of the experiences. We started out with the “three-hour tour.”
Our tour guides name was Meltin and he was fabulous. He talked to us about the music of the city,
history, architecture, and we went on a cemetery tour. My favorite was the cemetery
tour! Before this trip, I had no idea that the people here had to be buried
above ground due to the water rising. When the water rises, the bodies will
float up to the surface. The vaults were huge! Some of the vaults were very
clean and well -kept and other vaults and graves were falling apart and severely
damaged. Meltin told us that the family can purchase a care package for their
graves and that it is very expensive. The queen of voo-doo Marie Laveau was
buried there and she had a couple other spots in the grave yard that were hers
too. The one that I took a picture of and is posted on the bottom of the blog
is the grave site that apparently she is in. Also, Homer Plessy is buried in
this grave yard and I found that to be fascinating as well! That is something
that I need to remember to show my high school history teacher next time I run
into him! I also enjoyed when he talked to us about the music of the city
because he told us that Richard Sherman was from Louisiana and he sang “wanna
be like you” from the jungle book. He took a survey and asked if we knew who he
was and only one person did. After he told us that he sang that song, all of us
raised our hangs. I have learned from this experience that New Orleans is the
city of firsts. I am thankful that they are the city to invent jazz and opera because
they have brought us some beautiful music! For the architecture, my favorite
part is when he pointed out the building that had spikes. He said that this
family must have had daughters and they had the spikes up to keep the boys away
and he said that he didn’t blame them! I don’t blame them either especially
when you look at some of the choices like the pirates that would come along
back then. For the Katrina tour, we were able to tour the museum and learn
about the history of the museum and the history of the hurricane. When
hurricane Katrina hit, I was young so I didn’t know the impact that this
hurricane really made. Now, I have a better understanding of what went on and I
felt so bad for the people. The top floor of the museum was dedicated to Mardi
Gras and they had some of their outfits and history and that was a neat part as
well.
All of my
emotions today went to the hurricane Katrina section of the museum. When I was
looking at the photos of all the flooding water, all I could think is that I
can’t imagine what those people had to endure. There was a story that was told
of a young man who was a teenager and he encountered a woman who was having a
baby. He said that he prayed for help and his delivery was successful. He saved
that women’s life and was a big help to her and her new bundle of joy. I can’t
imagine going into labor while this hurricane was taking place and having to
give birth outside. There were just so many factors that went into this
hurricane. The people had no where to go, there was no food or water and many
people were dying. I personally feel like they could have used way more help
than they were given. The people here became very angry and were struggling
with everything that was thrown at them. For me, its hard to understand why
this had to happen. I am sure that others feel the same way as well and I wish
there was a way to prevent these natural disasters from ruining people’s lives.
I think that being in the superdome would be the worst. The dome became very
nasty and it would be difficult to withstand the smell and the overall environment
of the dome. Even though the people had many emotions thrown at them at once, I
feel that there was some real hero’s during this tragedy. Some people didn’t
take their opportunity to leave when they could because they knew that others
needed it more than they did. Other people in the community provided homemade meals
to their neighbors and they could have saved the food for themselves but they
are choosing to share it. This makes me proud to be going into the field of
nursing because when these disasters happen, we have a responsibility to fulfill.
As a nurse, I could be asked to come down and if I was a nurse back then, I
would have come down there in a heartbeat so that I could help in whatever way
I was needed. Many nurses and doctors did travel down there and they said on a
video that they had over two million volunteers that came down to help. I
remember at school we had a fund raiser for the hurricane and I remember coming
home and asking my parents for money to put in the container the next day
because I knew it must have been urgent. I am glad that the city has taken
extra precautions to protect themselves against another hurricane that could
take place. Even though they are not fully protected, they are still at a lower
risk than what they were back then. Overall, this museum was amazing and it
would be a place that I would want to visit again later on in life.
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